On 22-Apr-04, at 12:34 AM, Claire Hart wrote:
Would there be a downside to getting a powerbook as your main or only computer?
I recently went through a period where my iMac sort of "died". I removed its hard drive, set it up in an external Firewire case, and used it to boot our MUG's iBook, as a way to bridge the month or so before I got my iMac back in operation.
I realize you were asking about a PowerBook, not an iBook, but perhaps some of my experiences are relevant.
First of all, for the sort of steady usage I give a computer, an external keyboard and mouse were absolutely necessary. I can manage the portable's keyboard when I take it to a MUG meeting to do a presentation or other short terms things like that, but as I say I found I needed to use a "real" keyboard and mouse for day in and day out usage.
Biggest problem was the LCD monitor. Our iBook is an early 500 Mhz dual USB white job. I had a detached retina a few years ago so my eyesight is a bit rusty, but I simply found it very much more straining to be using the iBook screen continuously than I had found it to use the iMac's CRT screen continuously. It is a matter of brightness but also that the iMac screen is just a bit larger physically.
So now we are talking about adding a keyboard, mouse, and dedicated monitor to a Powerbook, all things that drive up the cost.
Not sure I am totally up on the latest in battery technology, but I tended to use the iBook with the AC adapter plugged in all the time, when I was using it as a replacement for my desktop iMac. In the old days, this would not have been good for the internal battery. I think you were supposed to run on battery, let it drain down quite low, then recharge it. I suppose you could remove the battery altogether and just run on AC .... I really am not sure if this is a valid concern these days.
Up until very recently, a problem in using an iBook as your main computer was that you could not get a SuperDrive as a factory installed option in an iBook, only in a PowerBook. I believe that has been rectified in the latest iBook model.
Overall, I tend to agree that you can get a lot more bang for your buck by purchasing a desktop. But Macs are like motorcycles - you can't really be satisfied with just ONE.
Good luck!!
Jim Foster President Macintosh Users East [MaUsE] http://www.mause.ca
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