"The proper tool for the proper task."

While I prefer Windows for my desktop & laptop, there's nothing wrong with an Apple laptop if it does the things you want, your way.

As long as you can continue to work in a way you enjoy, it's all good.

The danger is choosing a solution that hinders you in a meaningful way. Style be damned, a computer has to function for you first and foremost.

I was a long time PC user, then bought a 15" powerbook 2 years ago. Although I do miss the applications and games available only for PC, I like Mac because it is more reliable/less crash prone, and it handles most of the things I expect my laptop to do- handle internet with variety of wireless connections with ease, write, watch DVDs, listen to music, and edit photos and stuff. If that is all you ask for the laptop, I'd say go for it- with AppleCare, you can bring in your laptop to Apple stores and get quick and reliable service as well. Mine is somewhat outdated, but still works great- the new 15" are workhorses, I swear. For the Treo, I believe the new powerbooks support Bluetooth, so maybe you should look into it as well.

I'm a thinkpad user who misses the Mac... care to join me for a trip to the San Diego apple store? The mighty Euro makes it a good time to buy (at least that's my justification...)

I was also a long time PC User and switched to a Powerbook G4 2 years ago and I have never looked back. I have found that the Powerbook is a far better machine than any of the PC laptops I have used. So much so that I even use it instead of my work supplied laptop.

If PC compatibility is important then pick up a copy of Virtual PC which while not the fastest of environments is good enough. Make sure that you take advantage of all the discounts you get with buying software like MS Office etc when you buy the Powerbook. You can save major dollars that way. Make sure you get Applecare at some point, but you have up to a year to buy it so I would hold off for a couple of months.

Good luck and I hope you do end up switching :).

I just got the new 15 inch powerbook for Christmas at the end of December. I love it, but I wanted to chime in on a couple of issues.

I am in pretty much the same situation as you having just recently made the decision that you are thinking about making. I now have a PC desktop and an apple laptop. I share files between the 2 using my external firewire hard drive, and when I have enough money I will be getting the laptop its own external firewire 800 drive.

I got the laptop primarily for video editing, and there is no denying Final Cut Pro's supremacy in the video editing realm, but I've recently also been looking in the direction of Vegas. It is a great alternative to Premiere for the PC and a lot of my filmmaking friends have had good experiences with it lately.

Good luck with your decision. It was an easy one for me buying the apple laptop, but I think there are great alternatives if you want to stay with a PC machine.

I've always, rather irrationally, been anti-Mac.

My ideas began to change last year when I was trying to give a presentation in Minneapolis. First we had a hell of a time getting the video from my new Toshiba laptop to feed to the projector. Once we got everything working, none of the video came through -- I could see it on my laptop screen, but there was just a dark windowed box on the projection screen (even though the rest of the screen was outputting just fine).

The other presenters that weekend had no problems, as they just plugged in their Mac laptops and everything synched up perfectly. Sigh.

I'm curious -- let us know if/when you decide anything.

Am I the only person who can't view Links.net in Opera 7? The comments page is OK, but the top page is scrambled...

it's hard to fathom with all that technology at your disposal why you still find it daunting to return phone calls and answer emails!...
{that's a joke son}

ps even though that last remark was semi-facetious
there is a somewhat dehumanizing aspect to all this...isn't there?

that powerbook is amazing. hubby has the 17" a bunch of my friends have the 15" -- some of them use it for the powerful UNIX OS running underneath, others for the music software, artistic pursuits, etc.

if/when my current (PC) laptop dies, i'm heading towards the powerbook for sure.

that powerbook is amazing. hubby has the 17" a bunch of my friends have the 15" -- some of them use it for the powerful UNIX OS running underneath, others for the music software, artistic pursuits, etc.

if/when my current (PC) laptop dies, i'm heading towards the powerbook for sure.

If you can find a friend who works at Apple, you may also be able to get a discount *hint hint*

you just have to buy a powerbook or ibook, it's really better than a simple pc

Justin,

I´m in a similar situation: my trusted Toshiba laptop is almost two years old, but still works fine. It never failed on me, even though I it is my only computer since I bought it.

Now I´m thinking of buying a 15" PowerBook, next to my Toshiba, because I really like Apple products since many years.

I think that you can´t go wrong with a high-end laptop from IBM or Toshiba running WinXP. The hardware may not be as stylish and tasteful as Apple, but it is bulletproof and of a high quality in general. WinXP is fun and easy to use, still another world compared to MacOS X, but XP does the job if you have the right set of tools for your work at your hands.

That brings me to a big issue: software. It´s no secret that it´s super easy & fast to download illegally software, even large office suits, superexpensive programs or even a whole new OS. Try it, use it, and for peace of mind, then buy what you really use, what´s really worth it. I don´t know how´s the software situation in Mac-world when it comes to filesharing.

But, after all this is your chance to go back to the wonderful world of Apple´s marketing. I would take this chance, I would dive into that community, knowing that the differences between PC/IBM/WinXP and Apple/Mac/Powerbooks aren´t that big as they were a couple of years ago.

Enjoy your trip!

Justin, my Treo 600 syncs fine via iSync, w/ iCal and Address Book (well, no categories in iCal, but otherwise works fine).

BTW, here's a PB12 vs X31 comparison XLS I made when I was hashing things out.

