[Milkshake]

I've drooled over these powerbooks for over a year now. So finally I'm selling my windows xp pc and going mac for the first time. I mainly use my computer for surfing, editing images/videos, creating webpages and programming(I'm taking a master of technology). SO why not use the best platform. But I have a few questions:

1. What are the benefits of airport extreme contra other wireless network devices? There's just going to be this powerbook in my flat and the price for the AE seems pretty high.

2. Is the powerbook able to work as good dvd player if plugged into a tv?

3. How would you describe the programming environment on mac os x contra windows xp(I mainly program in Java)?

I know these are probably common questions and all the veterans are probably sick and tired of newbies asking question, but I want to hear it straight from the community instead of finding an apple fanatic through google.
Anyways I'll buy the machine when the new semester starts(aug/sep) and use the 20% discount, maybe the pb g5 will be available by then
(typos are to be expected because English isn't my native language)

[chabig]

1) An Airport Extreme base station will have no particular benefit for you over any other wireless device. They look nice. They are pretty easy to administer with Apple's software. The only thing they can do that most others can't is route Appletalk packets, which you probably don't need to do. So it would be cheaper for you to buy another brand.

2) Yes. Just plug it in.

3) I'm not speaking as a programmer, but you'll want to install the latest developer tools. I think you'll find that Mac OS X is the best java platform around.

Chris

[Milkshake]

Thanks alot.

But what about dvd sones(Europe is sone 2 and America is sone 1). Will the dvd software on mac be locked in one sone?

[solero]

Originally posted by Milkshake:
Thanks alot.

But what about dvd sones(Europe is sone 2 and America is sone 1). Will the dvd software on mac be locked in one sone?

You can change the dvd zone lock like five times i think (pretty annoying)
Don't know if there is a hack out there that deals with this limitation, maybe.

[f1000]

Here's some information on playing DVD's from different zones: http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.p...light=dvd+zone

By the way, learn to use Search.

[Milkshake]

bah, thanks

[coolmacdude]

VLC is definitely the best choice for playing multiple regions. No need for hacks that will void your warranty.

[coolmacdude]

Originally posted by Milkshake:
1. What are the benefits of airport extreme contra other wireless network devices? There's just going to be this powerbook in my flat and the price for the AE seems pretty high.

The AE card is the only internal card supported by the PB. However, the AE base station doesn't have many advantages over any other type. Any 802.11g access point works fine.

Originally posted by Milkshake:
2. Is the powerbook able to work as good dvd player if plugged into a tv?

It will work but it won't look very good. That's because it's converting both a digital signal to analog and a progressive signal to interlaced. Any cheap consumer DVD player will provide a MUCH better image.

Originally posted by Milkshake:
3. How would you describe the programming environment on mac os x contra windows xp(I mainly program in Java)?

There are a myriad of excellent Java dev tools on the Mac.

Apple's Xcode
Eclipse
Netbeans
JBuilder
Intellij (my favorite)

Originally posted by Milkshake:
I know these are probably common questions and all the veterans are probably sick and tired of newbies asking question

Nonsense. There are plenty of people here that never get tired of helping out new users.