Earlier today, Apple announced its next iPhone, the iPhone 4S. To me, the most significant part of this announcement is that the iPhone is finally coming to Sprint. Melissa and I have been on Sprint for many, many years; and she longer than me. I only had a work-provided cell phone until we added a line to her plan somewhere around 2005. Since 2005, I have had a long list of cell phones that I have absolutely hated, culminating with my current Samsung Intercept. My Intercept is an Android-powered phone, and it often crashes when I try to use the slider to answer a call, or gives me messages like “android.app phone dialer has unexpectedly quit” or just turns itself off for no reason whatsoever.
So, with today’s announcement of Sprint getting the iPhone 4S – which all but guarantees that Melissa and I will be shedding ourselves of these damnable Intercepts and getting said iPhone 4S at the earliest moment available to us – I thought it might be fun to recap my history with Apple products.
I started using Apple computers at work around 1996; I used a Performa to do page layout for my tennis media guide that year, even though I had a Windows 95 machine on my desk. I finally caved to my boss and replaced my Windows machine with a Mac — a Power Macintosh G3 desktop model running MacOS 8 — in 1997. I also had a Dell Inspiron laptop that I took on the road and used for in-game statistics, which I actually liked quite a bit. I upgraded to a Power Macintosh G4, which I still think had a pretty awesome case, in 1999 when I became the Internet coordinator at K-Sate. I also bought a G4 for the house in 1999, as well, to replace Laurie’s Performa.
I moved to Bemidji to become the head SID at Bemidji State in 2001, and had one of the fantastic new titanium Powerbook G4s waiting for me. I used my first Powerbook G4 for three years and beat the absolute hell out of it, and it just kept right on ticking. I got a new one when our school’s laptop program rolled over in 2003; I had the new one for a year, then passed it down to my assistant and bought a new one for myself when his computer quit in 2004.
Also in 2003, I went insane with a sense of post-divorce euphoria and sprung for a dual-processor PowerMac G5 with the 24″ Cinema Display. I had absolutely no business buying that computer, but I did it anyway. And y’know what? I still have it, and I still use it multiple times weekly (if even only to move files back and forth from it to my laptop). It’s been a fabulous machine.
I got a MacBook Pro through work in 2006 and replaced it a year or two later when I again passed it down to an assistant who needed a new machine and got a new one for myself. I changed jobs and left sports info in 2007, and had an iMac to use on my desk. It was the first time in more than 10 years I didn’t have access to a laptop, and I didn’t much like it. 
I traded my plastic iMac in for one of the beautiful aluminum models in 2009, but only had that for a year before I moved it to one of our design students and got a MacBook Pro again. I’ve had this computer for two years now, and it’s pretty great. I would imagine I’ve got another year or two on it, and I’ll trade it in for a new MacBook – by that time, I’m hoping they have a 15″ form factor for the MacBook Air.
So, to recap; here’s a timeline of my usage of Macs and other Apple products; in total, since 1996 I’ve had at least 14 Macs that have been “mine” either personally or through work, and I also have an iPod and an iPad; additionally, I’ve bought an iPod and a 14th Mac for Melissa. Beyond that, I’ve probably approved the purchase of several dozen other Apple computers in the last 15 years through work; for example, we have 18 Apple computers in our office and in our Athletic Media Relations office, and I believe I have been involved in the purchase of every one of them — there may be one exception.
• 1996-99: Performa
• 1997-99: Power Macintosh G3
• 1999-2001: Power Macintosh G4 (at work)
• 1999-2002: Power Macintosh G4 (at home)
• 2001-06: three Titanium Powerbook G4s
• 2003-present: Power Macintosh G5 (this beast still sits in my office at home and I use it pretty frequently as a file server)
• 2006-08: two MacBook Pro 15″
• 2008-09: Intel iMac, white plastic case
• 2008: bought Melissa an iPod Touch for our anniversary
• 2009-10: Intel iMac, aluminum case
• 2009: bought Melissa a 15″ MacBook Pro for her birthday
• 2009-present: 2007-model MacBook Pro (Melissa’s hand-me-down)
• 2009-present: MacBook Pro 15″
• 2010-present: iPod Touch 2G
• 2010-present: iPad
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