I ordered my first Mac laptop this week. It took a lot of deliberation; I had held off for years because I suspect that once I go Mac, I won’t go back. But in the past year, I’ve completed more freelance projects than ever, and I expect it’ll be a boon in my full-time and side work to have access to the industry standard for writing and design.
Buying a Mac, as many of you know, is quite a commitment. They’re generally more expensive than PCs, so deciding to take the Apple plunge is a big deal. But then you’ve got to decide which model MacBook you want. The Air is light and sleek, but not quite as powerful as the Pro. The Pro is a beast with a fancy screen, but not quite as portable as the Air.
But these days, neither of the newest models come equipped with a CD drive!
And this is how I’ve come to learn that I’m a weirdo because I still use CDs. Don’t be mistaken, I’m also a big fan of the cloud; my Google Drive is perpetually teetering at 90 percent full, and I have to clean out my Dropbox frequently. I also backup files to a 1 Terabyte external hard drive. I’m drinking the Kool-Aid, in other words.
I also buy CDs. I receive them from record labels (still, although not as frequently as I once did), and I keep a bin of them in my bedroom closet. Although technology is generally pretty good to me (WordPress hasn’t failed me yet!), I’m not comfortable relying on it for my entire music collection.
So after much debate and a number of people telling me I should let go of the notion of a built-in CD drive, I made up my mind. The older MacBook Pro isn’t only cheaper, it’s also exactly the machine I want.
Because after all, I’ll need a way to load these guys onto my fancy digital devices.
Enjoy the Mac. I want to give one a shot some day.