Date: Sun, 21 Dec 2003 21:40:54 +0200 From: "Dion Forster (iBook)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Libretto 100ct VS iBook
Hi everyone, It has been quite a while since I have posted to this list. However, I have a bit of time (leading up to Christmas and all), and I thought I would just give a few thoughts on the two computing devices that dominate my time and energy. I recently got my hands on an older (early 2002) Apple iBook G3 400Mhz. It has OS X (Panther, with UNIX underneath!) on it, built in WiFi (802.11b), USB, Firewire, Ethernet, DVD drive and a modem. Oh yeah, it has a 10 Gig hard drive and 640MB of Ram (no, that's not a typo, it has 640MB). The other great features on the machine are the great display, and outstanding battery life (pretty close to 4 hours on a single charge). The downside of the device is that I was not able to use many of my PC oriented peripherals (printers, PCMCIA cards etc.) On the other hand I have a Libretto 100CT with 64MB ram, a 20 Gig hard drive, USB 2 PCMCIA card, 802.11b Wifi PCMCIA card, 4 in 1 PCMCIA memory card reader. It dual boots Windows 98 (my primary OS on the machine) and XP Pro. I still use my Libretto as my primary machine (it has a battery life of about 3 hours, and of course connects to all the PC's of friends and colleagues and can use all my peripherals). The up side of my Libretto is that it is a tad smaller (well, much smaller) than the 12" iBook, so it simply slips into my backpack. In South Africa there are very few Apple's so working on a PC is much easier. Since most of my work is with text, I use MS Word (XP for Windows and Word VX for Mac) mostly. I find that even though Word for Mac looks lovely, my Libretto actually handles better (surprisingly it is quicker and more responsive, i.e. No text lag etc., compared to the iBook). A real downside for the Libretto though is that I battle a bit to use it for online research. Firstly, the mouse is a bit cumbersome, even though I typed the whole of my dissertation on a 50CT, I am still not used to the mouse. Secondly, it gets quite hot with the Wifi PCMCIA card, and since my 50CT died from overheating I am quite careful with my newer Libby. Thirdly, and here I don't want to start a flame war, Mac OS X is just SO much better than Windows in almost every way (at the date of this post there still is not one virus for OS X (other than Macro Viri for MS Word). It is great to have Unix underneath the hood! So, which device do I favor? I guess it depends on what I need to do. Internet, Video Editing, watching DVD's and general showing off is done with the sleek stylish iBook. Real work, taking a computer with me when I travel (particularly to clear my digicam, keep in touch etc.), carrying a laptop to fix other people's PC's is done with the ultra small Libby. I love them both! My next purchase will either be a NEC mini notebook (PC) or an Apple G4 iBook 12". Not too sure... Don't have the money now anyway. Perhaps you won't be surprised to hear that I also carry an iPaq 3870 and a Palm 515 (can't decide which is better overall). The iPaq has a CF Wifi card, handles email and documents seamlessly (syncs with both Libretto and Mac (via Missing Sync). Palm has a GPS sleeve and SA street maps so I'm never lost. When it comes to cell phones I carry a Nokia 9210 (still no phone that can handle faxes and send text messages with such ease) and a SonyEricsson P800 (built in camera, GPRS, Multimedia Messaging (which is still free in South Africa)..... (can't decide which is better overall). So, as you can imagine, my backpack is heavy, and well insured! Have a great festive season! Dion from sunny Cape Town, South Africa. ************************************************************** http://libretto.basiclink.com - Libretto mailing list http://www.silverace.com/libretto/ - Archives -------TO UNSUBSCRIBE------- Reply to any of the list messages. The reply mail should be addressed to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Then replace any text on the message's subject line: cmd:unsubscribe --------TO UNSUBSCRIBE DIGEST------ Do above but with this on subject line: cmd:unsubscribe digest **************************************************************
