[bigcletus]

Hi. Like many others on here have only owned PCs. Now I am ready to buy a Mac. I wouldn't say switch, because I want both. Having never owned a Mac, I have always had an interest for them. For the last couple of days, I have been reading this forum and doing research on buying a 15" Powerbook. I thought that I would ask a couple of questions.

I went to a Mac store and played around with a Powerbook and an ibook. I noticed that the ibook got very hot where my left hand normally rests on the keyboard. I did not notice this with the powerbook but wanted to ask if this is a common problem for just the ibook or if this is also a powerbook problem.

Secondly, will my Linksys wireless access point work with the powerbook's airport extreme? It is a WAP11 I believe 802.11b. Works good with my ancient Toshiba laptop right now.

Lastly, for now, is the Apple Care warranty worth the money? Thanks for any info and I look very forward to getting a powerbook soon.

[TheIceMan]

bigcletus:
Welcome to MacNN. Let's see if I can answer some of these questions for you.

First, the HEAT issue, yes the 12" AL Rev.A did get quite hot on the palmrest (this was the first crop which included the 12" 867MHz). One of our members AssassyN has done a review of the 12" Rev.A and Rev.B.

The 15" AL PowerBooks should not have the heat issue. Many reports that it merely gets "warm" in the truest sense of the word. I have also tested out the 15" and it is as described, only gets slightly warm, never hot on the palmrest.

Second, the PowerBook should be relatively simple to setup and it should work well with your Linksys.

Third, is Apple Care worth the money? Well, this is up to you. I personally cancelled my Apple Care after 2 months and got most of my money back because I felt I didn't need it. However, I will get it with a new PowerBook because it does come in handy, especially when you need it most. If you don't get the AppleCare, at least get some type of protection, like the accidental damage insurance SafeWare offers.

Hope that helps.

[jetta_gt]

I know it's tempting to engage him, but don't. Just tell him in an ever so slightly condescending manner "Yeah, I guess you are right, you should stick with the PC..."

Then walk off knowing you own the most amazing laptop on the planet.

That's the classy way to do it in my opinion. I'm sure others can offer some more in your face approaches.