Help! Buying decisions

Arch · Post by **Arch** » Fri Mar 12, 2004 3:07 pm

I know that most of you guys are predominately PC guys, myself included. Just recently I started looking at the PowerBook G4 12.1'' notebook. Problem is, it seems there's some speculation of Apple releasing an update to the PowerBook line in the next month or two.

Unfortunately I'm not one for waiting. It seems Apple has a tendancy to annouce products and then make them available a few months later (think iPod mini). What I'd like to use this for is taking notes in class, wireless internet connectivity, and various other coursework activities. I'm not intending to play many games on it, thats what my PC is for.

What do you guys think? Do I tough out the wait, or buy one now?

Please, keep the platform bashing out. OSX is a damn fine OS, and the PowerBook line is damn sleek.

Arch

Tetrad · Post by **Tetrad** » Fri Mar 12, 2004 3:53 pm

I try not to base my buying decisions on what's "just around the corner". If you need/want it now, base your decision on what's on the market now within your price range. Things will always get faster, smaller, and cheaper.

From all accounts I've heard, the Powerbook is very sexy. Built like a brick, and good battery life to boot. I say go for it.

Edit: I speel gud.

Avder · Post by **Avder** » Fri Mar 12, 2004 4:18 pm

If youre just gonna use it for note taking and coursework, I'd say find the cheapest notebook you can that will satisfy those requirements. If the Ibook is that notebook, gopher it.

Arch · Post by **Arch** » Fri Mar 12, 2004 4:30 pm

I took a look at the iBook and the build quality is no where near the quality of the Powerbook. I'm teetering on the edge, I don't know what to do!

MD-2389 · Post by **MD-2389** » Fri Mar 12, 2004 7:11 pm

Arch, what's your budget?

Arch · Post by **Arch** » Fri Mar 12, 2004 7:52 pm

Less is better. The Powerbook, with the airport extreme card, 512megs of extra ram from Crucial.com, and tax (unforutnately) is going to run me around $1710.

Arch · Post by **Arch** » Sat Mar 13, 2004 12:53 pm

I took Tetrad's advise and went ahead and threw down an order for a 12.1 Powerbook with the Airport Extreme card. Came to $1488 with the academic discount. Free shipping too. Should arrive sometime this coming week.

I was looking over the speculation for the updates and it wasn't any that I would be particularly heart broken over.

Thanks fellas...

MD-2389 · Post by **MD-2389** » Sat Mar 13, 2004 5:22 pm

Hope you like it.

DCrazy · Post by **DCrazy** » Sun Mar 14, 2004 11:59 am

Can I ask, without platform-bashing, why Apple?

Arch · Post by **Arch** » Sun Mar 14, 2004 7:34 pm

Well, I've been looking at laptops for several months now, probably close to 8. I wanted something portable, of decent processing power, but I didn't want to lug around external drives or anything like that. I also wanted a small screen so it wouldn't take up a lot of space.

The 12.1 Powerbook is pretty much the only laptop on the market that can do all that with a relatively cheap price tag. Sure, Dell has its 300m, but that has an external drive. IBM has its X line. None of those really appealed to me.

The Powerbook looks damn sleek, and I'm intrigued by OSX. Having never used it before I'm looking forward to learning it. I like the Unix base and the ability to use the command line if I so choose. I also _love_ the way Apple handles software installation. Most programs you just copy over wherever you desire. No installation programs or anything. If you decide you don't want it you just drop it in the trash. No uninstall, no left over bits and pieces. That IMO is much better than the Windows, or Linux for that matter.

Hopefully it will be here this week, but I have a feeling it might not get here until next week, doh!

Plebeian · Post by **Plebeian** » Mon Mar 15, 2004 9:52 am

Congrats.

I'm one of the poor souls who more or less had to go from OS X to XP due to budget constraits -- just couldn't justify the extra cost (much as I love Macs), and at one point, I did need a Windows box for some work.

Ah, well, maybe one of these days I'll have another new Mac, but for now, the Mac is running in server mode, and the XP machines are the "daily use/gaming" boxes.

Arch · Post by **Arch** » Tue Mar 23, 2004 8:17 pm

I got the Powerbook today. I must say, I've very impressed. The build quality is outstanding. OSX is equally amazing. I went ahead and picked up a 768meg dimm from Crucial and installed it. The performance is very good.

I'm still working on learning OSX, but it shouldn't take too long. Thankfully both FireFox and Thunderbird are available for the Mac so I can keep using those.

Wooohoo!

DCrazy · Post by **DCrazy** » Tue Mar 23, 2004 8:48 pm

As beautiful as OSX is, it still has design flaws, especially in the Dock. You might want to look into DragThing.

Arch · Post by **Arch** » Thu Mar 25, 2004 9:20 am

Hmm...what's wrong with the dock? I find it to be pretty handy. Its a lot like the quick launch bar in Windows. I haven't had any issues, nor can I think of anything I would like it to do differently.

Mobius · Post by **Mobius** » Thu Mar 25, 2004 1:28 pm

Powerbook G4 is nice. I have a titanium model with 512MB on my desk at work. All I use it for is SETI 24/7 and ocasionally check a web site build in it for compatibility reasons...

Waiting for new stuff is - um - dumb. You'll be waiting forever as there's always something new next month.

OS-X aint that great. It's definitely a step up from OS9 however. What it does do supremely well is networking however. Something Microsoft REALLY need to work on. I can plug it into any network and just select my location and I'm all set to go.

XP is superior in my view, and the G4 processor is a slow-a$$ piece of junk these days. It NEVER was faster than a PC, and today it's very slow indeed. (Average SETI WU time is over 20 hours!)

You need a compelling reason to go Mac - and I don't see your compelling reason listed here.

Arch · Post by **Arch** » Thu Mar 25, 2004 1:42 pm

I still fail to see what exactly is "not so great" about OSX. Having used my Powerbook for a few days here I find myself quite pleased with it. After switching back and forth between my PC and my Mac I find myself increasingly thinking of WindowsXP as incredibly utilitarian.

I haven't tried networking yet, so I can't comment on its superiority. I can roam between wireless networks seamlessly with no interaction required on my part. It may be that way on PCs, but I've never had an opportunity to use wireless on a PC laptop.

As far as the G4 performance, I'm wasn't looking for anything ground breaking or earth shattering. Its relative speed in the completion of a seti work unit is of little importance to me. For now I'm finding myself pleased with the performance. It boots fast, runs FireFox and Thunderbird at a decent clip and Office v. X works flawlessly also.

I dig the fact that I can write bash shell scripts natively and I have the opportunity to use Apple Script to automate tasks, something that Windows lacks in any sort of refined state.

Tetrad · Post by **Tetrad** » Thu Mar 25, 2004 5:38 pm

Mobius wrote:You need a compelling reason to go Mac - and I don't see your compelling reason listed here.

There's more to a laptop than just performance of both the OS and it's components. User interface and features for one. Show me a laptop that's no bigger than the powerbook, has the same amount of battery life, and as nice of a screen for about the same price.