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Screw this I want an iBook
My notebook trackpad is still dead and I tried a different set of drivers. The indicator lights do not work either so I think it is a hardware problem rather than a software setting. It still works fine as a desktop like system but I do want a nice notebook PC that I can take places.
So I made up my mind and next week I am going to be buying an 12 inch G4 iBook. The iBook is a pretty nice small notebook and it is quite reasonably priced. Next week when I file my tax return I'll order a nicely packed iBook. Most of my files are in platform independent formats and my external USB2 hard drive should come in handy for moving a hell of a lot of files from my old Windows notebook to my iBook.
I would rather have an iBook over a Powerbook because of the better battery life out of the iBook and I am in love with the design of it. There is a bunch of them at a weblogger meetup so I have seen how slick they are in person. I think I'll go with the 12 inch model with a 1.2 ghz G4 CPU, 768 megs of RAM and an 80 gig drive. That also has a Radeon 9200 chip in it with 64 megs of dedicated memory so I would be able to play Unreal Torney 2004 and other kick ass games. I am not looking to get this for a dedicated gaming platform. That is what my PS2 and Gamecube is for but it would be nice to be able to play some Unreal Tourney. Also the fact that it can run four to five hours on a single battery charge and it is quiet is pretty slick if you ask me.
I was a Mac user from 1984 to 2000 so I am not really worried about going back to mac and besides I still have my windows notebook for when I need to do some work with a windows application. Most of the applications I love like GIMP, OpenOffice.org, Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird are available on the Mac OS. I can use all my USB hardware and all my Emulation programs
It is the industrial design, the applications, the security and stability of the OS that I really crave. I have yet to find a negative review of the iBook. The first computer my family ever brought home was a 1984 Mac so i guess I would be right at home.
Update:
Ah the iBook G4 has 32 megs of Video RAM not 64. But that is still enough to play Unreal Tourney 2004. I might consider getting a 14-inch iBook for the DVD burner AKA Superdrive.
Can Mac OSX mount a Windows FAT 32 formatted external USB hard drive? I assume that it is not to hard to network a Windows XP PC with SP2 and a Mac OSX machine with a cross over Ethernet cable? I also could network them with my router.
Jake at February 2, 2005 
Nerd
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Comments
Why can't they just make computers that are always invincible? Or take the broken ones and adjust them to normal. Instead of making computers that DON'T work, why can't they just change them so they DO work?? It's a very simple concept.
Posted by: BBQ at February 2, 2005 3:21 AM
Remember that the video card can soak up more power than normal when running off the battery and playing a video game. I've got a Radeon 9200 Mobile in my laptop and you can toggle the amount of power it uses when running off the battery, but when you tell it to use less power, naturally your FPS goes down as well.
Posted by: Brian Kelly at February 2, 2005 4:57 AM
hey what happened to the poor websites that were threatened by Apple?
Posted by: Jim at February 2, 2005 4:58 AM
According to Apple, the iBook's Radeon 9200 has 32MB not 64MB... :)
Posted by: Marco J. Campos at February 2, 2005 6:05 AM
i give a half-hearted wooo to the apple decision. i not fond of the fisher price plastic feel of the ibook even though the same feel works fine for the ipod.
and going along with bbq's comment above, make sure to place a mario star sticker somewhere on the notebook. might want to be even more cautious and include a 1up mushroom.
Posted by: jon at February 2, 2005 3:05 PM
You made the right move Jake. Enjoy :)
Posted by: Shawn at February 2, 2005 5:53 PM
This notebook only has 64 mb of video memory?
Oh wait, now it is 32 mb? You will not be able to play even the "jack squat" of modern video games on it. Do not attempt to use this machine as a video game playing platform. Unless you want to play the old half life 1. I hadna card with 64 mb of memory in my old p-2 machine in 1999 and it barely ran half life 1...
IBM compatible laptops are routinely using 128 to 256 mb memory for thier radeon video cards utilizing pci-express technology.
You could easily run doom 3 on these laptops.
You are talking about doing games on a pathetic mac machine. I visited that link and they are so behind in gaming that it is actually funny.
Heck...on that thing you couldnt even run dungion siege. You might want to re-think this if you are going to run 3dsmax on it or even *gasp* photoshop.
Posted by: pete at February 2, 2005 9:46 PM
Photoshop was made for the Mac. I started using Photoshop 2 on a 12mhz Mac many years ago. I am not going to be using it as a die hard game machine just a good general computer and workstation. I am still keeping around my WinXP laptop and that can run 3dsMax and other windows aps just fine. I am not really switching to mac but adding a mac.
Posted by: Jake of 8bitjoystick.com at February 2, 2005 9:53 PM
Good choice, Jake! However, if you can spare the change, I would go with the 12-inch Powerbook instead. As you probably know, they just bumped up the specs for the entire Powerbook line and lowered the prices. It's only $200 more (including the Superdrive), and you'll get improved performance from the slightly more capable video card, faster RAM (standard setup includes 512 MB of RAM compared to the 256 MB for the iBook), and more importantly, the faster hard drive (5400 rpm vs. 4200 rpm).
I've had a titanium 15-inch Powerbook for several years now and I love it. Sure, it's not what I would call a gaming powerhouse (currently I have stuff like Quake III, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, and a Mame emulator on there), but that's not really my primary concern anyway. Currently it's connected to my home network and I'm able to access the drives on my XP machine and vice versa. OSX includes SAMBA software that makes it very easy to do. Also, I use a neat little remote desktop utility to control the XP machine from time to time (usually if I'm too lazy to go upstairs and do something manually on that machine).
As for your concern about battery life - Apple claims that the 12-inch Powerbook has 5 hours of battery life and the 14-inch iBook has 6. Of course, actual performace may vary, but that's still pretty close (as far as the official specs go, that is...)
Posted by: Nunbuns at February 5, 2005 12:59 AM
