Chomper Stomping jQuery/JavaScript/CSS 3/HTML 5, Java/PHP/Python/ActionScript, Git, Chrome/Firefox Extensions, Wordpress/Game/iPhone App Development and other random techie tidbits I've collected

So I've been feeling more and more of an urge to start vLogging. Mostly things like recordings of me building flash games/AJAX sites set at 4x speed to music, or me solving Rubik's cubes (my new goal is to solve the 2x2x2 cube blind-folded), stuff like that.

Windows movie maker is cool and everything, but it just doesn't "do" it for me. Plus my PC can't really do video recording very well ATM (especially because I can't find the video input adapter for my video card).

I keep coming back to the Mac. Honestly, if I had $500 (or however much it cost) laying around to get a Mac mini, I probably would. The problem is, that I'm not made of money, and buying a mac is a big investment. Recently though more and more of my friends have been switching to Mac. At first I could write this off as "well, they use the computer about as much as my mom would, and for similar things". But then my boss (Jason, click the link, it's perfect for this post) at my first job used a mac to program. What? Ok, so I wrote this off as uber-geek trickery. He has somehow ported Unix or Windows programs over or something. It sort of broke my "Macs and AOL are for grandmas" rule, so I didn't try and investigate at all. Then a co-worker at my last job used his Mac to program and GAME. WhatwhatWHAT??? Yep. Ok, so I had to investigate. Turns out he just ran windows on a mac machine. I'm not paying $2000 for a mac just to run windows. But then Brad came along. He seems like somewhat of a gamer, he programs, and he's a big geek like me. So why is he using Mac? It's scary. Could I actually use a Mac? Curiosity makes me want to try.

But I can't just switch, can I? I have about 300GB worth of data on my PCs. Read that again: PCs. I have like six of them. A mac would have to be my secondary box. The one I used just for video editing. Which is why a mac mini would be great. But then there are all sorts of questions... Is it compatible with my ergonomic Microsoft keyboard that I need for my wrists? Is it compatible with my network? Is it compatible with my dell flat-panel monitor? Would I have to set up a whole station just for it, or could it sit next to my dell sandwiched between it and my external USB HD, and could I use one of my KVM switches and just flip back and forth to it?

I would be more willing to buy it if I could have a 30 trial copy to try before I buy. If Mac is so confident in their product, it seems like I should be able to walk into a store, and after giving them my CC# & DL# (in case I didn't bring it back), walk out with a mac-mini. Take it home knowing that I have to return it after 30 days, otherwise they will charge my CC and it's mine.

Now I know that's not ever going to happen. There are so few things that you can actually do that with. But I mean, your computer is like your bed. You use it more than any other thing every day. You can't test a bed for thirty days... Oh, wait, you can if it is a super expensive select comfort sleep number matress. So, the argument could be made that Mac is like the super expensive sleep number matress of computers. If that's true, I would like to try it for 30 days. Unfortunately, I can't. So I'd rather spend $200 on an awesome video card, plus some good video editing software for my PC...

But still the curiosity remains, and I feel like I'm getting closer and closer every year to springing for a little mac to try out. Maybe if I get a big bonus this spring...