-Photo by Peter Yang, taken for Rolling Stone Magazine

“Just when I thought I was out”¦they pull me back in.”*

“They,” in this case, refers to the objects that make up my writing space. If you’ll recall, I adjusted my desk”â„¢s layout and, after a couple of weeks, I made another change. A small one: my monitor and printer swapped places. As long as I’ve been in this apartment, and no matter where I’ve had my computer, I always maintained a viewing angle to the TV, even with mere peripheral vision. Three years later and I get the gist. In a one bedroom apartment, facing the wall to write creates a barrier between myself and the televised nonsense behind me. Long story short, I should’ve made this moved years ago.

Now, I’m preparing my space for one more upgrade—the final change, I hope. I’ve mentioned my adoration for the iPad and its ability to possibly, maybe, replace my Macbook. Two weeks ago, when I paired my Bluetooth keyboard to my iPad, overcoming the touchscreen keyboard’s weaknesses, I realized I was wrong. I said that the iPad could be an ideal laptop replacement, but not now, not in its current, first generation iteration. My bad. Upon further review, I think it’s ready now; it just needs some creative thinking on my part. And some purging. And to complete a year-long transition.

I bought my Macbook this time last year; I needed a laptop and the netbook I used began to irritate me with its small keyboard and weak-assed battery life. Apple’s Macintosh line intrigued me and, as a tech lover, I wanted to see if the arguments, if the Mac vs PC commercials, if the douche writers and students at Starbucks, were correct. I talked down a “Buy It Now” price on eBay and within days, I tinkered with a Mac for the first time in almost ten years.

Fast forward one year and now, I’m prepping my writing space and tools for an iMac. My fiancee congratulated me for not waking up and getting the computer before high noon—yeah, it’s that serious. Rather than racing to the store, foaming at the mouth, I spent the day mapping out the change, as well as checking my vitals for signs of mental illness. The iPad is at the epicenter of this change. If I go “all tablet,” then I don’t need my Macbook, which leaves a gaping hole at my desk, one big enough for a 27″ iMac.

No need to get into the Mac vs PC vitriol, no matter its high entertainment value. Fundamentally, a computer is a computer; shove a keyboard in front of a writer and he’ll do his thing—or spend a few hours online “researching” for his next project. But I can’t front: programs like Scrivener and Ecto make the science of writing a little easier to conduct. Enough to switch away from PCs and Windows? It comes down to personal preference. Me? Having used my Macbook to write, blog, edit photos and “research” online, I’m a convert. I”â„¢m blinded by aluminum—sue me.

I’m scaling down a lot of equipment. The Macbook, the Magic Mouse, an Apple wired keyboard, my 21″ LCD monitor and, for kicks, a snazzy laptop backpack I got from the Apple Store: consider all of it an eBay “back to school” special. Completing the transition also means addressing my PC tower; I want to keep it and yet, at the time of this writing, it’s stuck on the manufacturer’s splash screen, not even booting into Windows. I turned on the tower an hour ago. I’m all but done with PCs (certainly crappy ones).

I must admit. I’m a little nervous about this move. Using the iPad as a tertiary gadget for media and writing is cool. Moving it up to second string makes it my primary mobile device. And given that the iPad isn’t a stand-alone device, a system failure in my iMac will cause a tech apocalypse in my household, which is why I want to get this PC running correctly. But, to be honest, what I use to write is almost as important to me as the act itself. I’ve gotten up from my desk and started to write on the iPad—or vice versa. This schizophrenic switching has been a part of my writing process for years now. Besides, the iPad itself isn’t the source of my trepidation. It’s switching from laptop to tablet altogether. I think I’m ready. I’m ready, right?

As for the space itself, the iMac will reduce the clutter and the spiderweb of wires underneath my desk. I estimate a 50% reduction in wire lunacy, at least. Also, I plan to make better use of the desk itself; I’ve tried a number of configurations, but it’s still a mess. I blame the printer. No, I’m not getting rid of it; it’ll get shoved over to the center piece of my L-desk; the goal is to have one of my three tabletops completely empty for reading and handwriting. Having renewed our apartment lease for the final time, I’d like to get this whole writing space thing right and, more importantly, get out of my ongoing writing funk. Of course, all of this is a prelude to next summer, when I’ll have an entire room to convert into an office. I’m sure I’ll see a 85% drop in writing productivity when we move. Oh joy–

*Al Pacino, The Godfather Part III

**Note from the author: you probably didn’t notice, but i’m now posting under my real name. It’s a long story, but don’t be alarmed. And if you’re not alarmed…well…that’s good.