This June marks the beginning of the 3rd year I have owned my Dell Inspiron 300m notebook PC. Since then it has been discontinued by Dell and taken some healthy abuse from me in the form of daily treks to class, journeys about the nether regions of campus and those few times I threw my backpack across the room, forgetting there was a laptop inside. It has served me well. It kept me sane in the most boring of classes and allowed me to catch up on some news or do a quick blog post while devouring a meatball sub or chocolate-chip bagel with egg and cheese during lunch in the Student Center Commons.
However, it has failed me in several ways. First off, I had purchased it before I was a real Mac nut. Secondly, it is pretty hard to get anything done on the 12 inch screen with a 1024×768 resolution. Blogging was near impossible as the WordPress post preview window would not be able to completely show my site without some perseveringly mundane scrolling. The original battery also fooled me into thinking it was charged and would randomly fall to 3% battery remaining, forcing me to lug around the extended battery. These hardships have made the Apple MacBook exceedingly desirable. A capable machine that I can gleefully tote to school everyday and have enough juice left to do some casual web surfing on the couch before plugging in and getting any real work done.
Understandably, the prospect of being able to use a trusted FTP client for things like minor site tweaks and not having tragedies occur is also welcomed. There are a few things holding me back though. The most important of which being “Which color?!??!.” I have visited my local Apple store twice in the last week trying to decide which color I like best. I like the glossy non-matte finish of the white MacBook, but I adore the black MacBook. I have no problem with the lower system specifications of the white version but I don’t exactly like the price premium that comes with the black version. After hours of thought and flickr scouring, I think I like the white one mainly because of the glossy exterior finish.
My other dilemma is cost. I might be able to foot some of the bill by selling off my aforementioned Dell notebook and a Palm LifeDrive I barely used. I also feel a little guilty as my current Mac Mini is only a few months old. However, I put great value in a mobile machine and might attempt to auction off my mini to the highest bidder in my family. After I had “switched” a year ago, I had always kept around a PC and a Mac – one for programming as required by various computer science courses utilizing Windows-only IDE’s and the other for everything else. With the creation of Boot Camp, my need for two computers is extinguished and I should, theoretically, be able to subsist on only one computer instead of two or three. This leads to the need for a mini-DVI to DVI adapter to connect to the ACD when back in my room.
The MacBook’s hard drive would only have to be so large as to run two or three operating systems, with most other media files inhabiting my external hard drive. Also, having only a primary computer would help consolidate my music collection rather than have it spread across multiple machines. Having all my music on a notebook would be great for those allnighters in the library when most people that share iTunes playlists have left or they and their machines have fallen asleep.
I could always wait until that lovely financial aid check is sent my way sometime in August, but I might have a use for a MacBook this summer. We shall see which way the wind blows. If you have noticed some changes around here recently it was just me optimizing things. I have a compelling desire to make this site extremely fast and as of now my 42kB site is hammered out in 0.42 seconds on a lowly 1.44 megabit connection. I have restyled the comments with CSS only instead of using an image and have tweaked and resaved every image to save a few bytes. For the time being I have taken out the Yahoo ads as their server seemed to be a little unresponsive today, causing my site to be unresponsive as well. Just a friendly reminder that you can purchase sponsored links at any time. Thanks to everyone that already has.
Tweet This
Stumble This
{ 1 trackback }
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
I suppose getting a JOB is out of the question? 2 weeks pay got me my white MacBook, though I wish I hadn’t opted for the 1 gig ram upgrade (I’ll be picking up two gigs from Newegg next week for $140). As for the black, I thought about it to, being a PC owner for a long time everything else on my desk seems to be black. However, the white in actuality provides some nice contrast. Also, I know that when the exterior gets all scratched up (I still shudder at the thought), it’ll be much easier to polish out on a glossy finish rather than a matte. And as far as using it to replace your other machines, f’ing go for it- Mine has replaced my coffee maker, my vacuum, several pets, a life-sized batman card board cutout- It’s real versatile. Also, if anyone says “Well yeah Paul, but did you consider the HEAT?!” – Hit them, hard. I’ve come to find it’s all propoganda, mine runs cooler than my previous Compaq Presario 1550, and is totally silent. It’s like a ninja, a ninja with a glossy white costume.
On a side note, I’ve thrown in the towel on blogging for a while. Think I’ll leave it up to pro’s like you while I try to find more of a niche for myself (and no it didn’t have anything to do with NOT making the cut for 9rules, glad Ben did though, he deserved it).
More from author
I’d go for the white one :)
Hopefully, I’ll be getting one next year as well!
More from author
I’m in same boat as you Paul. I’m about half way saved up for a new MacBook. I’m hoping that I’ll get some money for graduating high school, and I’m planning on selling my Hackintosh. That should hopefully be enough to get me a MacBook.
More from author
Check this out. Free iPod nano with every Mac purchase until school starts. I’ve been wanting a nano, so this is perfect for me. Now I just need the money for the MacBook.
