Why should I switch to a Mac?

[oingoboingo]

I think the iBook will be fine for your use...But you might also want to pick up a refurbished 12" PowerBook on Apple.com for around the same price.

Apple Australia doesn't have a refurb store like they do in the US. And Apple US won't ship to Australia (believe me, I've tried. Australians get shafted on the pricing of Apple equipment, even taking exchange rates into account).

 

[ozimax]

So did you actually get to use either an iBook or PowerBook in your travels?

Yes, did get to play around with PB 12", and yes, you were right, it is noticeably slower than my Vaio (that is a generalisation I realise)and most probably a heap slower than my P4 Vaio desktop at home (which I will keep BTW). However, they didn't have a heap of loaded applications to muck around on, but the OS X does seem nice.

They didn't have a 12" ibook to test anywhere, every unit is sold from Bne to Perth it seems.

I suppose in buying a mac I'm taking a punt but it seems the way to go. I think the iBook with 640mb ram will do what I need it to do. Also, I know you can't believe hype (PC or Mac), but if the battery life of the ibook is half what is claimed it will still be much better than the 45mins-1hr of the Vaio

We'll see how we go.

I have also ordered PS Elements 2.0 for mac, a programme which I find great to use. I don't want to mortgage the kids for PS 7 which for me is a bit of overkill.

Max

 

[ozimax]

Sorry, I was wrong. The mucking around was done on an eMac ($1300 AUD) It did seem a little slow, maybe this is partly because it only has 128mb ram? I pressed a few buttons on the 12"PB for a while but the salesman wasn't real helpful when it came to applications/perceived speed etc.

Max

 

[oingoboingo]

Sorry, I was wrong. The mucking around was done on an eMac ($1300 AUD) It did seem a little slow, maybe this is partly because it only has 128mb ram? I pressed a few buttons on the 12"PB for a while but the salesman wasn't real helpful when it came to applications/perceived speed etc.

Max

Max,

An 1GHz eMac will probably appear a little slower than a 1GHz 12" PowerBook for a few reasons:

- eMac has a G4 CPU with 256KB L2 cache; PowerBook has 512KB L2 cache
- eMac has SDR RAM; PowerBook has DDR SDRAM
- Standard RAM on eMac is 128MB (a total joke, IMHO); PowerBook has 256MB standard
- eMac has Radeon 7500 graphics chip; PowerBook has GeForce FX5200

The eMac however has a faster hard drive, and may well have a faster optical drive (but you may not have performed any operations that required the optical drive, so the point is probably moot). I'd be surprised if the store left the eMac at its standard 128MB configuration though, because apart from loading OS X up, there's not much else you can do with that specification (unless you enjoy hearing the sound of the hard drive swap chunks of memory in and out).

As you can tell from my signature, I have a 1GHz 12" PowerBook. I got it last November, and I've been quite happy with it. The portability (which is very similar to the 12" iBook form factor) is excellent; it is absolutely no hassle to throw the PowerBook into my backpack and take it anywhere, and it is small and unobstrusive enough to be used comfortably in just about any situation (sitting on a plane, in front of TV, lying in bed, sitting at someone else's desk crammed with paper and other junk). As I mentioned in an earlier post, the speed of the 800MHz G4 of the iBook and 1GHz G4 of the PowerBook isn't anything to get excited about...but I knew that when I made the purchase, and for my usage pattern (it's basically an 'at work' laptop, where 'at work' means e-mail, web, Microsoft Office, standard UNIX command-line apps, some Perl/MySQL development and a little PhotoShop) it's fine. In my travels, 3D gaming is the only area where I have found the 12" PowerBook (and presumably the 12" iBook too) really suffers badly.

From all accounts, the battery life on the iBook is actually quite good. I can get around 3 hours from my 12" PowerBook with AirPort turned on (but with screen brightness down to about 50% and the various energy saving options turned on), and from reading Mac forums for a while, it seems iBook owners have no trouble matching or beating that figure by about an hour. So it definitely should leave your Vaio behind on battery life.

