StefanClaypool.com

In 2005, I matriculated to Middlebury College. When I did, I took with me what I thought was sleek, sophisticated machine well-suited to my growing needs as a writer, musician, and student. The PowerBook G4 was, in theory, my dream machine. And yet, looking back on it, it is the one Mac I’ve ever owned that I can honestly say disappointed me. It ran hot. It ran slow. And within six months of purchase, it was made obsolete. I had jumped on board this train just before it derailed, just before Steve Jobs announced that the Mac platform would switch to Intel processors and abandon the old PowerPC chipset that had been the heart of Apple products for more than a decade. Suddenly, my sleek new machine was a dinosaur.

That’s not to say it wasn’t serviceable. I did a lot of great work on my PowerBook. I wrote my first radio scripts and had my first exposure to serious sound editing – Dad insisted on installing Pro Tools before I left for school. It also let me make my first real foray into computer gaming. I had grown up a Nintendo fan, but I installed StarCraft on my PowerBook during my freshman year, and spent many nights bonding with friends through our computers. (For the record, I play Protoss.)

But the whole experience was clunky, and in retrospect, un-Apple-like. I had a standalone iSight Camera that I used a few times to video chat with my parents, but it was so clumsy and miserable to set up that I rarely took it out of the box. The trackpad, small and unresponsive, was so bad that I resorted to using the single-button wireless mouse – itself a less-than-satisfying product. The only consolation was that the PowerBook was still a superior machine to the Windows-based that (increasingly few of) my classmates were carrying around. That’s a small comfort.

It was, in retrospect, a disappointing computer. Yet the experience of owning my one disappointing Apple computer taught me a very Apple-like lesson. I had made the upgrade because of a perceived need. I was going off to college, therefore I NEEDED more power, more storage, more everything. More, more, more. It didn’t matter that my iBook was doing its job exceedingly well, and would have continued doing so. I just had to upgrade, because, well, look how much better the specs were! It was foolish, but in doing it, I got a much better picture of what my needs actually were. And when I upgraded next, I did it right.

The result was the longest-lived computer I’ve ever owned.

My first iBook was also my first laptop, and the first computer that I could call my own. It was an iBook G4. For posterity’s sake, I wish I had spent more time learning about the machine. I couldn’t tell you what the processor speed was or how big the hard drive was or how much RAM it had or anything technical at all. I was too busy using it to pay attention to trivial details. It was fast, it was fun, and it did what I needed it to do.

I can’t emphasize how much this machine changed my life. My first iBook meant my first iTunes library. I remember when I finished ripping my CD collection (about 100 discs). I was just thrilled that I could carry that much music with me anytime I went on a trip. Fast-forward to today and I have more than 100 GBs of music sitting on an external hard drive, along with 200 GBs of video and god knows what else. But at the time, digitizing 100 CDs was a stunning technological achievement to my young mind.

The iBook G4 also introduced me to the defining digital device of the past decade: the iPod. Most people seem to have had an iPod before they had a Mac, but the halo effect worked in reverse for me. Once I got all of that music onto my laptop, I just HAD to have something smaller to carry around with me. So after scrimping and saving for months, I headed down to CompUSA (there’s that dinosaur again!) and got myself a 20 GB iPod – the first generation to include a Click Wheel. It blew my mind. Since then, I’ve owned five other iPods, including two more Classic models, two Shuffles, and one Nano (which I’m currently wearing on my wrist), but the love affair started with that bulky 20 GB model that redefined how I listened to music. Goodbye, CD player.

I did the typical things with my iBook. I surfed the web (on Safari, no less), I got email, I did homework. And I wrote. Oh, how I wrote. My prose was sloppy and unsophisticated, but I cranked out everything that I could. I wrote the stories that won my high school’s literary magazine contest two years in a row on that machine. I wrote my first stage play and my first radio play on that machine. I wrote short films, I wrote blog posts, and I built the first version of StefanClaypool.com on that machine. And as I did all of this, my relationship with my computer changed. Rather than just being some device I used to do work, it became an extension and enabler of my creative impulses. It gave me the canvas that I needed to grow artistically. It stopped being an amazing feat of technology, and became exactly what I needed it to be: a partner in a continuing creative enterprise.

