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About three times a year, Mac fans begin to anticipate the latest
release from Cupertino. Speculation regarding the next Apple release
floods across the Internet with speed and energy rarely equaled.
It is a tribute to Apple design sensibilities and Apple fans that
this phenomena occurs. I know of no rumor sites for Compaq, Gateway,
Dell, or HP. Few message boards discuss the latest Wintel hardware in
depth. Only Apple builds computers which capture the imagination of
users.
This month is no different. With the World Wide Developers
conference looming, rumors have begun to circle the Internet about
updates to
the Apple line, most specifically the PowerBook. The
current PowerBook G4 is the most likely machine for "something
new," having maintained the same basic style and components for
approximately 15 months.
Of all of the rumor site speculation, the claims of a G4 PowerBook
running at 800 MHz seem to be the most realistic. This machine would
essentially be the same PowerBook you can buy today with a boost in
speed, hard drive, and memory.
The most interesting thing about this speculation is the angry
flood of posts written in reaction. Checking all of the major Apple
fan sites, the consensus seems to be that with Wintel laptops
boasting 1.7 GHz chips, 64 MB video, and DDR RAM, Apple can no longer
use the "Megahertz Myth" to explain the difference in power. Fans
somehow feel that Apple has lost the edge and will lose business to
less expensive Wintel laptops with greater power and
capabilities.
While I would certainly love to see a major product update from
Apple, I still consider Apple products far and away superior to
Wintel offerings. A PowerBook is more than the sum of its parts. My
lowly PowerBook G4/400 has become
an extension of me, fulfilling all of the tasks I require of a
computer without any of the difficulties I associate with my Wintel
boxes. Running OS X has been a joy, with a personal record of 65
days uptime stopped only by an OS X update that required a
restart.
My new employer provided me with a Wintel machine for corporate
work this week. Sitting on my desk is a Dell Inspiron 8200 with the
following specifications: Pentium 4 1.7 GHz processor, 15" UXGA
display, 1024 MB DDR 266 MHz, 64 MB nVidia NV17 3D video for Inspiro,
40 GB hard drive, floppy drive, Windows XP Professional Edition,
integrated 10/100 ethernet, 56K modem, DVD/CD-RW 16x combo, and
Office XP Professional.
This machine is the current state of the art in Wintel laptops and
has some wonderful components. With the huge screen, super video
card, and large RAM number, I could certainly consider this machine
to be in desktop class. On paper, my PowerBook G4 would look
foolishly obsolete.
This should be no contest.
Strange as it will seem to many, I would not trade my PowerBook
for this machine. While the component parts are superb, the machine
has none of the elegance or design sense of my PowerBook. Blocky and
heavy, this machine weighs around 8 pounds, runs extremely hot, is
extremely noisy, and feels altogether rickety. Dell simply threw the
best components into a case and created a computer. I can not imagine
a moment's thought going into the overall usability of this
machine.
While Windows XP is a strong operating system, I still deal with
driver conflicts, security problems, and lack of stability. After
opening the box on Monday, I immediately went to the Dell Web site
and looked for updates. I updated the trackpad, system BIOS, LAN
card, and video drivers. This machine was ordered last week and
arrived on Monday - why were these updates not included?
I have yet to bring this machine home in the evening; I still
bring my PowerBook to the office. I have both machines sitting side
by side and perform 90% of my work on the PowerBook. When I travel, I
am still amazed by reaction I get from people admiring the PowerBook.
It is quite simply the perfect computer.
In conclusion, Apple fans are fanatic about the machines they
love. We want to continue to use the most impressive machines on the
market. We love to show off the great blend of hardware, software,
and design sense that have long been an Apple tradition.
Unfortunately, some are losing faith in machines that are
difficult to justify on components and performance alone. I
understand that many are having trouble defending purchases of
laptops which seem slower on paper.
My contention is that pure numbers have never been the thing that
made us Mac fanatics. It has almost always been possible to build
machines that were cheaper and had better, stronger, faster
components than an Apple computer.
What Mac fanatics love is the overall design sense and computing
experience. For my money, no current offering will make me pass on my
PowerBook.
Kevin Webb spent the last seven years selling
technology consulting services. Of that time, at least two years have
been devoted to trying to convince the world that the Macintosh is
the pinnacle of the computing experience. He is the proud owner of
eight Macs, ranging from a
new iBook to a Classic.
You can read about his newest computer in Kevin
Webb's PowerBook G4.
Recent articles by Kevin Webb
How Macintel could spell trouble for Windows, 06.15.
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Mac of the Day: PowerBook 190cs, Aug. 1995 - The last 680x0-based PowerBook could take a PowerPC upgrade.
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August 28 in LEM history: 95: PowerBook Duo 2300 - 00: Gaming on older Power Macs - 01: AppleShare on Linux - From Beebs and Acorns to Macs - 02: Sleep of Death, - Think smarter? - It's the software, stupid - 06: PowerBook 5300 reminiscence - You might be a Mac fanatic if... - Hiding complexity behind elegant simplicity
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to
the Apple line, most specifically the PowerBook. 
