Well, for a primary computer, I still like the desktop. But one of the main things is I might go to Germany this fall with Mom and I'd like to have a computer with me - obviously slim to nil chance of getting on the internet, but it'd be nice to have along.
That and some other things - a portable dvd player would be gorgeous but by the time you get one, you might as well spend a little more and then you can do so many DIFFERENT things with a mac than you can with a computer, more graphical and vidding stuff that I thought would be fun to explore. And since my desktop was only a year ago, it started to really make sense.
The macbook is JUST under 1000 with a rebate from amazon.com, actually! And macmall.com as well - although in that case, you pay for shipping and they rebate that back as well. Macmall is where mine's gonna come from, but that's only because Amazon has a Kansas location and charges sales tax.
I did really, really think about the pro because it'd also work as a backup gaming machine but while I can justify about 1k on it, I can't quite manage to excuse twice that since I still have my PC!
Also, supposedly the macbook keyboard is actually more ergonomic than most, I've read some reviews on that front. And, worse comes to worse, I can go ahead and hook up an outside laptop for extended use - like if I am lazy and upstairs :p
Can i make a suggestion though - travelling with anything other than an ultralight is really not that much fun. I have to lug a computer along for work all the time, and, true, I enjoy being able to find wifi cafes and get online and such. But even the little 14 inch imac I've been borrowing is really heavy. And I have a better back than you do. (The anxiety of leaving a brand new $1K machine in a hotel room is not trivial either). You're way, way better off with internet cafes and loading your pda up with ebooks. Just a thought.
Oh don't worry, I thought about that - but the macbook is really only 5 lbs and it's not like I actually have to CARRY it, ever - my carry-on now has wheels. I'd be staying with family various parts of call, too, not a hotel - at least in Germany :) Now, if I travel anywhere ELSE, I might decide to leave it at home!
I shall practice ahead of time, though!
I do want to be just like Fod - she and Moireach and a few other people just convinced me with their talk! I did a post a few weeks ago about laptops and people's experience and just about everybody who had a mac was just like "i love it!" and the people with PC laptops were all "I've had a decent experience" or "I've heard bad things about xyz". Hee.
I think having at least one of each is definitely the way to go. The pc is still way faster for me to work on because I know all the shortcuts and how to multitask on it and so on - but I've been reading a number of mac user blogs to kind of habituate myself and I was persuaded enough to ask for my new work desktop to be a mac. It's a bit of a risk - there'll be a serious learning curve. So I'll be glad to keep my PC desktop replacement as my home office machine. And then have the new mac laptop for travel/surfing in bed.
Once upon a time I only owned one computer at a time. How funny. :-)
I think it'll become really useful to have options for different kinds of work, yes. And to be able to be lazy some days and check email from bed.
I'm a little worried about the learning curve, too! Which is why I'm glad I have it now. Also, I remember how frustrating it was when my motherboard died - the thought of having a working backup if I have another disaster in the future is excellent.
If there are any really good blogs you can recommend, let me know! I've been getting advice from some friends of mine who are not LJy but also not local, either. So the more I learn, the happier I am.
I've been more following links than being consistent about the blogs, but I'll definitely pass on links that I do find. I think I delicioused something last week - I'll check and see.
So when are you thinking about being in Europre, btw? I'll be in the Netherlands Aug 29-Sept 1 and I'm seriously looking into taking at least as far as Austria (and maybe all the way to Turkey) and eventually winding up in Azerbaijan to visit my mum. It would be kind of awesome if we overlapped. I don't know for sure yet that I'll have the dog sitting and bank account flexibility to take three weeks off, but it's a possibility. Are you in Germany in September?
I honestly don't know yet - I am not completely sure it'll happen at all, it'll depend on what and when my mom decides.
Mom usually goes over to visit her aunt once or twice a year for a week or two and when I was at my old job, I used to go with her about once a year and it was always lovely. Then when I started my new one, I had shorter vacation days for a while - but now I'm back to three weeks and can do out-of-the-country visits again, so mombo and I were talking about it a few months ago. But we haven't recently - then we were saying late septemeber/early october, which is just a lovely time to visit. She wants to take me over to ex-east germany and show me the house she was born in, which we've never gotten a chance to do - she hasn't been there herself since she was seven.
Anyway, the stuff with mom selling her house and my sister may have shaken stuff up in terms of going this year - I need to ask her about it soon!
Also, I need to get a new passport, mine expired last month. OOPS.
Well you let me know and I'll let you know and who knows? :-) I'll prolly end up flying most of the way, but I'm determined to at least make it to Berlin to visit a very good friend at Postdam. I've just been swooning over the possibilities of taking a train all the way to Istanbul, by way of Praha and Buda-pest and Bucharest. It's very, very appealing - and after Sept 1, prices start to drop.
Now I go to sleep to dream of glorious train travel. *purrs*
Oh! Hee! I just had the best thought. If we've both got brand new macbooks to play with, we'll be able to incorprate webcams into our morning email! Then we can really have our coffee together. :-)
hahhah, I know there are instances when the pre-caffeine swmbo is not, either. When just opening my eyes is VERY HARD.
THe thing that makes me laugh hardest is the apple remote - unless I get a dvi adaptor to connect the laptop to my tv (which at least at this point I seee NO need to do, since I can burn anything I want to watch fairly fast and I use rewritable dvds)...the idea of using a remote to control a laptop makes me laugh and laugh.
It's like the cd player in my car, which also came with a remote. Which, no matter how I cut it, does NOT feel like a safe choice!
