scchu, I’ve done it. Ordered the 12" Powerbook bundled with Apple Care, Superdrive, 640mb memory upgrade, airport ready (will get extreme next month when I have money to get the airport base station, too), he’s tossing in two cables (AV and VGA). For NT $80 grand including tax. With the conversion, that’s about US $300 less than the Apple Store online sells this for (not including tax), so I think I’m getting an excellent deal altogether. Plus, here in Taiwan, they give you the extra bits of software like Office, for no charge. I pick it up tomorrow and will post back in a few days to let you know how I’m getting on with the ‘dream machine’! 
Randall on Jinhua Street is a goooood salesman.
hmmm. for 83k incl tax, they have the PB 15" combo, 256mb, 40HD. is that a better deal?
not sure why airbase might be necessary or worth the money? fill me in? why cant you just get a generic wireless lan set?
[quote=“fredericka bimmel”]scchu, I’ve done it. Ordered the 12" Powerbook bundled with Apple Care, will post back in a few days to let you know how I’m getting on with the ‘dream machine’!
[/quote]
Not bad, but you should have went for a larger screen. like the 15" I’m looking at now. 3" makes a huge difference.
Welcome to the "Apple Cart "
Chou
Nah, I need to carry it everywhere and three inches might also mean an extra kilo of weight. Then, I’ve read on forums (this one?) that the 15 and 17 inch ones are too tall for airplane tray tables…
Really, though. I can’t afford another 20 grand right now. I feel wasteful and splurgeful already. Keep asking myself if I couldn’t have just done with the ibook, but am being a snob about the G4. Damn!
[quote=“jackburton”]hmmm. for 83k incl tax, they have the PB 15" combo, 256mb, 40HD. is that a better deal?
not sure why airbase might be necessary or worth the money? fill me in? why cant you just get a generic wireless lan set?[/quote]
There’s no superdrive, no apple care, and only 256mb. To upgrade memory to 640, it’s an extra $4000. To get the SD, it’s another tenish grand. To get the apple care, another $7500. Add it up.
I tested airport in the shop. Works well. It will ease me from having to sit at my desk while I’m doing my work at home. I can just put the base in the office and do my work on my terrace, in my living room, etc.
Or, go sit outside some library or cafe and get free internet access. I’m out of Taiwan in one year, so I’m thinking bout future usability, not just exclusive to here.
My Big Chief writing tablet is too big for airplane tables, sticky notes are too big for airplane tray tables.
About the weight. Heman and master of the universe that I am, I do get dragged down by the weight of this PB and all the attachments I lug around with it.
This is the real reason my right bicep and wrist are larger then my left. Do not believe any of the BS that sandman and those other wanna be comics will say about that.
Chou
[quote]There’s no superdrive, no apple care, and only 256mb. To upgrade memory to 640, it’s an extra $4000. To get the SD, it’s another tenish grand. To get the apple care, another $7500. Add it up.
I tested airport in the shop. Works well. It will ease me from having to sit at my desk while I’m doing my work at home. I can just put the base in the office and do my work on my terrace, in my living room, etc.
Or, go sit outside some library or cafe and get free internet access. I’m out of Taiwan in one year, so I’m thinking bout future usability, not just exclusive to here.[/quote]
not sure if memory demands are the same for apple. what kind of user would need 256? 512?
can i get applecare later on? do i need it?
i don’t think i will really burn dvds. am ok with combo.
for the airport, isn’t it the same thing if i get a wireless lan card? not sure what the diff is. I know very little about the Apple. (after the MAC and those bomb icons, I stayed away until OSX.)
I pushed Fredericka towards the memory upgrade. Every computer I’ve ever owned has needed more memory and then more, and I’m certainly not a power user. My Wintel box running XP struggles with 256mb - twice the memory capacity “needed” to run XP according to the MS pirates.
I trialled an iBook with 128mb and it crashed when trying to load the (forget the name) Windows emulation software. For $4K the 640mb option is a good investment.
[quote=“jackburton”]
can I get applecare later on? do I need it?
I don’t think I will really burn dvds. am ok with combo.
for the airport, isn’t it the same thing if I get a wireless lan card? not sure what the diff is. [/quote]
Not sure either, but I suppose that Apple accessories are right for apples and if they’ve got built in airport ready, then by getting Extreme, everything is compatible to the system w/o fuckin it all up w/ outside manufacturer gadgetry. You should go see Randall on Jinhua to get the real answer.
