[CS-FSLUG] Laptops and iBooks

[tbutler at ofb.biz]

Hi Nathan,

I can confirm that the systems need 512 megs of ram to run comfortably.
Actually, I don't like running any OS on less than that. Mac OS X Tiger is more
demanding on ram, it seems, than past ones though. Macs love RAM. Unlike PC's,
you really do notice improved performance if you upgrade. Anand from AnandTech
wrote about that last year, speculating on possible reasons: but the end result
is simple... absolutely stellar multitasking.


I've found Apple pretty good at honoring warranties, although I'm a bit
disturbed by slowness at the Apple Store. A good independent Apple dealer is
your friend. (Or maybe Apple via mail... all I know is the little boutique
stores Apple runs have questionable repair times.)

I haven't noticed any problems with Dashboard. I love Dashboard, btw. I've never
seen a widget/applet idea implemented so well. It works great.

Regarding button order, etc.: It is like anything that is a big switch. Give it
a month and you won't mind that kind of stuff. You just have to "acclimate" to
a new environment. I bet all of the other things that it has will quickly
have you forgetting about button order. To really enjoy Mac OS X, you need to
spend a some time with it.

It is easy enough that I took a good family friend, who has never used anything
other than an aged Windows NT (and later Win98) system, and was able to help
her switch to an iMac G5 with about one hour of instruction. I've helped a bit
since then, but if someone who knows virtually nothing other than how to do
some basic tasks on Windows can come to use the Mac, and even start taking
advantage of the Mac's easy to use, but robust features... you can surely do
it.

BTW, Bash and Friends work just how you expect, so no worries there. The only
difference is that Apple uses the BSD toolchain rather than the GNU one, so
things like top aren't quite the same. But, many GNU tools are there too, such
as GCC.

Apple is famous for easy upgrading. This system has gone from Panther to Tiger
without problems, using just an over the top upgrade (no reformatting). My iMac
G3 went from 9.0.4 to 9.2 to Jaguar to Panther just fine as well.

Buy your own ram. It is cheaper that way. Regarding resolution 1024x768 is a
very comfortable resolution on a 12" laptop. Hook your laptop up to a larger
display and it'll power it. (The 12" runs my 23" Cinema Display at 1920x1200
quite comfortably -- it has a good 64 meg video card in it).

Apple is very conscious about how high resolution is. Here's an example of a
problem with high res: my church buys Dells (on my recommendation). We buy a
few a year. Mostly we are doing laptops these days. They order a 15" and it has
such a ridiculously high resolution even I would get tired of looking at fonts
that small, so I have to tinker with the dpi and make everything bigger... but
if you do that, you haven't gained any screen realestate. The key is finding
the right ratio. 1024x768 is really nice for a 12" display. (I had a 14"
1024x768 laptop before, and that was a bit low-res).

You shouldn't have to pay for exchanges, should something be damaged. Apple
usually insures its stuff quite well (to the point FedEx or UPS won't deliver
even a fairly low-cost Apple item, like software, without a signature).

4.6 lbs is nice for a fully loaded system. Many companies advertise lighter
systems, but they are only lighter with a smaller than normal battery. Think
carefully about resolution: will it be too small for the size screen?

Macs do not suspend to disk. But you get over a week on standby (it
seems to use about 5% of the battery per day on standby, which
provides virtually instant waking whenever you want to use your
laptop -- far faster than a PC).

Like I said, you really cannot compare Apples to, ahem, oranges. An
Apple -- even an iBook -- is a RISC UNIX workstation (well, at least
for the next year it is), and built more like a mid-level system than
a cheap one. So, to get a perspective, take a look at a Dell
ultra-light Inspiron or, better yet, a Latitude (which is probably
more in the 'Book's class in many ways, including longevity of model
lines -- if you buy an iBook now, you won't see one that is 10 generations newer
by the end of the year, at most, they usually do two model refreshes a year).

WARNING: wait a few more days to order, if you do. Word is the next iBook, the
first update in almost a year, will be out within the week.

> Mac OS X I'll probably make due with some Linux distribution,
> althoughtruth be told I'd almost rather use Windows as long as I'm
> going toencounter usability bugs in all the current "commercial"
> distributionsthat give MS fan boys an excuse to laugh at me.

Mac OS X makes windows users drool. No more fan boys having fun.

> It would really help if I could get some real information on Mac OS
> Xinstead of the usual Mac sales pitch, I would like being able
> toactually try Mac OS X before actually buying an iBook even more
> butthere aren't any of those here or anywhere near here that I can
> getto.

That's too bad. Consider making a trip of it, if you can get to a store within,
say, and hour. It is worth looking at the systems. See if it looks, feels,
etc., like you want. A laptop's case is important. Is the keyboard comfortable
for you? etc.

> Apple doesn't seem to offer any kind of in depth information
> onthe OS, I'm a hands on kind of guy and all these reviews which
> I'veread aren't enough for me to base a decision on. I've

Whatcha what to know about the OS? Apple tells a lot, but I can answer you, if
you'd like.

Ask me questions is my advice. :-)

   -Tim

---
Timothy R. Butler | "Now  that  I am a  Christian  I  do have moods
Editor, OfB.biz   | in which the whole thing looks very improbable:
tbutler at ofb.biz   | but when I was an  atheist I had moods in which
timothybutler.us  | Christianity looked terribly probable."                     
                                                       --C.S. Lewis