My employer bought my first PC back in the ’80s after I was smitten with an Apple computer running PageMaker, a page layout program that had a black-on-white display (wowee!) and absolutely had to have it. Unfortunately, an Apple didn’t play nicely with the other computers I had to work with, so I ended up running PageMaker on a PC. Compatibility, habit, and cost have kept me buying PCs ever since.

I’ve become increasingly disenchanted with my Windows laptop, which was intended only to supplement my big machine, not replace it. But I’ve found I do almost all my computing on the laptop now, comfortably sprawled on the couch with the TV on and the kitchen close at hand, and the laptop just isn’t cutting it anymore. It’s about a year and a half old, running Windows Vista. It’s slow as molasses, the HD is almost full, and worst of all, it overheats and shuts off with no warning whatsoever, as often as several times a day.

Aware of all this, my son called the other night and asked if I’d like to have the 15″ MacBook Pro he’s been using — as soon as its replacement comes in. Mind you he’s a developer, so this puppy is top of the line. Or was about 18 months ago. He’s replacing it because it isn’t “robust” enough for his needs and it’s “too big.” He’d prefer a 13″. Go figure.

It’s hard to imagine there’s anything this sleek, silver, superfast machine can’t handle, but developers have to stay one step ahead of the masses, I suppose. It was all I could do to not drool all over it, literally, when he showed it to me. All kinds of beautiful, well thought out features. A big one for me is that it has no vents; heat is dissipated through the aluminum shell. Yay, no more picking cat hair out of vents! No more unexpected shutdowns when I’m in the middle of my greatest post ever!

I anticipate a big learning curve with a lot of frustration because I’m just that way — when I can’t figure out how to make a computer do what I want it to do, I quickly dissolve into tantrums. However, fighting through the frustration to finally become Mac literate and have a beautiful new (to me) toy to play with seems like a worthwhile challenge.

Besides, this baby can run Windows, too. Sweet.