The Old Mac
Tucked away on the second level in Founder's Hall in uptown Charlotte was a little book store called The Bookmark, and behind the counter in this store, they had an old, beige Mac of some variety that appeared to be running OS 6, 7 or 8 (although it may have been well older than that).
I was always greatly intrigued by their use of this extremely old piece of hardware and software. I speculated that they may have been using that computer for their inventory, but I often wondered why they even used it at all, since there was a second aluminum iMac also perched on the counter beside that old, beige Mac. Yet on numerous occasions as I strolled past the store, I would look in the window to see the store's employees typing away on the keyboard of that old Mac.
No matter their rationale for hanging onto it, the more I pondered why they continued to hang onto that Mac, the more I began to believe that the old adage, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" rings true. It is also a testament to how good Apple's hardware actually is. Sure, Apple makes a lemon every now and then, but for the most part, Apple's hardware is rock-solid and second to none. Even their non-flagship products are great. For instance, I have a first generation iPod Shuffle from 2005 that has been through hell and back, and yet, it is still trucking along. But I digress.
That little Mac helped reshape my philosophy on things tech related, and it gave me hope for my iMac. You see, aside from the outdated OS (I'm still on Snow Leopard), my iMac performs just like it did the day I pulled it out of the box. Right now I am debating on whether or not to upgrade my RAM and move to Mountain Lion, but the more I think about it, the more I realize that I am happy with my iMac just as it is right now.
Yup. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.