Why do people hate me for using a Mac...

I have always used Macs at school and I have always loved them. I have owned an iPod for about 4 years (im not that rich). I always wanted to own a Mac because i think there the greatest, but never had the money to buy one. So my friend sold me his mac that was just under a year old for 400 dollars. Im on it all the time fastinated on the performance and quality of use i get. I have gotten rid of everything and anything that has to do with windows and pc. I am only using Mac products. People always come to me saying that you only have a Mac because someone sold it to you and didnt want it anymore, and make fun of me for using a Mac saying there strange and overexpensive, and they dont do anything, i know thats not true, but i just dont know what to say or do.

I have been down that road many times with even close friends. Hey, I know what I am doing and know what works for me so let them laugh. At the end of the day I am usually smiling while they might be doing a virus and spyware scan!

I generally laugh at people like that. My line is something along the lines of "I use a PC because I have to, I use a Mac because I want to. I know how to use both and know what works best for me". That seems to shut most people up.

thx

i will try that and that is true

Most people associate Mac users as yuppie's or treehuggers

Just to play a little devil's advocate, do you say anything to antagonize them? You seem to be pretty enamored with your new computer as you mentioned you won't even use any MS software. Maybe you're talking it up a lot because you're proud of it, but your friends could take that as a dig at their own computers. So they may feel like they have to defend their own choice in computing.

I just want to say that there's nothing wrong with liking Macs and using some MS software IMHO MS Office is still the most powerful and versatile office suite available, and nothing on the market can touch MS Money yet.

I'm not saying that it's wrong to enjoy and be proud of what you have. Just don't try to flaunt it and become an annoying fanboy.

I have found that when I tell people that I recently switched to Mac, they understand why. I have also found such open arms from other Mac owners. It's like I just joined an elite club of computer owners who know that they have a great product in common.

Yeah, I find that since the Mac community is smaller and has that underdog status, it's generally warmer and more close-knit.

As far as people making fun of you or insulting you for using a Mac, that's just immature and rubbish. Everyone has different needs and preferences, they should respect yours.

Now a story of a different kind about someone who thought Macs were inferior.....

My apartment is multiplatform, PCs and Macs co-habitating the place, had a friend over one fine day and I was online via the main PC and she was on the bed (bach suite and I opted for a real bed over a hide-a-bed).

She wanted to get to a web site so I told her to flip on the monitor closest to the bed, which is connected to my Mini....she was lost......So I went over and fired up Safari.....let's just say this was a few weeks ago and more visits to use the Mini and now she's the proud owner of a iMac and has gone multiplatform too.

Events like this just shows that a Mac can attract new users, she likes her new iMac but I find myself going over there soon to Bootcamp it, she plans on tossing the PC she has. Then again that's an upgrade cause XP can only do so much on a P2 333 !

But she is liking Leopard and what it's got to offer. Stability, user friendliness and it's quite speedy and she can even see that on my eMac which isn't the late breaking Core Duo but a G4 !

Im not 100 percent against Microsoft, i still use a few Microsoft products, like i had bootcamp and dual booted, i liked the performance but the video card wasnt all that great and it had problems booting, it installs but it keeps saying something about not beeing able to access the other hard drives in the grub boot loader, so i just took it off. I do talk highly of my Mac its really fascinating to me. But there are a couple programs that arent yet for mac, like some of the games i play and some of the programs. I do talk say bad stuff about windows like im just sick of it, but then when i run some windows programs on my mac they think im hypecritical, and i think i should have a right to run whatever i want as i please.

Being more of a devils advocate . . .

The thread prompted my to do some scientific statistical analysis. This is what I came up with;

Of the people I meet, 94% of them either don't ask me what kind of computer I use, or I neglect to tell them.

Of the 6% that do find out, 10% of them use a Mac too.

Of the remaining 5.4%, 75% of them show utter indifference, leaving 1.35% with an opinion. These range from mild (Oh, really? I have never tried one. Did you see the Grand Prix on Sunday?) - that would be around 30%, leaving 0.945% showing a medium reaction (Oh really? I tried one once and couldn't find Explorer), or in some cases a strong and strident response (Oh really? I have [Windows/Linux], it's better'.

For the sake of clarity, I will split those right down the middle and call it 0.4725% each.

I did find however, that when I went to someone with a Windows box and informed them of why they have made the wrong choice, 93.7% of them said 'Whatever', and the rest of them hurled scalding coffee in my face.

So, The conclusion from my own analysis is that Starbucks coffee is slightly more robust than Costas house brew, although both sting a little unless extra soy milk is added.

From my experiences I've noticed these 7 sins to explain why come people hate Apple users. (In my opinions)

Lust: They think they don't need to own an Apple product to tell them they will not be having sex in a long while. So they just stick their noses in their PC's and do little else with their lives.

