This surprised me after so many years to actually see it happen.

We have a member of our extended family that’s been using an aging Sony laptop. I’ve kept that laptop running as best it could for about five years. It’s been no small effort but at least after so many years it would start up (eventually) and perform a few basic tasks even with all of the annoying things Windows does (or annoyingly doesn’t do)  when a PC is past its replacement time.

The person is a frequent guest at our home and would often bring the laptop with her for me to do the all-too-familiar maintenance on the laptop just to keep it running. I finally told her a few months ago there was really nothing more I could do. It was time for a new computer.

On her visits she would marvel at what could be done on a Mac witnessing the way we used our computers. I often mentioned she should buy a Mac but we knew such a purchase would be a bit of a financial stretch. We told her the next time we were going to an Apple store she should meet us there to look at the Macs. By now this had become wishful thinking.

We were on our way to an Apple store today and we called. I offered to pick her up on the way. To my surprise she agreed to come with us.

Arriving at the store I made a bee-line for the white MacBook, the laptop I thought would fit best with her finances. Within only a few minutes her eyes were drawn to the aluminum MacBook and that’s where her eyes (and then her fingers) stayed. I brought over a store employee for some “added expertise” but by then the deal was done. She walked out with a new aluminum MacBook, AppleCare and a new printer purchased on a rebate deal. She was excited and quite happy with the purchase. She grew more excited as we set it it up in her home.

The moral of the story is five years of patience and polite, respectful persistence paid off.

For those of us with friends and extended family members struggling with PCs, keeping up the drum beat (if even at low volume) about buying a Mac may be the best thing to do.

DawnTreader - 26 January 2009 01:19 AM

This surprised me after so many years to actually see it happen.

We have a member of our extended family that’s been using an aging Sony laptop. I’ve kept that laptop running as best it could for about five years. It’s been no small effort but at least after so many years it would start up (eventually) and perform a few basic tasks even with all of the annoying things Windows does (or annoyingly doesn’t do)  when a PC is past its replacement time.

The person is a frequent guest at our home and would often bring the laptop with her for me to do the all-too-familiar maintenance on the laptop just to keep it running. I finally told her a few months ago there was really nothing more I could do. It was time for a new computer.

On her visits she would marvel at what could be done on a Mac witnessing the way we used our computers. I often mentioned she should buy a Mac but we knew such a purchase would be a bit of a financial stretch. We told her the next time we were going to an Apple store she should meet us there to look at the Macs. By now this had become wishful thinking.

We were on our way to an Apple store today and we called. I offered to pick her up on the way. To my surprise she agreed to come with us.

Arriving at the store I made a bee-line for the white MacBook, the laptop I thought would fit best with her finances. Within only a few minutes her eyes were drawn to the aluminum MacBook and that’s where her eyes (and then her fingers) stayed. I brought over a store employee for some “added expertise” but by then the deal was done. She walked out with a new aluminum MacBook, AppleCare and a new printer purchased on a rebate deal. She was excited and quite happy with the purchase. She grew more excited as we set it it up in her home.

The moral of the story is five years of patience and polite, respectful persistence paid off.

For those of us with friends and extended family members struggling with PCs, keeping up the drum beat (if even at low volume) about buying a Mac may be the best thing to do.

I disagree :  )

The moral of this story is that even ‘budget’ buyers buy up when the product is compelling.  Wall Street analysts and media talking heads don’t see it, because they “assume” people of lower means have no appreciation of quality.

During a quarter when computer sales worldwide declined, Apple’s laptop sales increased 33.8% YoY, with an ASP $900 higher than highly touted ‘net books.

Apple doesn’t make computers that just cost more, Apple produces products with a value proposition such that people of all economic groups want and buy.

But I’m preaching to the choir.  Can I hear an amen?

Amen.

Unfortunately, there are still many games (older versions especially) that won’t work on Macs or unstable in boot camp/WinXP environment.

DT - My PC-using brother-in-law bought a MacBook around mid 2008.  10 years ago, Apple sells about 750k per quarter.  Now 2.5 mil per quarter.  Not bad.

My father hasn’t used an Apple computer since our late ‘90s iMac, but seeing my MacBook Pro has reawakened his interest in buying Macintoshes as his next computers.  The pater asked me how old his current (Dell) desktop and notebook were; he seemed to be fishing for an excuse to replace his Dells with new Apple kit.  It’s just a matter of time.

