When I was a young and broke student I had more time to tinker with old computers and free (and pirated) software and get things fun things working. I also hated on Apple.

Now that I have a comfortable middle class western lifestyle I can appreciate the appliance nature of Apple’s products. I use them for work because they are reliable and do indeed just work.

In the lab I can still tinker with computers but I try to leave that to my students so they can have the same wonderful experience I had.

I haven’t build a PC in a few years and hope to build something new in a couple of years. It’s not a monoculture just because I prefer Macs for getting work done and I’m not going to apologise for my situation. Apple know their users and I’m happy that they can meet most of my needs.

I'm in a similar situation...Whats worse is when you compare the Best of Apple with the best of the PC side of things. My work Dell precision is a science workstation desktop replacement...2 hours of battery life I can understand, fuel efficiency wasn't anywhere in the top ten list of priorities.

But it has ZERO sleep modes. There are 4 exposed to the OS in most cases, non are supported by the BIOS...the only thing I can reasonably do is 'hibernate with lid close.'

The mac is half the price, half the weight, twice the CPU...I'm a little disappointed in Dell and sad that my office requires it use.

But in the context of this thread, I really need a dose of humility and a recognition of what I have due to my geography.