[CS-FSLUG] Notebook computers

[N. Thompson]

I'm curious as to how iBooks and regular x86 notebooks compare.

I remember hearing that iBooks do not heat up nearly as much on the 
bottom as regular x86 notebooks and I also remember hearing that iBooks 
have an average of 7 to 8 hours of battery life compared to an average 
of 3 to 4 hours for regular x86 notebooks.

There seems to be a fair bit of information at the apple web site on the 
iBooks: 
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/72002/wo/6JCnKIJYN1ur2c3xI4WCljRN9Ra/0.0.7.1.0.5.21.1.1.1.0.0.0.1.0
and the pictures from the photo gallery link look very nice.

My only major problem right now is now knowing what Mac OS X is like, 
I've heard that OpenOffice.org is not a native application in OS X and 
as such requires X11 emulation, I'm also uncomfortable with having only 
one mouse button and having to adjust to a new OS if I choose to get an 
iBook.

When you buy an iBook does OS X come preinstalled and/or is there the 
installation disk included with the system or is there only a rescue 
disk requiring that a rescue partition be kept intact.

Also how durable is the iBook, knowing myself I'd probably want to go 
with something that can survive a fall. I'm also wondering if there is 
some kind of insurance against theft seeing as iBooks are generally more 
expensive then the average Dell notebook.