Anyway, congratulations on your purchase, and I hope you discover that you enjoy getting things done more with OS X. There's plenty to explore, even on a bare install (the iLife '04 apps of course, but then there's also the little niceties like Safari, iCal, iChat, the fully system-wide integrated Address Book, and the Mail program, which is a really solid e-mail app...a really understated gem in OS X if you ask me).

Let us all know if you need any help getting started up. By the way, did you get the AirPort Extreme card, or is that for later?

PS: As a total aside (I was just re-reading your original post above), I have also found the sales staff at many Apple re-sellers to be lacking in helpfulness. A recent episode at an Apple dealer in Sydney (which shall remain nameless) really disheartened me.

Me: Hi, can I get a mini DVI to TV-out adapter for a 1GHz 12" PowerBook
Dealer: 12" PowerBooks don't have mini DVI ports
Me: Yes they do. The 867MHz 12" didn't, but the 1GHz one does.
Dealer: <puzzled look>Riiiight. Let me check the stock on the wall <checks stock on wall display which I had already done>. No we don't have it. It's probably because it's for an obsolete line. I can order it for you if you want.
Me: It's *not* for an obsolete line <walks across to 1GHz 12" PowerBook 2 metres away on display, points at mini-DVI port>. See...mini-DVI port.
Dealer: Uhhhh...OK. I'll check the price <click type click type> OK it'll be about a week to get in, and it will be $45.
Me: Don't worry, thanks for your time, I'll order it straight from Apple.

The best part is that the part from Apple is only $35, not $45. I went to another dealer in another part of Sydney the next day and bought the adapter for $35. With dealers like this, who needs Microsoft? Sorry...had to vent.

 

[ozimax]

Thanks Oingo,

In the end, the extra $1100 bucks for the PB 12" settled the matter, I'll have to stic with the iBook.

Incidentally the Mac staff member(MAtthew) at Core Computers Albany Creek (a hybrid pc mac dealer) was very helpful and friendly, I'll post tomorrow night and see how everything gets on with pickup and purchase.

This forum is very helpful, I'm sure I will be asking some questions over the coming days, many thanks, Max

Another good uncomplicated forum for anyone interested in digital photography is ephotozine.com

 

[ozimax]

Also, do you think I will use the AirPort Extreme card? I don't have broadband or cable or whatever and no plans to get wireless network in my home as yet. What ae the advantages of AirPort Extreme card?

Max

 

[oingoboingo]

Also, do you think I will use the AirPort Extreme card? I don't have broadband or cable or whatever and no plans to get wireless network in my home as yet. What ae the advantages of AirPort Extreme card?

Max

Max,
If you don't have a wireless LAN in your home then there really isn't much point in getting an Airport Extreme card yet. I added the AirPort Extreme card to my 12" PowerBook when I bought it because I already had a wireless access point at my apartment (sharing a 512K ADSL connection), and I wanted to be able to use my notebook from anywhere in the house. There is also an 802.11g access point where I work, and being able to pick up the notebook and take it anywhere within the building and have wireless access to the company LAN is extremely handy.

Just wait until you decide you'd like wireless LAN or net access at home, or until you feel ready to join the cappucino-sipping "look at me look at me" iBook-at-Starbucks crowd

 

[ozimax]

Just wait until you decide you'd like wireless LAN or net access at home, or until you feel ready to join the cappucino-sipping "look at me look at me" iBook-at-Starbucks crowd

Flat white or machiato, not cappuccino or latte, and definitely not Star-bugs, preferably little Italian deli's or at least a "Grinder's" coffee shop with authentic Italian coffee.

Forget the computer stuff for a while, Italian coffee is the real deal....the more the better...

Bean Head Max

 

[oingoboingo]

Flat white or machiato, not cappuccino or latte, and definitely not Star-bugs, preferably little Italian deli's or at least a "Grinder's" coffee shop with authentic Italian coffee.

Forget the computer stuff for a while, Italian coffee is the real deal....the more the better...

Bean Head Max

Definitely. Gotta start the day with a cup of good strong black espresso from the stove-top espresso maker. Sure makes avoiding doing any work on my PhD project plan and posting stuff on Macrumors all day that much easier

 

[encro]

Hmmm, I didn't realise the Starbucks franchise was in Australia?

