Last night I have been discussing with Renier about our happy Mac situation:
- the respective differences between iBooks and Powerbooks
The differences are negligible. I upgraded my VGA-output to support extending mode (use the Screen Spanning Doctor) instead of solely mirroring and I am quite content.
Airport cards with monitor mode enabled (like they have on Powerbooks) would have been nice though. The KisMAC project promises active opening of WiFi points. Closed WiFi is a big frustration if you walk around a bit and feel a need to get online.
- the recent Tiger update
Nice though pretty minor stuff in the recent Tiger update. Looking ahead, the next version (10.5, Leopard) of OS X is planned for end of 2006 so we’ll be stuck with this one for a while (not that I am complaining).
- the Intel transition
I found an authoritative Macintel Q&A with all the answers I need about the Intel transition. Shortly said, there is no need to wait buying Mac hardware, now (six months before the transition) may even be the best time ever to buy it rather than to wait a couple more months. After transition the old hardware will be supported for several more years, so that covers the complete lifecycle of my iBook.
Not that this iBook is going to see its end of life anyway. I think I am going to use this iBook like crazy for one and a half or two years and then switch to an Intel Powerbook with lots of juice.
- the ridiculously expensive Airport basestations
Apple sells a couple of base stations, but most of them are both too expensive and overfeatured for what I am planning to do with them. I will have to find a slightly cheaper solution to break my wires at home.
Summarizing: I am a very happy switcher to Apple. And it is a clear testament that more choice (cough… Linux) is not necessarily something good. People do not want choice, people want the Good Stuff™.
You can compare it to the Dutch energy market liberalizations. People (me included) do not want to choose. Do not make me think!
