Who are you?
Officially launched in 1995, nCity began as mobile tech support for Mac users, making house calls in western Nevada County and rare excursions to other California locales. Moved to Arizona briefly (a failed attempt at escaping CA), then relocated and opened the only Mac service shop in Nevada County on June 21, 2002. nCity's MacShack offers tech support and services exclusively for Macintosh. From the first 128K Mac, to the latest greatest; from novice newbies to 'noids and nerds, we're here to help.

The MacShack?
That's the name of nCity's private service shop, located on Nevada City Highway between Nevada City and Grass Valley. No glittering glass stairway, no futuristic fixtures or furnishings, no insanely great inventory. Not likely to be mistaken for an Apple store. Here at the MacShack, the best we can do is a catwalk and a coffee machine.....

Nevada City Macs?
No, just nCity. Originally the "official" name was N_City (with an understrike). Part of the reason for using that understrike was because PC print shops read an understrike as a backspace, producing an automatic typo (). That was silly, huh.

So what does the "n" stand for?
Back in the ol' programming days, the letter "n" was used as a place holder for numbers being manipulated in code - that, combined with an ugly incident involving the fire department and a certain roadway barricade years ago - and bingo! Logo was hatched.







What do you do?
Hardware/software/computer troubleshooting and repair, data recovery, upgrades, system modifications, specialization, design, training courses and consulting..... just about any service pertaining to Macs. (See Shop Service section for more info.)

Computer technology presents some interesting challenges, especially when dealing with the cutting-edge Macintosh; being a very small shop allows us to provide service on a personal level to Mac users who are doing all sorts of things with their machines. We proudly deal with authors, historians, artists, musicians, architects, designers, engineers - one genuine, bona fide, rocket scientist - parents, business owners and researchers. Resourceful, creative people from all walks of life - which says a lot about the Mac.

Wouldn't you get more business working on PCs?
Yes, of course. (D'oh!) Specializing in the Macintosh means dealing with a limited percentage of computer users, true enough. It also means exposure to new technologies as they develop, working with state-of-the-art equipment, and freedom from the dead weight that is Microsoft. What's not to like? Besides, we get to meet Mac people.

Are you a certified service provider?
No. Certification is not an option here, partly due to the advent of the Apple Store*, partly due to CA's hostile business climate, but mainly because of limited resources. The nCity MacShack is a very small shop; unauthorized, uncertified, and unencumbered by obligations to Apple or anyone else. nCity does not provide warranty service. A quick phone call to Apple takes care of most warranty matters, or we refer warranty jobs to an authorized facility (Apple Store or original dealer). We're not here to sell or promote products, we're here to provide services and solutions.
*5/22/02, SO# 7002921877, M8694LL/A: Apple restricts certification and institutes annual fees.

My personal involvement with Macs began in 1985 with the first 128K machine, quickly modified with a "Fat Mac" logic board, external drive and Kensington fan. Starting with computers in the early days and following the Mac's evolution over 30 years has provided a wealth of experience and a lot of (otherwise useless) information.

Why are you flying the Jolly Roger? And what's that other flag?
Actually, the skull-'n-crossbones pirate flag has been a part of Mac history from the beginning, when resources and talent from the Lisa project were famously shanghai'd to work on Macintosh. (System 7's Finder had an Easter egg of the Jolly Roger flapping in the breeze over Cupertino.) Since there aren't a whole lot of independent Mac shops around, the pirate tradition continues.

The other flag..... has nothing to do with Tibet. (State of AZ.)
Lately we've been flying the Gadsden flag, too.

Do you still write custom programs?
There was a time when writing custom applications was a viable, reasonable alternative to buying canned software. Alas, those days are long gone. Cost of development today can only be absorbed by some sort of mass market, especially with things constantly changing so fast. The Beta Team was disbanded, more than a few projects got put on hold, and - heck - it's just no fun anymore.

But, fear not, there are countless software solutions for just about every need, scale and budget. If you're interested, please visit our Links section for recommended vendors, apps, utilities and resources.