P.S. I say "Don't switch, just have both " Because we are so close to Asia we get really good prices on PC hardware. I much prefer OS X 10.3 to 2000/XP though in terms of Usability.

 

[oingoboingo]

Hmmm, I didn't realise the Starbucks franchise was in Australia?

P.S. I say "Don't switch, just have both " Because we are so close to Asia we get really good prices on PC hardware. I much prefer OS X 10.3 to 2000/XP though in terms of Usability.

Starbucks outlets now infest Sydney streets like cockroaches. Just off the top of my head, I can think of outlets at Wynyard Station, Park Street (the first one in Australia, I think), Central Station, Darling Street (Balmain), and Macquarie Centre. And I'm sure there's another 15 on top of that too...at least. Glad to say the only time I visit a Starbucks is while I'm waiting in a U.S. airport lounge, and there often isn't any other place to get coffee.

Do you actually think we have good hardware prices here? Australia definitely gets shafted by Apple on its hardware. The impression I got was that x86/PC hardware was still cheaper in the US (even taking currency exchange into account) than it was in Australia. Maybe I just need to find a new supplier.

 

[flyfish29]

PC user for last 15 years, started with XT around 1989, have always had pc's, presently running a Sony Vaio, but am seriously considering switching to a G4 iBook. I use mainly pagemaker 6.5, photoshop elements, Finale (music software) and web browsing.

Considering the cost of changing software to Max OS, why should I make the switch?

Max
Brisbane, Australia

Depending on which elements you have it may be mac compatible without buying another version. There is a package out there that they sell with both PC and mac versions in the same package...walmart among others sell this one. You might look into it and see if your copy was distributed this way.

 

[Silencio]

Flat white or machiato, not cappuccino or latte, and definitely not Star-bugs, preferably little Italian deli's or at least a "Grinder's" coffee shop with authentic Italian coffee.

Forget the computer stuff for a while, Italian coffee is the real deal....the more the better...

All the completely different coffee lingo throws me for a huge loop whenever I travel to Oz or NZ. Takes me a week or two to start ordering properly again, which is a big problem for a major caffeine addict like myself.

 

[Silencio]

All the completely different coffee lingo throws me for a huge loop whenever I travel to Oz or NZ. Takes me a week or two to start ordering properly again, which is a big problem for a major caffeine addict like myself.

Ugh - duplicated post! Obviously I have not had enough coffee yet.

 

[hulugu]

PC user for last 15 years, started with XT around 1989, have always had pc's, presently running a Sony Vaio, but am seriously considering switching to a G4 iBook. I use mainly pagemaker 6.5, photoshop elements, Finale (music software) and web browsing.

Considering the cost of changing software to Max OS, why should I make the switch?

Max
Brisbane, Australia

Stability: XP doesn't crash or so they claim, but OSX crashes even less. Personally I have had only a few programs, Mail and MS Word crash on me, and I've had a kernal panic exactly twice since I got my Powerbook running OSX in 2001.
Quality: The Apple machine, for all the faults you may have heard of, still has the best marks in Consumer Report for both technical faults and customer service.
Customer Service: I can't say it enough, with Apple the OS and the hardware are tied together, but their customer service is great and very helpful, they have a better resource for troubleshooting, AppleCare is great.
Intutiveness: The OS is very easy for new users, and once a Windows user gets used to the paradigm, most like OSX much better. The consistency of the interface is amazing especially considering the grab-bag that is Windows.
Security: OSX has had security issues, however they are rare and there is as of yet 0 viruses that affect the Macintosh OS. Also, several independent reports have noted that OSX and other BSD deriviatives are the most secure OSs out there.
iLife: Yeah, Windows can do some of the same tricks, but iLife does it better, faster and cheaper. With iLife, you get iTunes and iTMS, iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD (if you get a machine with a Superdrive) and GarageBand. You also get iCal (a nice calender program) and iSync (like Palm's Hotsync, but more universal with regard to different devices). You can run Microsoft Office, including Word and Entourage and if you really need to you can run Virtual PC for former Windows software. All the advantages, none of the disadvantages. Although one caveat, VPC is like having a very slow Windows machine around, so for something like Elements, you'll want the Mac version.