Gluttony: Not with food but free programs. They don't know or want to accept that there is a lot of good free/cheap games and apps for the Mac too.

Greed: Having the most powerful/spec'd computer is like a fast car to others. A status symbol. And gives them bragging rights. But they forget that a Mac with half the power of their PC can do twice as much.

Sloth: To lazy or stubborn to switch. Too busy glued to their chair fixing their windows problems or playing games. And therefore no time left to go to an Apple store.

Wrath: They secretly or sometimes openly have a hatred to Apple users. I don't know why but are willing to taunt/hurt the Apple users because of their uncontrollable anger.

Envy: They secretly envy all of the worlds multiserver mainframe computers. And want their computer to be the same with the T1 net connection etc. But they forget that many of these massive servers are a large stack (a few hundred) Apple Xserves. (or whatever they're called).

Pride: They want to be in the so called "in crowd" with their friends. And they think they friends will pay them out if they ever found out he/she owns a Mac. So he sticks with PCs because he/she thinks it makes him/her cool.

Honestly, I think the answer to your question is reflected in your signature:

Think Differently.Key to Success - Never Travel without a Mac and always own a Mac

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This screams "rabid fanboy" to me, which would certainly color my reaction to your choice of computer.

My advice? Use and enjoy your computer and don't try to "spread the good news", as nobody likes an evangelist. Macs work well for some, but not for others - just because it works well for you doesn't mean it wouldn't be horrible for someone else.

Why do people hate me for using a Mac?...
(they) make fun of me for using a Mac saying there strange and overexpensive, and they dont do anything, i know thats not true, but i just dont know what to say or do.

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I will answer that with another question:

Why would you really care what anyone else thinks about your personal computer of choice?

Is it really worth your time and effort to put this much thought into coming up with a response for these people?
No, it isn't.
By your own admission, they don't know what they are talking about, so why bother trying to "correct" them?
They want you to respond... they are baiting you into some sort of infantile anti-Apple argument... and you seem to be falling hook, line and sinker for it.

You don't need to say or do anything.
Simply ignore them.

To answer your question, because you probably annoyed them.

To further the conversation, I truly do feel the way you do. I know what you mean but I keep all those feelings to myself because I wouldn't want to hear it from anyone else. I am new to Macintosh computers and I am LOVING IT. I have always wanted to get one but my husband kept nixing it saying things like, "it's a whole new creature". Well, YEAH!! Duh. But I didn't rock the boat.

Well, we have one now, and I love the new creature. I love it very much. But I didn't throw out the PCs. Just relocated them. (I even just picked up an iMac G3 for my daughter's room for $50.00).

As much as I want to go to the tallest building and shout to the rest of the world that I love my iMac, I just keep my giddiness to myself
(Except for here--in this post--obviously)

Just don't talk to them about your computer so much or in such ways that make it seem like Macs are better than what they are using. You may inadvertently be putting them off (not that you mean to).

D3v1L80Y said:

I will answer that with another question:

Why would you really care what anyone else thinks about your personal computer of choice?

Is it really worth your time and effort to put this much thought into coming up with a response for these people?
No, it isn't.
By your own admission, they don't know what they are talking about, so why bother trying to "correct" them?
They want you to respond... they are baiting you into some sort of infantile anti-Apple argument... and you seem to be falling hook, line and sinker for it.

You don't need to say or do anything.
Simply ignore them.

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While I don't disagree with you, we know that tends to go against human nature. It is more prevalent in some people than others though. Anytime people are challenged they choose to respond in some way. No one should care what computer I choose nor should I care what they choose but we are all human.

Because you're young and slightly insecure?

I mean, no one I know cares what computer I use and if some one just happens to ask, maybe I'll give them a random answer of one of my computers or maybe I'll run down list for them.

15” Apple Macbook Pro Unibody with XP Pro and OS X 1.5.X
15” Apple Mackbook Pro 1st ½ gen, waiting to be sold
Dell tower sitting in the corner waiting for me to put an OS on is
Dell tower with Ubuntu acting as file server duties
Dell Inspiron e1705 with Vista Ultimate pulling game duties until Apple finally sends me the OS X disc they forgot to include in the unibody packaging so I can install drivers.

I mean seriously, how many people would stick around enough to listen to that?

Village Idiot said:

I mean seriously, how many people would stick around enough to listen to that?

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Depending on the people you associate with, anywhere to from none to a lot. I know people who would be more than happy to dissect every single line you just posted and comment on everything from RAM to CPU to Screen size/resolution to your OS of choice.

Village Idiot said:

Because you're young and slightly insecure?

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Good Call!

VI, I am the kind of person that would ask you all details on every system you just listed but then again, that is my hobby, life and interest and also how I make my living.

Kind of like Camera people like to talk about cameras, lens's settings, ETC.

applegeek09 said:

Why do people hate me for using a Mac...

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Because you're obviously superior to them.