[TMBG6]

Its about time! After holding out for an ibook/powerbook update for about a month and a half I can finally say that I will be the new recipient of a 12" iBook!

I went with the 12" iBook 1.2Ghz/256RAM/60GB...

I guess you could call me a "switcher" , this will be my first mac, and my 4th ever computer purchase. I would have to say it was the numerous trips to the apple store this summer that really pushed me over the edge...

Just so you know - Im more than a little excited about it as I already went out and picked up a copy of Office 2004 for the Mac, and my computer isnt going to be shipping for a few more days.

Ill close with this... if anybody has some RAM for sale, or has some good advice or a deal that they know about, let me know -- put me in the loop.

Thanks

Pete

[Voch]

Congrats.

[jamil5454]

I just bought a 1gb stick for my iBook from www.newegg.com. It works great and was pretty cheap - $193. As with any UNIX, you'll want to get more RAM - I'd recommend going to www.newegg.com and picking up a 512mb stick which should cost no more than $100.

[iPoder]

New iBook is a good value, which eases you into the wonderful Mac world.

My typical advice to the new user is to get the book "Mac OS X: The Missing Manual, Panther Edition by David Pogue", which gets your very good introduction to the new OS.

But even if you don't like to read the manual, Mac OS is so intuitive that you will have no problem of knowing how to use the OS in no time. ( I guess that you are not a novice computer user since you have three other PC's before. )

[one sick puppy]

Don't expect much out of Office Mac 2004. In my experience, it runs like a dog, and after searching online, such is the experience of many other users.

I use my iBook for taking notes at school during class and while I would argue it is the best thing out there for a student with a limited budget, I personally don't find it good for much else.

Apart from that, congrats! You're now part of the Apple cult!

[Gamoe]

I recommend going to Crucial.com to buy your RAM, as it's high quality RAM, the same Apple uses. You could also buy from NewEgg.com, as jamil5454 suggested. They sell Crucial RAM too and have good prices.

one sick puppy wrote:

"I use my iBook for taking notes at school during class and while I would argue it is the best thing out there for a student with a limited budget, I personally don't find it good for much else."

What the iBook or MS Office?! I assume you mean the latter, as you can use your iBook for plenty of things.

In any case, congrats on your purchase and decision, Pete!

[bartman00]

You may want to take a look at Openoffice. It's free and can open and save MS office files.

[TMBG6]

After going to crucial and using the memory selector for RAM I found for ~$140 you can get a 512MB stick. but if I just search for a pc2100 ddr266 200pin sodimm I can get it for ~$105.

Shouldnt they be the same?

I understand more RAM is better, but at the same time, based on Crucial.com prices of nearly $400, its likely out of my price range. Based on what I've seen in people's sigs, it looks like putting a 512 is the way to go?

thanks again

PETE

[TMBG6]

To address the office concern. Im still a college student, and my school has some crazy liscense agreement that allows us to get MS products for pennies on the dollar. MS office 2004 for the Mac set me back $6.50.

If it turns out to suck, so be it.

PETE

[nJm]

I don't mind Office 2004. I think it is way better than Office v.X. The note taking feature has been really useful for me. I must admit I pretty much only use Word though.

As for the ram on Crucial, get whichever happens to be cheapest at the time (PC2100 or 2700). I think you'll find PC2700 will tend to be cheaper as there is more demand for it. I've got a stick of pc2700 out of a Powerbook in my iBook. Works great.

[A Ghost Is Born]

Circuit City has a 512MB of Kingston PC2700 for only $105-$25 mail in rebate for a total cost of $80 plus tax. Not a bad deal. It works great in my iBook. I ran it through Garage Band, iMovie, and UT2004 demo (frame rates on medium settings prior to ram upgrade were about 20/second (ouch!), with ram upgrade I was getting about 35-40 (I didn't try Assault, though I may just to see if it will work well)) On the whole OS X seems a little more zippy now.

[Sophus]

Originally posted by nJm:
I don't mind Office 2004. I think it is way better than Office v.X. The note taking feature has been really useful for me. I must admit I pretty much only use Word though.

Turning off "Live word count" speeds up Word quite a bit. A mostly useless feature should not burn that many CPU cycles. The iBook is great BTW. Congrats.

[jamil5454]

Another thing the iBook is great for is music production. With the built-in fireiwre port, You can hook up a MOTU 828mkII and you're set.


BTW OpenOffice is highly regarded in the Linux community.

Another thing your iBook is good for is Linux, but with BSD under the hood I'm not sure why someone would put Linux on there.

[A Ghost Is Born]

I took the plunge. I am have been very familiar with macs for a while (I have learned all the secrets, shortcuts, and quick keys yet) but i have really enjoyed the performance so far. I must say that I regret not moving over sooner but I couldn't imagine myself being anymore happy than I currently am.

[TMBG6]

Everybody can sleep easy tonight knowing that my iBook shipped today.

thank you, come again

Pete

[A Ghost Is Born]

good for you!

[TMBG6]

I hate to keep bumping a reletively worthless thread, but Just so nobody worries about it - Im posting pictures when Its delivered next week.

you've been warned

Pete

[A Ghost Is Born]

Originally posted by Sophus:
Turning off "Live word count" speeds up Word quite a bit. A mostly useless feature should not burn that many CPU cycles. The iBook is great BTW. Congrats.

thanks for the tip. I will see if Word's performance is bumped any.