Mac or PC?

[Cleo]

Saw this posted today on MacSlash
http://macslash.org/article.pl?sid=06/02/14/0849251

Top 10 Things All Switchers Should Know
http://plasticbugs.com/?p=312

.

[cd34]

I always thought it would be cool to have a resistive mouse.

Dragging a large document to the trash can would be harder than dragging a short document.

That and an optimizing keyboard. It would analyze your typing patterns and put a small message on the screen that it has changed the key positions of frequently used keys to the home row and shuffled the less useful keys to the edge. With today's LCD technology, switching keyboard layouts could be done quite well. Might play havoc with typing speed though.

[Cleo]

So while doing porn if the content was hot then the mouse would get all wet I guess.

BTW the one thing I've always really hated about Windows was the way a mouse tracks lacking acceleration when the mouse is moved faster and becoming more precise when the mouse is moved slower.

[swedguy]

I just got back from the Apple store and the first thing I noticed when I was playing around on the PowerBook was the slow moving mouse

The 17" is HUGE. Really nice if you are going to work a lot on it and use it as your primary monitor. But the 15" with an external monitor feels like a better combination for me.
I'm impressed how skinny and light it was.

I saw a link to http://www.ellenfeiss.net/ on of the sites and the people there are hilarious. The comments to "Ellen in Paris" is true stalker material LOL http://www.ellenfeiss.net/?p=4

[swedguy]

I had forgot about the Ellen Feiss commercial. I think that has to be one of the few that has made me laugh.

http://www.cootey.com/ellen/ellen_feiss.mov

[Cleo]

Apple Menu --> System Preferences --> Keyboard and Mouse to adjust the tracking speed of the Track Pad and the mouse.

I'm a big fan of Kensington mice and use their Iridio mouse. They have a control panel where you can modify the acceleration plus a bunch of other settings.

[swedguy]

That was one of the things I made sure I could use on the Mac, my mouse.
I love my Microsoft Trackball Optical.

[cd34]

you guys and all your external not-built in pointing devices.

Alps trackpad is the tool to have.

[swedguy]

Darn! Just talked to Apple and they can't change the keyboard on a PowerBook. I was hoping that I could buy it in the US (would save me a lot of $$) and then get a new keyboard here. Guess I could get an external Swedish keyboard, but that would still leave me with a US keyboard on the PowerBook when I'm out and about.

[swedguy]

I thought Apple were really strict on who could sell their computers and for how much?

http://www.electrodiscounts.com/computer/discr26520.htm
PowerBook G4 PowerPC G4 1.67 GHz 15.2 TFT 512 80 DVD-RW Modem/NIC/Wi-Fi Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger (M9969LL/A)
$1684

That's really cheap if you compare to Mac Mall, Club Mac and Apple Store. I can't find a catch either. Am I missing something?

[Cleo]

It is probably grey market.

The Powerbook that I have was bought on the grey market as has been a lot of the photo gear that I've bought over the years.

Usually not a problem unless you need warranty work on something. Apple may or may not give you free warranty work if something should happen to it.

[Cleo]

On a side not I bought the 4 gig iPod nano today while I was with Angel helping her buy a cheap PC to run the voyeur cams she is putting in. I wanted a white one but all they had in stock was the black ones. I also got a pink arm band for it. Can't wait to use it at the gym tomorrow. No more having my big old 40 gig iPod on my arm. That iPod is now going to be just left hooked up to my car's music system.

[swedguy]

Ahhh, I see. So I might have a problem getting the 3 year extended warranty on it?

Nice little Nano
How are those Koss plugs?
My weird ears doesn't like the standard plugs

[Cleo]

IMO the buds that come with iPods are crap.

Koss ones are great and at less the $20 I don't get upset if I get them caught on something and break a pair.

Read what other users say about them
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...Fencoding=UTF8

Actually I always bought these Koss buds but last time the above ones was what was in stock. They both seem to sound the same.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...Fencoding=UTF8

No idea really about if you might have warranty issues with that Powerbook but at that price I would risk it.