More from author
paul, join the club. I’m going through the EXACT same scenario as you. After a bit of running at the mouth with mister 9rules colin, I’ll be putting down some cash on a macbook this sunday. As for white vs. black, I didn’t start contimplating that until this morning. The thing about flat finishes is that they are a bit tough to clean and usually show finger prints. Also considering most people are upgrading the ram and hd upon getting the macbook, save yourself 200$ and stick with the white one. I’ll probably flip the dough i saved and purchase a 21″ Dell widescreen monitor for when I need the real estate to do some photoshop work. I only wish I had purchased a white ipod to match.
More from author
I had a dell notebook for two years before I became an avid Apple user and my battery lasted about the length of the warranty plus one day before it would only hold a charge for 5 mins. My fiance’s dell notebook did the same thing.
I visited the Apple store in Lenox Square mall this weekend and finally got my hands on a Macbook, it seemed kinda heavy but felt solid and rigid. According to Apple.com, it only weights 5.2 lbs but this seemed heavier.
More from author
Paul. I was going through the same scenario as you. At the time, I had a trusty IBM X40 which was one of my more mobile computers I have ever owned. I broke down and picked up a 2GHz MacBook. The justification for the upgrade? A yearning for improved productivity. Maybe you can use that to convince yourself? If financial aid is on the way, I don’t see why picking one up now would be an issue. Just don’t go using the aid for something else and put it back in the bank.
Btw. The comments improvement is better ;)
More from author
I am currently waiting for my last paycheck to clear and then I go out and purchase the closest macbook i can lay my hands on. I am also debating on the black vs white, I like the black b/c I know the trackpad will get disgusting with use with a white model. You get white, I’ll get black, can be like yin and yang. You do need to drop the shittle though, it is outdated and will be useless to you. If I get a Conroe based PC, I’ll let you borrow it!
More from author
I had attempted to sell my PowerBook, three times on eBay, with no luck, and no one accepted my second chance offers on eBay, so now, I’ll probably keep my outdated PowerBook for another year or so, when it’s worth even less due to it’s dents. My next objective is to sell probably some extra RAM and get an Xbox 360 that I have been drooling over for the past couple of months.
Good luck with the MacBook!
More from author
Hahaha Matty, I’m working on that now actually. Surprised to see everyone else interested in the MacBook so much. It really is a great machine at a great price though. As for that link cavemonkey gave out… awesome!
More from author
choclate chip bagel with egg and cheese… sounds like a really bad combination, I think you should stick with the meatball sub. haha
More from author
The people at Einstein Brother’s bagels gave me weird looks everytime I got it.. but contrary to popular belief it is quite tasty.
More from author
I’m in a similiar predicament except that I’m going back to Iraq in about two months. I have a Powerbook G4 thats been to various parts of the world with me and its still as fast as I need it to be. I also have the new Intel iMac at home and the speed just wows me every day.
I know that in the seven months I will be spending in the middle east I will have a lot of time to play games and watch movies. I’m really trying to resist buying a new Macbook Pro until I get back but the prospect of being able to play the hundreds of Windows games that other Marines will have with them might be the deciding factor. Having Windows as a boot up option is making it harder and harder everyday to resist buying a Macbook Pro.
Hopefully I can resist the temptation and take my Powerbook G4 on one last tour of duty.
More from author
As an owner of a revision A MacBook Pro, I can certainly advise you to get yourself a shiny new laptop. As many issues as I’ve had with mine (the usual of course), I still love it. And eventually I’ll take it in to an Apple Store and have them fix it up.
More from author
You should go for the new MacBook Pro. I have the beautiful new 15″ and I totally love it. It has more creature comforts than the MacBook, like the backlit keyboard (which is totally awesome), brilliant brighter screen, and more input ports. It does cost more, but it is well worth the sacrifice.
Joshua – I’m all about mobility though and the 15 incher is just too large for me. I take my laptop _everywhere_ with me. I’m still wondering if I will be able to cope with the MacBook as it is a decent weight at 5.2lbs when I’m used to a 3lb notebook. As for screen brightness the MacBook screen is about the same I’ve heard, possibly appearing brighter because of the glossy coating. And the screen size doesn’t really bother me because when I get home I’ll be plugging it in to a 20 inch Apple Cinema Display. But I agree the backlit keyboard is damn nice. My logic was that white reflects better so at night the keyboard should be easier to see, as compared to a black MacBook.
More from author
Join the dark side and go get yourself a Darthbook. For $150 more, you get a prominent glowing white Apple logo on the shell, where as on the white the logo just blends in with the case. That also negates any ideals that the black MacBook looks just like any old Windows notebook. I do recommend getting 2GB RAM upgrade from a third-party when you’ve made your decision.
More from author
hey – just wondering what youre doin with your old 300m… ive got 3/4 of one in need of some love. or a replacement. and i cant afford a mac *yet*