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 Posted July 9th, 2010 at 11:57AM
I owned my 12″ PowerBook G4 since the summer of 2005. I still own it, and it still works, sorta.
But the poor thing finally took one nose dive onto the floor too many. I was working at the kitchen table (coolest room in the house during this mid-90s, heat index in the 100s heat wave) when the black-and-tan dog went into a trashcan, cherry picking a tissue to tear up. I jumped up, snagged the power cord, and down went the PowerBook.
Now, the thing seemed fine, besides being perhaps slightly more irregularly shaped than before. But after working awhile longer, I noticed the power cable wasn’t charging the battery. ruh-roh. On a five year old laptop (with a four year old battery, gratis because of that recall once upon a time), this is not a good thing. I had grown accustomed to about 30 minutes per charge, and being permanently tethered to a wall outlet. I tried an old power cord that I had, and it still did nothing.
I may or may not now have a job which kind of requires the use of a computer. So I said “F it!”, broke down, and bought a new laptop. What a difference five years makes. I bought from the Apple refurbished store, as that was where I picked up the PowerBook, and I had no issues due to that fact. You can stand to save a few hundred dollars.
I went with the 13″ MacBook Pro, with a 2.4Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4gb of RAM, 250gb of hard drive space, the GeForce 320M graphics card, etcetera etcetera. I very nearly convinced myself to go to a 15″ with an Intel i5 processor and graphics card with dedicated memory, but considering that I’m coming from a 1.5Ghz PowerPC, I honestly don’t know at what point I could justify the increase in computer power. (Probably the first time I sit down to do some video editing, but oh well. Really. The job I may have now doesn’t pay well enough for the 13″ to begin with.)
I also strongly favor the smaller footprint of the 13″. One thing about the 12″ PowerBook was it’s small size, and comparisons between the two on that subject are about a zero sum game. The MacBook is distinctively wider (wider screen = clearly worth it!), but it is also slimmer, top-down. I also appreciate the fact that the metal casing is simplified (not “one piece” exactly I see now, the bottom is removable) so that when I do start dropping it, it will not get bent out of shape as easily as the PowerBook. I’ll need to take a photo or two of its current status so that the world can see what I mean here.
OSX 10.6 is clearly a step up from 10.4, and everything I’ve done so far has been without fault. Fedex shipped overnight and I only received it yesterday morning.
Now I need to work on getting all the programs and miscellaneous other things back up and working on the new computer. I believe that I was able to save 90% of everything that was on the old laptop, transferring files to my external 500gb hard drive on the last remaining charge. At some point I need to either take apart the PowerBook and try to discern the cause for why it won’t charge, or source yet another charger to determine if it’s just that at fault. Either way, for now it’s deader than a door nail and laying on the floor by my desk. I’ve been tripping on it.
One quibble? I forgot when ordering that the new Macs don’t even include a telephone jack anymore. This means my pathetic dial-up at home is definitely on the way out.
To be replaced with a highly expensive cell plan and Droid smartphone. Oops, cat out of the bag for the next post’s subject? Unsure at the moment whether I’ll be going with Verizon, Sprint, or another company. They all seem prohibitively expensive, but for all of the useful purposes that a new Droid phone will function as, it seems like I’ll finally need to break down and get shackled to a 2-year phone contract. At least we won’t need to pay NetZero $15 a month for the worst imaginable internet experience, ever. I pray that tethering will have at least some semblance of being quicker.
Till the next one, faithful readers. (Yes, I know you all just arrived here with random Google queries, it’s O-K.)
Posted July 11th, 2008 at 7:00PM
After work at about 5pm, I swung by the largest mall in the area, Crossgates in Albany, to see if anyone at the Apple or AT&T stores could tell me about potential discounts through my employer. I figured by now all the iPhones would be sold and the crowds would be gone. Maybe I could get to play around with a display model (even an original model). But nope. There was still a decent sized line outside the Apple store just to get in.
And employees handing out water.
At the time of my last post, I had a pang of remorse calling the people lining up morons. Not so much now. Consider the saying “love Macs, hate the people” officially coined.
I got the chance to talk to an employee, who told me phones or iPods weren’t typically discounted via PPA programs. I knew this wasn’t true in my case. So I headed to the AT&T store, which was also pretty busy. But they were helpful and it looks like I’m able to save 14% off of any phone plan (except family plans) and 40% off of any phone.
The big caveat being that the 40% is off of the retail price of the phone, not the popularly advertised “price w/ 2-year contract.” In the 8GB iPhone’s case, that means 40% off $599… Whenever they decide to allow people to buy one without a contract.
But the discount on the plan would be helpful. As the AT&T guy optimistically put it, “NYS tacks on 20%, so this brings the actual cost closer to what we’re advertising.”
Posted July 9th, 2008 at 12:29PM
So the new iPhone is coming out this Friday, July 11th. I’m sure morons across the nation will be lining up early in the morning. I have no intention of joining them, but I do have this sort of irrational urge to purchase one myself sometime in the not-so-distant future (like, a week or two from now when I can just walk into the store and buy one). But I’m conflicted. Do I really need to trade in my prepaid, sub-$40, ratty and dog-chewed Nokia brick? I doubt the iPhone will be as durable in my dog’s mouth. But it’s pretty sexy. (…the phone, not my dog’s mouth.) The feature set is great, and more than that, the GUI and overall package is leagues ahead of the competition.