Gregg Thurman - 26 January 2009 02:20 AM

The moral of this story is that even ‘budget’ buyers buy up when the product is compelling.  Wall Street analysts and media talking heads don’t see it, because they “assume” people of lower means have no appreciation of quality.

Point well made.

It was the LED-backlit display that made the difference. This was without prompting. It sold itself.

Gregg Thurman - 26 January 2009 02:20 AM

DawnTreader - 26 January 2009 01:19 AM

This surprised me after so many years to actually see it happen.

We have a member of our extended family that’s been using an aging Sony laptop. I’ve kept that laptop running as best it could for about five years. It’s been no small effort but at least after so many years it would start up (eventually) and perform a few basic tasks even with all of the annoying things Windows does (or annoyingly doesn’t do)  when a PC is past its replacement time.

The person is a frequent guest at our home and would often bring the laptop with her for me to do the all-too-familiar maintenance on the laptop just to keep it running. I finally told her a few months ago there was really nothing more I could do. It was time for a new computer.

On her visits she would marvel at what could be done on a Mac witnessing the way we used our computers. I often mentioned she should buy a Mac but we knew such a purchase would be a bit of a financial stretch. We told her the next time we were going to an Apple store she should meet us there to look at the Macs. By now this had become wishful thinking.

We were on our way to an Apple store today and we called. I offered to pick her up on the way. To my surprise she agreed to come with us.

Arriving at the store I made a bee-line for the white MacBook, the laptop I thought would fit best with her finances. Within only a few minutes her eyes were drawn to the aluminum MacBook and that’s where her eyes (and then her fingers) stayed. I brought over a store employee for some “added expertise” but by then the deal was done. She walked out with a new aluminum MacBook, AppleCare and a new printer purchased on a rebate deal. She was excited and quite happy with the purchase. She grew more excited as we set it it up in her home.

The moral of the story is five years of patience and polite, respectful persistence paid off.

For those of us with friends and extended family members struggling with PCs, keeping up the drum beat (if even at low volume) about buying a Mac may be the best thing to do.

I disagree :  )

The moral of this story is that even ‘budget’ buyers buy up when the product is compelling.  Wall Street analysts and media talking heads don’t see it, because they “assume” people of lower means have no appreciation of quality.

During a quarter when computer sales worldwide declined, Apple’s laptop sales increased 33.8% YoY, with an ASP $900 higher than highly touted ‘net books.

Apple doesn’t make computers that just cost more, Apple produces products with a value proposition such that people of all economic groups want and buy.

But I’m preaching to the choir.  Can I hear an amen?

Amen and an alleluia to boot!

It seems to me that the street hasn’t quite caught up to one other facet of all this.  Computers use to be primarily a tool of your work life and used primarily as an extension of that.  I’m suspicious that many who had a dislike for computers weren’t just unhappy with performance issues but association issues as well.  Now that computers have become more endemic to our everyday existence it’s not surprising to find that many who previously could have cared less about what they were using take more of an interest in what the possibilities might be.  This is where Macs start to shine.

BillH - 26 January 2009 12:14 PM

Amen and an alleluia to boot!

It seems to me that the street hasn’t quite caught up to one other facet of all this.  Computers use to be primarily a tool of your work life and used primarily as an extension of that.  I’m suspicious that many who had a dislike for computers weren’t just unhappy with performance issues but association issues as well.  Now that computers have become more endemic to our everyday existence it’s not surprising to find that many who previously could have cared less about what they were using take more of an interest in what the possibilities might be.  This is where Macs start to shine.

Good point.  It’s kind of like the car buying public of the ‘50s.  Beyond the usual Chevies, Fords and Chryslers, we Hudsons, Packards, Nashs, Studebakers, Kaisers and more.  The big boys survived into the ‘60s and competed by making them bigger, flashier and more powerful.  Repair shops were their second home.  They ignored the little cars from Japan that just seemed to work.  While the Japanese cars got better and better, the American cars got bigger and flashier, until… oil embargo.

The Japanese had high mileage cars that were also… high quality.  That’s when the shift from American made to Japanese began in earnest.

Now put that scenario into the context of PCs vs Macs.