The remote for the mac can be very handy - even if you're just sharing a video file or dvd with one other person, it's nicer to be able to use the remote than to have to lean in and fiddle with the keyboard and mouse. Or if you have it set up to play music or stream radio - it's great to be able to use a remote just like you would with your stereo. Likewise the dvi adaptor - think about being over at a friend's place and wanting to show them a show or clip or whatever that you have on your laptop. Two seconds and it's up on the tv. Basically, think of all the reasons you're thinking of bringing the laptop to Germany, then add 'and it's an entertainment center' to the list.
I can offer no such rationalizations for the remote in a car. :-)
Heee, that is true - if I plan to take it about with me, that makes more sense. I might look at prices of adaptors after the original impact of the macbook on my wallet has faded!
That and some other things - a portable dvd player would be gorgeous but by the time you get one, you might as well spend a little more and then you can do so many DIFFERENT things with a mac than you can with a computer, more graphical and vidding stuff that I thought would be fun to explore. And since my desktop was only a year ago, it started to really make sense.
The macbook is JUST under 1000 with a rebate from amazon.com, actually! And macmall.com as well - although in that case, you pay for shipping and they rebate that back as well. Macmall is where mine's gonna come from, but that's only because Amazon has a Kansas location and charges sales tax.
I did really, really think about the pro because it'd also work as a backup gaming machine but while I can justify about 1k on it, I can't quite manage to excuse twice that since I still have my PC!
Also, supposedly the macbook keyboard is actually more ergonomic than most, I've read some reviews on that front. And, worse comes to worse, I can go ahead and hook up an outside laptop for extended use - like if I am lazy and upstairs :p
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Not that that's a bad thing.
Can i make a suggestion though - travelling with anything other than an ultralight is really not that much fun. I have to lug a computer along for work all the time, and, true, I enjoy being able to find wifi cafes and get online and such. But even the little 14 inch imac I've been borrowing is really heavy. And I have a better back than you do. (The anxiety of leaving a brand new $1K machine in a hotel room is not trivial either).
You're way, way better off with internet cafes and loading your pda up with ebooks.
Just a thought.
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I shall practice ahead of time, though!
I do want to be just like Fod - she and Moireach and a few other people just convinced me with their talk! I did a post a few weeks ago about laptops and people's experience and just about everybody who had a mac was just like "i love it!" and the people with PC laptops were all "I've had a decent experience" or "I've heard bad things about xyz". Hee.
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Once upon a time I only owned one computer at a time. How funny. :-)
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I think it'll become really useful to have options for different kinds of work, yes. And to be able to be lazy some days and check email from bed.
I'm a little worried about the learning curve, too! Which is why I'm glad I have it now. Also, I remember how frustrating it was when my motherboard died - the thought of having a working backup if I have another disaster in the future is excellent.
If there are any really good blogs you can recommend, let me know! I've been getting advice from some friends of mine who are not LJy but also not local, either. So the more I learn, the happier I am.
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So when are you thinking about being in Europre, btw? I'll be in the Netherlands Aug 29-Sept 1 and I'm seriously looking into taking at least as far as Austria (and maybe all the way to Turkey) and eventually winding up in Azerbaijan to visit my mum. It would be kind of awesome if we overlapped. I don't know for sure yet that I'll have the dog sitting and bank account flexibility to take three weeks off, but it's a possibility. Are you in Germany in September?
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I honestly don't know yet - I am not completely sure it'll happen at all, it'll depend on what and when my mom decides.
Mom usually goes over to visit her aunt once or twice a year for a week or two and when I was at my old job, I used to go with her about once a year and it was always lovely. Then when I started my new one, I had shorter vacation days for a while - but now I'm back to three weeks and can do out-of-the-country visits again, so mombo and I were talking about it a few months ago. But we haven't recently - then we were saying late septemeber/early october, which is just a lovely time to visit. She wants to take me over to ex-east germany and show me the house she was born in, which we've never gotten a chance to do - she hasn't been there herself since she was seven.
Anyway, the stuff with mom selling her house and my sister may have shaken stuff up in terms of going this year - I need to ask her about it soon!
Also, I need to get a new passport, mine expired last month. OOPS.
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I'll prolly end up flying most of the way, but I'm determined to at least make it to Berlin to visit a very good friend at Postdam. I've just been swooning over the possibilities of taking a train all the way to Istanbul, by way of Praha and Buda-pest and Bucharest. It's very, very appealing - and after Sept 1, prices start to drop.
Now I go to sleep to dream of glorious train travel. *purrs*
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And oh man, the idea of taking a train like that - HEAVEN.
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I never even thought of that, more of a "well, i probably won't ever use that feature much". But it'd be VERY fun to add a little sight to our GM, A!
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THe thing that makes me laugh hardest is the apple remote - unless I get a dvi adaptor to connect the laptop to my tv (which at least at this point I seee NO need to do, since I can burn anything I want to watch fairly fast and I use rewritable dvds)...the idea of using a remote to control a laptop makes me laugh and laugh.
It's like the cd player in my car, which also came with a remote. Which, no matter how I cut it, does NOT feel like a safe choice!
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Likewise the dvi adaptor - think about being over at a friend's place and wanting to show them a show or clip or whatever that you have on your laptop. Two seconds and it's up on the tv.
Basically, think of all the reasons you're thinking of bringing the laptop to Germany, then add 'and it's an entertainment center' to the list.
I can offer no such rationalizations for the remote in a car. :-)
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