What particularly attracts me to the new iPhone is the much more reasonable $199 price tag (for the 8GB model) and the 3G compatibility. To this day, there are no alternatives to dial-up where I live – other than satellite, which is both expensive and lousy. But I actually get reception via AT&T / Cingular, and I’d be very interested in using the iPhone as a router for the home computer and laptop. My neighborhood isn’t 3G, but it is EDGE, which would still be quicker than 24kbps by all acounts. (Going down the road a mile, I’d probably pick up 3G too.)
Sounds like a plan? But consider that I currently pay about $100 a year with my current AT&T GoPhone prepaid account. I just don’t use a cellphone that much, and even the cheapest plan (what, $69 a month?) would be a lot more than what I currently pay.
Could I use the same prepay account and SIM card? I don’t know. There are plenty of people out there doing it, but with varying results. Would it be cheaper than just going with the $69/month plan? How long could I get away with using the phone for internet at home? I’ve read of “unlimited” data turning out to be a misnomer, at least for heavy users.
How well would it even work? Would it work at all?? *SHRUG*
Apparently AT&T has taken advantage of the new cheaper price by increasing their plan rates. But that aside, I think this redesigned iPhone is definitely a case of where being a “late adopter” has paid off. But just how late should I be to this party? Hmm..
Posted November 5th, 2007 at 12:45AM
Shipping Status Qty Item Price
Not yet shipped 1 MIDLAND LXT330VP3 16-Mile GMRS Radios $29.99
Shipping & Handling (Budget: 7 to 9 business days) : $0.00
Tax (NY) : $0.00
Google Checkout & Buy.com $10 Sign-up Bonus – Bonus may not appear on Buy.com’s web site or emails. -$10.00
Total: $19.99
So I finally broke down and bought a pair of 2-way radios. I often need these for car runs / rallies, usually with a variety of friends or dedicated MINI afficionados. Up till now, I’ve borrowed, which is a pain because I’ll have to re-learn how to use each radio. Plus I’m being a radio-borrowing schmuck.
I went with the Midlands LXT330VP3. Buy.com had the cheapest price. I was going for a more expensive Cobra unit, but ultimately decided it was a waste of money. (My research? The quoted “distances” that the more expensive units deliver are BS. Any 2-way that retails for less than $200 or so will only give you a 2-3 mile range, max.)
ANYWAYS.
Since I decided to cheap out, I figured I’d try Google Checkout to get the widely publicized “$10 sign-up bonus.” Coulda used Paypal, but damn I hate using Paypal. (For example.)
I hit the button, Google recognizes my computer, it takes two seconds to sign my life away (ie. give them my credit card information). Bingo bango, the radios are on my way, and after the ‘point of no return,’ there’s STILL a button that allows me to cancel a purchase 15 minutes after submitting it, in case a wave of common sense hits after an impulse buy. Groovy. Best of all, the pages load Google-fast, something that matters when you’re connected to the interweb at 24000 BPS! Paypal is always monstrously slow for me.
Just another way that Google will soon rule my life. When Google and Apple merge, it’ll be all over. Matrix shit. Just you wait.
Posted November 9th, 2006 at 1:42PM
I’m sitting in the Pub, using my laptop, working on an article for a class. I look across, a few tables over, and some total metrosexual (no, on second thought he probably is gay) has a small, sleek, black laptop with the ubiquitous glowing apple on the back of its cover. I think “ooh,” look at my poor PowerBook, and then go back to working on my article.
A few minutes later, I realize. It’s an intel Mac Book. Apple never had a small black laptop before. I look again. His is small, thinner than my 12″ PowerBook. I suddenly get Apple envy. It’s sort of like penis envy, except that my inadequacies are lying right out on the table, for everyone to see. (But I also imagine, again like penis envy, that I’m the only one dwelling on it.)
My 12″ 1.5Ghz PowerBook has really gone downhill in recent months. The left-hand side near all my ports is bent. There’s a ding in the rear and I have no idea how it happened (but it must have been a rather hard impact). And yesterday, I dropped my backpack a bit too far: the next time I got the PowerBook out, I had trouble opening it. The little clasp wasn’t springing. I’ve noticed that the screen isn’t square or flush with the rest of the computer.
Am I intentionally trying to break my laptop? No. I don’t have the money for a new one. And I couldn’t even begin to justify the additional price increase to get a black Mac Book. (Although god they’re sexy.)
I need to get back to my article.
Posted June 4th, 2005 at 12:25AM
Much to my surprise, when my mother and I got back from a trip to the doctor, there was a Verizon truck in our driveway. As we walked down to the house, he came out from the woods on the side of our property. Said he was splicing some phone lines back there, and that no one was home when he arrived, “besides the UPS delivery guy.”
wtf? We looked, and saw a package on the back deck. It had the amazon.com symbol on it, but.. No, it couldn’t be. The laptop had only shipped two days before, I selected the free “super saver” shipping, and it was suppose to arrive on the 7th or 8th. But wonder of wonders, it was, indeed, my new Apple 12″ PowerBook G4.
It’s my first laptop, and it really kicks ass. I didn’t get a chance of snapping a picture of it till just now, and I had to use the flash, thus the annoying glare on the screen. But I’m totally content. It’s so small!
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