To PC or Not To PC, That is the Question

The iMac desktop has served me well for six years.

Two weeks ago as I was putting the finishing touches on the post, Solving the Puzzle, I was confronted with one of those problems we all face. My desktop computer began to cough and sneeze and break down at the most inopportune times. As with most situations like this there is a certain degree of denial that precedes the realization of what is taking place. So, when it seemed a little slow in responding I decided to give it a rest. But then it decided it wasn’t sure if it was going to boot up or not. Frantically, I made sure everything was backed up, “Just in case.” While I have not officially pronounced it dead, its failure to boot up for the past week forced me to take action.

No, that's not right. Computers aren't supposed to ask the
questions. We ask them questions (and then they Google it).

I used my wife’s iPad to investigate the possibilities of a replacement. Being tied to a desk in a portable world is a little uncomfortable, especially for someone who tries to convince himself daily that he is enjoying the freedom of retirement. So, buying another desktop seemed imprudent. Sure enough, as many technologically advanced twenty-somethings and younger pointed out there are laptops available at two or three hundred dollars. Surely all anyone my age needs is a word processor and a browser for the Internet.

Hold on there a second videogame breath. My first computer came out of a box and bore the name Apple IIe. The year was 1980 and the next smallest computer was about the size of a Ford Explorer. In the years in between I would waver between the PC world and the ups and down of Apple and its iWorld. I even built my own PC just before moving to California. It lasted about six years; about the same as the iMac that refuses to boot. In between I had a non-descript PC from Best Buy, which saw a fair amount of time in their service department under one or the other of two two-year buyer protection plans. I’ve never had a Mac serviced; they just keep going for about six years.

The MacBook laptop that went to law school in New York.
I used it to write this post on my blog

When we retired about eighteen months ago, I convinced Debbie she really didn’t need a laptop. Reluctantly, she bought an iPad. Now, I find it hard to tear her away from it. Unfortunately, it doesn’t edit the iPhotos she takes as well as the desktop program. The cheapest Apple laptop is several times as expensive as the cheapest PC laptop. Then, as we’re celebrating my mother’s 86^th birthday at El Torito, Heather says the MacBook laptop I bought her for law school is just sitting on a shelf—she uses her office computer and iPad.

So, now I am writing Hioh Silver on a seven year old laptop plugged into a power strip because the battery no longer holds a charge, but the iPhotos program lets Deb do the editing of photographs she needs. For now, the question of whether to pc or not to pc gets put on hold.