Lastly, I would ask if you can exchange the PC versions for Mac versions, or you can consider selling the PC versions to someone. Also, in many cases, the files you've already worked on can be moved from one to the other, so except for software and the machine, there shouldn't be much of a penalty switching. I know this forum is lit up with people convincing you to get a Mac, but I would suggest—as I always do—to go try out a Mac, play with it for an hour or so, ask questions. And, when you buy one, shove a bunch of RAM in it, OSX loves RAM.

 

[hulugu]

Just wait until you decide you'd like wireless LAN or net access at home, or until you feel ready to join the cappucino-sipping "look at me look at me" iBook-at-Starbucks crowd

Hey, switch out an iBook for a Powerbook and you've just described me.

Actually, Starbucks' coffee sucks, I go to a place on the corner that also has WiFi. Go CoffeeXchange!

 

[ozimax]

Hey, switch out an iBook for a Powerbook and you've just described me.

Actually, Starbucks' coffee sucks, I go to a place on the corner that also has WiFi. Go CoffeeXchange!

Apologies to my multitude of American friends, but after living in Riverside CA for 8 months in 2002 and visiting Star-bugs all over USA looking for an authentic coffee, I have yet to find one that rates above about 3-4 on the CQ (caffeine quality) scale. Several times I have leapt the counter to demonstrate to a "trained" Star-bugs employee how to make a proper cup of coffee, rule #1 being DON'T EVER PUT THE ESPRESSO INTO A STEEL JUG AND TRANSFER IT TO A CUP - YOU LOSE THE CREMA, BUFFHEAD!

Gloria Jean, now open in Australia (alongside Krispy Kreme) have taken bottom place in coffee standards, just dreadful.

Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide have wonderful Italian etc coffee shops everywhere. Brisbane is the only place worse than USA for coffee (oh, I forgot Japan). The Queenslanders specialise in pineapple milkshakes and not much else.

Man I'm rambling, incoherent, disoriented, I havn't had a decent coffee for 15 hours....BTW, this forum is really good and a lot of fun

Ozimax
iBook soon to be
"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

 

[oingoboingo]

All the completely different coffee lingo throws me for a huge loop whenever I travel to Oz or NZ. Takes me a week or two to start ordering properly again, which is a big problem for a major caffeine addict like myself.

I think we use all the Italian names for things here. There are sizable Italian migrant populations in both Sydney and Melbourne (between those two cities they make up about 35-37% of Australia's total population), so there's a big European influence in things like cafes.

One thing you don't see here are drip filter coffee machines, which seem to be very common in the US. Practically every place which serves coffee from the little deli around the corner to the most up-market cafe or restaurant will have an espresso machine (excepting places like 7-11 and petrol stations).

Espresso == standard small volume black coffee. Usually served in a small demitasse-type cup. Should have a rich crema on the top. Also known as a 'short black'. If you ask for a 'long black' you'll basically get the same thing, but with more water...is this also known as a Americana? Asking for a doppio will get you a double shot or something resembling that.

Ristretto == Turbo-espresso. Smaller amount of water is used than for an espresso, so the flavour and aroma is more concentrated.

Macchiato == Espresso with a small dollop of frothed milk on top. Served in a small cup or often a small tumbler.

Cappuccino == Australia's favourite beverage. Shot or two of espresso coffee with frothed milk in and on top, often with ridiculous amounts of cocoa or chocolate powder sprinkled on top.

Latte == Varies. Some places just give you a cappuccino in a taller mug/glass and leave off the chocolate dust. Others just stir in the frothed milk minus the froth. Particularly poseur if drunk with a small napkin tied around the glass to protect delicate fingers from being scorched. Somewhat related cousin of the 'flat white'.

Affogato == Espresso poured over scoop of icecream, or scoop of icecream dumped into cup of espresso. Sometimes with a liqueur like Frangelico added.

