The MacBooks have landed
PC makers, run! The cause is lost: Mac laptops rule the world!
While this statement may be somewhat exaggerated (ever so slightly), it is based on the ultimate proof: my observations.
During my first year at university, back in September 2004, there were probably 10 laptops present during lectures, while we were 300 students in our first year of Law. Laptops were marginal, as they have been for many a year in universities in Continental Europe, where courses are often given ex cathedra and aren’t highly interactive.
In third year, the proportion had increased: there were probably 8-10 laptops for 120 students. At most, you would see two G4 iBooks (or one iBook and one brand new MacBook), and PowerBooks were nowhere to be seen in the Law and Political Science faculties.
When I started my fourth year, I decided to bring along the MacBook I had received for my 20th birthday. As we were starting our Master’s degree, we were in a bigger university, and there were 400 students. We started the year with probably 10-15 laptops, and by the end of the year, we were approaching 30 laptops, 3-4 of which were Macs.
And then came the fifth year, 2008-2009. Boom. Explosion in the number of laptops.
During the first term, of September to December, we found ourselves in much smaller groups, because of the increased variety in classes. In my classes, we were usually 40. On any given day, there were usually 8-10 laptops, 3 of which were Macs.
During the second term, it seems to be even worse: 40 students, some 10 laptops, and easily 6-7 Macs.
I’ve gone from being a pompous self-righteous geek to being just like the majority of the hard-wired cases! What has happened?
Fortunately, the majority of the Mac users there still use Microsoft Office, whereas I use iWork. Yay, I am still somewhat different!
3 March 2009 at 01:46
Mac laptops do rule. That is without question. By the way, I still use Appleworks, because I haven’t yet found a suitable (and affordable) replacement for the Database module. I will never install Microsoft Office on my Macs.
4 March 2009 at 03:59
Mac laptops rule. A unibody MacBook is forever on my wishlist, as I don’t have enough money to buy one for myself, (actually I do, it would just bankrupt me) and indeed, they are awesome. Even the first generation white-poly MacBooks are awesome.
However, I disagree on the issue of MS Office. It’s the only office program I know how to use, and I’m afraid using something like Appleworks would introduce a bunch of issues that would be a daily pain for me to sort out. (especially if OpenOffice is any indicator) In my case it would be best to stick with MS Office, so you’re not as different as you think you are, Pace.