ipod and powerbook questions

[ll cool jh]

hey, i've posted some questions before and appreciate the information i was given. but of course, i have thought up some more questions.

i want to buy an ipod or ipod mini fairly soon, but currently i only have a windows computer. so if i buy a ipod for windows, will i be able to somehow convert it to an ipod for a mac? i ask this because i plan on buying a powerbook for college.

i've already been accepted into college, and placed my deposit, so am i now allowed to use my edu discount or do i have to wait until i am actually enrolled?

what is a 'kernal panic'?

could i configure my powerbook to 'snyc' with my webspace, rather than to a .mac account? i like the idea of being able to just 'sync' data and stuff right to the web, but i don't want to buy a .mac account. i am guessing i am going to have to use an ftp client.

i fear that i am starting to anticipate this perfect computing experience when i switch to a mac, but to be completely honest my experience with windows xp has been fine. i leave my computer on for days, if a program hangs up it doesn't crash the os, etc. windows isn't drivng me away or anything, but rather the sleek look of the powerbooks, extensive features are attracting me. so if maybe a few recent switchers could address my fears, that'd be cool.

thanks in advance.

 

[KBFinFan]

If you first use the iPod on a PC I believe it will be formatted on the PC and thus will work fine with a Mac (but if for some reason you originally formatted the iPod on a Mac then it wouldn't work on the PC w/o reformatting it for compatibility).

Next, I think a letter of acceptance is all you need. If you are purchasing from an Apple store give them a call or stop by and ask about the requirements. If ordering online they can ask for verification but in my case they did not, although I am a full-fledged student, but yes you should be fine and legal to use the discount.

A kernel panic in my non-technical definition is the operating system "crashing" usually due to a hardware problem. This is beyond just an application causing trouble and more severe than having to restart the finder. If you look there's a thread about crashing and kernel panics are mentioned throughout.

Ftp is what you are going to have to use for "syncing" to your webspace. Although there may be programs that emulate a kind of iDisk idea... I'm sure if there is someone will chime in.

I really never had a problem with Windows XP or my PC in general. I just really was drawn to the Mac due to its coolness factor. Everything just seemed so much more fun and practical. The whole idea of things "just working." It truly is a great platform that you will enjoy....


Hope this helps, and please correct me if I'm wrong with any of my information.

 

[ll cool jh]

ok, so if i were to buy an ipod now, it would work if i buy with the mac i will be buying sooner or later, that is good to know.

i figured i would have to use an ftp client, but i thought it would be cool if i could somehow configure isync to work with something other than a .mac account.

thanks.

 

[Westside guy]

You may find that, after you buy that Mac down the road, you may want to reformat the iPod at some point. The reason is it also makes a good external backup for your home folder etc. - but to do that it'll need to be in Mac format (HFS+).

This isn't a big deal though. You'd just need to make sure all your music and any other files from your iPod are copied onto your hard drive first.

The iPod is truly a nice multi-purpose tool, in addition to being a cool music player.

 

[niter]

If you can, I would wait as long as possible for ordering either. The computers will definately get better/faster and there might be some really nice deals next fall. Who knows if they are going to do this again, but last fall there was a deal when you got a laptop, you got a huge discount (I think $200) off of an iPod. If only the iBooks were G4 in September

 

[ll cool jh]

yea, i plan on definitely waiting atleast 4-6 months before i buy anything.

 

[ll cool jh]

it says that the 15" powerbook only has 2 usb 2.0 slots, am i misreading this or something, because this seems like not even close to enough. i figure i am going to need a printer, mouse, keyboard, digital camera, etc. does this mean i am going to have to unhook stuff when i need to use other things? is there some adapter i can plug in that gives me more usb 2.0 slots? any help is appreciated.

 

[Westside guy]

Originally posted by ll cool jh
it says that the 15" powerbook only has 2 usb 2.0 slots, am i misreading this or something, because this seems like not even close to enough. i figure i am going to need a printer, mouse, keyboard, digital camera, etc. does this mean i am going to have to unhook stuff when i need to use other things? is there some adapter i can plug in that gives me more usb 2.0 slots? any help is appreciated.

Hey, the majority of laptops only have one USB port. You can get a USB hub and plug that in to provide more USB connections. Alternatively, get a USB keyboard that has 2 or 4 USB ports on it (this is fairly common).

In large part the whole point of USB is that it is hot-swappable; so you don't need to have your camera plugged in except when it's needed, etc. This is fundamentally different from the older types of connections - i.e. serial, parallel, SCSI, PS/2 - where they had to be connected before powering up the computer. I think a lot of folks overlook the hot-swap aspect of USB.

P.S. I know someone would call me on this if I left it out, so... the other major advantage of USB is all the devices share one interrupt because they're all on one shared bus; at least on the PC side of the equation. I'm not as familiar with the hardware end of things on the Mac.

 

[26139]

yeah...

Yes, you get more usb ports by buying a hub....most laptops don't come with more than three built in...