Red Hat Diaries/0004

Titanium

Right - so this is what happened. Syd is out for the afternoon and I can recap. She still doesn't know I am writing this so I could end up getting my ass whupped, but we'll see. I must have courage.

We drove into the capital - or the environs thereof you could say - and I had my first real life look at a PowerBook. I mean - WOW. This was a 400 with only 128 RAM and the guy would have sold it to me for 1800 except it was only a demo model and was missing a door on one side - but the good news is the 550 is going to be there day after tomorrow and I am going to pick it up.

They're manufactured in Taiwan and then shipped to Alaska, and from there to Atlanta and all over. Europeans stop by now and then and pick one up on the way home because they're so much cheaper here. And there was a triple G4 owner came in the store with one of his - his son's - while we were there. I could help but touch it again. The guy was very nice, and he says they're great boxes.

We actually saw a scratch and it wasn't much. It was his son's box and he says his son treats it rough but it didn't show much wear and tear. The cover looked smudged from fingerprints, and so I asked the guy in the store (Marc) if he knew what you used to wipe them down, and he didn't know, and neither did the triple owner. I suggested a warm damp cloth and they said, yeah probably, but Marc said earlier that you had to be real careful about the outer side, but the inside was more durable.

The operation of the box is incredible. All you do is insert a DVD and you're off. (Note that when we asked Gateway to do the same, they couldn't get a DVD to play on any machine in their store - really.) Marc played a DVD through these Monsoon speakers (also ordered) and the sound was awesome. With that wide screen (aspect ratio 1.5:1) and that sound, you get only a bit of black strip at the top and bottom for wide screen DVDs and you get cinema sound - what a way to go.

Syd wanted an iBook - she said 'don't spend that much money on me', so I figured 'ok I won't', and Marc has them in stock and we will probably pick one of those up day after tomorrow too.

There is a difference in the Apple community - things just work and they're quality engineering to boot. 'What's that lever on the side of the PowerMac?' Syd asked Marc, and he said, 'That's how you open it,' and he pulled the lever and this thing just opened up - just like that. And the engineering inside. Like when you look at a good suit and check the sewing, the seams, and all that? Same thing. This thing was quality from the word go.

They're tools, not toys, and they're used by people who want to get the job done. Matter of fact situation. Expensive? Not really. Good quality? I would say so, yes. It's not the weeping and gnashing of teeth of the Wintel world.

We bought two DVDs on the way home too - to celebrate. The Matrix (natch) and WarGames. Unfortunately The Matrix has 'enhanced features' that only play on MICROSOFT WINDOWS... Welcome to Macintosh!

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