Apple Sure Doesn’t Make Life Easy

A few weeks back I wrote an installment of Prodigal Mac called "Excuse Me While I Pull My Hair Out." I'm sure many of you, as I did, took the time to print out and frame that fine work of prose, so I'm betting everyone is extremely familiar with it. However, as a service to you, the reading public, I will summarize that column in one sentence or less:

I hadn't bought a Mac since 1997 and I couldn't figure out which one would be best for me, so I begged you all for help.

There. Now we're all caught up. I received a decent amount of mail from you about that column, all of which can pretty much be boiled down to one of three responses:

1) Definitely get a (insert Mac model here), because I am a (insert occupation here) and it's been great for me in what I do.
2) Get what's best for you at the moment you need it, then forget about it. Regardless of how soon new models are introduced, it's only a matter of time before what you got is considered a dinosaur anyway, so try to rest easy in the knowledge that you got what was best at the time.
3) You're an idiot. Life must be so awful for you that this is what you have to worry about.

Seeing as I am weak and emotionally fragile, I feel very fortunate that I got more messages in the first two categories than the third one. Anyway, armed with all the advice and good intentions of you, the reader, I threw caution to the wind and confidently strolled into my friendly neighborhood Apple store Oct. 15, strolling out a couple hours later with a 400 MHz TiBook. After weighing all the options, mobility was just too important to ignore, and I needed a G4, hence the Ti.

Sure, I was excited.

I've always itched for a Mac portable, and barring a week-long experiment I had with a Duo back in 1994, I never had sufficient reason to scratch the itch. But something wasn't right here. I didn't have that new gadget rush (you know, the one that makes you want to tear into whatever toy you just got the nanosecond you exit the store) like I usually get. This time was different. Maybe it was all the rumors swirling around about an imminent TiBook feature bump; maybe it was the fact that I sacrificed some power for portability; or maybe it was the unshakable feeling that I had just taken a big gamble. But something was definitely amiss.

Regardless, the reservations I had weren't enough to stop me from ripping into the machine the minute I got home. I installed some more RAM, took off the bottom of the case to put in an AirPort card and spent most of the night setting up both OS 9 and OS X with applications and other goodies. Over the next couple of days, I began to feel more confident about my purchase as I began to appreciate the TiBook's size, elegance, features and power, especially considering the price. I took it with me on a trip to Atlanta later that week, getting some work done at the airport and on the plane, and turning a few heads as I watched the DVD of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" on the TiBook's gorgeous display when I got tired of working. By the time I got back Monday, Oct. 22, I felt pretty damned good about my decision.

Pretty good, that is, until I caught wind of Apple's Tuesday, Oct. 23 release of updated portables. Reading the words hit me like a ton of bricks. Here I thought I was being so cautious: soliciting advice, weighing the options and taking time to come to a decision, which is a far cry from the impulsive nature of the good portion of my electronics purchases. And the specifics! 550 or 667 MHz G4s! 16 MB Mobility Radeon Card! More RAM! More disk space! AND THE PRICES WERE THE SAME. That's when I knew I had gambled and lost. I figured that Apple lowered the prices on the TiBooks to clear out inventory, and that when new ones came out the prices were likely to go back to what they were. If that had happened, I could have lived with my suddenly not-so-hot 400 MHz version. But better TiBooks at the same price made me want to scream bloody murder because I was living the scenario I was specifically trying to avoid. I couldn't have imagined, even in my worst nightmare, that my purchase would be obsolete in the span of seven days.

OK, time to run through the options:

1) Keep it, forget about it, live my life.
2) Take it back to the Apple Store, absorb the 10 percent restocking fee (ouch), and go for the 550.
3) Get a refund on the difference, which Apple offers within ten days of purchase if they happen to introduce new models or lower the price on existing models.

Well, obviously, option 1 went right out the window immediately. So it came down to option 2 or 3. Sure, getting some dough back for my TiBook would have been a pretty good consolation. But I kept coming back to the one thing about the original TiBook that was still bugging me: the graphics card. It was OK running Photoshop and After Effects, but it was a real dog with LightWave. Plus, I was really maxing it out by hooking it up to an external monitor most of the time and using the extended desktop feature. That fact, more than anything else, is what ultimately led me to suck it up and go with option 2. Which, so far, has turned out to be a very good decision. The Radeon card is far and away superior to the Rage Pro found in the earlier models. I also like the redesigned AC adapter much better than that as-bad-or-worse-than-the-hockey-puck-mouse "yo-yo" adapter garbage the old one came with. But, most importantly, I have some peace of mind. If Apple decides to revise them again in January, I can live with that. Two months or more is a hell of a lot better than a week in terms of something becoming obsolete.

So, after paying 10 percent more than I should have for a 550 TiBook, what have I taken away from this somewhat miserable experience? In a nutshell, you can't presume to know the mind of Steve Jobs. Apple's secrecy when it comes to their new products is, as Jackie Childs would say, outrageous, egregious, scandalous. Coming from the PC world, I'm used to hearing about every manufacturer's plans, whether I want to or not. Announcements are frequently made months in advance, and while, unfortunately, a decent amount of it often turns out to be vaporware, you at least have a pretty good idea of what's coming and when so you can formulate your buying plans accordingly. Apple, however, thrives on keeping as tight a lid as possible about what they have up their sleeve. While that tactic works like a charm for them, it's maddening for a consumer trying to make a rational hardware decision.

Yes, I know that life could be a lot worse. And, of course, there are much more important things going on these days that I should be ranting and raving about. But I'm not exactly made of money here, and purchasing a new system isn't even close to a trivial task for me. Creative professionals need and deserve to have more information about products than Apple's willing to give. I wonder if Apple's demand of product secrecy at any cost may actually turn off some potential customers. Those who need to put plans to paper from several months out may not have enough information about future Apple offerings to be able to specify Macs as the hardware of choice instead of PC components that have been announced ahead of time.

At any rate, I'm probably just bitter about the whole experience and am overreacting. I also sincerely hope this is the last time I visit this subject. Twice is enough already. Because if there ever is a third installment of this saga, I'll at least be smart enough not to write about it.

Filed under: Opinion on November 12th, 2001

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