I switched (again)!

[Zack Mahdavi]

Well, after 13 years of using a PC, I switched to a Mac about a year and a half ago.

Today, I bought a refurbished Dell to run Windows again. :)

Sure, Macs are incredible, but I'm tired of launching Virtual PC to do stuff like install Pocket PC programs or some engineering programs I use. So instead of paying $200 to buy Virtual PC, I spent $400 to buy a cheap refurbished Dell. I'm happy.. :)

[dean_shan]

That is way to go. Macs are nice but you can't go exclusive with them. There are some ( ok a lot ) things you just need a Windows for to do them.

[Kowalski]

agree with dean, you can live without a mac. and in my personal opinion you dont even need a mac, but you cant live without a windows system!
this is the truth!

[Zack Mahdavi]

Well, I agree and disagree. I disagree because I've been living without a Windows system for almost 2 years now. However, if you're a big gamer, then you absolutely can't live without a Windows system.

Same goes for if you use your Pocket PC to the extreme like all of us here at Pocket PC Thoughts.. :)

[dean_shan]

I love my Mac although I do get frustrated with it and wish it were a Windows. There are some things on it that you just can't do with the Windows.

[JackTheTripper]

agree with dean, you can live without a mac. and in my personal opinion you dont even need a mac, but you cant live without a windows system!
this is the truth!

I've been using mac only at home since 1998. So actually, ya.... you can live without windoz.

[CTSLICK]

I just became a Mac owner on Monday. First Mac ever for me. The intro of the new Powerbook line dropped the price of the existing models and I got an even better break on an open box 12" Powerbook at a local reseller. Saved enough money to cover the cost of Applecare and an Airport card. I had actually been agonizing over what laptop to get for months. I damn near bought a refurb Dell 600m over the weekend. I'm still very much in the honeymoon period but so far everything has gone pretty smooth. It is without a doubt a very cool piece of hardware. I think it will work out nicely.

[dean_shan]

Good choice CTSLICK. I have that machine and I am very happy with it. One slick piece of hardware.

[CTSLICK]

Thanks dean_shan. I didn't plan on getting one with the superdrive but this one had it and the price was just too good. Looking forward to giving that a try. Had a little trauma with getting the aircard to give me any sort of reception but I sorted that out. Turned out to be a little piece of lint on the contact points of the aircard.

[dean_shan]

Nice, I only have a combo. You should really think about getting Final Cut Pro. It's pricey, but if your lucky ( like me ) your school will get it for you.

[Zack Mahdavi]

Awesome.. I own a 12" Powerbook (first generation combo). It's really nice.. you'll be very happy with it.

[dean_shan]

OK how many of us own a PowerBook G4 12"? Just about everyone in this tread has one. We need to start a poll.

[Zack Mahdavi]

OK how many of us own a PowerBook G4 12"? Just about everyone in this tread has one. We need to start a poll.

Hehe.. what should it say?

What computer do you own?
1) Windows PC
2) Linux PC
3) 12" Powerbook

:lol:

[dean_shan]

Sounds good. Throw in an 'All of the above' option and I'm set.

[JackTheTripper]

At my house we still have our origional (Well, not quite "origional") 333 Grape tray loading iMac. I beafed up the memory and threw in an 80GB Hard Drive. Mostly use it for storing files. (You'll see why in a sec.)

Then my wife became an independant contractor and ended up buying a 14" PowerBook with Combo drive. We know someone who works at Apple so she saved about $1,000 on it. (It pays to live in the Valley. Apple HQ is about 10 minutes from our place, as well as Adobe, MacroMedia, etc..... )

Then I got tired of working on the iMac all the time and was going to sell it and get an iBook or Power Book. (Guy doesn't work at Apple anymore. :() Instead I bought a used Tuxedo iBook (Clam Shell style) from ebay for about $500. Only has a 6GB drive, hence keeping the iMac.

It's a pain sometimes, but I threw a bunch of memory at it and I run OS X.3.x on it as well as Dream Weaver, PhotoShop and Illustrator and it holds it's own. I just had to have it. It's so cool looking and retro. 8) Plus I get better wireless reception than my wife with her titanium power book. :lol:

[CTSLICK]

OK how many of us own a PowerBook G4 12"? Just about everyone in this tread has one. We need to start a poll.

I would bet that there are more Apple users in the PocketPC gang than we realize.

I have found OS X very refreshing and easy to get along with so far. I won't pretend that I understand this whole dmg (mountable disk image?) thing but it seems to work.

My only beef so far is the inability to set up scroll zones on the touchpad. I did find a piece of freeware software and it seems to work well but I was surprised that Apple doesn't include this.

