Quote:
Originally posted by Total Immortal
Hey, my first computer was a Mac Performa 550 (we're talkin 100MB HD, 8 Megs ram, OS 7.5!). I've been on PC's eversince then, and I'm currently leaning towards getting an Apple laptop. I'd probably get an ibook if they came with a 15" display, and higher quality RAM. So I'm looking at the PowerBook with a combo drive (i'd rather spend a few hundered dollars on a DVD-R for my desktop then spend several hundered more for one on the laptop). There's a few options listed at apple.com that I'm not familiar with. Can you help me define them? Here they are:
- Keynote? (sounds like PowerPoint to me)
- .Mac? Is it worth anything?
- AirPort extreme? Is that just a wireless network card?
- Is Bluetooth cool? What's the battery life on a keyboard? I don't need a wireless mouse, cause I do a lot of navigating with the keyboard, and the D-Pad has never bothered me
What type of word processing programs come with it if any? On my Performa 550 (R.I.P.) I used to use ClarisWorks, and I loved it.
Lastly, would/did you buy direct from apple.com? Or buy in-store? Thanks in advance! |
1. Keynote is Apple's Powerpoint program. Its really a step up quality wise from the PP that comes with MS Office and can open MS Powerpoint files, though Ive heard of the MS version stumbling or misreading files created with Keynote.
2. .Mac is a service that was previously free but now charges a 99$/year fee for use. Its for a 15MB email account and 100MB of server space coupled with various other ammenities all found
here.
3. Airport Extreme is just an 802.11g spec wireless card that fits in its own little spot reserved inside the mac so as not to use up any multiuse expansion slots/ports.
4. Bluetooth is cool if you have a bluetooth phone (you can sync wirelessly) but aside from that its not really worth it. But it is 50$ and it could save you the hastle of loosing a USB port to a dongle if you do decide that you want it later down the road.
Since the Apple bluetooth keyboard is run by 4 AA batteries, the battery life cant be that great, but it, along with the mouse, has an off switch so you arent constantly changing batteries. Id say its probably in line with other devices that are powered by 4 AA batteries in terms of battery life.
5. Appleworks is Clarisworks, just updated and without the Claris part. Youll find Appleworks to be a very familiar interface.
6. Either works fine. Online allows customization, though most anything except for hard drive and optical drive changes can be done instore (drive upgrades are available, I believe, but no downgrades as available online.) So, pretty much the difference is, if you dont change anything on the computer besides RAM and the wireless connection, whether you get your computer that day or wait till it ships.