[JamesDP]

Got a 700Mhz 12.1" Combo (maxed out RAM, Airport Card, and 10GB iPod) and I am absolutely in love with this computer. So easy to use, so quiet (I can hear my floor lamp buzzing across the room over this thing), very fast (at least for what I need it for), and it took next to nothing to set up with my internet connection and get going. Only two dead pixels, but they're hard to notice when I'm too busy staring at the incredible anti-aliased fonts on the screen (yes, I'm that easy to impress). Ripping CDs is easy as hell, and watching DVDs is great (including one I thought was defective but now know it was something with my PC's DVD drive). It's nice to be able to use a machine that really makes you feel like you can do anything, and not be hindered every step of the way by the operating system. Why I didn't switch to Apple sooner, I'll never know.

[Commodus]

Congrats... I've noticed that a lot of x86 users seem to gravitate towards the iBook when making the leap - partly because of the cost, but probably also because it's just so stubbornly practical.

I currently have a Toshiba laptop myself, and not only is it pokey (a 1 GHz Celeron with 128 MB of memory), it's ungainly: 7 pounds, and of course not very slim, either. Windows XP isn't absolutely horrible, but nor is it something that I would explicitly trust to provide a good experience (in spite of what Microsoft says).

The iBook is actually pretty quick for a laptop of its size (look at the Toshiba Portege 2000 series as an example - it's slower AND more expensive!), it has everything integrated rather than in a docking station, and as you'd expect OS X makes it more hassle-free.

Edit: as you might have noticed, that's the Canadian site and its pricing: for reference, a 12.1" 700 MHz iBook starts at $2399 Canadian. $900 less for a better laptop? Yes please.

[JamesDP]

Mostly I wanted the laptop because I'm an amateur astronomer and wanted to be able to bring my computer outside with me and run my astronomy software instead of running back and forth from the dark to my computer and ruining my night vision or having to bring my cheesy redlight (regular flashlight with transparent red film underneath the lense) and paper charts with me if I'm not near my computer. Now I can go anywhere and see pictures of what I'm trying to find on my monitor and knowing whether or not I'm looking at the right object.

Mobility was a huge plus too. I got sick of having to be stuck in one place when I worked on my computer. Now with the iBook and Airport, I can go pretty much anywhere on my property and still be connected to the internet and do whatever I need to do. And I honestly don't understand why people say that Macs are lagging behind speed-wise. My PC is a 1.5GHz Pentium 4 with RAMBUS memory, and I feel no appreciable difference in speed, even with several programs running at the same time. That may have to do with the fact that my iBook has 640MB RAM and my PC only has 256, but still, I don't see what the problem is. Last night I had two IE windows, Mail, iTunes, Quicktime and System Preferences open, and it didn't bat an eyelash unless I clicked on a link in IE, in which case the music would pause for a second - but that wasn't that big of a deal to me.

I think anyone who's hesitant about making the switch should just do it. You won't be sorry.

[james_squared]

Hello,

The Toshiba is so expensive because it weighs only 2.6 pounds, whereas the iBook 12" is 4.9 pounds. They also have a battery that is supposed to give up to 6.8 hours, which is more than the 12" at 5 hours or 14" at 6 hours.

Of course, I wouldn't buy the Toshiba even if it was the same price as the iBook. I like my iBook a lot and it has been a very fun transition from Windoze to Mac. I like having the laptop, even if I don't take it anywhere, as compared to my PC desk-hog that I had before.

James

[Commodus]

I've noticed also that the Toshiba (and Sony, for that matter) ultra-thin laptops weigh what they do because they don't have integrated optical drives; you need a docking station, which isn't even included with the Portege 2000! That and the fact that the video on both Toshiba and Sony laptops shares in system RAM definitely indicates that the x86 world has awhile to go in terms of efficiency for laptops.

Oh! I just remembered something... don't forget that the battery life probably goes up by not having an optical drive.

[james_squared]

Hello,

Excellent comments, Commodus. You certainly know more that I do, but that isn't saying too much! I had no idea they didn't have optical drives in them. That's quite interesting.

James

[Commodus]

Don't worry about it - I've done a fair amount of research on getting laptops before, so I'm already aware of the general differences in laptops (the slim-with-no-features types, the ones which are cheap but also heavy and slow, and so on). The basic way to do such research is to never trust the front page of specs alone: always look for the "more info" or "specifications" link and look for what they mention, or don't mention, about what you're interested in.

That being said, research is a bit moot if you're trying to avoid Windows (and don't have the gobs of knowledge needed to conquer Linux); it's just a question of which iBook or Powerbook you're going to get!

[james_squared]

Hello,

For me, I just wanted a laptop so I could turf my desktop. I looked at Toshiba and at Dell, but I had heard so many good things about Apple and the iBook met all my requirements. They did the upgrade just in time for me. My two problems with the iBook were solved: the 20GB HD and the 8MB VRAM. I also didn't find it all that more expensive than some Windoze machines and I figured I could ammortize the extra cost through less aggrevation.

I figure that I would have seen a couple of hundred blue screens in the couple of months I've had the iBook. Maybe this might equate to $2 CDN per blue screen. I figure if I have this iBook for a couple of years, then it only 'costs' me 1� or less for each blue screen. I figure that is a great bargain. (I haven't sat down and figured out the number exactly because that would be sort of lame.)