Joe, I mean Chou, do you happen to have lots of clipart you’d share with me? I asked Randall to get me some, but I really need loads and loads available with these sorts of specs:
-
Size: 14 x 10.5 (cm) or 5.5 x 4 (inch) -
Pixel: 300 dpi -
Format: .eps (or) .tiff (or) .jpg -
Color Mode: CMYK or RGB
The ones I downloaded from net, designers say arent usable for the purpose they were intended for, it seems. Ta!
[quote=“Soddom”]…
I trialled an iBook with 128mb and it crashed when trying to load the (forget the name) Windows emulation software. For $4K the 640mb option is a good investment.[/quote]
Thats odd. I run virtual PC on my powerbook and have only crashed while running my Grand Dink over potholes in the rain. You might want to try again. the ibook not the bike.
Chou
[quote=“jackburton”]not sure if memory demands are the same for apple. what kind of user would need 256? 512?
can I get applecare later on? do I need it?
I don’t think I will really burn dvds. am ok with combo.
for the airport, isn’t it the same thing if I get a wireless lan card? not sure what the diff is. I know very little about the Apple. (after the MAC and those bomb icons, I stayed away until OSX.)[/quote]
Memory is needed based on demand. But all I can say is, it’s like the CPU, the more the better!
As for AppleCare, you CAN get it later, but make sure you get it before the end of your first year anniversary of your Apple computer ownership. After the first year, even if you are willing to pay 2x for the AppleCare, they simply won’t accept it (as far as I know).
A third party wireless LAN card for your PowerBook/PowerMac is ok. But why would you want to risk the hardware compatibility issues when you can get the AirPort card from Apple for not that much more? And besides, the biggest problem with buying a third party card is the fact that you need to stick it to the card slot on the laptop, it’s annoying and ugly. The AirPort card is built in. For the 12" PB, there’s no other way but to get the AirPort card anyway…
As for the bomb icons, that’s kind of comparable to the blue screen of death in the Wintel world… It doesn’t happen anymore with OSX. The system has never crashed once since my purchase last year. As for my Wintel XP at work, I am afraid I can’t say the same… 
That’s great, man!!! Welcome the Apple Land! Superdrive will do you wonders once you start to make home movies and sending those home-made DVDs home… 
AppleCare is your friend… Not sure how good the serivce is in Taiwan, but back in the US, they have priority over AppleCare customers.
As for AirPort Extreme, you should save your money on a D-Link router that also does 802.11g protocal (which is what Apple’s Extreme base station is using). As much as people would like to believe Apple’s hardware is proprietary, just about everything Apple builds today are all standard based these days (except for the motherboard, with obvious reasons)… RAM, hard drives, CD ROM drives… etc. Even though the base station looks fantastic, inside it is actually a Lucent Technology router. I personally would have gotten one, but I needed more than one or two ethernet ports. So I got myself a D-Link DI-614, and it works wonders. For Airport Extreme, I’d recommand D-Link DI-624.
I’ve owned the following Apple stuff in Tawian since 1997:
- Power Macintosh 2100
- iBook Graphite (Toilet Seat)
- PowerBook G4 17"
- Airport Extreme Base Station
Myths I was told over the years:
- Owning an Apple in Taiwan is not totally “compatible”.
- The service for Apple products is rare and expensive.
- Fining Apple compatible peripherals is difficults.
A little about the Appple Protection Plan:
Your one-year warranty for “portable” computers should be international. It is not the same for desktop systems and other peripherals. That means that if you buy an iBook/PowerBook in the States, your warranty should be honored at the nearest service location.
Now, you can wait until the last day of your one-year warranty to buy the Apple Protection Plan, which I believe is an additonal two years. (I bought it recently but haven’t activated it yet). WARNING: Apple has flip-flopped on whether the Apple Protection Plan should be international or not. There was a period last year where they were selling those plans without it. Now they have added it back in due to the outcry I suppose. So, make sure when you buy the plan that you check if you are happy with the terms.
My experience with Apple service in Tawian:
The power mananger went out on my iBook two years ago. I didn’t purchase the Apple Protection Plan. It was still under the one-year warranty. I called the toll-free number at Apple Tawian. They asked a few basic questions about the nature of the problem, when and where I purchased the the computer, and what the serial number was. I surprise that they spoke perfect English. I found out later that the toll free number went direct to Singapore. They arranged for Airborne Express (perhaps it was DHL … I foget) to come to my apartment the next day at a precise time. They had a box prepared specially for my toilet seat iBook. (I guess they work with Apple here for warranty/service stuff) The computer came back to me in three days repaired. It apparently was sent to Singapore for repair where they has facilities to either (a) repair that model or (b) do warranty work for out-of-country customers. In any case, it was seamless and they paid for everything. In fact, it was lovely since I didn’t have to transact it with some galley-gonger downtown. I didn’t even have to leave my home. Of course, the situation could be different now.
