Yes I finally "switched" this afternoon after holding off for a few months to see if an update was going to be released for the iBook. I decided on the 12" PowerBook as due to the slightly better specs I think it should last me a little longer than the iBook may have done.
Have never used a Mac before - only looked over friends' shoulders as they typed on theirs so am still getting used to it... it's a very different O/S but I'm really enjoying it so far!
The little 'welcome' sequence was a nice touch and user registration was really clear and straightforward. I like the way it automatically displayed program updates and asked for a password to continue - unlike XP where it just seems to download all kinds of cr@p in the background and then restarts your computer at the most inconvenient time! Connecting to my new wireless network was also a doddle.
Dashboard seems pretty cool. The ripple effect is certainly impressive the first few times you see it, but I can see the novelty factor wearing off quite quickly, so to anyone who is currently waiting for an iBook update just to get this additional feature I'd say - go and see it on another Mac at your local Apple store and then just order the iBook anyway as you won't miss it much!
Programs in general launch really quickly. I'm coming from a rather old laptop (PIII 650MHz Vaio with 256MB RAM running WinXP) so I'd hoped they'd be a fair bit faster on this anyway, but for example launching MS Outlook on my Vaio seemed to take forever. The mail program on here is lightning fast.
I'm having a little trouble with the keyboard at the moment as the keys seem slightly bigger than what I'm used to and also several keys are in different positions compared to every PC keyboard I've ever used before - most notably the " and @ keys are swapped over! And I'm having to program my brain to use the Apple key instead of Ctrl, though I'm sure i'll get used to all that in no time. The touchpad really is excellent; it's the best one I've ever used on any laptop and the 2-fingered scrolling in particular seems a very useful feature. The dock and Exposé etc are all a welcome change from a cluttered start menu and task bar too. Oh it's such a shame that I still have to use Windows for work.
I could waffle on and on about how great this laptop and Tiger are all night... but a better use of my time would be getting to know all the other features. Overall so far I am *really* impressed - great build quality, no hassle set-up, and an operating system that seems FUN to use
Also applications and websites just seem to look better on a Mac! A few people here on MacRumors have said that the screen on the 12 inch isn't great, but it looks perfect to me...any brighter and it would be hurting my eyes! I'm sure if i'd have gone with my original plan of buying the iBook i'd be equally pleased but I certainly have no regrets spending the extra £350.
The only one additional feature I would like (especially right now as i'm sitting in the dark) is a backlit keyboard - shame it's not available on the 12" models. But hey i'm not complaining. This is one s*xy little machine!
Final word: to anyone thinking of switching... JUST DO IT. You won't be disappointed...
Have never used a Mac before - only looked over friends' shoulders as they typed on theirs so am still getting used to it... it's a very different O/S but I'm really enjoying it so far!
The little 'welcome' sequence was a nice touch and user registration was really clear and straightforward. I like the way it automatically displayed program updates and asked for a password to continue - unlike XP where it just seems to download all kinds of cr@p in the background and then restarts your computer at the most inconvenient time! Connecting to my new wireless network was also a doddle.
Dashboard seems pretty cool. The ripple effect is certainly impressive the first few times you see it, but I can see the novelty factor wearing off quite quickly, so to anyone who is currently waiting for an iBook update just to get this additional feature I'd say - go and see it on another Mac at your local Apple store and then just order the iBook anyway as you won't miss it much!
Programs in general launch really quickly. I'm coming from a rather old laptop (PIII 650MHz Vaio with 256MB RAM running WinXP) so I'd hoped they'd be a fair bit faster on this anyway, but for example launching MS Outlook on my Vaio seemed to take forever. The mail program on here is lightning fast.
I'm having a little trouble with the keyboard at the moment as the keys seem slightly bigger than what I'm used to and also several keys are in different positions compared to every PC keyboard I've ever used before - most notably the " and @ keys are swapped over! And I'm having to program my brain to use the Apple key instead of Ctrl, though I'm sure i'll get used to all that in no time. The touchpad really is excellent; it's the best one I've ever used on any laptop and the 2-fingered scrolling in particular seems a very useful feature. The dock and Exposé etc are all a welcome change from a cluttered start menu and task bar too. Oh it's such a shame that I still have to use Windows for work.
I could waffle on and on about how great this laptop and Tiger are all night... but a better use of my time would be getting to know all the other features. Overall so far I am *really* impressed - great build quality, no hassle set-up, and an operating system that seems FUN to use
Also applications and websites just seem to look better on a Mac! A few people here on MacRumors have said that the screen on the 12 inch isn't great, but it looks perfect to me...any brighter and it would be hurting my eyes! I'm sure if i'd have gone with my original plan of buying the iBook i'd be equally pleased but I certainly have no regrets spending the extra £350.The only one additional feature I would like (especially right now as i'm sitting in the dark) is a backlit keyboard - shame it's not available on the 12" models. But hey i'm not complaining. This is one s*xy little machine!
Final word: to anyone thinking of switching... JUST DO IT. You won't be disappointed...
