[machappy]

just in case anyone still is wondering about the combo drive write speeds. mine is 4X4X24.
All the apple employees I spoke with at their store in tysons knew this as fact when i bought it.
Not one of them tried to convince me is was 8x.
i still got it because for me it serves as a easy way to back up client/personal stuff on the road, much better then hauling a usb zip or a GIANT firewire 16X burner.

[GroovyPatateFrite]

Ack, the fact remains : 4x takes as much as 18 minutes to burn a CD! Now you know why Apple retains the 8x CD-RW iBook as an Apple Store exclusive -- it's actually an higher-end machine than the combo! (DVD playing on a notebook is, IMHO, nothing more than a novelty).

[machappy]

huh?

[imacaholic]

Just use Toast Titanium so you can burn in the background. So it can take 18 minutes, no big deal. Having the ability to play DVDs is a necessity, especially on long trips. Being able to go video out is great if your hotel television can hook up. The combo iceBook is a lightweight Swiss Army knife! I won't go camping without it!

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hello
AGAIN

[amrosario]

I agree. Burn in the background and watch movies later on. Also, it only takes 18 minutes if you are burning a full CD. Often, I just burn a small session which often takes less time.

I agree that having the DVD is a novelty, but, in some way, so is having an iBook (I'm speaking for myself, of course). I do all my major work here on my Cube and things that I take on the road will be worked on by my iBook. Watching DVDs on the road, or at home, is quite a kick with this little machine. In my studio, when I was bored and had no work to do, I'd fire up a DVD on my iMac and kick back for an hour or so. Now I can do that wherever I go.

[jblakeh1]

once again, people are not looking at the whole dvd picture. It is a format, not just a means of playing movies. I expect using dvd disks to transfer data will be more common than cds in a few years.

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.b
http://homepage.mac.com/jblakeh1
http://www.sit3.com

While DVD may be a novelty for some, it can be a great benefit, if not necessity, for others. Anyone with kids will tell you that one of the worst things to happen is to be on a long car trip with BORED kids.
You could plug in the iBook (with car adapter) and throw in a movie and, BINGO!, you're good to go for 2+ hours. That is the definition for benefit.

I would consider it a necessity for your kids on a long PLANE ride, so you don't get the other passengers cheezed off at you and your bored (and usually crying) 2 year old. (which is perfectly normal for a kid this age when made to sit down in a seat for a few hours straight)

I used my Wallstreet PB for this same situation and, man, was it a godsend. I only have a CD-ROM in the wallstreet, so instead of forking out$400 for the DVD module, I used a lesser known format called VCD, that runs in any CD-R. Bought 3 Disney movies and, presto, happy kids on a very long trip.

Like Video + Ritalin = Vitalin?

[Duo]

Thats the reason why I bought the DVD version instead ot the combo drive. The combo drive is a neat idea, but until the speed of the cdr is increased its more of a cool feature rather then a useful one.

Duo

[machappy]

lemme ask you.....ARE YOU ON CRACK?

not useful?

Today I took some digital photos of a thrashed parking lot for a paving company. I then touched them up in PS making a virtual "After" picture. I showed them to the owner, he made some changes, I burned them to a cd and he gave them to his graphics gimp back at the office to make a proposal.

I did this all in my car.

This I find useful.

DVD is very entertaining. I find that useful too.



[This message has been edited by machappy (edited 06-01-2001).]

[SkruffBuff]

Even if you use Toast Titanium and burn in the background, wouldn't it significantly slow down your computing (especially internet use?)

~Skruff