Hi, my name is Michael, and I used to be a PC user.

[Michael]

Hi all, I've just had my membership approved and thought the first thing I'd do is give a run down on my Apple and Mac background.

Back in 1983 I was working for an computer store in Brisbane (Queensland, Australia) called "Computers and Peripherals" which was a local Apple Dealer/Agent as well as specialising in electronic calculators (which themselves were a big deal back then!).

Although we were happily selling Apple //e & //c machines, both out of the box, and customised for various installation and purposes it was the arrival of the fist Mac in 1984 that made the most impact on me. I'd been using Apple][, ][+ and //e machines at university, but the Macintosh, well, lets just say it made an impact. I just loved the interface, the all-in-one form, and what you could do with it! Wow! Even MacPaint was impressive (in hindsight I think we were easily impressed with new technology back then). Unfortunately I couldn't afford the Macintosh (not even with staff discount) so I thought that seeing I had plenty of Apple2 experience, I'd buy my first machine, and it was an Apple //c.

Late '84 I left C&P and joined the corporate world, but did some application development on my //c, and eventually ended up in the company IT department and watched the IBM PC gain it's foot hold, then the rest is history.

Time passes, and I move to Sydney, which is the financial and corporate heart of Australia, and eventually bought a PC (and many others) with Windows 3.1 and slide into what I call the dark ages of new machine, upgrades, Win3.11->Win95->Win98->W2K . . . . (aaaarrrrrgh! the pain, the pain!)

Fast forward to 2001 - As Windows and my interest in video progressed I was an early adopter of home video editing (since mid 90s), but as a hobbyist it was frustrating working with the video software of the time, I seemed to be spending as much time keeping my PCs up and running as I did actually editing. Dreaming (lusting?) after a Mac and Final Cut Pro, I started looking seriously in Apple stores, but still too pricey for a desktop or a PowerBook, and those coloured handbag iBooks (eeech!)

. . . . then I saw the new dual USB (Snow) iBook with iMovie - here was a Mac I could afford (just) and iMovie, Wow! what it could do, and it came with the Mac at no extra cost!

Fortunately I never had any problems with the iBook, and in early 2002 I made the leap, went and bought a QuickSilver'02 with dual 1G processors, maxed out the RAM to 1.5GB, twin 80GB HDDs and got FCP3 and DVDSP 1. Yes the old bank account took a hammering, but I haven't looked back.

Jumping to the present, my QS2002 is still my main machine, even though I've since bought a Titanium PowerBook (G4-800), Aluminium PowerBook (G4-1.25G) and a MacBook Pro. I've also got a new 20" iMac for digital photography, and scanning negatives and slides.

I couldn't help myself, I wanted a small compact Mac laptop but I thought to myself, all these years of taking what Apple offered me, it was time to do it my way. I'd mucked around installing 10.4.11 onto an IBM ThinkPad T41, so I found an Acer AspireOne A150 at a nice price and installed Leopard onto a 120GB partition (from my family license pack installer - I might hack, but I don't steal!) and now have my very own HackBook Nano.

Of course I've got the collector bug and I've started buying those Macs I could never afford in the years gone by. First there was the Cube, then a MP-100 "Newton", and more recently an original BondiBlue iMac which I stuffed with RAM, swapped in a old 20GB HDD, upgraded the firmware, and installed 10.3.9.

Next targets on my collector list is a TAM, and one of those first Macs from 1984 that I passed up on all those years ago.

Hi, I'm Michael, and I USED to be a PC user - but now only at work.

[Kathryn]

Wow, what a computer history. I'm glad to hear it turned out well. I was lucky enough to fall into a few good deals on TAMs. One had a broken CD door, and some minor imperfections on the speakers, and it was said to have the dreaded TAM buzz. I'm sure that is why I got a good deal on it, but I was able to fix the buzz with some research, but I haven't been able to fix the CD door. It works but I have to be gentle with it. The other I found on Craigslist from a man who use to work for Apple. He took great care of it and it's beautiful, but the floppy drive doesn't work. So, someday, I may switch out some parts and make one perfect TAM.
Good luck in your search, they can be found. Never give up! Never surrender!

[Kendall Seabury]

I'm always jealous of people that own iMacs.....good find on the sow and the bondi blue iMac, and you also managed to cram 10.3.9 on there, more power to you!!!!!!

good luck on finding a TAM.....thats going to be a hard find.