Forums | MacLife

As far as chat clients, I recommend adium ( http://www.adiumx.com ) over AOL's client and over iChat.  I had some problems with iChat not giving me messages that I knew were coming to me, although Rendezvous is big fun when you're out using a wireless network and want to meet people.  Heh.

Congrats!

(I installed my own AirPort card and it was ridiculously easy.)

One other thing.. you think the iBook is a bit heavy? As far as I know it's one of the lightest (if not THE lightest) laptops on the market.

I work with an IBM T23 Notebook at work. It has a 14" screen and it's a nice PC though it is in a different price class than the iBook at somewhere around $2300. I expected the iBook to be more noticably lighter than the IBM but it was not. It does fit on my lap a lot better though. I'm happy with my purchase thus far, but I'm still having a hard time getting acquainted to the MacOS over Windows XP. Nothing seems to work as I want it to, but I think it's just because I've used Windows for so long.

Oh, and iChat sucks, I didn't like Adium and I'm desperate for a good AIM client. I hate to say it so soon, but I miss Windows right now. I'm sure my attitude will change.

Congrats on the purchase lokey!

Hey, if you're a true Windows user at heart, then all the power to you. It's a matter of preference in the long run, and no one should bash you for that (even though the Mac zealots will bash anyone who doesn't worship Apple).

I used Windows for most of my life, and used Macs in my graphics arts classes all through high school, and then in my co-op placement when I worked at a design firm. Although I never had any severe problems with Windows (it crashed here and there, and I got a really bad virus once that killed our PC at the time, and this was Windows...98? I think), I knew I preferred Macs a lot more. They were more fun and easier to use.

I've had my iMac for over a year and I'll never go back to the Windows world! It just isn't worth it...

...hey, wait a minute.

(Damn switcher ads)

I just got my first Mac two weeks ago... a 14" 700 MHz iBook.

I do system administration for a living, and some programming. I work on Solaris and Tru64 servers, as well as Win2k. One of my home PCs dual-boots BeOS and Win98, the other runs OpenBSD 3.1.

I love my Mac, but I was introduced slowly... a friend of mine showed me his new iBook a year ago, but I couldn't justify buying a new computer until recently. I did some programming on Macs in college (around '90), and haven't done much with them since. But seeing OSX made all the difference. FreeBSD with a working GUI? Oh yeah!

I had a little more time to adjust, helping my Mac friends get into BSD, setting up their networks for them, etc. By the time I actually got this machine, I had quite a bit of hands-on Mac time, and had gotten used to some of the quirks of the OS.

I did notice a few things pretty quickly:
1. These are not designed for the slamming and jabbing common in Windows users. Press buttons with even pressure and they work great. Jab them, and they don't work. The iBook lid won't close with a slam, but it likes steady, smooth pressure.
2. I don't reboot much at all. Basically OS upgrades (I had to install Jaguar right away, then do the 10.2.2 update, and then a couple days later, 10.2.3 came out) and hardware (RAM) additions required reboots. Coming from using Windows, it is really WEIRD for a newer OS version to run FASTER on the same hardware!!
3. When I had a little trouble with the OS becoming unresponsive, I never actually needed to reboot. Leave it alone a minute and it always came back. Once I had to close the lid to put it to sleep: when I opened the lid again a minute later, it unlocked and kept working. It appears the problem was Classic, so I try to keep Classic turned off if I'm not using it.
4. Disk Copy is cool: like dd with a GUI. Mounting disk images is way slick... I use that in Solaris, FreeBSD, and BeOS: glad not to have to lose that functionality.

All in all, this iBook is batting .999 with me right now.

Mark

Newer os is not faster then older one with the same hardware, osX is a lot slower then os9, I hardly call the system patch that fix bug and problem "newer" os!

Just like Window xp is not faster then Window 98 on same hardware, but I don't call the weekly updated/patch/fix newer software either!

WHAT, how dare you say you miss windows ... No, just a joke

Well...i was a long time pc user too, and recently got my iBook. At first i wasnt very comfortable with osx. It was good looking and all, but i was slow on it, i missed a good irc client (still nothing better than mIRC out there) and stuff like this. I also missed windows sometimes...well not windows actualy, but all those apps i was used too.
But now its been a month using osx and i learned quite a few keyboard shortcuts, i customized osx for my needs and whole "think diferent" logic is now clear to me.
I also have a PC with winxp on my desk and whenever i sit in front of it i now miss osx so much. You want to open new browser and command+n doesnt work. You want to close a program and you have to click on that X instead of pressing couple of keys. I dont know, but after a little less than month i couldnt live with windows anymore.

So give it some time and try to find some cool apps you need. I know sometimes that is a problem, but most other things are so much better on osx that it is worth it.

Ctrl N opens up a new browser in Xp and Ctrl W to close.

I really switched around May last year.  At first I felt kind of uncomfortable in OS X, but after a few months I've gotten to where OS X just feels so much more logical and intuitive than Windows (which I also still use about equally...until I can get a Mac for work ).

I also spend a lot less time worrying about hte computer itself.  I'm a geek, and I love messing with computers, but I love that OS X dosen't feel like it's fighting me.  I LOVE little things like how programs don't spew files all over the system when you install them, and the OS dosen't seem to get wonky over time like Windows does.  (Or at least it goes a lot longer without getting wonky because it hasn't happened yet.)