Welcome, and thanks for stopping by! Subscribe to my RSS feed so you don't miss a single exciting post (or any of my regular ones). Thanks for visiting!

This is not an Apple Macintosh fanboy post. There’s a bigger point to all this. Just stick with me.

Deciding to switch

It was late 2000 or early 2001 and my computer crashed. As a Windows (98 at the time) user, I was used to crashes and the occasional reinstall to keep things running smoothly, but this time was a little different.

It took 3 hours on the phone with tech support just to reconnect to the Internet. Three frickin’ hours.

Now, at the same time, a buddy of mine who was a long-time Mac user was renting a room in my house. During the months he was there I had noticed a couple of things: His computer never crashed, and he was on the ‘Net within minutes of hooking things together and firing it up.

Time to switch.

Which Mac? (Main point is coming!)

I was going to say I tend to run computers into the ground, and that’s true now. But it wasn’t then. I was young and single and had a a great-paying job, and not a lot of financial smarts. So instead of, say, investing my money for retirement, I bought shiny new toys. Like computers. Specifically, I would buy one of the most powerful computers on the market every two years whether I really needed it or not. My intention in getting a Mac was the same.

And then I saw the sage iMac. Ooooooh. What a thing of beauty. I really wanted one. But there was a problem.

I knew what features I wanted in the computer, and the sage iMac didn’t have them. It wasn’t expandable, or easily upgradeable. And it wasn’t one of the most powerful computers on the market. It wasn’t even one of the most powerful iMacs. (Geek digression: The most powerful Macs at the time used a processor called the G4. The sage iMac used a G3, and not even the fastest G3.) This computer did not fit my predefined needs (wants).

But it was beeYOOtiful!

Define your needs and stick to them.
(The main point! Finally!)

Yep. The sage iMac was gorgeous, and I almost bought one. I tried hard to rationalize my way into buying one because I wanted that beautiful little machine sitting on my desk in the worst way. But it wasn’t the right choice for me. It would have met my needs in the short run, but I would have outgrown it soon and would have had to replace it anyway.

Compromise for the right reasons.

The most powerful Mac at the time was way more than I needed, and more than I could afford. So I compromised and got an entry-level G4. It had the features I wanted and was a machine I could afford to buy. And it represented a healthy compromise based on clearly identifying what I wanted in a computer and weighing that against the best I could afford. It was not the unhealthy compromise of giving up too many features that I wanted for something that was exceedingly beautiful.

And it was a pretty nice-looking machine itself.

Don’t give in to the power of irrational desire.

We’re hit with pressure to buy pretty and flashy things all the time. Unsavory marketers are constantly trying to find ways to get you to buy what’s good for them and not necessarily what’s good for. Don’t give in. Figure out what you need, identify what will deliver on those needs, and stick to getting just that. This applies to anything we might need to buy or hire: A new car, new house, new web designer, new copywriter, new widget supplier… Everything.

It may not feel quite as nice in the immediate short term (I never have quite gotten over that sage iMac, if you couldn’t tell), but will be better for you in the long run.

(And if you’re one of those unsavory marketers: Stop it. There’s enough stuff out there that people truly need. Apply your talents to connecting buyers with that stuff instead of trying to push them to buying crap. You’ll be doing everyone a favor.)

Blue Screen of Death image source
iMac image source
Powermac G4 image source