levity

[rootofnewt]

It sometimes seems that I bitch a lot about the Macs in our home.

The truth is, I hold Apple to pretty high standards.

I used clones for several years. I bitched about them, too, but I wasn't afraid to open them up and fix them. Most of the hardware could be replaced within my budget. In the worst cases, I could just take a sledgehammer to the damn things and at least get *some* satisfaction. Parts could be used for jewelry or target practice. I could mine them for still usable components or just wire them up and let them blink prettily.

I expect more from Apple. I expect a machine that was *marketed* for relatively rugged use (student lifestyle) to have a bit more durability for something so simple as solder joints. This laptop has not been dropped. It has not been jerked around. It's not been yanked by the cord or dragged through the street. We've already had to replace the power cord (and for that, I owe daq42 much love). Facing the prospect of a costly repair less than a year after buying the machine? Not so happy making. Yes, we were stupid for not buying AppleCare. I have no idea why we didn't do that, I can only assume our budget at the time just didn't allow for it.

The iBook is a ruggedly delicate piece of equipment. While it's relatively inexpensive as laptops go, we've still got over a $1k invested in this wee machine. We're young, living on one income, and trying to get ourselves settled--that's a lot of money.

I'm on one Mac or another most of my waking hours, unless I'm lucky enough to not be mostly house/couchbound on a given day. If I've been active recently, you can bet I'll spend several days resting on the couch, trying desperately to replenish my eager energy spoon reserves. I rely on these machines to keep me in touch with the rest of the world.

Comments

[sorrows-crow.livejournal.com]

I wanted to get an iBook when I went to purchase a laptop, but my tech. friend said they're horrible and slow. Is that true?

[krasota.livejournal.com]

Horrible and slow? Your tech friend is either crazy or has only worked with sub-optimal systems. Sure, a five year iBook might be slow when one attempts to run OSX. A modern iBook isn't slow or horrible. Current problems aside, we've had very, very few OS or processor related problems over the years. In contrast, I had frequent speed and memory issues with my clones over the years. There's a reason we only use Macs in our home now.

[krues8dr.livejournal.com]

It's worth mentioning that for those who can afford it, OS X absolutely *soars* on machines with 640MB+ of RAM. Even old machines, like my G3 Blue & White.

[heido.livejournal.com]

With my disability back pay coming (hefty) I've been contemplating a notebook for those days that I really can't sit at the computer. I've always wanted an ibook. I'm a sucker for pretty.

So based on this post... you endorse them?

[krasota.livejournal.com]

yes, I do like them. And I've found that unless I'm attempting to type several thousand words a day, the mac laptop keyboards don't trigger my CTS too badly.