I'm sure there's others. Wow...that has absolutely nothing to do with buying an iBook. I'm glad we can all stay on topic here To bring it back on topic, Max, when you've had some coffee and picked up your iBook, let us all know how it goes!

 

[ozimax]

Will do, coffee first of course, a small macchiato with raisin toast plus large glass of water, then off to the Mac Shop....

(Remember, 1 glass of water for every shot of coffee)

Max

almost iBooked
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

 

[carbonmotion]

Stability: XP doesn't crash or so they claim, but OSX crashes even less. Personally I have had only a few programs, Mail and MS Word crash on me, and I've had a kernal panic exactly twice since I got my Powerbook running OSX in 2001.
Quality: The Apple machine, for all the faults you may have heard of, still has the best marks in Consumer Report for both technical faults and customer service.
Customer Service: I can't say it enough, with Apple the OS and the hardware are tied together, but their customer service is great and very helpful, they have a better resource for troubleshooting, AppleCare is great.
Intutiveness: The OS is very easy for new users, and once a Windows user gets used to the paradigm, most like OSX much better. The consistency of the interface is amazing especially considering the grab-bag that is Windows.
Security: OSX has had security issues, however they are rare and there is as of yet 0 viruses that affect the Macintosh OS. Also, several independent reports have noted that OSX and other BSD deriviatives are the most secure OSs out there.
iLife: Yeah, Windows can do some of the same tricks, but iLife does it better, faster and cheaper. With iLife, you get iTunes and iTMS, iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD (if you get a machine with a Superdrive) and GarageBand. You also get iCal (a nice calender program) and iSync (like Palm's Hotsync, but more universal with regard to different devices). You can run Microsoft Office, including Word and Entourage and if you really need to you can run Virtual PC for former Windows software. All the advantages, none of the disadvantages. Although one caveat, VPC is like having a very slow Windows machine around, so for something like Elements, you'll want the Mac version.

Lastly, I would ask if you can exchange the PC versions for Mac versions, or you can consider selling the PC versions to someone. Also, in many cases, the files you've already worked on can be moved from one to the other, so except for software and the machine, there shouldn't be much of a penalty switching. I know this forum is lit up with people convincing you to get a Mac, but I would suggest—as I always do—to go try out a Mac, play with it for an hour or so, ask questions. And, when you buy one, shove a bunch of RAM in it, OSX loves RAM.

osx is great to watch porn on.

 

[ozimax]

To bring it back on topic, Max, when you've had some coffee and picked up your iBook, let us all know how it goes!

Well today's the day, in fact I am typing this on a shiny new iBook, took me 20 mins to get up and running and connected to net, but that included 17 mins to read the intro book!

It's an absolute cinch to do anything, perceived speed of operation is on a par with Vaio, but the main thing is this - I T W O R K S !!!

(My xp vaio locked up again this morning when more than 3 applications were open - it always unlocks itself after about 5-7 mins, but that defeats the whole purpose of multitasking doesn't it?)

It's going to take me some time to work my way around this thing but it sure works flawlessly. Matthew at Core Computers in Albany Creek, QLD, delivered well before the promised time, and the service was outstanding.

Only one flaw - the very first button I pressed was the F1 (decrease scren brightness) key, and it stuck. It is completely unusable at present, Apple will have to fix that one.

Connecting to ISP, email settings etc is a no-brainer and takes seconds to do. I always thought that Sony had some of the best screens (they most probably do) but this one is up there.

I plugged in my Sony F707 camera and viola! - worked like a beauty. (I am going to need a USB reader because I use exclusively memory stick etc) The MS optical mouse was instantly workable via USB port.

I've only spent approx one hour so far on the thing, but I'm looking forward to the next few days to try this baby out, work permitting.

Max

 

[encro]

Macchiato == Espresso with a small dollop of frothed milk on top. Served in a small cup or often a small tumbler.

Cappuccino == Australia's favourite beverage. Shot or two of espresso coffee with frothed milk in and on top, often with ridiculous amounts of cocoa or chocolate powder sprinkled on top.

