Edward M. Corrado on Tue, 27 May 2003 20:44:13 -0400


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Re: [PLUG] Looking for a laptop


On Sun, 25 May 2003, Chris Hedemark wrote:
> 
> Apple iBook.  Great value!  OS X is BSD flavored, or you can run BSD on 
> it directly (OpenBSD is known to work, unsure about the others).  I got 
> my Apple (a higher end Powerbook) with the idea that I'd probably put a 
> different OS on it but I've been very happy with OS X on it.  X11 
> support in OS X is finally pretty good so I think it's a very safe bet.

I agree with everything Chris said above - and you can even get your iBook
(at no extra charge) preinstalled with Yellow Dog Linux if you by it
through them (www.terrasoftsolutions.com). A 12" 800Mhz w/ 256 Mb RAM goes
for $1049 before you add options like an airport wireless card. I have one
of the 700 Mhz iBooks and I love it and would not consider trading it for
an x86 laptop (and I never owned a Mac before in my life before I bought 
this iBook).

> The only problem based on your requirements is the screen size;  For 
> $1000 you're only going to get a 12" screen.  For $1500 you get the 14" 
> screen (and a lot more other stuff above the $1000 model).
> 
> The things are infectious.  At my old LUG it seemed like one guy would 
> get an iBook, and then another, and before you knew it there were more 
> people showing up with Apple hardware at meetings than all other 
> manufacturers *combined*.

They are like a virus. A while back we did an iBook Linux installfest at
LUG/IP. One of the reasons why we did this was the previous months meeting
we had something like 7 or 8 people at the meeting with either an iBook or
a Powerbook, and I think only 2 people with x86's (and one of the two also
had his iBook with him!). I have to admit though, I do run OS X a lot more
then Yellow Dog Linux even though my computer is set to dual boot between
the two (and I think YDL does a good job with their distro). It seems kind
of odd when you think about Linux geeks using Apples!

I'm of the opinion that if someone is in the market for a portable
computer that (unless there is some reason you need x86 architecture),
you are doing yourself an injustice if you don't at least take a look at
the iBooks (or Powerbooks if you are looking for something more powerful).

Ed C.


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