To Mac or Not to Mac

Since quitting my job at Accenture in May, I’ve had to return my only laptop, the Dell Latitude D510, to its rightful corporate owner. This left me laptop-less and in the market for a new one for business school.

I have never purchased a laptop. The last computer system I owned was purchased in parts - a desktop I assembled lovingly by hand. I know, who does that any more? I assure you, back then, it was the thing to do for a geeky computer gamer. Anyways, I had a lot of work to do to find a laptop.

vs.

Apple MacBook vs Lenovo ThinkPad

I admit my initial desire for a Mac comes from a style and social standpoint, not practicality. All other things being equal (price, power, platform), I’d much rather be pulling out a shiny new MacBook from my backpack than a Lenovo. And let me tell you, this was a huge pull on my female psyche. However MIT Sloan’s student computer requirement calls for a windows-based laptop. Thus I needed to be convinced that a MacBook would work at school without threatening my productivity. As it turns out, there are tons of articles on the web about why this is the best time to switch to a Mac. The tipping point for me was the new (well, last-year new) intel processor platform on the Macs, which allows dual-boot into OS X and Windows operating systems. This takes away the mental block associated with switching to a new OS, making choosing the Mac a no-brainer. My thinking was: I can try out Mac OS X while booting into Windows when occasion calls for it. In the worst-case I find OS X utterly annoying, I can make the MacBook a solely Windows-based laptop.

My First Mac

The truth is, I only booted into Windows once on my MacBook Pro to play CounterStrike. I use my OS X every day for the last 3 months to chat, surf, make videos, and even do web development. True, school hasn’t started yet so I can’t speak to intense, work-heavy situations. But as of now, I am a happy MacBook Pro owner whose heart twinkles with glee every day at the sight of her laptop. I don’t think a Lenovo owner would ever gush about her computer the same way. Excuse me, I’m going to go ahead and give my MacBook Pro a kiss now.