Volume Number: 26
Issue Number: 02
Column Tag: 25th Anniversary Stories

25 Years of MacTech: Mac Memories by Gary Vodvorka

I got my first Mac in 1984 after total frustration trying to get a TRS80 to work for my business. My first Mac was the 128. I can't believe I accepted having to swap disks so many times in those days. I later upgraded to a 512 with the help of a third-party board. Now I could run MacPaint in a RAM disk. I next upgraded to an external floppy and no more disk swapping. I finally bought an external 20MB hard drive. Wow, what a step up. My next Mac was a Mac SE, and there was a kit allowing me to install an internal hard drive. This was a sweet machine; really fast for its time.

The next major upgrade was a Mac IIsi for a video studio I was building. I had planned to use it to create computer graphics for video. I installed a NUVista Card for $5,000.00 -- this in a $2,200.00 computer. My next Mac was a Quadra 7200. This Mac was very fast compared to all the others. Also, at this time, I got a PowerBook 145 laptop for my everyday computer. This was a very rugged machine. I got a lot of mileage out of it. Then came a 5300, followed by a G3 series notebook and ultimately two G4s for my wife and myself. Then there was the G4 Aluminum PowerBook which served me very well. Later on, an iBook G4 took its place, which was just replaced this year with a New MacBook. I recently installed Windows using Parallels to get some programs running that I previously had to have another computer for. What can I say? I am a Mac addict for life!