[Zack Mahdavi]

My only beef so far is the inability to set up scroll zones on the touchpad. I did find a piece of freeware software and it seems to work well but I was surprised that Apple doesn't include this.

Yeah, it's kind of stupid of Apple, in my opinion. But if they won't let go of the one button mouse, then they'll never start adding more options to the trackpad.. :)

[JackTheTripper]

My only beef so far is the inability to set up scroll zones on the touchpad. I did find a piece of freeware software and it seems to work well but I was surprised that Apple doesn't include this.
Link? :wink:

[CTSLICK]

My only beef so far is the inability to set up scroll zones on the touchpad. I did find a piece of freeware software and it seems to work well but I was surprised that Apple doesn't include this.
Link? :wink:

Check it out

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/12800

[tmulli]

I think there are plenty of mac users here. Mac is great!! I recently switched to a G3 iBook 900MHz 640MB, 40GB at home (testing the waters, so to speak) and love it. I would dump windows at home completely excpet I use Microsoft money (don't care for Quicken) and since we already had the PC are keeping and not messing with Virtual PC. (Trying to keep Microsoft software off my mac except for Office which was a necessity with work. Damn thing actually runs better on mac, go figure...)

[JackTheTripper]

My only beef so far is the inability to set up scroll zones on the touchpad. I did find a piece of freeware software and it seems to work well but I was surprised that Apple doesn't include this.
Link? :wink:

Check it out

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/12800

I love that thing! Thanks so much! :)

[CTSLICK]

No problem JackTheTripper. That little piece of software has helped ease my transition from two button mouse to one button. I've got the bottom right corner of my touch pad set to right click ;)

[CTSLICK]

So week one of my Apple induction has gone very smoothly. Wifi connection to my LinkSys base station was easy, worked the first time. Last night I paired with my bluetooth phone and used it to connect to the internet. No muss no fuss it just worked. Plugged my Olympus 2100UZ and downloaded pictures to my Powerbook, no driver needed. Plugged in the wife's Canon A70...again, no driver, no problem. Nice!

Now software installs can be a little wierd, probably the biggest diffence I have encountered so far. There seem to be several ways they are delivered (mountable disk images, installers, self-extracting archives).

Biggest problem encountered was when I installed Apple's wireless card update which turned out to be a bad update by all who installed it. Luckily the user community sprang into action and posted a way to back out of the update. Note to self...allow updates to "age" prior to installing.

Now...I'm sure a new XP PC would have treated me just as well. At this time I think the whole Apple vs PC thing is a bit overdone. I am moving between the two pretty easily. They are different in some areas but both work fine. I figure I'm still in the honeymoon period and will sooner or later see the darker side of Apple. Nothin's perfect. But for now its really neat :mrgreen:

[JackTheTripper]

Biggest problem encountered was when I installed Apple's wireless card update which turned out to be a bad update by all who installed it. Luckily the user community sprang into action and posted a way to back out of the update. Note to self...allow updates to "age" prior to installing.

DAMN! I just installed that last night! No wonder everything was running slow after that! :evil:

Well.... off to search Apple Discussion Board! :)

[tmulli]

Biggest problem encountered was when I installed Apple's wireless card update which turned out to be a bad update by all who installed it.

CTSLICK-

Is this update/problem specific to Powerbooks or does it affect any Apple computer that has updated their airport software?

[CTSLICK]

Biggest problem encountered was when I installed Apple's wireless card update which turned out to be a bad update by all who installed it. Luckily the user community sprang into action and posted a way to back out of the update. Note to self...allow updates to "age" prior to installing.

DAMN! I just installed that last night! No wonder everything was running slow after that! :evil:

Well.... off to search Apple Discussion Board! :)

I just noted that Aircard 3.4 (the bad update) is now 3.4.1 and that users are reporting better results as per MacInTouch (http://www.macintouch.com/wirelesslanreader22.html#apr28). I have not installed this yet but I may try it tonight.

[CTSLICK]

Biggest problem encountered was when I installed Apple's wireless card update which turned out to be a bad update by all who installed it.

CTSLICK-

Is this update/problem specific to Powerbooks or does it affect any Apple computer that has updated their airport software?

Dunno, I was just concentrating on the effects people were reporting on the Powerbook support forums. As I mentioned in my post above they have now posted a new update that seems to be addressing the problem.

[JackTheTripper]

Ah, I actually installed it last night so it was 3.4.1

I'll check it tonight and see if it was still slow. (Now that I think about it both the wife and I were on at the same time. Might account for the slowness.)