jonathaneliva: Julie’s Gadget Diary – Goodbye iMac, You Will be Missed

Friday, August 24, 2012

Julie’s Gadget Diary – Goodbye iMac, You Will be Missed

The title of this post didn’t make you think I was leaving Apple and going back to Windows, did it? It will be a cold day in … when that happens. No folks, I’m still happy to be an Apple addict. But I’m bidding farewell to my 27″ iMac, because I’m trading it in for credit at Powermax.com. Although it’s still in prefect working order, it’s only a few weeks away from turning 3yrs old. Powermax is giving me a really good price for it, so I thought I should take advantage while I can. What will I use the credit for?

My first thought was to use the credit on a 27″ cinema display. However, I changed my mind for two reasons. One reason is that if I was going to buy a cinema display, I’d want one with Thunderbolt. The only problem is that my Macbook Air doesn’t have Thunderbolt. But it wasn’t till I was talking to Rob about this idea that he made me realize how crazy and frivolous it would be to spend almost a grand on a monitor. He was completely right…

Now I’ve decided to take the trade in value for my iMac and just sit on it for awhile. My plan is to use my 2yr old 13″ Macbook Air as my main computer and wait awhile to use that credit to upgrade to a Macbook Pro or another Macbook Air with a retina display (hopefully) sometime next year. At that time, I’ll trade it in to Powermax too. The nice thing is that Powermax allows you to save your credit for up to one year. I’ve traded an iMac and a Macbook Pro to them before and have always had a good experience dealing with them.

I spent Sunday afternoon copying all my data off the iMac and on to an external drive. When I unplugged the iMac last night and boxed it up, it marked the end of an era for me. It will be the first time since I started using computers, that I won’t be using a desktop as my main machine. Back in the day I always had Windows desktops… mainly ones I had built myself. But in 2005, I switched to Apple and have been using an iMac since that time. I’ve had a Macbook Air for 2 yrs that I mainly used on the couch and on vacations. But now it’s going to be my one and only machine.

Going from a 27″ display down to a 13″ display is definitely going to require some adjustment. Luckily, I have 2 small USB monitors that I can use when I need extra screen space while working at my desk.

I just need a dock of some sort to give me some extra powered USB ports and Ethernet jack. Maybe this one from BookEndz would do the trick. Anyone have any experience with it? I know I’ll still want to use the MBA for couch surfing, so I need something to make it less annoying to unplug various cables when I want to grab it and go.

I think I’ll get along just fine with the MBA as my main computer and will probably wonder why I didn’t make the switch from desktop to laptop years ago.

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