My iBook G4 changed my life. It made me rethink longstanding assumptions about technology, redefined my work and recreational habits, and gave me a powerful tool to channel my creative impulses. In the end, though, you have to move on, and I did when I passed the machine on, first to my mother and then to my grandmother, who continues to use it to this day. I loved that iBook, but college was looming. My needs had changed.

Fortunately, there was a Mac for that.

I said “Why does the clock read 1:52 PM?” Then I realized it was 1:52 PM. I was back in my own time, at last.

-@StefanClaypool

I can’t imagine what it must have been like to a be a business student in the ’60s or ’70s. Heck, I can’t imagine what it must have been like to be a business student five years ago! I’ve already covered how Kno has transformed my student experience, but there are a few other apps that I’m finding tremendously helpful, and since I like talking about things that I like, I think I’ll share them with you now.

iStudiez Pro – I can’t say enough about iStudiez Pro for iOS. I’ve tried every calendar management tool and todo application under the sun, and this is far and away the best of them. Aimed at students, it excels in three ways. First, it’s got a great system for scheduling classes and assignments. Second, it syncs brilliantly and invisibly across devices. And third, its absolutely gorgeous. A lot of time and energy went into this app, and it shows.

The Wall Street Journal – Yep, the newspaper. WSJ is the language of business students and business professionals. MBAs are expected to read it every day and have an opinion on every article. The WSJ iPad app makes it much easier for me to keep up, and eliminates the hassle of searching for a paper copy. While a subscription is necessary, the payoff is huge.

Saver – I’m a grad student. Therefore, I am poor. Saver is a simple little app that helps me manage my spending through a classic motivational tool: guilt. Yes, by punching in every transaction I make, I can see graphically exactly how much more I am spending than I should. It’s easy-to-use and helpful as a grim reminder of the necessity of fiscal responsibility can be!

There are also a couple of great “analog” pieces that have become indispensable elements of my daily business school routine.

Solo Vintage Backpack – The thing is absolutely gorgeous. Dark brown Columbian leather punctuated by antique brass makes for a clean, professional appearance. To me, the discerning consumer and MBA student, this is not insignificant. I’m going to lectures, meeting guest speakers, and will soon be introducing myself to recruiters from some of the largest corporations in the world. And I ask myself, does a $20 North Face backpack really convey the image I want to put forward? If I’m cleaning my suits, shining my shoes, and learning the difference between Half Windsor, Full Windsor, and Pratt Knots, I don’t want to handicap myself with a bag better suited to hiking in Vermont than sealing deals in New York. The Solo Vintage looks like the bag of a stylish young professional, and that matters. But looks aren’t everything, of course. A backpack has to be able to hold and organize the things you need to carry without destroying your spine in the process. The Solo Vintage must be built with Time Lord technology – it’s bigger on the inside.

BookBook Case for MacBook Pro – The MacBook Pro is mighty stylish machine, but it needs protection if you’re taking it with you everywhere. I’ve been using a simple neoprene sleeve for half a decade, but recently decided to upgrade to BookBook. It’s a brilliant leather case, handmade and designed to resemble a dusty tome from deep within the bowels of some academic library. In addition to providing protection and style, it’s also a great conversation starter.

TikTok – And speaking of conversation starters, no item I’ve ever owned has ever caught people’s attention like my TikTok. This product – the result of the most successful Kickstarter project in history – transforms your 6th generation iPod nano into a beautiful wristwatch. It’s just awesome. The only caveat: the upcoming LunaTik Lynk from the same company looks even better.

If you have any interest in the financial side of the tech industry, you owe it to yourself to check out The Critical Path, a podcast on the 5by5 network. The Critical Path is hosted by Dan Benjamin and Asymco founder Horace Deidu. It’s a great resource for both business enthusiasts and tech-heads – highly recommended.