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Apple ibook


Darkelve
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Hi all,

 

I'm still thinking about getting an Apple iBook. About a year ago, I thought of it and decided I didn't really need a laptop, but a lot of things have changed since then. Of course I want to be as informed as possible before buying such an 'expensive' purchase.

 

I'm doubting between the iBook and Powerbook line, but I think the iBook should be sufficient for me. Plus I'm budget-conscious.

 

I picked the smallest (and 'cheapest') model, the 12'' model. While I'm not sure how big the screen actually is, I won't be needing a huge screen for anything (I've got my home PC for these things). Don't need a lot of hard disk also, since I will probably be using 'external storage' (or my home PC) for that.

 

Here's the configuration of the one I want to buy:

 

• 768 MB DDR266 SDRAM (256 MB built-in and 512 MB SO-DIMM-slot)

• 30 GB Ultra ATA-schijf

• DVD/CD-RW

• Bluetooth-module

• AirPort Extreme-card

• Keyboard & Mac OS

• 1-GHz PowerPC G4

• 12,1-inch TFT-screen

• 2 USB-ports

• FireWire-port

• Light Net adapter (translated, dunno if this is correct English)

• Battery

Price: € 1 312,22

+BTW: € 275,57

=Subtotal: € 1.587,79

 

Seems like good enough value for a laptop of this spec, but I got some Linux-related question also:

 

- What Linux distro can I install of it? I only know of Yellow Dog and Mandrake PPC at this moment. I heard Panther is a fantastic OS, but I was thinking about a dual-boot.

- Is there any 'problematic' hardware in this config?

- Is it true that the PPC-versions of distro's lag behind the Intel versions? What about the available applications, etc.

- Anything I should pay special attention to?

 

I'd appreciate your comments, especially from existing Apple/Linux-users.

 

 

Darkelve

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Yes, the PPC versions do usually lag behind the Intel versions. However, you may find it a good idea to go with Gentoo in this case (believe me, I'd only recommend gentoo when I think it the best solution!). Why? Because you don't have to wait for the distribution to give you a PPC package, you can just user emerge to download the source and compile it for ppc.

 

there are some other PPC distro's out there, but I can't remember any at the moment.

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yellow dog ??

yup, Yellow Dog Linux

 

it actually looks kind of good...

It looks like Red Hat on Apple hardware, with Anaconda, Bluecurve and a Yellow Dog on the wallpaper...

 

My previous experience with Red Hat wasn't too good. True, it was probably me for a big part, but I still don't like the smaller part (and the experience where my mouse went totally crazy).

 

 

The iBook still seems nice though ;)

 

I hear people claim its expensive, but I wonder if it would be so easy to find an Intel architecture laptop with these specs and similar price!?

Edited by Darkelve
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buy it. without question. I bought a 12" powerbook almost a year ago, and it has been the best computer I have ever owned. I have never been happier with a sales team, customer support team, or the product itself. I use OSX exclusively on it, as it comes with X11 installed by default, so every program I ran in linux, I can run in OSX. check it:

 

screenie.sized.jpg

 

super sized screenie:

http://www.hostdub.com/albums/ezroller/screenie.jpg

 

Thats OSX, GAIM, Konqueror, Fluxbox, iTunes(OSX), Eterm, and Konfabulator(OSX)

 

I did run Gentoo 2004.0 on it for a while, but I missed OSX.

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