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31
May 05
Tue

Computer Heresy

I’m about to commit heresy and order a 12″ Powerbook G4. Yes, that’s right, a beast with horns that runs MacOS.

I wanted a portable laptop that I could take travelling, so that means something smaller than a 14″ screen. Unfortunately, all the Windows laptops are so damn expensive at that size. For a little over $2000 (including a nice student education discount) the Powerbook comes with USB2, 802.11g, 5 hour battery life and a burner. In terms of software compatibility, MacOS is a Unix base. It has Apache and I can do all the web development I need. It runs Office, Photoshop and is compatible with Windows file formats. It runs WoW.

The only real downsides I can see with the Powerbook are that it only has one button on the trackpad (this is really annoying) and no PCMCIA slot (though this is only an issue if I need to subscribe to iBurst). The software compatibility issue isn’t so bad because I still have my desktop for when I need to do real work.

I think MacOS still has some crappy UI aspects, like a dodgy maximise button. I much prefer the Windows nested windows UI rather than the Mac’s floating palettes UI. Maybe it’s just a matter of adapting.

This post has 4 comments

1.  Owen

It really is a matter of adapting. I made the same decision nearly two years ago (has it been that long?) when I bought a 17″ powerbook. It’s a good decision. I love having a Unix system that actually looks pretty and works properly.

Don’t believe the 5-hour battery life – it’s good, but it’s not that good. Perhaps it lasts 5 hours if you’re not using the screen.

2.  Pete

Hey Stu happy birthday and congrats on the switch – I’m considering the same…

3.  Jeremy Higgs

Good choice. :)

Owen is right about the battery life, though.

I’m the exact opposite on the “nested windows UI”, however. I can’t stand using Windows applications that use that sort of interface (Word in some cases, Access, etc), as I then can’t see other windows behind the front-most application… and on a 12″ screen, that’s a problem, for me.

Mind if I suggest an absolutely essential application?

LaunchBar indexes your hard disk (a lot like Spotlight does… but with a lot more features) and allows you to run applications, open files with certain applications (rather than right/control-clicking -> “Open With”), run searches without opening browser windows, and plenty of other things.

4.  lenier

You will never go back.

Learn to use and love expose and window thing will not be a problem.

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