<jeff>RAM is a good thing. I remember back when 8 megabytes seemed large enough for anything...back before Windows 95.</jeff>
Yes, I remember when 4MB was enough for everything... before Mac OS 8. Then 16MB was fine, until they conned me into getting 32MB.
Then one day, I suddenly had 192MB. Wow... my Applications menu (which lists all the open apps) was scrolling off the bottom of the screen in Mac OS 9 and I still had plenty of RAM to spare!
Mac OS X works fine in 192MB as well, and the difference between that and 576MB is not so noticeable to me, as it doesn't affect how many programs I can have open at once, it only affects the speed at which they run. But they say that Mac OS X likes as much RAM as you can give it.
<jeff>I burn a couple CDs every year, more or less, of my data.</jeff>
I don't burn many CDs either... my laptop lives on my lap, and I can't be bothered moving it to the desk where my peripherals are, which involves clearing a space on the desk where my peripherals are, and then either sitting on a chair (as opposed to a couch) while the CD is written or doing something which *gasp* doesn't involve my Mac.
I prefer peripherals which can be easily moved to the couch with me, like my iPod and USB-powered scanner.
<jeff>I've never owned a laptop, but as I am starting at the university in August, it seems prudent to acquire one within the next couple months. </jeff>
Laptops are great... though if you need a laptop, I'm puzzled as to why you just bought a desktop. Now you'll have less money to spend on the laptop.
<jeff>I've looked at ibooks, but I think I'm going to go with a Dell Inspiron 1100 because I'm not really sure how Apples are with 802.11a...and besides, I'm already learning Linux right now.</jeff>
iBooks support 802.11b and 802.11g. I suppose you can get an 802.11a thingy for one though.
Mac OS X is the good-looking cousin of Linux... you can still muck around with a UNIXy command line, but you also get an easy-to-use and consistent GUI. So you could learn a lot of the same stuff. The few things I've learnt about Linux from my sister and her friends all work on Mac OS X. Or ou could install Linux on an iBook, but it seems like a waste of time since you already have Darwin.
Now, it's about time I did some acronyms on the topic:
LAPTOP:
Luckiest Are People That Operate PowerBooks
Linux And Portables - There's Often Problems.
(I know a few people who've had Linux laptops and they seem to have problems with the power management.)
BIAS Because I'm an Apple Supporter? Well, there's no reason to be biassed toward Apples unless there's some reason why I prefer them in the first place, so then it's not really BIAS, it's just Because It's Actually Superior.
Now, I have nothing against Linux, and I do like to be able to tinker with things, but I don't want to have to deal with obscure commands and config files just to go about my normal daily tasks. I'd rather do things the easy way. I'm not saying that there aren't easy ways to do things in Linux... most of the time people use the GUI. But to get it really easy to use you have to set it up to be, and the setup is not so easy. So here's my final acronym of the post:
SETUP: Something Easy To Understand, Please!
