Those who know me well are aware of my general disdain towards Apple's attitude surrounding their products. To be frank, there is just a bit too much 'kool-aid drinking' going on in Cupertino, if you catch my meaning.

I hadn't owned an Apple product made after 1984 until the fall of 2009, when I purchased a used iPod Touch on eBay for $90. I bought the iPod for the sole purpose of checking out the App store as a viable path to small business ownership. I have some experience in computer programming, and felt that getting into the iPhone app market was a reasonable decision. I was very surprised to discover that the iPod Touch was not only a great little music player, but a truly phenomenal portable device that managed to become a must carry device for me within a very short space of time.

After my positive experience with the iPod Touch, I decided I would look into buying a Mac. For months I debated my options. On the one hand, if I planned to program for the app store, I 100% needed a Mac. On the other hand, unless I was able to monetize the Mac in some way, I just couldn't see the value in paying substantially more out of pocket for a Mac with similar specs to a mid-range (at best) PC.

Then, the iPad was announced. I don't know how well the iPad will sell at launch (and it has one of the worst product names ever), but I am pretty sure it will move, umm, quickly. This is my chance to get in on the ground floor with a new app store - so when we got our tax refund this year, I decided it was time to pull the trigger on my first Mac purchase. This series of posts will be a chronicle of my experience as a long time PC user and overall tech guy, using a modern Mac for the first time.

With the introduction out of the way, the balance of today's post will be about the people involved when I actually bought the Mac. Details of the hardware itself will follow in a future post.

I live in a reasonably large city, and so I expected to find an Apple Store in town. It turns out, the closest Apple Retail Store is about 45 minutes North of me. What we do have in Salem is a third-party distributor with a name that I fully expect was designed to throw off Mac newbies and make them believe they are dealing with the real deal.

I had an idea of the type of machine I was looking for, so I called the local folks to inquire about inventory before I went in. The guy I spoke with on the phone was not real polite, and just sounded like he was a tad put off by the fact that I had questions for him.

He explained that I should just go into the store, and I told him I would, assuming they had what I wanted to see in stock.

He said they would have it.
I asked if he was sure.
He said he was.

He was responding quite quickly so I asked if he knew for a fact that they had it or he was just assuming they would because it's a common model. At this point there is a short pause, and I can hear the familiar 'click-click-click' of a keyboard. After about 20 seconds, he says 'Yeah, looks like we don't have that one...we can have it in stock a week from Wednesday." Now, as much as I love buying locally, there is no way I'm waiting close to two weeks for something I could order from Apple.com and have on Tuesday.

I still have some more questions I'd like to get answered, but this guy has clearly had enough of me, so I get off the phone and search the intertubes for some information. After some frustrating efforts to find up-to-date information on the various Mac models (most reviews and articles are dated 2007 or earlier), I decide to go straight to the source, and I call the closest Apple store to me.

A nice young woman (I assume she was young anyway) answered the phone and spent easily 20 minutes answering all my questions - making sure I really understood the responses each time. I was extremely impressed, and it was very refreshing after the guy I had just spoken to. She informed me that they did in fact have many of the model I was hoping to see in stock and on their floor to demo, and that I was welcome to pop in anytime.

We got off the phone, and when I got off work, I made the drive to the Apple Store. First of all, this was easily the best shopping experience I've ever had, for any product, ever. Second, whoever is designing these buildings is awesome, and after I make my first billion dollars, I'm getting him/her to design my home.

I was helped by a guy named Scott, who was extremely willing to just answer questions for me as I came up with them. He was extremely knowledgeable, and the few times I asked him a stumper, he went to the nearest Mac and found the answer for me online. He helped me get my educator discount, he showed me which Mac was best for my use (including talking me DOWN a model because he said it sounded like I wouldn't use the enhanced hardware on the step up), and just was an overall great guy. After about 25 minutes of answering every question I could come up with, Scott was still smiling and attentive to my concerns. When I finally purchased my shiny new Mac, he handed me the receipt and congratulated me on buying my first Mac and officially becoming a Mac owner.

I tell you what, if they are trying to create lifelong customers, they are doing one hell of a job in there.

My next post will be about the nitty gritty - my new Mac itself and my experiences getting it setup and working on my network (which was quite a gritty task, I assure you). Tune in next time!