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Would You Buy a Used Computer From This Man?

So I've purchased a 256 MB SODIMM from a very nice fellow on the Ars Technica Agora Classifieds forum. The extra stick of RAM is really for my kid sister's iBook, when she gets back for Thanksgiving. Friends don't let friends run OS X on 256 MB of RAM, folks, and that goes double for big brothers and little sisters.

I've also managed to sell my Powerbook to the mother of an old friend of mine, in order to subsidize the purchase of of a brand-new iBook. It was sort of a reckless purchase, but I figured that while I had a desktop, I didn't really need the SuperDrive, DVI-out, and other Powerbook features, while I did care about the faster CPU, 802.11g card, and better battery life of the new iBook. I suppose I could have scrounged up more cash if I had sold the Powerbook on eBay or Craigslist^[1] but it was nice to not have to worry about shipping, and even nicer to know that I was actually going to get a real check from a real, non-deadbeat person. I should note that when I brought over the 'book so that my prospective buyer could "kick the tires", she brought out tomato soup and toast and fruit salad for lunch. When was that last time that happened to you on eBay? I'm guessing, never.

Anyway, I think I have figured out my Computing Nirvana. Right now, I have a main desktop and a laptop. Ideally, I would have one machine. Here's what I'm thinking. By this summer, Tiger should be out, and the Powerbook line should be refreshed at least once. (The Powerbooks are overdue -- they're looking really bad compared to the iBooks right now.) So sometime this summer, I sell the iBook and the G4 desktop and get the bestest 12" Powerbook I can afford, with Bluetooth, wireless keyboard and mouse, and external firewire drive for backup. Then I can use the Powerbook in closed-lid mode most of the time -- but when I want to go work outside, I can unplug the display, pop in the battery, and go. Best of both worlds, I think. And no more syncing between machines. I am done with that.

I'm also looking forward to playing with the new VoiceOver spoken interface. Macintoshes have had nifty voice features for a long time now,^[2], but supposedly Tiger's version is going to be, to use the technical term, way cooler. And that's a good thing. 'Cause life needs to be a little more like Star Trek.

1. Particularly Craigslist. I think Apple makes some fine machines, but what are those people thinking?

2. $ say -v Zarvox 'Greetings, meatbag!'

Posted by Evan Goer on Nov. 15, 2004 at 8:00 PM | Comments (4)

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