From the MacMaineiac Mailbag: Another answer to the question “where can I go locally to get my hands on a Mac?” Got an email this week recommending Gorham-Micro on Main Street in Saco. They have Macs on-site and are authorized Apple resellers as well as certified Apple Specialists.

I also visited Reliable Computers in Rockport during their Customer Appreciation Week and was impressed with their friendly and knowledgeable staff and good product selection. An interesting side note – if you’re looking to purchase a new Mac, finding the best price is easy – they’re all the same! That’s right. Whether you purchase at an Apple Retail Store (either in person or on-line), or from a catalog (MacMall or MacWarehouse) or from a “local” authorized reseller, you’re not going to see the price differ by more than five dollars. However, you may want to check out catalog resellers like MacMall, as they generally offer incentives to get your business. Like free extra RAM, free printers, free software.

Earlier this month at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference, Bill Gates delivered another of his “visionary” speeches, touting the “revolutionary” notion that software and hardware manufacturers could cooperate to integrate their expertise, resulting in the development of better computers. Bill, isn’t that what Apple has been doing since Day One? Building hardware that complements software and vice-versa? Duh. He then unveiled the fruits of their “groundbreaking” efforts – a computer system code-named “Athens” (manufactured by Hewlett-Packard). I saw the pictures. The monitor is a large, wide, high density LCD screen (uh, Apple Cinema Display?) and the computer itself is a translucent plastic cube (uh, G4 Cube?).

To top it off, Microsloth demoed the new Windoze version code-named “Longhorn”. Longhorn will have a new graphics rendering engine (uh, Quartz in Mac OS X?) that will make minimized windows squiggly and wavy as they descend into the TaskBar (uh, Genie Effect in Mac OS X?). All this earth-shattering technology will be available to Windoze users in … 2005. Pre-order your copy of Longhorn today!

Finally, what’s the hot graduation and Father’s Day gift this year? You guessed it! The new iPod, straight off Oprah’s list (and just about every tech magazine in the world). I recommend the middle-of-the-line 15 GB model, as it holds 3500 songs and comes with the docking station, wired remote control and carrying case with belt clip, for $399.

Keep those emails coming to petez@macmaineiac.com, and, as always, Semper Mac! Take care.

© 2003 Peter F. Zimowski