Here’s something meatier.
And how!
I was able to pick up the fruits of Friday’s labor (not that waiting in line in a comfy camp chair is all that laborious) Sunday evening, and I am thrilled.
Abso-fucking-lutely thrilled!
I went back to the Apple store to get my PowerBook just after 5 (the appointed pickup time) on Sunday and picked it up without much of a wait. The store was pretty busy, but thankfully I was able to avoid waiting in line, which was good, as I’d done enough of that on Friday. I showed my receipt to a clerk and he went off to get my system. Ten minutes later I was out the door, PowerBook in hand.
Without realizing it at first, I almost exactly duplicated the things I did right after picking up my iBook G4 last January. I wanted a place to sit down and check out my computer, so I headed towards the Starbucks a block away. Just like last time, it was busy, so I went a couple blocks further to Seattle’s Best. Open tables! I ordered a drink (a tall Strawberry Milk Frost) and sat down to take a look at the PowerBook. It wasn’t until I had the computer on the table and was going through the setup screens that I realized this was precisely what I’d done last year. Not spooky or anything, just a bit odd.
The computer was fine, and my copy of Tiger was in the box, so I was all set. I went back to Ginza station and grabbed a train for home. On the trains home (Marunochi line to Ikebukuro and Saikyo line to Akabane) the PB box got some envious looks. I wasn’t worried about anybody trying to swipe it from me, but I held it close just the same.
Mine! ^.^
When I took it out and flipped up the screen back at my place, I was greeted with a nice surprise. The backlit keyboard, which – while sounding really cool – seemed kind of gimmicky, was on and looked amazing. It’s hard to describe how it looks, so I’ll just show you. First, here’s how the keyboard looks with it off:
And here it is with the backlight on:
Now tell me that’s not badassed!
The screen on this thing is gorgeous too. I was used to my iBook’s screen, but this one is brighter, sharper and bigger. Take a look:
The keyboards on both machines are the same size, so that should give you some indication of how much larger the PB is. Not much, really. The screen on the PB is a 15″ diagonal (compared to the iBook’s 12.1″), and is a widescreen LCD. It’s only 86 pixels taller than the one on the iBook, but it’s 256 pixels wider, which makes all the difference in the world. No more crowded screen for me! (For now, anyways. I’m sure I’ll come up with new ways to clutter this one up.) It’s got other nice bits the iBook doesn’t have, but I went over most of those in the “PowerBook lust” post I made last week, so I won’t bring them up again. But, in spite of all the cool stuff the PB has, did I really need to upgrade? Nah, not really.
But I’m damned happy I did! ^.^