[swedguy]

That's a great price and the store around the corner has them in stock. I'll pick up a pair tomorrow. Thanks

I emailed them about the warranty, lets see what they say about it. If there's no problems, I will definitely order one and pick it up when I get to Vegas.
I was thinking of upgrading the harddrive to 7200rpm, but I can live with a 5400 rpm if I can get the whole thing for that cheap.
Most places wanted over $100 to upgrade the memory to 1GB, but Mac Sales is selling 1GB memory modules for the same price. So for around $1850 I will get a nice little PowerBook with 1.5GB memory

[swedguy]

Originally Posted by swedguy

http://www.electrodiscounts.com/computer/discr26520.htm
PowerBook G4 PowerPC G4 1.67 GHz 15.2 TFT 512 80 DVD-RW Modem/NIC/Wi-Fi Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger (M9969LL/A)
$1684

http://donwiss.com/pictures/BrooklynStores/h0033.htm

I guess their prices can be that low because of the savings of not having a flashy storefront

[cd34]

A NYC business is unlike a lot of other businesses.

NYC requires lettering to be on trucks with letters 2" high. That attracts thieves, so, lettering is ONLY 2" high and is usually very cryptic. Their trucks probably have MPCE on the side.. white trucks, black letters, huge padlock on the back, security screen between the front and back. Their store probably has hundreds or thousands of whatever item they sell in that store -- easily making it a thieves paradise.

NYC businesses would rather make a penny per product and push a million products, than a dollar per product and push ten thousand. The math comes out the same, that's just how they do things. As a result, they will buy 1000 products from a manufacturer (usually bypassing a distributor) and then will sell those products at a slight markup -- even to their competitors.

They aren't the absolute geniuses here.

There used to be a company called Krista Manufacturing that has a small 100 sq. ft. office on the docks of Long Beach's port. When a container ship comes in, they roll over to the container and start assembling orders, UPS picks them up at the container. Their pricing used to be phenominal. No returns on anything... you took your chances. But, when buying parallel printer cables for $1.19 when they were sold by local distributors for $7.95, you took your chances.

Its always amazed me how grey market macs (and HPs) worked. Macs have such tight sales channels, I have never figured out how they are getting them out the door and able to price them cheaper without Apple stopping it. And if they are reselling them purchased through legitimate channels, then I am unsure why Apple would have any problem supporting the warranty. I get the picture that someone at apple is selling these machine off the docks when I hear grey market...

[swedguy]

Just got off the phone with them and it's not possible to get the extended warranty from Apple. I can only get the 3 year extended Mack warranty from them

"It's very very good. As good as the one from Apple"
"No, not really. It doesn't work in Europe"
"It does, it's very good. It's international"
"Yes it is, but you only have one address to send it to and it's in the US"
"That's true, but it works internationally"

#¤%#&

Then he tried to sell me a "Very very good memory" for only $499.95
"Excuse me, but that's a rip off. I can buy the exact same memory for $100-150 at another place."
"No, this is different and very good"

I persisted that it was a rip off and I guess he didn't like that - he hung up

[swedguy]

Was down at the Apple Store today and was going to get a MacBook Pro, yeah I changed my mind. I wanted the 15" Powerbook, but after Apple dropped it I had to either get it at Ebay or some other Apple retailer that stilled carried it.
After looking into the PowerBook/MacBook, it seems like they are phasing out the PowerBook, so MacBook felt like a better choice.

Unfortunately they are all out of MacBook's and wasn't sure when they were getting new ones and I'm only here until 22nd. So Ebay it is.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=5879486436

Looks like I will be a switcher soon

[Kinky]

Originally Posted by swedguy

Looks like I will be a switcher soon

don't make any hasty decisions, it's only been a month since this thread started

if I ever break down and buy a brand new laptop that would be the one I would get

[swedguy]

Originally Posted by kinky

don't make any hasty decisions, it's only been a month since this thread started

if I ever break down and buy a brand new laptop that would be the one I would get

I tend to over-research everything, so no hasty decisions

I finally did it!

But I went with a 1.83 GHz with 2GB of memory instead of a 2 GHz and with 1GB of memory. Felt that memory is much more useful.
This is my new baby: http://cgi.ebay.com/The-new-Apple-15...QQcmdZViewItem

Thanks you all for your help and especially GG&J's resident Mac Genius, Cleo. If it wouldn't have been for you, I would've gone for a regular ole PC

Cleo, prepare for a lot of Mac questions

[Kinky]

that's a nice little machine.... if I had something that nice I MIGHT actually do some work that's a lot of memory to play around with

[Simon]

Congrats Swedguy!

That's an excellent choice.
Welcome to the Mac club.

I've been a user since the first 1984 model,
so feel free to hit me up with questions too.

Simon

[terry]

All the designers I know use a Mac and will never ever use a pc... me, I use a pc.

[Cleo]

Nice.
My neighbor bought the same one. It's a very sweet laptop.