Tonight we purchased a Powerbook and a 20GB iPod. The 20GB iPod was eligible for the $200 rebate from Apple (educational). Suzanne and I really debated whether or not to get the Powerbook.

While we are at the Apple store about ready to purchase the Powerbook Suzanne asked Reia if she was excited and Reia let out a squeal. It was pretty funny and Suzanne turned a nice shade of red.

Now it is a waiting game. I am going to wait until next week to see if Apple announces new Powerbooks at the expo next week. There is a slight chance if Apple reduces the Powerbook prices (or if they stay the same), Apple will do an appeasement on the older powerbooks.

I am new to the Apple scene. I have been a pretty heavy Linux user in the last couple of years. For the past 3 months (since my daughter was born), I have been considering getting a Powerbook from Apple. The problem is there have been rumors of new Powerbooks coming, but they haven't yet made it. There is also a special offer from Apple if you buy a Powerbook and iPod, you get a $200 rebate (educational).

Today, Apple introduced new iPods that are not eligible for the rebate. They have larger storage capacity. I am expecting the new Powerbooks to be introduced next week at the Mac Expo, but they probably won't qualify either. Do I go with the newest stuff or take the rebate and go with the older?

humm....

Yesterday, we returned the 12" Powerbook and 20GB iPod and got a 15" Powerbook and 15Gb iPod. At this point, I have only opened the Powerbook and let me say that it is slick. Apple makes some good computers (they should for the price). Last night I spent most of the time trying to get it setup (downloading and installing programs).


I did run into some wireless network issues. The Powerbook comes with 802.11g which is supposed to be compatible with 802.11b which is what I have. At first, it didn't work at all, but then it worked for a while last night. Then it stopped again. I made some changes to my wireless access point (switched channels because I thought I might be competing with one of the neighbors). I ended up plugging it into the network to do a couple of things before I went to bed. This morning, it recognized the wireless network without a problem. I am interested in seeing if the problem continues.

My powerbook is working with the wireless network. I think changing the channel on the wireless router fixed the problem. My guess is that I was using the same channel as a neighbor. I am glad that is fixed.

I am still learning how to use the Powerbook. I had become accustomed to using Linux with multiple desktops and that it is an adjustment. Overall, I really like the Mac. My brother told me a couple of useful tricks for setting up the Mac. I have probably used this site the most to find out how to do things, but Google has been most helpful.

I still need to play with iMovie some more. There are a couple of things that I couldn't figure out how to do the first time I tried, but I really didn't look at it very long.

I really like Safari for web browsing. There are a couple of errors I have (pages being cached too aggressively is one), but overall it is slick. I am sure the next version will fix some of these problems.