Quote:
My willingness to try new things really turned out for the best here.

I'm not unwilling to try something new, but I can agree with most of your points based on the experience I know you have. I don't know what comes bundled with a Dell or Compaq, but I can imagine it's crap probably written by a Taiwanese company. That's partly Microsoft's fault, but I'm assuming they will adapt to the "iLife" scheme at some point.

Personally, I'm quite comfortable with a *nix command line and have tried multiple times to make the switch to Linux on the desktop. It just can't be done on my PIII 800MHz laptop. All the (mainstream) window managers have gotten to the point of uncontrolable bloat and getting wireless networking running smoothly on Linux is impossible. That laptop (Dell Latitude X200) is what I commonly use at home and Windows runs great on it. I rarely feel any lag associated with a sub-GHz machine.

I think OSX would be something I can get into and maybe use more efficiently than Windows. I almost pulled the trigger on the 13.3" Macbook due to the size and price that seemed to compete with similar PC laptops. I also favor smaller laptops. Here's the problems that are holding me back:
* Reports of black paint peeling
* Reports of overheating (Apple should have concentrated on this since MacBook Pro)
* A video I saw of the fans cycling on and off infinitely while the CPU was idling. (Completely unacceptable since the X200 is silent)
* $200 more for 20GB up space plus a black case? (white is not an option)
* 1 mouse button. Since I plan to dual-boot Windows, this will be a bit annoying.
* I find the lack of a card slot slightly odd. A PCMCIA card is more likely to sit flush with the laptop's case when a future peripheral comes out. USB dongles sitcking out is stupid.
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-Rob Riccardelli
80GB 16MB MK2 090000736