[cosmic_cheese]

Experiences vary. Back when my computer was a circa 2000 CRT iMac DV, it was the nicest computer I’d used. Not the fastest, but also not nearly as much trouble as the crashy Win98 boxes I’d been exposed to at the time. It was more than enough for me to explore computing, and when OS X came along acquainted me with the *nix command line and “real” software development with its free bundled dev tools. It’s not an exaggeration to say that I probably wouldn’t be a dev today had it not been for that gumdrop of a computer.

As the sibling comment notes, the distinctive look helps too. I thought it was cool then and still like it today. It wasn’t everybody’s cup of tea but that’s exactly why it’s so appealing to those who like it.

[ActorNightly]

I mean, I certainly remember win 95/98 BSOD back in the day, but like using applications was usable on windows computer. Whereas in middle school, the labs had those green iMac G3s that you had to wait forever for it to open anything.

[cosmic_cheese]

It’s all relative, I suppose. The machine I had been using prior to that iMac had half the clock speed and an eighth as much memory, so the iMac felt speedy in comparison.

Later iterations of the iMac G3 also addressed some bottlenecks in the earlier models which might also factor in.

[opan]

I also remember school Macs being slow and unreliable at times. I wonder how much of that was related to how they were provisioned, with network accounts and stuff to let the IT guy spy on you and lock your computer.

[kalleboo]

School computers will always suck, regardless of platform. Along with corporate computers.