Lemme explain.
I got the 12" PB - my first Mac - and I've been in love with it ever since. I like how a) it doesn't toast the environment around it, like my friend's portable HP desktop computer to-go, b) has a full-size keyboard, c) has a relatively crisp display (although a dead pixel or two has popped up since purchase... annoying, but doesn't totally detract from the over experience), d) can play WoW (somewhat alright), and e) uses OS X, which I love. On the whole, I enjoy my computer. Granted, there are some things about it that can bug me if I think about it. Like: Apple is so able to put together such great computers, yet, if a foot falls off, they cannot ship out a tiny ring of plastic to replace it. Also, the 12" PB can't seem to display resolutions higher than 1024 x 768 - or maybe I'm just doing something wrong. And sometimes performance suffers because of the heat distribution - I found out the hard way it's not so wise to play WoW on your lap.
This past night, I was trolling around campus, looking for a quiet, calm, serene place to work. I found a computer lab that I had never before seen - apparently, it's a 24 hour computer lab, which, at 2 in the morning, is a God-send. I enter, look around, and sigh, for the only computers there were the same as the rest of campus: crappy Dells with barely enough RAM to start Windows XP, let alone sustain it while running Word 2003. Bit then a glimmer catches my eye. I turn.
Against the wall, under a plaque announcing that this bounty of technology is the work of Class of 1997, were four iMac G5s.
I've only seen the G5s in passing. I've never actually used one. But MAN. I loved it. The speed! The interface! I love my PowerBook, and it's how I learned OS X, but I had to sacrifice desktop space to do it. When browsing through various articles while creating a bibliography of works, having to alt-tab or fumble around with the trackpad on a 12" screen is not feasible for speed and comfort. But on the 17" monitor, and the higher resolution - it was so comfortable.
Which is why I'm posting this thread. I'm considering selling my Powerbook - even though it has some minor problems, it is still a great machine, capable of a ton of processes (1.5 GHz, 768 MB ram, btw
) - to buy a 17" (or maybe 20" - I'd have to check it out) iMac with Intel processor. The good thing is that I'll be able to buy it with a student discount, so I'll still be able to make up for the money lost in the six months of service my Powerbook has faithfull given me.
But at the moment I'm only toying with the idea. I play WoW a lot, and I have a pretty good collection of music, and I use my PB now to watch DVDs (Netflix - crucial for college), so the iMac really sounds like the computer for me. But I wonder if the sacrifice of portability is worth it. I never take my laptop around everywhere I go, but there has been a moment or two when having it around has helped.
I dunno. Ideas?
I got the 12" PB - my first Mac - and I've been in love with it ever since. I like how a) it doesn't toast the environment around it, like my friend's portable HP desktop computer to-go, b) has a full-size keyboard, c) has a relatively crisp display (although a dead pixel or two has popped up since purchase... annoying, but doesn't totally detract from the over experience), d) can play WoW (somewhat alright), and e) uses OS X, which I love. On the whole, I enjoy my computer. Granted, there are some things about it that can bug me if I think about it. Like: Apple is so able to put together such great computers, yet, if a foot falls off, they cannot ship out a tiny ring of plastic to replace it. Also, the 12" PB can't seem to display resolutions higher than 1024 x 768 - or maybe I'm just doing something wrong. And sometimes performance suffers because of the heat distribution - I found out the hard way it's not so wise to play WoW on your lap.
This past night, I was trolling around campus, looking for a quiet, calm, serene place to work. I found a computer lab that I had never before seen - apparently, it's a 24 hour computer lab, which, at 2 in the morning, is a God-send. I enter, look around, and sigh, for the only computers there were the same as the rest of campus: crappy Dells with barely enough RAM to start Windows XP, let alone sustain it while running Word 2003. Bit then a glimmer catches my eye. I turn.
Against the wall, under a plaque announcing that this bounty of technology is the work of Class of 1997, were four iMac G5s.
I've only seen the G5s in passing. I've never actually used one. But MAN. I loved it. The speed! The interface! I love my PowerBook, and it's how I learned OS X, but I had to sacrifice desktop space to do it. When browsing through various articles while creating a bibliography of works, having to alt-tab or fumble around with the trackpad on a 12" screen is not feasible for speed and comfort. But on the 17" monitor, and the higher resolution - it was so comfortable.
Which is why I'm posting this thread. I'm considering selling my Powerbook - even though it has some minor problems, it is still a great machine, capable of a ton of processes (1.5 GHz, 768 MB ram, btw
) - to buy a 17" (or maybe 20" - I'd have to check it out) iMac with Intel processor. The good thing is that I'll be able to buy it with a student discount, so I'll still be able to make up for the money lost in the six months of service my Powerbook has faithfull given me. But at the moment I'm only toying with the idea. I play WoW a lot, and I have a pretty good collection of music, and I use my PB now to watch DVDs (Netflix - crucial for college), so the iMac really sounds like the computer for me. But I wonder if the sacrifice of portability is worth it. I never take my laptop around everywhere I go, but there has been a moment or two when having it around has helped.
I dunno. Ideas?