Plus with higher resale, I might end up ahead in the game. And, my wife wanted an mp3 player and the iPod is, by far, the best. This was before it was available for Windoze, but I'm sure iTunes is far better than MusicMatch. But, now I'm rambling.

Anyway, to avoid Windoze I only had to choose between the iBook and the TiBook. I couldn't afford the TiBook. Now, I had to choose between 12.1" and 14.1", which was an easy choice for me since I wanted a desktop replacement. Thus, the 14.1" iBook sits on my desk.

James

[JamesDP]

I've only used iTunes for two days, but it's definitely better. I have MusicMatch on my PC and it's a big, clunky, dog of a program. WinAmp is the same. RealOne is a cancer. Windows Media Player isn't much better. In fact, there's really no good media players in Windows.

I actually like IE 5.2 on the Mac, whereas I detested it on my PC. And over the last few months I've grown accustomed to tabbed browsing in Mozilla, so I'll be downloading the latest version for X soon. I really like the Mail program, very clean and streamlined, not the collossal undertaking that Outlook is in Windows. In reality, that's what really drove me to the Mac - software. The programs work with a minimum of effort, they're unintrusive and work quickly. Programmers in school should have to look at Macs to see how software is supposed to be done.

[Jens Peter]

Programmers in school should have to look at Macs to see how software is supposed to be done

That is what i've been telling to all my classmates ever since I got my first mac! But only a few will listen....

Jens Peter

[The Milkman]

"My name is JamesDP and I'm an amateur astronomer."

Give Apple a call, they'll make you a star!

[dvd]

Originally posted by JamesDP:
[B]I've only used iTunes for two days, but it's definitely better. I have MusicMatch on my PC and it's a big, clunky, dog of a program. WinAmp is the same. RealOne is a cancer. Windows Media Player isn't much better. In fact, there's really no good media players in Windows.
/B]

winamp is ok, but i love soundjam still. *tears*

doesnt itunes take up a lot of system resources?

[Thinine]

Not with the 3.0.1 patch it doesn't.

[andycroll]

Originally posted by JamesDP:
I actually like IE 5.2 on the Mac, whereas I detested it on my PC. And over the last few months I've grown accustomed to tabbed browsing in Mozilla, so I'll be downloading the latest version for X soon.

Chimera 0.5 (Mozilla OS X) really is a superb piece of software. Frickin' fast, pop-up killer built in, tabbed browsing, good plugin support.... the list goes on. I highly recommend it as a full IE alternative.

http://www.mozilla.org/projects/chimera/

It really is yummy good.

Andy

[JamesDP]

Yeah, I used Chimera, and while I liked the overall look and feel of it, there were a few things I didn't like about it.

1. The Pop-up stopping mechanism is too broad. Even ones I want, I can't have.

2. Right-clicking on a picture only had two options, neither of which was the image's properties or location.

3. Having to switch from option-left/right arrow to go back or forward to option-[/]

4. Preferences don't allow me to change enough of the browser's behavior. I like to do a lot of customization.

What I did particularly like about Chimera was the way it set up bookmarks. On the other hand, it made me hate it because there was no easy to export them to another browser. I had to drag each bookmark individually from Chimera to Mozilla. That was a nightmare - took me like 45 minutes (I have a lot of bookmarks). I like the idea of Chimera, but I think the execution could use a little work.

Mozilla on the other hand gives me all I need in the way of customization. On the other hand, it doesn't have the interface that Chimera has, and it absolutely refuses to organize my bookmarks alphabetically. On the PC version of Mozilla, the way I organized things in Manage Bookmarks is the way they look when I select from the Bookmarks menu. On the Mac version, they're automatically sorted alphabetically in Manage Bookmarks, but they're all over the place when I go to the Bookmarks menu. But, like I said, I'm too hooked on tabbed browsing to go back to IE, although it's the only one to give me no problems or inconveniences thus far.

[don_thomaso]

Originally posted by Commodus:
Congrats... I've noticed that a lot of x86 users seem to gravitate towards the iBook when making the leap - partly because of the cost, but probably also because it's just so stubbornly practical.

I currently have a Toshiba laptop myself, and not only is it pokey (a 1 GHz Celeron with 128 MB of memory), it's ungainly: 7 pounds, and of course not very slim, either. Windows XP isn't absolutely horrible, but nor is it something that I would explicitly trust to provide a good experience (in spite of what Microsoft says).

The iBook is actually pretty quick for a laptop of its size (look at the Toshiba Portege 2000 series as an example - it's slower AND more expensive!), it has everything integrated rather than in a docking station, and as you'd expect OS X makes it more hassle-free.

Edit: as you might have noticed, that's the Canadian site and its pricing: for reference, a 12.1" 700 MHz iBook starts at $2399 Canadian. $900 less for a better laptop? Yes please.

That's exactly why I'm getting a 12" iBook any day now, got tired of dragging around my giant Dell

[typoon]

This is great to see so many people with the iBook. I got the ibook a few months before the upgrade so I'm stuck with the 8 meg video one. Not that I'm complaining this thing has been a great Machine. I got the 600 with the Combo drive. it ROCKS. After using a Pismo for a few years there was no way I'd get the 12.1 inch screen. Too small for me. The 14 is a little heavier but nothing I can complain about, My Pismo was about the same weight.