Fifteen years of Mac usage (sort of) - Wow, where's the time gone? What Macs have you owned?

Feek

Feek

Feek

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I can't believe it's been fifteen years since I first started playing around with OS X and a little less time since I got my first Apple hardware *blush*. Earlier this year I thought it'd be interesting to write a list of what I've used over the years and how I got into the Apple ecosystem and so here it is. I've not included things like iPods, iPhones, AppleTV, HomePods, AirPods, etc.

November 2007
Started running OS X 10.4 Tiger in a VM and playing around with it like that.

March 2008
Set up a Dell laptop as a hackintosh with Leopard 10.5.2 at work, this took a week but it worked. Then I configured my Gigabit motherboard and a new hard drive as a hackintosh. It worked really well and this was the end of my time using Windows at home.

15 August 2008
Bought a second hand (but like new) Mac Pro from @Talbs13. Fitted an 8800 graphics card and extra memory straight away

September 2008
Sold my Windows PC. I'd specced and built this for Vista and because it was decent hardware, it worked perfectly

2 March 2009
Bought a 15" MacBook Pro

13 January 2010
Bought a Mac Mini C2D as a 'family computer' - It's still being used now (2022) with having swapped the HD for an SSD as a headless Windows XP box for some ham radio software

April 2010
Bought an original iPad. I got it from the USA so had it a few weeks before they reached the UK.

May 2010
Sold my MacBook Pro

1st March 2011
Sold my iPad

11th March 2011
Bought iPad 2 (still using it for a clock in my shack). I did the whole 'queue up at the store on launch day' to get this.

29th June 2011
Mac Pro destroyed by lightning

19th July 2011
Ordered base spec 27" i5 iMac

26th October 2011
Bought 27" 3.4GHz i7 iMac with 2Tb HD, 256Gb SSD and AMD Radeon HD 6970M 2Gb that I combined into a Fusion drive, then swapped the 2Tb HD for a 4Tb HD and finally split the Fusion drive.
Delivered 2nd November, the 2Tb HD was noisy and vibrated through the case.
Spoke to AppleCare who ordered a replacement unit.
Noisy iMac collected 7th November, replacement delivered 8th November.

14th Dec 2016
Bought m7 MacBook refurb from Apple

10th August 2017
Bought i7 27" 5k Retina iMac. Top spec 4.2GHz, quad core, Radeon Pro 580 with 8Gb and 1Tb SSD. Added an extra 32Gb RAM to take it to 40Gb.

19th October 2017
Sold the 2011 i7 iMac to @Captain

November 2019
Sold the 2011 i5 iMac to my mate Pete

10th November 2020 (launch date)
Bought M1 MacBook Air 8/8/16/512 (delivered 23rd November)

1st December 2020
Sold 2016 MacBook

26th April 2022
Ordered Mac Studio Ultra with 2Tb SSD
Mac Studio display with height/tilt stand

21st June 2022
Bought Studio display with standard tilt stand

22nd July 2022
Mac Studio delivered and set up
iMac moved from radio shack to office where I now use it to RDP into work laptop


I don't expect to be buying anything else for the foreseeable future, what I've got should last me quite a while.

All this from initially trying out OS X in a VM :cry:

What Macs have you owned over the years? I expect a lot have had older machines than me and it'll be interesting to see what you've had (I don't expect a list like this).
 
I started back in 2006 when the new MacBook pros were released. I've owned pros and airs but gave all that up three years ago and now use my iPad Pro only.
I also own a M1 Mac Mini but that's run headless as a media streamer.
 
I remember saving money from my sunday job (at about age 15) to buy a base spec 21 inch iMac (c. 2008). I then got a 2012 15" Macbook Pro (the first with the retina screen) for Uni which died a death by drowning in 2014, I also got the Iphone 5 in 2012 I think it was. The laptop was replaced with the updated model in 2014. In 2021 it started playing up with strange issues from HDMI connection, it ended up being replaced with a 2021 16" model. That's all my Macs, just come back into the Apple ecosystem this year by bying a 13 Pro and an Ipad Pro 3rd gen. Enjoying being back at the moment!
 
