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Getting a Netbook?

newmacFor a while I’ve wanted something a little more useful than my iPhone when I’m not at a computer.  I had a Toshiba laptop, but wanted something smaller with a longer battery life.  I started looking at the netbook models, and these caught my eye:

Dell Mini 9
MSI Wind U100
Lenovo S10

The one issue I kept getting hung up on with these devices was the screen resolution.  Most of them are only 500-600 pixels high.  That means a lot of scrolling on an already small trackpad.  Unfortunately right now in laptops (and netbooks) we mostly have 15.4 inch screens and 9-10 inch screens.  I started to look at my options for something closer to a 12″ screen.  This brought options like the IBM x40, ultramobiles, macbooks, and the new Dell Mini 12.  My plan was to run Linux or OSX (potentially try installing on non-Apple machine).  At the end of the day I found a used white macbook for a little over the price of a loaded netbook.  After just a day I can say the smaller Mac laptop fit the bill perfectly and didn’t break the bank.

I found it interesting my employer is now offering $50 netbooks in some areas if you purchase the right data plans. Too bad no MacBook discounts 🙂

Great Commericals.

Apple has great commercials. The PC/Mac guy ads are always good for a laugh. Here’s one if case you haven’t seen them.

I recently got an iMac, 20″ LCD screen. I’ve mostly liked it. I’ve had problems with some of the graphics I created for my friend Steve’s website. The top graphic has a background with a slight gradient that looks great, except on my Mac. On the Mac it’s invisible. I assume it’s something about the Safari browser at first, but then FireFox on the Mac has the same display problem. I’m baffled. Maybe my windows graphics program creating some magic windows-only jpeg image!

Then coincidentally my friend Brian tells me about the new class action lawsuit on the iMac I bought. Now all of a sudden it makes sense. It’s the monitor! So I send the URL to a friend with a new macbook – he can see the image fine. It’s time to visit the mac store and make sure it’s not just my monitor. This would be a huge disappointment. I mean I’m used to computer companies advertising false things, using cheap stuff, and of course Windows.

Maybe I believed the commercials…

Mac Update

Some people have been asking me questions about my blog. I realized something amazing! SOMEBODY IS READING IT.

Would I replace all my windows machines? No. I simply couldn’t afford it. All the software my kids have doesn’t run on it. I can’t afford it. If I was buying a new laptop – it would be a Mac. For the family machine the Mac is working great. I think as I move more toward software services like Gmail with smart apps that can manage those software service I become less concerned with the OS anyway.

I used to think Apple ripped you off on service, etc. Then I looked at the prices at BB and CC (geek squad etc).