Latte == Varies. Some places just give you a cappuccino in a taller mug/glass and leave off the chocolate dust. Others just stir in the frothed milk minus the froth. Particularly poseur if drunk with a small napkin tied around the glass to protect delicate fingers from being scorched. Somewhat related cousin of the 'flat white'.

Hmmm, I'm not too sure I agree on these 3.

I believe it should be:

Cappuccino ==
1 Shot of Espresso; then the remainder is 50% Steamed Milk and 50% Froth.
(Cocoa dusting: Wierd Australian Tradition, leaning towards Mocha)

Macchiato ==
Long Espresso with unsteamed milk wave on the bottom created by pouring over a teaspoon. Perfect layer seperation, just like creating a cocktail.

Latté ==
1 Shot of Espresso with Frothed milk. Rich Brown crema with 1cm of froth at the top. (I prefer served Warm to help differentiate from a Flat White and it also seems to taste thicker when the milk hasn't achieved anywhere near boiling point.)

P.S. I'm not a Barrister so this is my interpretation only

 

[oingoboingo]

It's an absolute cinch to do anything, perceived speed of operation is on a par with Vaio, but the main thing is this - I T W O R K S !!!

Well apart from your F1 key sticking, sounds like it all went pretty well and that you are happy with your purchase. I think the iBook keyboard can be flipped out with a screwdriver (you could with the older iBook keyboards anyway, to get at the RAM slots) but you probably don't feel like attacking your 1-day old iBook with a screwdriver just yet. You sound happy with your local Apple dealer...if they are half-decent they should be able to fix the keyboard problem easily or (hopefully) swap your machine for another one straight away.

I'm assuming you got iLife '04 either pre-installed or on a DVD in the box? You'll have a great time messing around with the iLife apps and the other stuff included in OS X.

In case you don't already know, there are a few really good sites to check out for when you're in trouble or you need a hand. www.macosxhints.com is an excellent collection of tricky little hints and tips for getting stuff done in OS X...you'll always learn something new every time you visit. www.versiontracker.com is an excellent place to find and download Mac freeware, shareware, and demos. Apple's own discussion boards at discussions.info.apple.com are also good if you're trying to track down a problem. Finally, www.macrumors.com is good to keep up with community gossip and get advice...I also find the Mac specific forums on www.arstechnica.com to be quite good too...and Arstechnica does very high quality reviews of major Apple releases like new OS X versions.

Good luck!

 

[oingoboingo]

Hmmm, I'm not too sure I agree on these 3.

I believe it should be:

Cappuccino ==
1 Shot of Espresso; then the remainder is 50% Steamed Milk and 50% Froth.
(Cocoa dusting: Wierd Australian Tradition, leaning towards Mocha)

Macchiato ==
Long Espresso with unsteamed milk wave on the bottom created by pouring over a teaspoon. Perfect layer seperation, just like creating a cocktail.

Latté ==
1 Shot of Espresso with Frothed milk. Rich Brown crema with 1cm of froth at the top. (I prefer served Warm to help differentiate from a Flat White and it also seems to taste thicker when the milk hasn't achieved anywhere near boiling point.)

P.S. I'm not a Barrister so this is my interpretation only

Your definitions are probably much closer to the 'official truth' than mine are, but what I described are what I've commonly see in cafes (at least the ones I've been to anyway). Especially the macchiato...I've probably seen one macchiato in my entire life which was made the way you describe...everything else was just an espresso shot with a dollop of milk foam thrown on top or stirred in. Maybe I need to stop slumming it and go to a real cafe (the lament of the Macintosh owner...all your money goes on paying for this overpriced hardware and you don't have any left for properly sampling cafes).

I'm probably not the best judge of cafe coffee making skills anyway...I almost exclusively drink espressos (why mess up that wonderful coffee small and taste with milk?!?!), so if I get a rich smelling espresso with a nice thick crema on top, and a taste to match, then I'm happy. Let them do what they want with their milk!

 

[hulugu]

That's just frickin' hilarious

osx is great to watch porn on.

Thanks for taking my whole post and boiling it down to one succint sentance.