In Which I Am Seduced by the Specter of a Corporate Image

To relate this tale, I must begin almost a year ago, when I decided that my 1 GB Creative Zen Nano was a completely inadequate MP3 player and should be replaced. (To be honest, this thought had been percolating for some time.) However, I was prejudiced against the best-selling MP3 player: the iPod. I thought its functions could be duplicated for much less money, though with much less panache, by a cheaper model. I leaned toward another Creative: my sticking point was WiFi access, and their wireless-enabled Zen X-Fi seemed attractive.

I was still weighing the pros and cons of the X-Fi when I learned from a friend that an acquaintance of his had a refurbished 8 GB Apple iPod Touch which he wanted to get rid of. I learned that said acquaintance found himself in deep debt only a week after purchasing the iPod (this upstanding citizen had to pay compensation for vandalism.) I impetuously traded one hundred and eighty of my moneys for this iPod, sight unseen. We exchanged check and iPod in front of my friend's house, while my friend's (wry) mother made some comment about drug deals.

I noted with dismay the heavily-scratched metal rear surface of the iPod. However, once I brought it home and plugged it in, it worked well and continues to do so today. There were a few small niggles: the WiFi works everywhere but here at home, the storage capacity now seems prohibitive, and the software hasn't been completely bug-free. Overall, however, I am very satisfied with my purchase, even though I paid sixty dollars more for this refurbished iPod than I would have for a new Zen X-Fi of the same storage capacity.

So you could call it accidental, my inculcation into the Cult of Apple. It was probably a few months afterward that I started lusting after a MacBook. (Clear your mind of any negative associations with the words "cult" and "lust." Most human technology is so heart-breakingly unreliable and pitifully mediocre that any adoration for and lust after these items is painfully short-lived, laughable, and undeserving of any association with the Seven Deadly Sins.) For the uninitiated, the MacBook is Apple's cheapest laptop. I wanted the aluminum one, which was two and a half pounds lighter than my beastly Acer, and approximately a third as thick. It was also more than twice as expensive.

I am not a fanatic. I will concede that looking at the MacBook next to its humbler HP step-cousins, I saw the discrepancies: for about 2/3 of the money, an HP laptop would have a much larger hard drive and more memory to work with. But (and it is a very large, even obese but) it would also come with Windows Vista, the worst iteration of the most maddening operating system from the most annoying company on the planet.

The twin-pronged question that filled my head was: Do the advantages of the Mac (no viruses, infinitely better operating system, instant good karma) outweigh the disadvantages (high price, mediocre raw stats, and being labeled as an artsy snob?)

Since I'm now blogging on my aluminum Macbook, you can see that I answered that question with a resounding "Yes!" and backed up that assertion with my pocketbook.

The answer to the question is, as I see it, simple. When one buys a Mac, one is buying a lifestyle. Apple must have the best corporate images and the most devotees of any company in the world. Their stock, I should mention, has more than doubled since the recession began. And the Mac lifestyle is not like the PC lifestyle. We can see this clearly from, if nothing else, Apple's completely insufferable "I'm a Mac" ads which feature young, hip, Mac-user Justin Long in tight jeans and Converse and bespectacled, doughy, PC-user John Hodgman in a brown suit.

Apple is a luxury brand, and any price-comparisons between Macs and PCs should reflect this. Even though an everyman's laptop might have more RAM and hard drive space than my MacBook for less money, a "luxury" PC like a Sony Vaio costs just as much as a Mac--and it still has Windows Vista.

An interesting note: since I bought my iPod and began to seriously consider purchasing an MacBook, this dilemma has been mere rationalization for me. I had already made up my mind, I was just trying to convince myself that it was more rational than emotional. It worked, I bought a MacBook. This would suggest that Apple lust grows with time, like the common or garden variety of lust. Once I saw the clean curves and mouthwatering functionality of an iPod, I was not satisfied until I laid my hands on the much larger graceful aluminum lines of the MacBook.

I am happy with my MacBook so far. In fact, I can't think of a single fault at the moment, although certainly a few will occur to me as I grow used to it. I have transferred my computing life to it almost seamlessly and I'm glad I did.

I was seduced by clean metal lines, Steve Jobs, aluminum, Snow Leopard, and the Myriad font.

I was seduced by the carefully projected image of a vast company, the holographic cover girl wrapped around the gigantic, ugly furnace of corporatism.

I am truly an American.

