Karl Larsen wrote:
A Mac is very expensive compared to a PC. So they sell just a few.
The difference is not as extreme as it used to be if you compare
equivalent specifications. But Apple doesn't like to give updates
away, so be prepared to buy the ilife package and perhaps OS X several
times during the life of the box.
My wife thinks a Mac is easier to use than Windows XP. So my next
computer purchase is a Mac.
Note that you'll get the unix command line goodness that linux also
inherits along with a desktop GUI that 'just works' - and usable
firewire drivers. You may not appreciate the value of working
firewire support until you get your second one - then you can boot the
first one in 'firewire target' mode (they all do that) connect the new
one, and let it automatically copy over all the users, settings and
applications you had on the old one. Amazingly, this works even across
the ppc and intel processor types.
This will be our first, and maybe our last since we are in our 70's
now. I do that lately with dd. Before that cp -a and other Linux things.
Exact copies are easy but you won't want to copy your old OS when a new
one is available. What this does is take the existing new but empty
computer with its latest OS X version and copies in the users,
applications, and data from the old one, including installed third party
apps. Vista copies this feature now, but you need to buy a special usb
host<->host cable. With Linux it is just painful and you have to figure
out which parts you can copy without breaking the new system.
My new computer motherboard has a firwire plug and the front of the case
has a firewire plug. No idea how to get Linux interested :-)
It sort-of works in some linux versions if you plug in a video camera or
hard drive.
--
Les Mikesell
lesmikesell@xxxxxxxxx
