Dopp Juice Archive

I ended up ordering a refurbished 15″ Mac PowerBook G4 from Apple.com. Spent about $1000 less than I would have spent if I’d gone for the fancy new stuff, and it will work a lot better for my purposes anyway.I did some more research on the Intel MacBook, and here’s the final answer:It’s not that the computer is crappy. It’s that the computer is awesome, and the software you’ll want to run on it is crappy.So if I want to run Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Illustrator, and Acrobat all at the same time on that machine, I’m going to be in misery… until the CS3 versions come out, at which point I’m all set.Problem is, I need it to work today.So G4 it is. I’ll go Intel a year or two, when everything is sailing a lot smoother.(Somewhat Unrelated Confession: I still don’t own an iPod, and despite the strange looks I get, I really don’t feel the need to change that fact…)

I think I’m going to head out to New Hampshire for the second half of May, maybe into June. And it occurs to me, that as a web developer, I can work anywhere in the world if I have internet access and a laptop. Most of the world has internet access. But I don’t have a laptop. And I think I should acquire one in the next week and a half. Here are my dream laptop characteristics:

• Big hard drive (100+ GB)
• Fast Processor (this girl has no patience for lag time)
• Lots of RAM (I need to be able to run Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat, and Dreamweaver at the same time without it crashing)
• Wireless and wired internet access (of course)
• CD Burner and Player
• DVD Burner and Player
• The ability to be BOTH a Mac AND a PC so I can easily check websites on both platforms. (Mac has Virtual PC… and I hear that new Mac Intel chip can boot up with Windows XP…)
• Insurance to protect me against loss, theft, damage, defects, stupidity, and anything else that could go wrong.

So… here’s the problem. I’m totally willing to go out and buy a new Intel Mac Powerbook, but I hear they’re having some problems–running programs slowly and such. Unless someone can convince me that they’re perfect machines, I think I should probably wait until the next generation comes out before I fork over lots of money for one. So, I’m looking to you, the vast internet of cool people, to help me take one of two routes:1) Find the right new laptop for me to buy in the next week.2) Connect me with an honest someone who has a capable laptop they’re not using, and are willing to loan, rent, or sell to me right away. It doesn’t have to be my dream laptop–this is just to buy me some time before I invest in The Dream. It needs to be able to let me build websites in a wireless internet cafe. Mac or PC is fine. I’ll pay for shipping if you’re not here or in NH. Do you have one for me? Let’s talk.

I’m trying to grip this philosophy by the horns:Go with the flow, and have a backup plan.