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+--- Thread: New BlackBook indahouse! (/showthread.php?tid=64324)
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New BlackBook indahouse! - Silencio - 10-17-2008
So my trusty 1.33GHz PowerBook G4 has been giving me grief lately. After upgrading the hard drive -- something I've done to several other 12" PowerBooks and iBooks with no problems whatsoever -- I've been having constant problems with system slowdowns, kernel panics, and freezes. I tried switching between multiple 2.5" drives I've got on hand, tried putting the original 60GB 4200RPM drive back in, erase installed the OS more times than I care to, replaced the hard drive cable with a new one from iFixit... nothing seems to make my poor PowerBook happy anymore. Tried running AHT and all came up clean. It's a mystery I no longer have time to deal with, since I use my laptop almost exclusively for work.
I wanted to hold out until next year to upgrade my laptop (already bought a Mac Pro earlier this year), but the timing was still pretty fortuitous with the much-anticipated revision to Apple's lineup coming up. I held out for a week and waited to see what the new MacBooks looked like. As awesome as they look, I determined it would be too disruptive to my workflow (I do IT consulting and use Firewire for external storage and connecting to other systems via FWTDM) at this time to get a laptop without Firewire. And, as a 12" PowerBook owner, size and weight were more important criteria for my choice of laptop than raw power and expandability. As nice as the 15" MBPs are, they are overkill for my purposes and I don't want to schlep the extra weight around.
So I had to make a list of pros and cons between my three realistic laptop choices: new 2.4GHz MacBook, refurbed previous-generation 2.4GHz Black MacBook, and refurbed 1.6GHz MacBook Air. In the end I decided I could live with a little extra weight in order to have the Firewire port and processing power. As a bonus, the BlackBook was by far the least expensive option at $1,099.
I'm in the process of setting up the little BlackBook now. No silent upgrades, but the 2.4GHz processor, 2GB of RAM, and 250GB hard drive should get me started off pretty well. I'll get the 2x2GB SODIMMs eventually since they're so cheap nowadays.
Otherwise, I am seeing the silver lining in the cloud of having to spend some money before I planned: I love the bright screen after muddling through the dull, dingy, 1024x768 screen on the PowerBook. Wireless reception is light years better. I didn't use the optical drive much on my PowerBook, mostly because it's a Combo drive that can't read dual-layer DVD+/-Rs, and the BlackBook has a SuperDrive. I was actually still running VirtualPC on my PowerBook every now and again for my portable Windows needs, and that, of course, was a total wallowing-in-molasses nightmare. Now I can run VMware at a much more reasonable clip.
At some point I'll spend more time working on the old PowerBook: it would be pretty useful in the kitchen for some light tasks. But otherwise, the BlackBook is going to serve my needs very well for a while.
Can I get a LEADER?
Re: New BlackBook indahouse! - Acer - 10-17-2008
Refurb LEADER!
(I admire your taste. The exact same model is on a FedEx truck headed for our house as we speak!)
Re: New BlackBook indahouse! - space-time - 10-17-2008
"Can I get a LEADER?"
no, you cannot ASK for a LEADER!
Re: New BlackBook indahouse! - space-time - 10-17-2008
Acer wrote:
Refurb LEADER!
(I admire your taste. The exact same model is on a FedEx truck headed for our house as we speak!)
What? I thought you only bought acer computers.
Re: New BlackBook indahouse! - incognegro - 10-17-2008
dare i say... black leader! :patriot:
Re: New BlackBook indahouse! - space-time - 10-17-2008
incognegro wrote:
dare i say... black leader! :patriot:
nah, that's Obama
Re: New BlackBook indahouse! - Acer - 10-18-2008
space-time wrote:
[quote=Acer]
Refurb LEADER!
(I admire your taste. The exact same model is on a FedEx truck headed for our house as we speak!)
What? I thought you only bought acer computers.
Actually, I took my handle from a superior tree genus, not a mediocre computer company.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maple
Re: New BlackBook indahouse! - space-time - 10-18-2008
so then you like Maple syrup?
Re: New BlackBook indahouse! - jdc - 10-18-2008
bump to 4 gigs of ram -- frys has been having deals for $25 for after rebates -- lifetime warranty crucial stuff as well...
Re: New BlackBook indahouse! - Bill in NC - 10-18-2008
and a 500GB hard drive is $150:
http://www.transintl.com/store/category.cfm?Category=2745