Powerbook

[Total Immortal]

I'm in the market for a new laptop (been using PC's for the past 6 years) and I'm considering a Powerbook. I went and looked at them today at Comp USA.. I wasn't all that impressed : ( The demo computer had a lot of just bullsh*t type programs that seemed to have been installed just for the sake of having programs installed. It seemed like it had very limited capabilities. The last apple product I owned had OS 7.5 on it. I realize a lot has changed since then, but come on.. Is there something I'm missing? I'm trying really hard to get excited about these computers, but I was a little bit dissapointed after today. Just for comparison sake, I was playing around on the base model 15" Powerbook. Also, what do you guys use for word processing? There wasn't a wp installed on it. Also, that annoying task bar thing? Give me a break. I hid that piece of crap as soon as I could figure out how. Anyways, if anyone else out there has switched over from Windoze and has been happy, please relay your experience to me. I really would like to get one of these, I'm very tired of forking out cash to microsoft.

 

[g5orbust]

I hate CompUSA. They dont take care of their products like they should.

As far as a word processor, OSX comes with the equivalent of Notepad, except ours called Textedit can save into .doc MS Word format and can do most everything people use Word for in the first place.

That "task bar thing" is called the Dock. Its a main facet of OSX. Its incredibly useful once you learn how to use it. Trust me, I didnt like it at first either but once you use it, you cant be without it.

As far as whether or not you should buy Apple, its really a matter of preference. A computer is a computer - they all pretty much do the same thing. You should buy the thing youre most comfortable in using. If youre curious about the Apple platform and how its progressed since the OS 7.5 days, then by all means go for it but if you are a Windows guy who is interested in a change, drastic or not, I suggest you try out a linux distro first before you leap into spending thousands of dollars on a new platform youre not exactly sure you like or not.

 

[Total Immortal]

g5, my main concern regarding a word processor is will I be able to produce university term paper quality document with it? I've used MS Word for years, and when I was on OS 7.5, I used ClarisWorks and I had great success with both of them. I've never liked using Notepad (or even Wordpad for that matter) to type out papers for school. If not, what would you suggest I use for papers for school? I think I heard that ClarisWorks is now AppleWorks or something? How do you like it?

 

[g5orbust]

g5, my main concern regarding a word processor is will I be able to produce university term paper quality document with it? I've used MS Word for years, and when I was on OS 7.5, I used ClarisWorks and I had great success with both of them. I've never liked using Notepad (or even Wordpad for that matter) to type out papers for school. If not, what would you suggest I use for papers for school? I think I heard that ClarisWorks is now AppleWorks or something? How do you like it?

I personally hate Appleworks. Its a decent program; I just dont like its feel.

TextEdit can do pretty much everything youd need for a university level paper (except edit headers and footers - a feature omission I dont completely understand) and can save it into a .doc file for further working using MS Word if you need to.

Here's a screenshot of TextEdit using a .doc file:

 

[Total Immortal]

That program looks pretty decent. I'm getting to the point where I need to order a laptop within the next week to make sure that I get it before I go back to school. Would YOU suggest an Apple? I'm good with computers, and while OS X is quite different than 6.X and 7.5, I have no doubt that I will be able to get used to it. Can you tell me some advantages of an Apple over a PC? I plan to mainly use this computer to write papers, and edit digital photos (I have my higher-powered desktop for gaming and other stuff). I guess what I want to know most is there anything vastly important that a PC can do than an Apple can't?

 

[Qiranworms]

Just have to comment...you can get MS Office for Mac...though you mentioned that you didn't want to shell out more money to MS...

 

[g5orbust]

That program looks pretty decent. I'm getting to the point where I need to order a laptop within the next week to make sure that I get it before I go back to school. Would YOU suggest an Apple? I'm good with computers, and while OS X is quite different than 6.X and 7.5, I have no doubt that I will be able to get used to it. Can you tell me some advantages of an Apple over a PC? I plan to mainly use this computer to write papers, and edit digital photos (I have my higher-powered desktop for gaming and other stuff). I guess what I want to know most is there anything vastly important that a PC can do than an Apple can't?

Well dont get a powerbook if you plan on doing just that. A top of the line ibook would suit you just as well off and it would be cheaper. The top of the line ibook is 1499 while the base line powerbook is 1599.

As far as doing any of that, there are no clear cut advantatges, save that Apple has iPhoto right out of the box, which will allow rudementary digital photograph editing including cropping, color change and red eye removal.

The only thing a PC can do better than a mac is run PC programs (save for the ported applications like Office, etc. ).

 

[Total Immortal]

Just have to comment...you can get MS Office for Mac...though you mentioned that you didn't want to shell out more money to MS...

Hey qiran, yea I notied that when I was at Comp USA. I would consider it, except that I really only use MS Word. When I was a freshman, my school gave me (and all the other students in the dorms) a copy of MS Office XP. One of the many benefits of going to a gigantic school I guess

g5, What can the Powerbooks do that the iBooks can't? I'm kind of a stickler for performance, so that was why I wanted a Powerbook. I also don't want to buy an other laptop while I am at university (have many years to go, including graduate studies), so I was going to go for a more expensive and higher-tech Powerbook for that reason. I also would really like a back-lit keyboard (doesn't look like the iBooks are offered with that). Also, it looks like the RAM situation is better with the Powerbook (what is the deal with 256 megs "built-in" for the iBooks?) Not to mention the faster processor of the Powerbook.

 

[g5orbust]

g5, What can the Powerbooks do that the iBooks can't? I'm kind of a stickler for performance, so that was why I wanted a Powerbook. I also don't want to buy an other laptop while I am at university (have many years to go, including graduate studies), so I was going to go for a more expensive and higher-tech Powerbook for that reason. I also would really like a back-lit keyboard (doesn't look like the iBooks are offered with that). Also, it looks like the RAM situation is better with the Powerbook (what is the deal with 256 megs "built-in" for the iBooks?) Not to mention the faster processor of the Powerbook.

Oh if thats the case, go for a powerbook. I was just trying to save you some money by going lower end.

And that 256MB built in is 256MB of RAm that cannot be user accessed nor removed. This means there are two So-DIMM slots, but only one is user accessable and changeable (the built in is soldered on mobo). It allows a maximum of 1.256GB of memory.