[Duke_Thomas]

In reply to:

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I dont mean to sound like a nut but...
Is it possible to fall in love with a machine and OS that you have never even seen (in person)

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If you've never seen OS X or a Mac in person and you have this reaction, you're setting your expectations way too high. It's like idealizing women, and with pretty much the same result. If you do not adjust your expectations, the following will happen:
1. You will receive a Mac.
2. This Mac will in some way violate your expectation of a magical computing experience, leaving you with buyer's remorse and a fair degree of resentment.
3. You'll become one of the PC-to-Mac-to-PC jerks that occassionally frequent these forums posting their angrily worded "revelations" about Macs. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
4. Faced with our lack of reception you'll become increasingly frustrated and abusive, and believe that we're all stupid wrongheaded Apple users. For some time you'll believe only an imbecile could prefer a Macintosh, never realizing that this is all a result of you setting your initial expectations too high.
Does this prophesy seem a bit too specific? That happens all the time, actually. The poor fools don't even realize they do it. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif To help prevent this, realize the following.
Macs are not perfect. Macs are not even necessarily better. Macs are simply different. At first you will be very frustrated getting used to the new interface -- you're already bemoaning the lack of the maximize "feature" and you don't even have a Mac yet. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif You'll try to configure your machine, but you won't know where anything is. You'll have all the experience of a Windows user, and unconsciously approach the Mac as though it was a Windows machine. Yes, the Mac will to a large extent behave the same way as a Windows box, but to the extent that it does not you will become subtlely frustrated as your expectations are confounded even if the Mac way of approaching the task is superior.
It's like having a hammer all your life and suddenly replacing it with a wrench: you'll now have the ability to turn bolts, but you'll be too concerned with your inability to pound nails to notice. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif The extent that you're able to stop expecting wrenchs to pound nails will largely determine your satisfaction as a Mac user.
Another more superficial concern: When some new gadget or piece of software comes out, you'll have to train yourself to think, "probably not on the Mac," and you'll have to inure yourself to the occassional sites designed by two-year IT-grad web monkeys that only test their sites with Explorer for Windows.
You will at some point come face to face with the reality that Apple, like Microsoft, is a greedy money grubbing corporation, and that the only thing keeping them from being as bad as Microsoft is with the DRM crap and spyware is the lack of power over their user base. (I find few things more amusing on this forum than some disillusioned ex-Mac user shouting "Apple's greedy" as though it were news, never realizing that he's the only fool that idealized Apple as anything more than a company out to take his money. Steve Jobs did not become one of the richest men alive by accident.)
That said, I love my Mac. I am far more productive with OS X than with Windows or Linux. It is my platform of choice for nearly all tasks. I believe that many people currently using Windows or Linux would be more satisfied with a Mac. However, this cannot be said for everyone, and you, who have so little experience with Macs, may find that it cannot be said for you.

[mystery_stain]

[indent]In reply to:

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Is it true that you can not maximize something to full screen? (I heard this somewhere)

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[/indent]
It's true for the most part. There's a button in Mac windows that is in the same position as Maximize, in Windows, but it more like "optimizes" the space to best fit the window content. Sometimes it doesn't do what you think it should.
I do like Internet Explorer full screen mode in Windows where you can surf the web with no UI. It's like TV. In OS X, there a shareware called Saft that does this for Safari.

[stockscalper]

There's nothing out there even close to the Powerbook experience. Once you've used Panther or Jaguar for that matter you'll never want to go back to Windows again. I've been using Apple laptops for my primary computer for 9 years and I wouldn't dream of ever being chained to a desktop machine again. As for how long they last, I'm currently using the first generation PB 500 that I've upgraded with more memory and a wireless card. It's 3 years old and I think 4 generations back and not even close to being outdated. I don't know when I'll get another one; probably when the g5's come out. Come on over from the dark side and you'll be glad you did!

[Switching_Soon]

Any news on when a G5 PowerBook will be out? Might be worth the wait, then again maybe not. If they are expected soon, i probably would get an iBook.

