Now, I know that this topic of conversation (or blogging, or typing) is quite geeky, and a little bit sad, and will cause me to start wearing dodgy tee shirts and specs, but I’m going to talk about it anyway. Apple Macs. WAIT – please don’t abandon your reading straight off. I promise I won’t stray too far into the land of Geekdom. I shall alight the train at the Slighty Nerdy platform, and stray no further.
I work in a Mac establishment. All the computers are Macs. All the laptops are Macs. Everything. In fact, PCs only come into view on rare occasions, and in a rather hush-hush way at that. My previous job involved PCs, as I am sure is true for most people. I think I only saw a Mac about twice, and after looking at it and thinking it was very pretty, I sort of got lost and didn’t really know what to do with it.
So, imagine my near-horror when I got a job working in the IT Department (again, please don’t judge me too harshly, I am honestly a fairly normal person!) of a place where Macs are prevalent. The first day I got there, the computer was already switched on for me – good times. So I did some thing and stuff (most of it was relatively similar to using a PC) and at the end of the day, I had a little look at it, and decided that I would look for the power switch before turning it off. So I looked for the big box bit under the desk. Only there wasn’t one. There was just the screen. So I surreptitiously had a quick peek to see where the wires went – always a giveaway. But the wires didn’t go anywhere. They just ran from the back of this screen to the mouse and keyboard. Hmmm…from this I could only conclude that the screen WAS the computer. And yes, I was right, all the shiny Mac-ness is wrapped up in a screen no thicker than the average laptop. Magic. This didn’t, however, help my quest for the power button. So I chickened out. I left the computer on. Logged out, but on. Wussy I know, but I honestly couldn’t bring myself to ask where the power switch was. It would be a silly enough question from a Muggle, but from a member of the IT Department it would be professionally suicide.
So the following day, my sleuthing continued. After an admittedly ridiculously long time, I finally managed to locate the magic button on the back of the screen. But not in an obvious way, oh no. You see, design is a big word in the land of the Mac. Beauty and practically merge to produce something that not only works very well, but also looks extremely good whilst doing it. So the power button was located on the back of the screen, so as not to mar the aesthetics of the front, and was flush with the screen itself, so that it looked as good as possible, and didn’t upset the sleek fabulousness with an ugly button. Clever, pretty, but also mildly flummoxing.
Well, you will be pleased to know (or maybe just moderately interested) that I have since developed a fairly good knowledge of all things Mac, and also a love of their considered design and all-round brilliance. As a previous Mac-scorner, I have turned the corner and seen the light. And yes, in the manner of all sort-of-geeks, I now feel the need to tell everyone about it…sorry!
