Getting seriosuly snubbed by my PC friends

Its like reverse racism almost. All my computer friends that could have cared less one way or the other, all of a sudden, seem to be snubbing me because I bought a Mac...a "Quackintosh" as one puts it. I get poked at occasionally, asked how my Fisher-Price toy handles on the web, and get asked a lot of (in my opinion, meaningless) benchmark questions in order to "prove" the superiority of their PCs.

I get the full verbal rub on how much I paid in comparison to theirs, get ridiculed in raids in WOW..."hurry up, he's on a Mac and it could blow up at ANY TIME!" Any conversation that steers close to computers, I find myself on the short end of the joke, and I'm sick of it. Hodges burns music for everyone...but wait, Jimmy's got a Mac, can your widdle machine handle it? John sends everyone a link...and makes sure and mention in a CC that hopefully Jimmy's aluminum toy can bring it up. "It speaks Klingon" they say. Web Forums I've belonged to for years now have virtual rednecks catcalling me for buying a Mac. I'm sick of it!

I consider myself to be reasonably intelligent. I've built countless PCs, managed several sites, and researched the poo out of my next computer choice before I got a Mac. I believe I got the right computer for me, so why am I being made to feel guilty for it? Why am I suddently the red-headed stepchild of the technology world now that I bought an Apple?

Does it get better? Did your friends, both online and IRL eventually accept youir decision and move on, or do they continue to go all 3rd grade on you forever?

Jealousy rears its ugly head.
People don't like change. If everyone you knew drove Fords and you bought a Honda, they would harass you for that too. If it's harmless joking around, no big deal. If people are truly being mean then they're not your real friends anyways.

They're just po'd that they did not have enough intelligence to by a Mac. Luckily, nonoe of my friends have resorted to being 3rd. graders about my choice to move to a Mac.

Or you could step down to their level lol and start throwing pokes back at them like, how many crashes they have, viruses, blue screens of death, driver problems, slow booting times etc etc etc
Of course that is probably a massive step down to their level by the sounds of it.

- Simon

Wow..how old are you and your friends?? Such idiotic behavior is barely passable for someone who hasn't reached their teens yet..but anyone beyond that should seriously grow up..

I, like you, have built numerous PC's over time and have upgraded it countless times more since I am a gamer and that endless cycle pushed me over the edge and made me a console gamer. I hadn't used Windows on my home machine for years mainly using Linux for everything. I only use Windows at work and that too because I'm too lazy to fight the Microsoft tools/integration nightmare..at home I finally switched over to a Mac about 1.5 years ago and yes I paid way more for this than my previously built PC but I don't care..my money..I do what I want with it..

I don't see the need or the inclination to explain my decisions or computing habits to anyone..and neither should you..

There's something to be said about ignoring people that surely have the maturity of a rock..

Regards

Raz0rEdge said:

Wow..how old are you and your friends?? Such idiotic behavior is barely passable for someone who hasn't reached their teens yet..but anyone beyond that should seriously grow up..

I, like you, have built numerous PC's over time and have upgraded it countless times more since I am a gamer and that endless cycle pushed me over the edge and made me a console gamer. I hadn't used Windows on my home machine for years mainly using Linux for everything. I only use Windows at work and that too because I'm too lazy to fight the Microsoft tools/integration nightmare..at home I finally switched over to a Mac about 1.5 years ago and yes I paid way more for this than my previously built PC but I don't care..my money..I do what I want with it..

I don't see the need or the inclination to explain my decisions or computing habits to anyone..and neither should you..

There's something to be said about ignoring people that surely have the maturity of a rock..

Regards

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Finely put sir, I take my hat off to you (if I had one on)

- Simon

heres what you say back to them:

"I am using a PC. I just use a different operating system."

My advice is to ignore them because most of the haters, in Mac vs PC and in other areas of life, are ideologues. You're offending their sensibilities by making a choice they wouldn't make. And nothing you say is going to change their mind because they're not interested in having a real discussion. Go on about your day, enjoy your Mac, and don't worry about them.

If you really want some ammunition, I can give you some anecdotes from my experience since switching three years ago, but you may be disappointed by the result. You might as well try explaining carbon dating to a Young Earth theorist, or Climate Change to a Republican.

Your "friends" sound like PRETTY PRINCESSES, quite frankly. Personally speaking, I wouldn't be too moved by their melodrama, unless of course you find their rants justified because they're right?

Like yourself, I've also come from a Windows background, and have also used Linux. Every machine I've run in my life was built by me. I'll admit, that if this were a decade or so ago, I might have made similar digs at my Mac owning friends. But not to the extent of taking myself seriously. OS X has come a long way since a decade ago, especially given the migration to Intel architecture.

