thinking about getting a mac laptop.....

Here's my dilemma. I had my mind pretty much set on getting a regular laptop, while seeing a powerbook as something that would be cool to have, but after the initial "wow-this-is-cool" factor of about a week, I would be wanting a regular laptop. However, I have now found out that I can get a powerbook for 40% off(through friends that work at the store). So now I am considering getting a powerbook again. I would be using it for writing papers, browsing the internet, and other stuff I find useful. I would probably NOT be using it for movie editing, making graphics, and other stuff that macs are known to be "better" for. With that being said, here are my questions:

- Is there a good newsgroup program for macs? How about FTP? I'm asking because I would be using the superdrive alot if they did. How about programs that burn disc images?

-How is the linkability between PCs and macs? Would I be able to transfer stuff easily(text files, mp3s, movies, etc)?

-I know game compatibility is an issue with macs. Besides warcraft 3, are there any other good games that are compatible with macs?

-Do they freeze/crash more or less often than PCs?

-Are there any other cool facts that make macs stand out from PCs than what most already know?

Also, I currently own a 30 gig ipod formatted for windows. Is there anyway I could format it back to use with the powerbook?

Microsoft Office is available for OS X and education pricing is very reasonable. OpenOffice also works.

You can use iDVD to burn dvds and iTunes to burn music. You can use OS X built-in burning to burn backups,etc. to DVD. If you are trying to burn 9G dvds to 4G disks, you will have a little more trouble using an "automated" solution.

OS X is UNIX based and has Samba, the underlying protocol you would use for Windows file sharing. Samba has been proven to have better performance than Windows' implementation of the protocol.

OS X would crash less frequently than Windows.

I know a lot of the id software games, RTCW, etc. are available for OS X.

Not sure about the iPod.

The Apple powerbooks have G4 processors, DDR RAM, backlit keyboard, better battery life by far over a PC notebook (can be suspended for days at a time), OS X (very sophisticated with Expose for resizing all open windows), Gigabit ethernet, 802.11g, firewire 800, etc.etc.

shady! said:

Here's my dilemma. I had my mind pretty much set on getting a regular laptop, while seeing a powerbook as something that would be cool to have, but after the initial "wow-this-is-cool" factor of about a week, I would be wanting a regular laptop. However, I have now found out that I can get a powerbook for 40% off(through friends that work at the store). So now I am considering getting a powerbook again. I would be using it for writing papers, browsing the internet, and other stuff I find useful. I would probably NOT be using it for movie editing, making graphics, and other stuff that macs are known to be "better" for. With that being said, here are my questions:

- Is there a good newsgroup program for macs? How about FTP? I'm asking because I would be using the superdrive alot if they did. How about programs that burn disc images?

-How is the linkability between PCs and macs? Would I be able to transfer stuff easily(text files, mp3s, movies, etc)?

-I know game compatibility is an issue with macs. Besides warcraft 3, are there any other good games that are compatible with macs?

-Do they freeze/crash more or less often than PCs?

-Are there any other cool facts that make macs stand out from PCs than what most already know?

Also, I currently own a 30 gig ipod formatted for windows. Is there anyway I could format it back to use with the powerbook?

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feel free to ask me any other questions though, i have looked all of it up because i am getting a powerbook for my sophmore year at university next fall

Do you know anything about FTP/newsgroup programs?

I use an FTP program called Transmit that I like. Works well. I know that you can reset your iPod to factory settings, but I don't know if you'd have to do that to switch back and forth. I keep all of my media on my PC, so I don't know. Anyway I could get in on this 40% deal...

Shady's stuff in italics..

- Is there a good newsgroup program for macs? How about FTP? I'm asking because I would be using the superdrive alot if they did. How about programs that burn disc images?

FTP support is built into the finder. If you want a more traditional FTP interface, get "Fetch". I believe CuteFTP is also making a mac version. Remember also you will be able to get most open-source ftp clients, among which I would recommend ncftp.

edit: the built-in Disk Utility can burn CD's/DVD's from .dmg or .iso images. If you need more power, you can get Toast & Jam or just Toast from Roxio.

-How is the linkability between PCs and macs? Would I be able to transfer stuff easily(text files, mp3s, movies, etc)?

You can link using Samba (windows sharing), so it's fully compatible with windows shares. If you're using samba, you don't need to worry about text/binary mode for stuff, so all those filetypes would transfer over fine.

-I know game compatibility is an issue with macs. Besides warcraft 3, are there any other good games that are compatible with macs?

