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

I was one of those who just didn’t get mac, I was fully fledged windows user.

Had an iPod (photo i think was the first one i got).

Got an iphone 2g (had everyone since), then added an iPad to the mix but just didn’t want or feel i a mac was the way to go.

Younger brother bought a MPB and said it was great. I had a shot of it and bought one, haven’t looked back since.

CSB.

LSS - MBP 2014 :D
 
Then I used OS X and it all changed.
Same here. The only reason I use Windows is because of PC Games, work stuff and the few few times there's an app I need and it's not on Mac, I'll fire up a VM.

If I could play the games I do on my Mac which I play on PC, I wouldn't have a PC at all.

Windows 10 to me is tolerable, Windows 11 is just awful.
 
I got my first Mac in April this year when I started a new job. It's a 16" MBP. It's really an incredible bit of kit; after having it for six months, I'm now able to get it to perform simple I.T professional jobs such as writing documents and spreadsheets, it's incredible 90s tech.
 
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).
From 2000 first PC till 2005 I was using and building as a business desktops with Windows. Then sold the desktop and for travel convenience bought a Toshiba Satellite Pro in 2005 with XP Pro and it is still used today. Then in 2010 wanted to get into Apple Mac, so I bought the 13" MacBook Pro with Snow Leopard. Really enjoyed the move and it was updated to El Capitan. It is still now in use. But as browsers showed security issues, in December 2021 bought Mac Mini M1 and I am very pleased at its speed. Now just updated seamlessly to OS Ventura it has no faults. Will stay with Mac till my dying day.
 
May 2006 - Picked up a Mac Mini of some description on a whim whilst on holiday in Seattle.

February 2008 - Bought a 13" C2D Macbook.

April 2010 - Bought an i7 15" Macbook Pro. C2D Macbook sold to my brother.

June 2021 - Bought a 13" Macbook Air.

I had a Dell laptop running as a Hackintosh at some point too, but can't remember when.
 
MBP with 6800GT increased CPU and ram. That died by the GPU desoldering itself.
I got a mac mini i5 with upgraded RAM. Still have this.

MBP with ATI radeon increased CPU and RAM. That died by the GPU desoldering itself for a second time after having the logic board replaced.
I got a i7 hex core mac mini and stuck 32GB of RAM. It’s my daily computer that runs VMs, and LTSpice etc.
 
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Holy **** ! You ACTUALLY moved to windows? :cry:

I've been flip flopping for years, I even have a dedicated thread over on MacRumours.

 
What makes you think I moved to Windows? Hell would have to freeze over before I did that!

You running them side by side? I assumed....

I've been flip flopping for years, I even have a dedicated thread over on MacRumours.


EDIT: hold on that was @LiE that posted the pics not you! oops!
 
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Wow what a list for some!

2009 - MacBook Pro with Nvidia GPU, i think 9400m

Went back to home built PC’s for years, mostly gaming, photo editing

2018 - picked up a 2016 MBP i7 15“ 16gb, 512SSD, still just about going although several keys have failed :mad:

2018 - Picked up a specced out Mac mini i7 6 core, 64GB ram, 256gb SSD - booted externally off 2TB NVME & Had Vega 56 via TB3 (loved this beast mac!) :)

2022 - MBP M1 Max 16”, 64GB Ram, 2TB SSD - now my main machine & will use it as long as it runs well, mostly photo work again. :cool:
 
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