Christina Liao Christina Liao has been loyal to Apple for 12 years, but used other company's products for a week to see how she'd manage.
- I've been completely loyal to Apple products since 2007, when the first iPhone launched.
- But I recently tried going a week without using any Apple products to see how I would fare.
- I learned that products from Google, Microsoft, and other companies have plenty of advantages - but I won't be ditching Apple for good any time soon.
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I've been loyal to Apple products since the first iPhone was launched.
Prior to the iPhone, I owned cellular devices from a variety of manufacturers. Nokia, Samsung, Blackberry, Motorola - you name it, and I've probably used it.
But when Apple revolutionized the smartphone in 2007, I became hooked.
My HP laptop was quickly replaced with a MacBook Pro, which was swapped out for a MacBook Air some time ago. As for phones, I've only used an iPhone since that momentous year, upgrading nearly every time a new model came out. And with the exception of a few months where I had to switch to a PC for a contract gig, and found myself constantly pressing the Alt key thinking it was Command, my iMac was my best friend at work.
So when I took on the challenge to ditch my beloved Apple products for a week, to say I was a little apprehensive is an understatement.
I was so concerned about whether non-Apple products would actually work that I kept my iPhone and MacBook Air with me at all times, even while traveling.
My backpack, which also held my DJI Mavic Air drone, weighed over 15 pounds with all of the devices and their respective chargers and accessories. While I'm a light traveler, I needed the peace of mind that I still had my trusty gadgets in case anything went awry with the Google Pixel 3 XL or Microsoft Surface Book 2.
In fact, on what was supposed to be my first day of using the new laptop, the software updates took up so much power and time that it rendered the device unusable. Thankfully, it ran smoothly once everything had been downloaded, but it was a rough start to say the least.
By the end of my week of the week, I could safely say I hadn't been converted away from Apple products. But there were elements that I'll miss from each of the devices, and there's even one Apple accessory that I'm now ready to give up.
Here are my nine biggest takeaways from my Apple-less week.