Diablo Battle Chest is sold on Hybrid Mac/Windows CD's. Heroes III: Might and Magic is on Mac. Quake3, the Jedi Knights, the Elite Forces.. Civilization 3.. Simcity 4 is already out, and the Rush Hour expansion will be out this summer.

-Do they freeze/crash more or less often than PCs?

Seems like they crash a lot less. But then again, I can't run Tribes2 on it!!

-Are there any other cool facts that make macs stand out from PCs than what most already know?

The powerbooks have built-in bluetooth support, which is really cool in conjunction with bluetooth enabled keyboard/mouse...because then you don't have to deal with antenna's or a RF box sticking out. The shit just works when it's in range.

the new iChat beta is videochat-compatible with the new AIM client on Windows.

Exposé is cooler than it initially seems. You can enact any of the keys in mid-drag of an icon. Very useful for moving shit off the desktop, and into an open folder, even if it's obscuring the whole desktop. Just hit f11, click-hold icon, hit f11 again, drop it into folder.

You can boot off of firewire disks. So you could concievably clone your laptop hard drive to a firewire disk. Take that firewire disk and plug it into another mac, and then "boot" your laptop. Hold down "alt" when you power up the computer to see a list of bootable devices.

Hold down "t" when booting the computer to put the laptop into "firewire disk mode" in which it will act like a normal firewire hard disk to any other computer you hook it up to via the firewire port.

MacDrive 5 (pretty sure that's the name) let's you mount Mac HFS+ partitions on WinXP. This is above and beyond filesharing using ftp or windows sharing..but if you wanted to hook a mac formatted hard drive DIRECTLY up to a Windows machine, you would need this.

Also, I currently own a 30 gig ipod formatted for windows. Is there anyway I could format it back to use with the powerbook?

You'd have to re-format it, erasing its current data..but yeah, definitely it's possible to switch in either direction whenever you want. I'm not sure the steps, but I know you can do it. I have heard plenty of ppl ask that in the apple store, I just never paid attention to the details of the answer that I also overheard.

shady! said:

Do you know anything about FTP/newsgroup programs?

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For news (on windows or mac) I usually use Mozilla/Netscape's newsreader.

And Thunderbird (only mail and news, no browser...still mozilla based) is also out on os x.

Most of my newsgroup activity is handled by a happy little script, so I never actually read the messages. Just filtered out binaries. Do you use the groups to discuss? Or for binaries?

YAY! The McLapdance meals are back! YAY!

there are plenty of FTP clients... one thing also to mention is that Apple released an X11 implementation, which combined with an installation of the free Developer Tools, you can compile/install any linux application. Using fink,etc. you can do something like "fink install gftp" from the terminal and it would compile and install gftp...

OS X is the "desktop linux" everyone wants

shady! said:

Is there a good newsgroup program for macs?

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Depends on what you're looking for. I tend to use newsgroups for content, not binaries, and I like the Mozilla newsreader. If you're a binary whore, there might be something you'd like better, but I wouldn't know.

How about FTP?

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There's an assload of them (or at least several, anyway; find one you like). Hit a search engine or something. I use Fetch.

How about programs that burn disc images?

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Disc Copy comes with the OS and should suffice for normal use. There's also a Mac version of Toast if you prefer.

How is the linkability between PCs and macs? Would I be able to transfer stuff easily(text files, mp3s, movies, etc)?

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It's not quite as simple as running an ethernet cable between them and automagically mounting the other machine's drive, but from what I understand, it comes pretty close. Not my area of experience though.

I know game compatibility is an issue with macs. Besides warcraft 3, are there any other good games that are compatible with macs?

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The review list at insidemacgames.com serves as a decent (though not complete) list of games for the Mac. You should be able to find something you recognize.

Do they freeze/crash more or less often than PCs?

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Less, I suspect. OS X is damn stable; I've seen my machine go down twice (I think) in the past 15 months or so, and it runs 24/7 with minimal rebooting and heavy daily use.

Are there any other cool facts that make macs stand out from PCs than what most already know?

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G4 chips are actually genetically-engineered hamsters enclosed in hamster wheels.

HomelessMute said:

there are plenty of FTP clients... one thing also to mention is that Apple released an X11 implementation, which combined with an installation of the free Developer Tools, you can compile/install any linux application. Using fink,etc. you can do something like "fink install gftp" from the terminal and it would compile and install gftp...

OS X is the "desktop linux" everyone wants

Click to expand...

So are you saying, if I were to get, let's say, Half-Life for linux I would be able to install it on the mac?