As a laptop, that is when dealing with sleeping/waking, connecting to projectors and autodetecting, and connecting w/o a hitch to random wifi/lan networks, no PC laptop can touch how the Powerbooks work (near flawlessly).

There's a Mac version of Quicken, it should interchange QIF files pretty seamlessly.

Mail.app/iCal/OmniOutliner works for me pretty well vs Outlook.

VirtualPC is workable when I need to run a PC program.

Gaming on a laptop seems to be a non-issue. It's not like you can play Half-Life 2 on a laptop anyway (that being said, having a OS X port of Star Control 2 installed on my PowerBook right now makes me very happy).

All that being said, I miss ACDSee. I like Trillian a lot better than iChat, Adium, Fire, or anything else on OS X. I also like WA5 better than iTunes (although I *did* write an AppleScript that at least fixes how iTunes deals w/ playlists/mp3 selections. Oh, and dammit, there should be at least two buttons on this damn trackpad.

Once you make the switch however, you *will* wonder how you put up w/ all the failings of Windows for so long.

ac: Yeah, I have the same problem. I put it in user mode to get rid of the formatting

Thank you Leonard - that spreadsheet is awesome - like I'm walking in your footsteps. X31 versus 12" Powerbook.

The Mac's one-button thing I find shocking/stupid/off-putting/confusing as well. But maybe there are three-button people somewhere who can't believe PCs only have two buttons. I dunno. I kinda wish I had the choice. Guess I would adapt.

I think OSX is a big lure for me - the urge to experience a daily operating system that is more elegant. For example, I suspect I'll come to love the quick wakeup and sleep on the Mac. And I look forward to exprimenting with the homemade apps that people have made for blogging, for example.

I love the way you break it down.
I'm reading - business/games vs. film and music making.

Clearly, you're already steering down a cool path on that one.

It sounds to me as if the points you outlined (ok, i'm totally biased) are all really pro's for getting a sweet, little powerbook.

The re-organizing that it would take could be a natural progression in your personal and professional organization.
The outcome would likely involve an elegant, stable tool that you wield with flourish.

One word, baby. SEAMLESS.
That is the most profound recommendation I can give for an apple laptop.

I predict you'll feel a real quickening when you do it.

(I didn't realize you had an optio. I am obsessed by the picture of an optio s4 in an altoids tin.)

If the only thing missing is the possibility to edit video, there are plenty of Windows software that does that. My personal favourite is Vegas video:
http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.com/products/vegasfamily.asp (demo available)

Adobe Premiere is a lot more complicated but knows it all.

Justin, I hopped over to a 15" Powerbook late in 2003 (my last Mac was a 1993 model from college!) and have been really pleased. I still have an XP machine for a desktop, so I have options, but for a laptop experience, it is the benchmark, imo.

Justin, I'll trade you my good info for some of yours...

I found an incredible three-button mouse for my PowerBook that even looks like the cool Apple Pro Mouse at: www.MacMice.com . People see it and think it's a standard (cool as hell) Apple mouse. I've had mine for about six months and it works perfectly...even has the underlit glow of the Apple Pro mouse.

Now, here's what I'd like if you can hook me up. I see you travel a hell of a lot, but you say you are a freelance writer. To afford all this globetrotting you do (aside from the trips paid for by magazines/conferences asking you to speak) is there some resource or site that you find cheap travel deals on? I'm about to go into hardcore globetrot mode myself and I need some money saving info.

Justin,

The Titanium G-4 I have is my prized possession.I only wish my fingers were as slender as ET's so I could stop hitting adjoining keys so frequently.

The ergonomics of some of these apple products can be a little daunting. My 10gb IPOD for instance. Why can't it be easily navigated in the dark, and why aren't the controls more TACTILE?
The new ones make some strides, but I got tired of throwing money down a black hole. Pay off your credit card debt, first and foremost.

I just grabbed an X31 (head down to West Oakland if you'd like to see it, but I'm out of the country starting Thu).

I snatched a deal from IBM's web site - X31, 1.3Ghz, 20Gb, 256Mb, 11b; $1081.42 (tax, shipping, everything). While it doesn't have bluetooth (need to order the part, swap out winmodem) and the wireless is centrino (I swapped out to an Atheros a/b/g before even boot'ing it), its pretty nice. My previous laptops are an IBM 570 (similar concept, light weight, no cd-rom/fluff) and Panasonic Toughbook CF-17 (continued to 'make world' with FreeBSD, even with a spilled bottle of Smirnoff over the keyboard); their ~300Mhz processors didn't quite it for X and what not.

I'd recommend an X31 for windows users, not linux/bsd (the ACPI support is majorly borked, but I'm slowly working on fixing that). The price is right now (since IBM is phasing in an X40, the price I got expires on the 16th). I too have drooled over a 12" PB, but the price point isn't worth it to me. I could go hog wild (buy an ultradock w/ DVD, another charger, another battery, a new bag, etc) and still be under the $1500 for just the PB (cause we all know the cult of Apple isn't just the PB, you'll be buying the iPod soon, then other goodies). Don't get me wrong, I love Apple (I'm tired of presentating @ conferences and not having an OS with decent multicast support, how else can I sniff what evilness they're saying about me?), but the cult comes at a price.