In this transition period between my old job and my new one, I thought it would be good to go ahead and start tranferring my important files and contact info to a new computer. Although I have a nice computer I build about a year ago (Athlon 1.2Ghz), I wanted to get a laptop. I’ll be very mobile with my new job and I don’t see myself carrying around a desktop in my car. So to that end, I’ve been searching for the right computer.

If you’ve been reading my blog, then you know that I’ve been drooling over the new powerbooks from Apple. These things are awesome. I’ve got the funds to buy one of these, but I’ve decided not to buy a powerbook. Instead, I ordered an iBook from MacWarehouse. These people were cool and they gave me some great deals. I realized talking to this lady that doing deals over the phone or in person is so much better than doing it by fax or online. When you talk to a person, you get a lot more information and can rapidly react to information of all sorts. The lady knew I was considering AppleCare, but I told her I was going to hold off on it. She dropped the price from $249 t0 $209, explained Apple’s standard warranty, and then said that if I bought it now I wouldn’t have to register it or mail off anything. I told her, “You had me at $209.” She replied, “You complete me.”

This was a much better experience than an online transaction. I think I’ll have to write something later about personal interaction versus computer interaction.

Click more to read my reasoning for the ibook.

Well my reasoning for the iBook was this: I’m not a graphics developer or artist or heavy into Video editing. I intend to use the laptop as a email/word/internet client and do some custom development. Even the development side shouldn’t require a workhorse. Hell, my great friend, Anit, develops Java on an old 350 Mhz computer. Then I heard that there was a hack for the iBook to perform multiple monitor support, which was one of the main things that attracted me to the powerbook. The ability to use a regular monitor with my laptop at a different resolution is really sexy hot. Now that the iBook can do it for $1000 less was totally awesome. I’ll miss the superdrive, but if I really need it I can always buy an external DVD-R or just get an Apple desktop. I went with the 12.1″ screen on the iBook, because the 14″ has the exact same resolution. It just adds a little more battery power for a larger form factor, price, and weight. I valued portability more and I think I’d rather have a little computer on my lap instead of a bigger one. Plus, the tougher shell of the iBook means I don’t have to treat it as delicately as I would a powerbook. Those things are fragile! The iBooks also get great range for wireless in comparison to the powerbook due to less metal interference. I see this little iBook as lasting me for a long time.

Anyone want to buy my Sony Vaio Picturebook PCG-C1XS?