Wowa, I've no idea what I've owned over the years. Started with the plastic Macbook in 2008 I think (when Leopard was released). I've had most of the MBP releases from the unibody onward. Fave was the 17" - loved that laptop! Least fave? Probably the first i9 unit. Too hot and had all kinds of weird issues. Edited to add a couple of the 12" Macbooks too - loved the idea, but they never quite performed well enough for me.

Had various Mac Minis (still have a coupe of i7/64GB units kicking about) but I don't 'use' those as such - they're hosts for other things.

Had a 2010 iMac, then a 2015 I think, followed by an iMac Pro and then a 2019 iMac.

Doesn't bear thinking about in terms of costs! Current daily is a 16MBP, 10 Core/64GB RAM/2TB unit.
 
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I had several years away from the platform, but started off with a glorious, fabulous, amazing eMac back in the day.

Then it was very much a Mac Pro from 2007ish which lasted me until 2011ish, but really from 2008-2012 I went through a phase of only using Windows 95% of the time as I was super into gaming. Got a 2013 Macbook Air to get me back into the game and it's been upgrading every few years from there. Mac Mini 2012 was a long stay as was the Air 2013 and didn't upgrade until 2017 and got a Macbook Pro and then upgraded to M1 Mini and Macbook Pro and then got the itch and went for a M1 Pro 16" which was very much overkill.
 
2005 - original Mac mini, sold as I just couldn’t get on with it

2011 - i5 Mac mini with Radeon 6670m and external Thunderbolt ssd, sold to part fund…

… 2011 iMac 27 with the Thunderbolt ssd shifted over

2011 MacBook Air 11

Sold the iMac and MacBook Air after having a 42nd birthday crisis in my head

Picked up a Mac mini i7 among the way that ended up being a media server for a while

2020 - Mac mini M1

2021 - MacBook Air M1

Keeping the last two for a long time, bar acts of $deity$ or some other shiny tech toys coming out
 
Only owned a few Mac Mini's and Hackintosh's over the years but lucky to have been able to use Mac's since the G3 iMac OS8 days due to school/uni/work etc.
Really wished i had owned either a black Powerbook G4 or C2D Macbook though as both looked immense :(
 
2007 24" iMac (one with the CD-RW on the side slot, Firewire)
2010 MBP base model 13"
2012 i7 iMac, with i7 but base RAM which I upgraded to 32G
2018 13" MBP with Quad Core i7, 16G Ram

Not that many for 15 years and the 2012 iMac is still my main computer at home! I still have them all.
 
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My first Mac was an iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2013).



Then in July 2015 I moved to a 2015 15" MacBook Pro as I was traveling to and from the office a few times a week.



In December 2017 I moved back to PC until July 2019 where I went for a Mac Mini with the 24" LG Ultrafine. A few months later I then added the BlackMagic eGPU because the Intel iGPU was terrible.



I also tested out the base 13" MacBook Pro instead of the Mac Mini but returned that.

In Feb 2020 I moved back to Windows again until November 2020 where I picked up the M1 MacBook Air.



That lasted until Feb 2021 where I moved back to Windows again. Then in May 2021 I picked up a M1 24" iMac.



I eventually sold that in June 2022 and moved to a 14" M1Pro MacBook and Apple Studio Display.



Returned those and moved back to Windows briefly before grabbing a 16" M1Pro MacBook Pro in September 2022.



That lasted a few weeks before I built the PC I am using today.



Edit:

Forgot to add, I bought and returned multiple 27" 5K iMacs as well in there. Also had a 27" LG Ultrafine 5k for a short period.
 
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LiE said:
I really hope not :D

The 16" MacBook Pro was good, but it cost similar to this PC (Intel 13600K, RTX 3090, 32GB RAM, 4K 144hz) which is better for my work and allows me to play games.
Click to expand...
But you can't take your PC on the train or on holiday easily.
 
Oh I've missed some Air units off my list, including the little 11" one. My daughter currently has an M1 Air and won't be parted with it.

It's kinda terrifying looking at my receipt dump of anything with 'Apple' in it. I'm off for a lay down.
 
13" Pro (2013 era)
15" Pro (2014 era)
iMac 27" 4k (2017 era)
12" MacBook (2017? era)
13" Pro (2017 era)
Intel Mini (2019 or so)
M1 Air
14" Pro

I think that's it. I'm missing out the iPads and iPhones.
 
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