Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Hey
I am thinking of getting the Apple iBook 1GHz G4 these are the specs:
.. 512MB DDR266 SDRAM
.. 60GB Ultra ATA drive
.. DVD-R/CD-RW
.. Bluetooth Module
.. AirPort Extreme Card
.. Keyboard & Mac OS
.. 1GHz PowerPC G4
.. 14.1-inch TFT display
.. Two USB ports
.. One FireWire port
.. Power Adapter
.. Battery
Can someone explain as i am a user of PC's however i have tried a mac what
are the main problems that can occur? Advantages/disadvantages?
Can i install software which i bought for my PC to my apple? Eg a game like
Worms? Software as virus protection, office?
What is better a Apple laptop or a PC laptop? I am a newbie/beginner so all
the help and explanation will help. Any information relating this will help.
Thanks

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

"Samia" <maliksam1@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:ccjt5p$86e$2@news5.svr.pol.co.uk...
> Hey
> I am thinking of getting the Apple iBook 1GHz G4 these are the specs:
> . 512MB DDR266 SDRAM
> . 60GB Ultra ATA drive
> . DVD-R/CD-RW
> . Bluetooth Module
> . AirPort Extreme Card
> . Keyboard & Mac OS
> . 1GHz PowerPC G4
> . 14.1-inch TFT display
> . Two USB ports
> . One FireWire port
> . Power Adapter
> . Battery
> Can someone explain as i am a user of PC's however i have tried a mac what
> are the main problems that can occur? Advantages/disadvantages?

Advantages/disadvantages are purely taste-related here.

> Can i install software which i bought for my PC to my apple? Eg a game
like
> Worms? Software as virus protection, office?

No, with the following two exceptions:

1. Software that states its Windows/Mac (meaning it has both types of
installations on the cd)
2. You can use PC Anywhere to run Windows programs on the Mac but you need
to factor in slower speed

Many really popular software titles have both Windows & Mac versions
available. The only problem being that you'll need to buy the Mac version
to run on the Mac. There are alot of great software apps out there that are
popular in the Mac world but not to the general public who are primarily
Windows users. An example would be a title called Toast. Toast is a
cd-burning software app like Roxio's Easy CD Creator.

> What is better a Apple laptop or a PC laptop? I am a newbie/beginner so
all
> the help and explanation will help. Any information relating this will
help.
> Thanks
>

Here again this is totally a taste/preference issue. For a beginner I'd
really recommend the Mac. There has yet to be a virus made for OS X. Its
way more secure than Windows, requires much less maintenance and is
super-easy to maneuver through. I use both Windows & OS X myself. The only
problem that you will occasionally run into is the fact that most people use
Windows so if file-sharing will be a big issue for you, outside of music,
pictures & spreadsheets/text documents then you may want to go with Windows
just to be part of the majority and not have file conflicts.

--
Tara

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Samia wrote:
> Hey
> I am thinking of getting the Apple iBook 1GHz G4 these are the specs:
> . 512MB DDR266 SDRAM
> . 60GB Ultra ATA drive
> . DVD-R/CD-RW
> . Bluetooth Module
> . AirPort Extreme Card
> . Keyboard & Mac OS
> . 1GHz PowerPC G4
> . 14.1-inch TFT display
> . Two USB ports
> . One FireWire port
> . Power Adapter
> . Battery
> Can someone explain as i am a user of PC's however i have tried a mac
> what are the main problems that can occur? Advantages/disadvantages?
> Can i install software which i bought for my PC to my apple? Eg a
> game like Worms? Software as virus protection, office?
> What is better a Apple laptop or a PC laptop? I am a newbie/beginner
> so all the help and explanation will help. Any information relating
> this will help. Thanks
>

As a former long-time Mac user, having started with the Mac when first
released in 1984, it is my opinion that the Mac is still over-priced,
and does not really offer all the advantages of the current line of PC
notebooks. (Excluding, of course, the PC advantage of instant
contamination with Sasser for the unwary). The Mac formerly held a very
substantial advantage in image processing and graphics over the PC, but
that is an advantage of the distant past. On a cost/benefit basis, the
Mac cannot come close to the low cost and wide ranging capabilities of
current PCs. That being writ, the Mac remains the platform of choice
for those who want to work without futzing around with the OS. Much.
OK, just a little bit on the Mac. Some users just like the Mac
interface and design and a willing to part with the cash to get it.

All things Mac are proprietary to the Mac. Software, some hardware. PC
stuff is not generally interchangeable, printers and some scanners
excepted. OSX, since it is Unix, might be changing the software part a
bit. Some games are ported to Mac. Not all games are ported to the
Mac. A game must have a very wide following to be published for the
Mac.

Overall, you can acquire a given level of performance less expensively
with a PC notebook than with an iBook. IMO. YMMV.

Q

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

256MB RAM is soldered in with one slot available. I would seriously
consider maxing the memory out (I think the max is 256+512 =768). If you
buy 512, that's 256+256, then you end up throwing away 256 if you ever
upgrade. I just did that on my daughter's iBook.


