New PowerBook!

[Ksilebo]

A bunch of people I know were getting new laptops, and was really making me hate my Compaq more and more. So! I decided to get a new 15" Apple PowerBook G4. Its my first extensive use of an Apple OS since OS 9. That being the case, I have no idea what has happened with Mac OS software for the past 4 years. I know there's a few here that own a Mac and can provide helpful hints as to what software I should get (saving up for Photoshop, Office, and already bought Toast).

So, what are some must-haves for Mac OS X?

[MrNase]

How do like your powerbook? I want to have one, too

[Ksilebo]

How do like your powerbook? I want to have one, too

I absolutely love it. I dont think I've ever used a laptop so well designed. The wide format screen is awesome for DVDs.

[XiXora]

in the meanwhile compile gimp 2 it should work i think with osx being unix an all

( i'm a windows user so not sure )

[Ksilebo]

NO!

GIMP SUCKS. I would rather pay a for a full license of Adobe Photoshop than have to use that crap.

[daemon]

I think that this is my must have list:

If you're a music fan, get Synergy. It's a program that allows you to control iTunes with keyboard shortcuts (like Apple + * is play/pause). It's so easy!

Another thing is DiskWarrior! Norton doesn't work well, I've found. It actually made one of my drives worse Run defrag every two or three months.

And finally, Retrospect Backup 6.0. I backup daily to ensure I don't lose more than 24 hours worth of data.

Also, I don't really like iChat (that is if you use AIM); it ate my buddy list. So, I switched to Proteus and I love it!

For FTP/SFTP/SSH, I'd go with Interarchy if you do any of that stuff. And of course BBEdit for all PHP/HTML needs.

[Ksilebo]

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll definitely give all of those a shot.

One thing I discovered as a necessity is more RAM. I just ordered an extra 512 MB from Crucial.com

Tuesday, it shall be within...

[dynamite]

How do like your powerbook? I want to have one, too

I have an older PowerBook G4 and it is progressively falling apart, the battery is tanked, and gotten a big green line down the screen, just to name a few things that have happened! I certainly hope they have improved on the design and durability!

[filburt1]

I had an iBook G3 600 MHz that destroyed itself: the harness running from the laptop base to the screen became frayed, so the screen backlight and AirPort would cut out at certain angles. I eventually sold it on eBay and got a Fujitsu B2620 for about $800 off from their outlet and by calling them instead of ordering online to save $100.

I like ultraportables. Don't understand why people get big 14.1" or 15" notebooks that still have XGA resolution and are luggables when the desktop is designed to be the performer, but that's just me.

[tgillespie]

I am with Filburt on that one. I hate 15, 17 inch notebooks. They are made for portablilty, not for sitting on your desk exactly like a desktop. All of my friends got notebooks for college. All of them went extreme, and got the large and heavy ones. Not once have they used it for the purpose of a notebook. "Because its to large... Because it wieghs to much..." I am really considering buying one of the smaller PowerBooks. I've heard good stories about them, and I've heard very bad ones too.

[Jake Bunce]

I also like small.

[Zachery]

Im the oppisite in a sense, i like my 15' laptop and its wonderfull, it is a powerhouse replacement, as dell called it

[Ksilebo]

I wanted big because I wanted something nice to watch DVDs on while I'm on airplanes.

[Zachery]

Oh yea, i forgot about that, thats all my laptop is, a glorified dvd player

[UHN_ED]

My 15.4 inch widescreen laptop probably has better resolution at 1680x1050 (SXVGA+, certantly not XGA), not to mention it also has a wide viewing angle.

Even with a huge screen I still get 4-4.5 hours of battery life, which is very good for my 1.7ghz pentium m and ATI 9200.

When I am at college, my laptop replaces a desktop and my TV; I would rather have performance since I can handle 6 pounds without pulling a muscle.