![writing on a mac writing on a mac](https://churchm.ag/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Mac-Stylus.jpeg)
I finished the rough draft of my novel largely thanks to the increased concentration and focus achieved from working with this computer. The LC475 is now my primary writing machine, and I appreciate its unique qualities more with every day. Two months into the experiment, I’m in no doubt that I have found the perfect writing computer for me.
![writing on a mac writing on a mac](https://articles-images.sftcdn.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2021/05/mac_apple_700.jpg)
The holy grail of creative writing technology Surely a computer from twenty years ago couldn’t really be the efficient writing terminal I had long sought?
#Writing on a mac Pc
I expected to find using the Mac a chore, and run back to my sleek and soulless modern PC after a matter of days. I expected to encounter pitfalls and roadblocks. The loud hum of the hard disk and fan was, at first, rather disconcerting compared to the deathly silence of my modern PC. I had to remind myself to manually upload my work using Transmit at the end of every day, as there is no way of using Dropbox natively on a computer so old. Getting into a good workflow with my new Mac took a few days. No learning curve, then … but at first it was disorienting going back to a flickery cathode ray monitor! If you’ve read my other post on this subject you’ll be aware that I already know my way around vintage Macs like the back of my hand, as I grew up using them. In truth, I expected to find myself underwhelmed by the Mac and appreciate my modern hardware more than I had before. The goal of this experiment was to use the LC475 as my primary writing computer for a period of time, and to see if it made me any more productive by virtue of being little more than an efficient word processor. on a computer of this vintage! The experiment It is however impossible to access social media or forums etc.
#Writing on a mac free
Although the main point of the Mac was to create a distraction free experience, rudimentary access to the Web is occasionally useful for Google searches or Wikipedia access.
#Writing on a mac install
I also chose to install an old version of Netscape Navigator for basic Web access. It is literally thousands of times less powerful than my phone, and tens of thousands of times less powerful than my PC.
![writing on a mac writing on a mac](https://thesweetsetup.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Ulysses-Pro-Writing-Hero-4.jpg)
It has a 25MHz processor, 4MB of RAM, and an 80MB hard disk. The computer I obtained from Ebay was an Apple LC475 manufactured in 1993. I choose to look at these qualities not as limitations, but features to aid focus when writing. A “68k Mac” has, as standard, no connection to the internet, a pitifully weak processor, a tiny amount of storage, and a small, low-quality monitor. Would it improve my productivity, or would I find that rose-tinted glasses had distorted my memories of what was in reality a very limited computer?įor a writer used to operating in the technological environment of the 2010s, the challenge seems daunting at first. I resolved to find one of these old 68k Macs from the early 1990s, restore it to its former glory, and use it as my primary writing machine for a period of time. I reminisced about the earliest computers I had used for writing: the bare-bones SE/30, the clunky but focused PowerBook 190, the IIsi. A while ago I blogged about how I believed easy Web access has eroded my ability to concentrate and to write without distractions.