With the imminent release of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard and it’s published minimum system requirements, I’m reminded of how many of our clients here at The MacDoctor continue to successfully run older and less glamorous machines than the current line of Intel Core Duo based models. In fact there seems to be a pretty even split between new switchers with Intel based iMacs and Macbooks, and longer term Mac users with G3 and G4 Power PC based machines. It’s heartening to know that the shelf life of an Apple computer, in so many peoples’ experience, is 5-6 years and sometimes longer. It’s proved a pretty sound investment when you see the quality and quantity of work produced, together with the pleasure many of those individuals and companies have been able to extract from Cupertino’s efforts over the last half decade.
In large part we have Mac OS X to thank for this. For while in earlier editions (10.1/10.2) it showed more promise than than reliability, with the advent of 10.3 and latterly 10.4, it’s been in many people’s experience the most robust, solid and user friendly operating system for your day to day computing use, that most people have ever experienced. Apples’ claim to be at root, simply a software company, has never been truer. For the machines themselves have been no big shakes. I’m sure contemporary PC machines stack up just as well if not better in the technical specs stakes. But it’s been the Mac OS and associated applications that have made all the difference.
I don’t know about you, but a 5 year old PC always looks tired and about ready for the scarp heap to me. Like bad Special FX from a slightly dated Hollywood movie. But a well tuned Mac with a new operating system and a little RAM, can seem like a new machine. Aside from very intensive video, graphics and music applications, most day to day computing tasks and requirements can comfortably take place on any mac from the last 5-7 years. To borrow a popular American political slogan from the 90’s, it’s about the software stupid.
