[CS-FSLUG] Laptops and iBooks

[Nathan T.]

> >  - Apple is pretty bad for honouring warranties over issues that don't
> > actually cripple the laptops and arise through wear and tear, even
> > though the machines are still covered.
> 
> What sort of issues?

Screeen problems like dead pixels, loud fans and  bad batteries are
usually what I hear about.

> > I really think that an iBook is a huge investment, just taking the off
> > the shelf configuration and increasing the ram to $512 MB cause the
> > price for Canadian customers to jump to $1346. I don't know if I even
> 
> Try installing your own RAM.  Factory-installed RAM tends to be rather
> pricey on Apple systems.

Is it difficult to add ram manually, and where + what do I buy?

> 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.

I heard that upgrading in the more recent versions without a clean
installation has resulted in poor performance for many people but it's
only in particular cases.

Right now thinking about Macs is thinking out of my budget, I've been
considering more and more just going with the x86 approach for the
moment because I could afford it much easier and there is a Toshiba
laptop at Staples where I work that's going for CAD $999.85. The only
problem with the Toshiba is it only has 256 Mb of Ram, but again I
need to think within the bounds of my budget. I would love to wait
until I can afford a Mac, but I think instead I'll get a regular x86
laptop in another four or six weeks when I can afford it, and a Mac
Mini a year or two down the road when Apple makes the switch to Intel
processors. I appreciate the information, but unfortunately I can't
see an iBook or Mac OS X being so much better as to warrant the extra
cad ~$600+.