Saturday, December 24, 2005

The unbeatable Mac

Everyone seems to have gotten something new this holiday. Jun Jie got a new Dell Desktop for $1946, Andrew got a new camera phone, Jordan got the new Motorola Rockr E1, Han Hao claimed to have received an ipod nano and Xbox from his elder sister, Wei Liang is planning to get an MP3 player, Samuel got a DSLR, Weng Keong got a 1GB thumb drive…lucky chaps they sure are. *Sigh of envy*

Ok, away from the Christmas toys they received…here’s something more comforting.

Macs – the epitome of computing. Undoubtedly. Macs – also the best example illustrating the ease and pleasure of change.

Try using a Mac once and I convincingly assure you that you’ll never want to revert back to Windows. This I can declare with certain confidence, for I was, and still am, shamefully, a Windows user, who also uses a Macintosh. The overall feel between a Mac and Windows is remarkably different, with Mac of course being the more favorable choice. Many people who have not even laid hands on a Mac claim that Mac sucks, but that is no more than a self-concluded twaddle based on the fact that the wide majority of computers are Windows.

On the 20th of December (a few days back), I went to the Apple Centre at Orchard and found myself joyfully carrying back an iBook G4 home – yes, I did. I lugged home a white box something a tad smaller than the 20-inch Cinema Display box. Now I can say that I do own a white beauty and have experienced the power of the world’s most advanced operating system, the Mac OS X 10.4, or otherwise recognized as Tiger.

I do not regret my purchase at all; it was the right choice without a doubt. Even my father, who is a traditional, loyal Windows customer, was dazzled by the wonderfully amazing user interface and it’s minimalist, sleek design. He even remarked with a hint of sincerity saying that he would get a Mac the next time he buys another computer. Wow, Apple sure has the incredible ability to alter mindsets within a very short period of time.


So here are the technical specifications of my little baby:

- iBook 14-inch 1.42GHz PowerPC G4
- OS X 10.4.2
- 2 x 512MB DDR SDRAM (rounded off to 1GB)
- 60GB HDD
- Bluetooth connectivity
- AirPort Extreme for wireless surfing
- 512KB L2 cache
- Sudden motion sensor to lock hard drive in the unfortunate event of a drop
- 1 fire wire, 2 USB ports
- 32MB graphics memory
- Scroll pad (With 2 fingers, you can page up and page down)
- iLife ‘05 preinstalled
- DVD readable drive

Yup, these are the major and notable features amongst the whole load of others. Impressed? That’s up to you to decide.

You may be wondering now…so just how much did all these cost? I shall not disclose the price directly due to certain reasons, which I shall not mention here. But I also got Microsoft Office for Mac, the truly mighty Mighty Mouse and an $89 sale voucher. Haha, you can do the calculations yourself. Oh, I redeemed 3 dairies too, with 2 pink ipod notepads, 2 Apple Centre mouse pads, a 15% Nike voucher, a 290 bucks worth of 60 day free Starhub Max Online that came packaged with Office, a thick stack of lucky draw coupons and a free desert at some Japanese restaurant. That’s a whole load of freebies thrown in.

Macintosh is the best way to go. So ditch your pathetic Windows, kick it’s ass and head down to the nearest Apple Centre to be astonished by the tantalizing Macs. Even if you don’t end up carrying a white box home, just perusing it would also do you good, and change your perception about computers.

After all, change IS good. Believe me, for I now am a Mac user alas.
Ian

4 comments:

Ian Ho said...

The mighty mouse has a right click now...

Hannah said...

heya!

First of all I don't think I can comment on the features of the iBook, since um, I wasn't exactly swept off my feet, but I do so love it's look (:

That said, I don't think I'd be able to stand getting used to a Mac. I've been an obsessive computer user since I was 10, and three years of learning to use shortcuts, commands, settings and all got me very used to windows. Sure the mac might be good and I could get used to it, but how long would it take? I'm not that patient, mind you x)

Now, if windows would just *look* like the iBook, I wouldn't mind getting one (:

Ian Ho said...

Oh....I got used to it pretty fast, thankfully. Well, the closest to an iBook a Windows has to offer would be the new Compaq notebook....dont noe the model...but it's all white and very thin, just like the iBook.

Hannah said...

OOOH (:

wahaha i want a (new) laptop in a few years' time... but not in the near future, since i don't need one.

currently the laptop we have is a much older model, and some of the stuff run on things designed for PCs instead of laptops (thus the laptop is heavier and gets a lot faster than a normal laptop would). it's more of a 'desktop replacement' (extrea computer) than a laptop to bring around, so if i ever do need to lug one around this one wouldn't really do.