Do you need the Apple Protection Plan?
IMHO, yes. The power manager broke AGAIN six months after the one-year warranty expired. They told me that it would now cost NTD 20K to replace the mainboard. At that time it was more expensive to repair than what it was worth. So now I have a paper weight sitting here. Again, it all depends on your time horizon. If you are happy to have a computer working for one year and you are willing to take the chance of chucking the computer after that, then go for it. Just know that it is always expensive to repair anything concerning laptops with Apple. They usually opt to replace the entire mainboard to fix a problem, rather than get out the soldering iron.
What is your experience with the Airport Extreme Base Station?
From a features point of view, it is cool. I use the LAN port to my PC. I use the USB port to my HP laser printer. I use the PowerBook in roaming around the house. HOWEVER, it doesn’t always work. This could be a special case, but I’m starting to wonder. I have to do a lot of hard resets to get it to communicate wirelessly with my PowerBook, even within a few meters, direct line of sight. Sometimes is works like a charm. Sometimes I have to do tribal dances around it to get it working again. (the hard-wired PC never seems to have a problem). It has been real frustrating. I am assuming that my problem is a unique one.
Note that my brother uses a third party 802.11b base station with his PowerBook and it has always worked like a charm. NOTE: There is NOTHING proprietary about AirPort technology. Just like there is nothing proprietary about Intel Centrino wireless hotspots. AirPort cards and base station are using 802.11b/g. But be careful: When purchasing the AirPort Base Station, you can only configure and monitor it from a Macintosh in the network. Your network can have as many Macs and PCs as you want while the base station is operating, but if no Mac is available one day in your network, there will be no way to interface with the base station to change its settings. They only provide Mac OS X software for it.
thanks for all the helpful responses. Like I said I’ve stayed away from Apple for a long time b/c of the price and the older OSes.
Recently, my cousin got a G4 desktop and has been trying to make me switch over. Now that I can afford the extra spending (but not for the 17"), I can consider apple products. Like I said, I am just sick of fiddling around with Windows problems all the time (which was ok when i was a student and had time and learned about computers in the process). Now I want a system I don’t have to worry about losing my info (despite backing things up, rebuilding a system and reinstalling programs is a pain) and about reformatting my hd every year or so to get that ‘clean install’ performance. Now that prices have dropped and compatibility issues are much more improved, I think I will switch over, at least for my laptop option. thanks again. PS my digicam purchase has been good (mail order from US). and I just got the ipod albeit not the new version, but very impressed by the quality and interface.
Ahhh… a victim of Apple’s surprise production intro strategy… But that’s ok. I have had mine since generation one (with moveable parts, as opposed to touch-wheel). I have been extremely happy… When I first got it I didn’t have a Mac then. I had to hack my PC to get songs to work, and even the, not everything worked (i.e. Chinese characters not showing up properly… etc). Using it with a Mac is like a match made in heaven! Everything works as advertised and then some.
Hope you enjoy your Mac/iPod as much as I have been!
Duh. But how do you make documents full screen? Is it not possible for all programs. It seems Safari, that I’m using to browse right now goes almost full screen, but I cannot get MS Word docs to do that. Isn’t it that doohickey plus something that I press? Help chou, scchu, jeremy?
Thanks 
Otherwise, i’m having fun getting to know this sharp little gadget. Even this website works better and has a much nicer looking layout.
Windows is clunky in comparison. Whomever Apple’s layout designers are have some aesthetic background.
To make Safari full-screen, there’s a pair of widgets involved. It’s fairly braindead to use - one 10 second install and a module to drag-n-drop.
Do it in this order:
Application enhancer (double-click to install)
macupdate.com/info.php/id/8807
FullScreenSafari.ape (drag-n-drop to -> hard disk -> library -> application enhancers)
versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/17787
Restart Safari.
There are other tools to enhance Safari. Simply search for Safari on either macupdate.com/.
Thanks roc, but i’d already figured that out.
How about full screen MS word? Is this possible?
And what do you think of the icab browser?
And is there anything better than limewire shareware?
thanks
It’s a pitty that Apple has never really instituted this feature. It is rather cool in Windows to be able to expand a window to full size, but for some reason Apple sticks to its way of doing things sometimes, kind of like a one-button mouse … It appears that how the windows operates in expanding and contracting and all is based on the program being used in Mac OS X.
There’s this thing called kiosk…it tends to work with icab, and you have to put in a password to go into kiosk mode.
Yeah, why can’t I go fullscreen?
This is the only wee drawback i see now, considering how small this screen is.