[RonAnnArbor]

There has been some talk about G5 powerbooks within the next year on the mac rumor links, but nothing from Apple...
If you are a newbie...you will find that a G4 is faster than anything out there right now on PC notebooks, so I don't think you have to worry about processor power or speed...except for a very few high end power PC notebooks, your apple processor will be faster

[Switching_Soon]

Does this apply to the iBooks also? I have a 14.1" SONY that is 1.3Ghz. Will the iBook be faster with the velocity engine? Is it worth the extra 900 dollars to get an extra inch, a SuperDrive, and a .25 Ghz increase??

[RonAnnArbor]

It is worth it to get a superdrive if you like to burn DVD's...
You need to look at why you are swtiching to mac from pc...almost all of the software written for mac runs faster than anything written for pc even on G3 ibooks...things open faster, run smoother, and you can have 12 programs open at once with no change in processing speed (because of the underlying operating system).
THere are programs that have no equivalent in mac that run relatively slowly on pc's too...and most games that require a lot of hardware resources do not run on Mac, even at the G5 level, and are not "ported" to mac os...but you will find that the programs that were originally written for WIndows and have been ported to Mac (MS office:mac, quicken for Mac, etc) all run faster and smoother than any of their PC counterparts...this is particularly apparent if you run things like Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator...
If you have a lot of questions, there are several excellent books out there that you should read -- in particular the "Switching to the Mac" volume in The Missing Manuals series is excellent at answering all these questions and is available at all bookstores, Apple stores, and CompUSA stores...It also does software by software comparisons of Mac/PC programs and their equivalents.
I found that within months of switching the mac, I wasn't using ANY of my PC software anymore because all of the mac programs are better.

[Switching_Soon]

See, now I am confused. If I got the iBook I could add an external DVD burner couldnt I? And does 1" make that big of a divverence? Why do they have to make them all both so appealing?

[Switching_Soon]

I have came up with a few questions,
1) Does the 15" PowerBook come with a buil in AirPort Card?
2) Does the iBook have a squishy keyboard? Does the 15" PowerBook?
3) How is the speed difference between them?
4) How is the battery life on each? (I know what the website says, but how are they really?)

[MacCheetah3]

Hi
[indent]In reply to:

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1) Does the 15" PowerBook come with a buil in AirPort Card?

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The 1.25GHz model does. Check the Apple Store (Online) and the ones that say Airport Extreme Built-In do have a card, the ones that say Airport Extreme Ready do no.
[indent]In reply to:

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2) Does the iBook have a squishy keyboard? Does the 15" PowerBook?

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[/indent]
I would ASSUME that the PowerBooks have a more stable keyboard than the iBooks but I haven't used the newest models, so I can't say for certain.
[indent]In reply to:

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3) How is the speed difference between them?

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Well, I would say noticeable if you are talking even the 1GHz iBook (G4) to the PowerBook 15" 1GHz (Al). I honestly believe that you should buy the absolute best you can afford. It is very worthwhile for longevity, even if all you do the "average joe" type things (email, web, etc).
[indent]In reply to:

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4) How is the battery life on each? (I know what the website says, but how are they really?)

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They pretty much all turn out the same. 2-3 Hours with maximum processor settings, maximum brightness, etc. Probably the same 4.5-5.5 Hours with all power saving options set.
MacCheetah3
Apple PowerBook G4 Titanium 1GHz, 1GB, 60GB, SuperDrive, Airport, Mac OS X, and 15GB iPod
Debug Computer Services http://www.click2debug.com

[Switching_Soon]

Can you use a linksys wireless network with an AirPort card??

[Peter]

Yes, you use a Linksys wireless network with an AirPort Card.

[Switching_Soon]

Is the 1.25 GHz model comparable to a 3.20 Pentium 4? I am compare pricing between APPLE and Dell. (wouldn't buy a Dell, just checking)

[Switching_Soon]

Hello again. I have noticed that Sim City 4 takes up 256 MB of memory, yet the 15" PowerBook has 512MB DDR333 SDRAM. (I have no idea what that means.) Anyways would it leave me with only 256 MB of memory left, or does it put it on the hard drive? I have never understood memory and Hard Drive space, Windows or Mac. Please explain if you are still with me...