If your friends take pride in calling OS X an OS with training wheels because they can't imagine not having to spend half of their time tinkering in order to maintain stability, then that's their issue, not yours. Okay, so you have to take a bit of crap for the fact that OS X isn't a good gaming platform... but if that's the only reason to own a computer, then it's also an easy thing to fix. Dual boot!

Go ask your "friends" exactly what it is they think you're not able to accomplish with OS X that they're able to. I'm super curious. If you get nothing but mocking answers, then it's safe to say they're just not informed or bright. Ignorant, to say the least.

Doug

Yeah I thought I was well beyond these nap-time antics, I'm 37 for goodness sake. Thankfully its good-natured rubbing for the most part from IRL friends around town, although a lot of "friends" online that seem to think they are the 2nd coming with the PC are the worst. I've never really encountered this behavior before, granted I've only had my Mac for just under 2 weeks.

I, like Raz0redge, have largely become a console gamer (I think my gamerscore speaks for itself). I've got my rocking gaming chair, a mini-fridge, and a 32" television for gaming, what do I care if my computer has SLI or not? I'm coming to the conclusion that its a matter of personality. I drive a small hatchback because I like it. It gets good milage and is fun. My truck friends probably don't get it. Good comparison there.

I've just never exprienced computer teasing before, and its weird as I LOVE BARBIES.

Way too much thought going in to this....it's just a computer...

Yeah your probably right, Codda. I just don't know where all the anti-Mac hostility is coming from.

Im looking at how upset you are about your friends ridiculing you for your Mac.
Ill be very frank here, yes its wrong and childish as others have mentioned, BUT mate i would be looking at home and see why i get so upset.
That is just me. DONT let it worry you. You have no reason to come back to them trying to defend yourself, but i would be looking at why you are so upset about it. There could be further underlying mental problems (being serious and no dig at you)

I have gone through a lot of sh1t over the years and the Veteran Affairs counselling i had always state not to let things get to you and if you do you have to look at why, bc 99% of the time there is another problem in the mind......

As i said this isnt a attack on you, but maybe you need to look a little deeper.

To thwart your problem, just look at them smile and say "yep no worries, your right" and that should shut them up. Dont fight it as that is what the d icks are looking for

Cheers

Perhaps I came off wrong (easy to do online when others can't see you or hear the inflections in your voice).

Its not bothing me, persay,and I'm not upset. Never was. I'm just not sure where all the anti-Mac hostility (particularly online) is coming from. I'm not some mentally-fragile guy who whines when others point and laugh at me, quite the opposite. I've just not experienced PC-rasism before.

My initial point was to ask if anyone else if anyone else has experienced this (and I'm sure some have).

^^^^^ sorry mate took it ways out of context. Didnt mean that

But FYI mentally-fragile people have deeper problems as well.
What people dont realise and like to brush people off with a mental problem, but it is a disease and should be seen as such. We are not just mentally-fragile at all. Some chemicals just are not in some peoples brains.

Good luck with it all, but dont give it back bc thats what they want. It will p1ss them off more if it doesnt affect you

Cheers

Admitting you use a Mac to WoW players is social suicide. Don't do it!

Whenever someone gives you crap, ask them, if they have anything better to do like viruses to scan for. Or maybe, throw out a couple of the "it just works", they laugh, but don't let them get the best of you. You just got to play along. Most of these WoW players don't even know how much their computer costs, cause their parents bought them that computer.

iWhat said:

Good luck with it all, but dont give it back bc thats what they want. It will p1ss them off more if it doesnt affect you

Cheers

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I suspect thats a lot of it. I typically don't respond to jeers and cat-calls.

iWhat said:

Admitting you use a Mac to WoW players is social suicide. Don't do it!

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HA! Don't I know it. I figured that out the hard way. I was deep in a raid with some friends and one of them commented he couldn't hear my turbine-like fan from my computer over the microphone. "oh, I got a new Mac...its much quieter."

...and the insanity began online. Next time I keep my trap shut.

Phacade said:

Yeah your probably right, Codda. I just don't know where all the anti-Mac hostility is coming from.

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you are obviously very new to this... "phenomenon"

Phacade said:

HA! Don't I know it. I figured that out the hard way. I was deep in a raid with some friends and one of them commented he couldn't hear my turbine-like fan from my computer over the microphone. "oh, I got a new Mac...its much quieter."

...and the insanity began online. Next time I keep my trap shut.

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Uh-oh, I guess you walked right into that one. lol

People always get made fun of for their mics. We had one guy play on his laptop, and it seriously sounded like ghosts weeping in the background, whenever we talked. Then, we had another who sounded like he was flying a plane. It's also funny, when you can recognize the person by them just leaving their mic open.