Are Apple users really more hip, I wondered as I took out the G4 Powerbook  this morning. Can I really upgrade into supercoolness by using a Mac?  What if I didn’t get my Apple in the usual way, if it was a hand-me-down? 

Some people must suspect that if I had it together, I’d not be using a machine that was built in 2004. Of course, as long as I don’t open the thing, they can’t see the  six burned-out pixel stripes on the screen which finally drove my friend to release it. With it’s 15″ screen, a size that was soon after discontinued, it’s doubly superannuated, but since most people don’t carry rulers, they probably don’t know.

Another thing people won’t notice if the top is shut is that the “R” key fell off. I meant to ask my techie friend how to reattach it, and actually I went so far as to look on Ebay and found that yes, you can buy replacement keys for the G4 for about 20 cents, but the truth is, it works okay if you just hit the key stub. 

It makes the best impression, really, when it’s closed. With the big, friendly white Apple logo on the hood it does radiate confidence. I’ve put together some decent blog posts on it. But am I really cool just for owning it?

The friend who gave me this machine probably wasn’t actually trying to up my coolitude  by sending it, by insured mail, to Fort Worth from Minnapolis last year. She knew I was constantly scuttling along the edge of insolvency and still didn’t have a laptop, and took pity on me. “You know it is an Apple,” she pointed out. “It’s getting old but I couldn’t just throw it out,  it still works.”

So while gratitude was on my mind when I received it there was humility too. Especially since the burned-out pixel lines mean I can only see 39/40 of the letters I type.  I have to know the context to figure out what some of the words are.  

“The Universe supports me,” I tell myself, an affirmation I learned in college, and it was proven when the Apple arrived.  I had worried: what if my friend suddenly realized she needed it for one of her kids?  But the computer came,  and suddenly I was free to write anywhere.  This freedom is what Apple has come to mean to me. That’s a pretty seriously good thing, as is having a friend who sends you her old hardware.

And perhaps it’s only because this computer is an Apple that it’s survived, otherwise,  she might have just chucked it.  Apple computers’ reputation is not just tech, it’s about feelings, people, and keeping computers long past the day that other, lesser machines are in the dump. Yes, I guess owning a Mac does upgrade your coolness,  even if you have to move back a model year to get one.

Now, if I could just meet the Apple guy from the ads.