"Samia" <maliksam1@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:ccjt5p$86e$2@news5.svr.pol.co.uk...
> Hey
> I am thinking of getting the Apple iBook 1GHz G4 these are the specs:
> . 512MB DDR266 SDRAM
> . 60GB Ultra ATA drive
> . DVD-R/CD-RW
> . Bluetooth Module
> . AirPort Extreme Card
> . Keyboard & Mac OS
> . 1GHz PowerPC G4
> . 14.1-inch TFT display
> . Two USB ports
> . One FireWire port
> . Power Adapter
> . Battery
> Can someone explain as i am a user of PC's however i have tried a mac what
> are the main problems that can occur? Advantages/disadvantages?
> Can i install software which i bought for my PC to my apple? Eg a game
like
> Worms? Software as virus protection, office?
> What is better a Apple laptop or a PC laptop? I am a newbie/beginner so
all
> the help and explanation will help. Any information relating this will
help.
> Thanks
>
>
>

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

"Joe Davis" <davisexpREMOVE@attglobal.net> wrote in message
news:hOmHc.9594$R36.5806@newsread2.news.pas.earthlink.net...
> 256MB RAM is soldered in with one slot available. I would seriously
> consider maxing the memory out (I think the max is 256+512 =768). If you
> buy 512, that's 256+256, then you end up throwing away 256 if you ever
> upgrade. I just did that on my daughter's iBook.

The new G4s are expandable to 1.25 so that remaining slot can hold anything
from a 256 to a 1gb stick of RAM.

--
Tara

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

"Joe Davis" <davisexpREMOVE@attglobal.net> wrote in message
news:wbnHc.9603$R36.7972@newsread2.news.pas.earthlink.net...
> Doesn't 768MB = 1.25GB?

I'm going to assume you're being serious and/or for the benefit of someone
who might not know any better the answer is no, 768=768 and 1.25=1.25


> The point is that one slot is soldered and you can't change the 256MB
that's
> there. So, if you're getting 512, that's 256 +256, filling both slots.
So,
> if you ever want to upgrade, you end up throwing away the 256 in the
> non-soldered slot.

True but you don't necessarily have to trash the now unneeded stick, you can
always sell it on ebay FWIW I dislike Apple's policy of soldering RAM
into the ibooks and I can't figure out why they're still starting all of
their models (well 90%) with only 256mb. That little bit of ram is barely
enough to have a laptop functioning properly IMO.


--
Tara

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

"Quaoar" <quaoar@tenthplanet.net> wrote in message
news:09SdnfRIPdzpKnDdRVn-sA@comcast.com...
>
> As a former long-time Mac user, having started with the Mac when first
> released in 1984, it is my opinion that the Mac is still over-priced,

I agree. I just purchased a $2400, 1mo, G4 Powerbook Aluminum for $1300
from an Amazon.com auction. You can find some good deals on them, used, if
you're in the right place at the right time and someone is needing to sell
their laptop for quick cash. But otherwise they are priced for the wealthy
and not for the average pc user. However, like certain car/suv
manufacturers, they hold their value and later become collector's items. So
in the interest of resale value, you can't beat a Mac.

--
Tara

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

I'm thinking about buying one of those, too.

These days, Apple is not really a direct competitor to Windows PCs; it's kind of an alternative universe, and you'll be happiest if you don't go looking to buy all the same ole PC software in a Mac version, because in some cases, Mac versions don't exist, while in others, there's different software that's exclusive to the Mac, and possibly, better. Remember that Apple is only 2-3 percent of the total PC market these days, but nevertheless, it can be an interesting 2-3 percent.

Games? Games have never really been the Mac's strong suit. Buy a Sony Playstation for games: I'm glad I did. There's something wonderful about just popping in a game disk and not having to update DirectX, configure your joysticks, etc, etc, etc. Everything just plain works. Now that I have a PS/2, I hardly _care_ about gaming on either Mac or Windows.

I mostly use Linux on PC hardware myself, and if I buy a G4 iBook, it's mostly going to be to support work (it's a Mac office), and I plan to enjoy iTunes, iPhoto and GarageBand (all included, and aside from iTunes, all exclusive to the Mac). I do my finances using Linux software, and I don't see any reason to change that. I use OpenOffice on Linux, and don't think I'll change that either, though maybe I'll also install OO on the Mac, if it seems sufficiently polished (last time I tried the Mac version, it had some rough edges). At the office, I've got a brand new G5 tower, and the latest MS Office, but for me, it's suffering from feature-bloat, so I may end up installing Word 5.0 onto my personal Mac.

Complaints? I have complaints about both Windows and Mac OS X: Both contain forms of advertising, both subtle and not-so-subtle (Apple's Safari web browser's loaded with it) and one way or another, they strive to shake you down for money, in the form of updates you really don't need, or bundled software you thought you paid for, but which turns out to cost money if you want to use it regularly. It feels kind of smarmy sometimes.

On Thu, 8 Jul 2004 17:35:59 +0100
"Samia" <maliksam1@hotmail.com> wrote:

> Hey
> I am thinking of getting the Apple iBook 1GHz G4 these are the specs:
> . 512MB DDR266 SDRAM
> . 60GB Ultra ATA drive
> . DVD-R/CD-RW
> . Bluetooth Module
> . AirPort Extreme Card
> . Keyboard & Mac OS
> . 1GHz PowerPC G4
> . 14.1-inch TFT display
> . Two USB ports
> . One FireWire port
> . Power Adapter
> . Battery
> Can someone explain as i am a user of PC's however i have tried a mac what
> are the main problems that can occur? Advantages/disadvantages?
> Can i install software which i bought for my PC to my apple? Eg a game like
> Worms? Software as virus protection, office?
> What is better a Apple laptop or a PC laptop? I am a newbie/beginner so all
> the help and explanation will help. Any information relating this will help.
> Thanks
>
>
>