A Few Hours With a Mac

I'm actually quite accustomed to using a Mac. My new PowerBook was certainly no challenge to operate. I know that most PC notebook users are very likely fumble with the trackpad on an Apple notebook because it operates very differently. It took me about 10 minutes to learn how to use the trackpad originally. However, that was long before I bought my PowerBook. The fact that the computer came with 512MB standard was a huge relief. I didn't have to worry so much about a laggy computer during normal tasks. 512MB is enough for the average home user, but I'd probably need to upgrade that to 1GB for my more interesting and heavier RAM usage during my multimedia editing which I like to do as a hobby. I certainly wasn't expecting my measly G4 processor to handle 720p trailers, but it seemed to handle 480p HD trailers just fine. As for the 720p performance, let's say it was slightly better than my old 1.7GHz Williamette processor.

As I anticipated, the PowerBook releasing heat without mercy when it is being used while charging. It certainly only dissipates slightly less heat than charging and notebook usage would create, since the notebook grows hot over time. Of course, you have nothing to worry about if you're not charging. It does get slightly hotter running of AC, but I'll live with it if it means my battery will live longer.

Of course, using it for too long can give terrible side effects. I started pressing the Command/Apple key on my PC keyboard. Since it's a Logitech MX Duo, the keyboard supports Macs, and therefore has the previously named key. This resulted in some chaos as I attempted to use Alt+W to close windows in Windows XP, and Alt+H to make them go away.

You also have this strange tendency to miss the dock in Mac OS X, and miss the Start Menu in Windows, so I decided to have the best of both worlds and put a Start menu on in my dock. :D