CompUSA is dead.  Adam and I went to the West Des Moines store when they opened yesterday to pick at the bones, and I surprised myself by buying a Mac Pro. 

I had seen the system at the store before, but it was never labeled with any information on what it was (in terms of processors, etc), and it was always discounted very little. Yesterday, however, they had the boxes out for all of their remaining computers, so I was able to get some info on it.  And while the price tag on the side showed it as 30% off, there was another sign below all the Macs saying "Apple Systems 40% Off".

While I evaluated the purchase, the first thing I did was stake out a position right in front of the system.  This made others think I was already buying it, giving me some more time to evaluate.  The system was $2500 originally, but after 40% off, it was $1500.  I pulled up Apple's website and checked how much the same system bought as a refurbished computer would be.  $2000, so $1500 was good there.  I then gave Phil a call to ask what he thought and get some info on relative speed.  He thought it sounded like a good buy.  At that point I had another potential buyer next to me, so I made a point of saying "No, I didn't think so.  I think I'll pass." to the phone after Phil had hung up. 

"Not going for the Mac?" the other guy said.

"I don't think so.  My friend tells me that it's actually cheaper refurbished from Amazon."

"Yeah, that's what I thought too," said the other guy, who then walked off.

I then started checking eBay to make sure it wasn't cheaper there.  It wasn't.  I was checking some forums to make sure my video cards would work in it (I run two video cards for three monitors), when another guy came up.  He pointed at the price tag on the system (that still said 30% off) and said "Yeah, if it was a couple hundred cheaper I'd buy it.  I was looking at it yesterday, and as it is, it's only a little below what a refurb would cost from Apple direct."  Adam and I didn't bother to illuminate him to the fact that the system was now another $250 cheaper than the price tag from the day before.

I finally found my video cards would work fine for the system (no one can say I don't try to be an informed buyer), so we boxed up the system and carried it to the check out line.  And now I'm a Mac owner.

My first orders of business are going to be to upgrade it to Leopard and install Parallels on it.  Once Parallels is on it, it is able to run Windows applications, and there is a feature letting me move my entire existing system over to the Mac.  Hopefully that will speed the migration up.

When thinking about moving to the Mac, the following reasons came to mind:

• Macs can now run Windows either on its own or in a Window with Parallels.  And the latest version of Parallels lets you run Windows programs directly, as if they were Mac applications.
• I've had ongoing problems with my last two PCs, so I've been thinking about going to a bought (versus built) system anyway.  This is the first desktop computer I didn't build myself since I graduated from high school.
• I've really begun to appreciate the Apple design elegance, and it feels like now I can get the best of both worlds.
• I know Windows inside and out, so I'm looking forward to learning a new system in the MacOS.
• I was tired of hitting the 4GB limit in 32-bit Windows that actually left me with only 2.5GB of RAM accessible.  I run a lot of programs at once and want to be able to use the memory I buy and need.
• Anymore, I feel it's less about the operating system and more about what I can do with it, so I've felt less "loyalty" to any one OS, like Windows.

We'll see how it goes!