Macs, Cars, and other things I love (like stimulus checks)

In car news, Porsche, Lamborghini, and Aston Martin are all releasing four-door sedans. 

Lamborghini has previously released a Hummer-like behemoth of an SUV during the cheap-fuel days of the 1980s. Porsche, during the cheap-fuel days of the early-2000s, realeased a gargantuan sports car of an SUV known as the Cayenne. The Reventon and the Panamera, however, are the first real sedans for the companies. Aston, on the other hand, has a long--if mixed history with four-door vehicles. In 1944, they released a striking concept called the Atom, which failed to make production. They continued making sedans, stopping only after the love-it/hate-it Lagonda, styled by William Towns, which ended production in 1989. Personally, I think it's aesthetically pleasing with a few exceptions. However, I will now post pictures of the three new sedans from each company and you can tell me in the comments which one you favor. 

The Lamborghini Estoque. This car is a concept, which means that (1) it is not cleared for production, and (2) it takes design liberties that will not be present in the production model if there is one. In other words, it looks cooler.

The Aston Martin Rapide. This is the production version, so this is what it will look like driving down your street. Stunning, eh?
And finally, the Porsche Panamera. Which one's your favorite? Vote in the comments. 

Sorry about the video. Pirates of the Carribean does not equal Porsche Panamera...honestly.

In other car news, many kudos to Ford for refusing the "free money" offered to the Big Three by Congress. This proves what I've said all along: Ford is the best car company in existence.

Several more things I'd like to cover. First of all, why do I always get the urge to post when no one has commented on my previous post? I am, by bumping it down a notch, consigning my last post to perpetually unread status. Anyone visiting this blog while this post is the first in the line-up will, by some quirk of the human mind, believe that every time they visit there is one--and only one--new post, and thus will not scroll down. At least, that's how it works for me. Ah, well. Scroll down, guys! 

I've decided my next computer will be a Mac, probably a MacBook. I hope my OS isn't laced with insidious Microsoft warez ready to take over my system at any sign of switching to McKintosh...or whatever it's called. However, I'm trying to convince myself that it would be completely selfish and irrational to buy a new computer--especially an $850 (refurbished) Mac. I know I'll be getting a refund from the government if I file my taxes--probably about $100. Mom also thinks I might get a "stimulus check" as part of the government's response to the economic crisis--a response that makes my foolish selfishness look like gospel wisdom. If I did get a stimulus check for, say, $200, then my net contribution to the government since I first got a job in mid-June would be approximately -$150. 

I was a conservative republican and against a minimum wage hike until I became a minimum-wage worker. It is frighteningly easy to thoughtlessly dismiss something you've never experienced. It's basically impossible to live on minimum wage--no one should have to. It's very easy to be selfish about "government regulation of the economy," which does sap jobs. But now that I'm in the position of a low-wage worker, I...still don't support a raised minimum wage. Nor universal health care. Nor high taxes if and when I ever become wealthy. Nor government-funded social-engineering programs--like "abstinence-only" and "no-abstinence" sex education programs--basically any publicly funded sex-ed programs. I'm still a conservative, even though I have a low wage job. That's one hurdle I've crossed. The bottom line is that I'd rather be poor and free than poor and dependent on the government to spoon the protein mash and anti-fertility drugs into my mouth. 

I'd rather do it for myself, thanks much. 

Macintosh is a rabidly corporate company. Behind that silver-plated, trendy New-Left visage, however, it is a competent company that makes computers so far above the Microsoft standards that the mind simply can't take it in. My grandma has had an old iMac, circa 1998, that runs better eleven years on than my fourteen-months-old laptop. Mom is on her fifth computer since then: (three desktops and two laptops--all of which, it should be said, are still running. But only after extensive repairs and modifications.) Apple trumpets the fact that it makes the OS and the computer itself to fit each other, so that there is no conflict between the two. 

Apple Computer is an odd, clannish company. There is so much mythology surrounding the company it could be cut with a knife. Apple itself has done nothing to discourage this: Steve Jobs' introduction of the original Macintosh should prove that to you. It's a cross between exultant over-competence and shameless egotism. Very dated, yet interesting. 

And Mac's famous 1984 ad parodying--you guessed it--1984 by Orwell, urging consumers to fight the system (Microsoft.) 

I really, really want a MacBook. But they have discounts for college students, 

so I will definitely wait till then. And maybe I'll just wait until this poor Acer conks out (or I get a good offer for it.) 

I got this laptop for $450, and I've definitely had my money's worth. I don't intend to stop now.