Preempting the Inevitable

Rationalization: rather than have my iBook die and be stranded for days without a machine, I preempted the inevitable by purchasing a 15" PowerBook G4, one of the just-announced 1.5GHz models. I can get more for the iBook now before the resale market is affected by the new faster models. This was a quality personal financial decision.

This will be the first time I’ve ever had a truly top-of-the-line machine. Despite being the biggest geek anybody around me knew, my machines have never been anything to write home about, from my lowly first Performa 575 to myriad unpowered Wintel boxen to my present humble iBook G3. Friends and family with decidedly more minimal computing needs have frequently had more powerful machines, particularly my mother, whose university has handed her a series of lovely PowerBooks. That disparity ends, well, whenever the beast I ordered arrives next week.

I’ve not begrudged others their ample machines, nor bemoaned my past computational constraints. Limitations taught me to hack, to eek out performance and features wherever I could. Such learning should never cease, of course, but it will be nice to have a machine that more than matches my performance needs for a change. Plus, backlit keyboard. No, really: backlit keyboard.

An added bonus of the PowerBook is, of all things, a PCMCIA slot. Remember those? Apple does, and it turns out it’s still a better way to get audio in and out of your laptop than USB. The increasing amount of time I spend in Traktor is going to be that much more pleasant for an Echo Audio Indigo DJ.

My setup, minimal as it is, will otherwise remain static, save a new laptop sleeve to live in my courier bag (Timbuk2 discontinued laptop model, since replaced by their vastly inferior “commuter” line). In keeping with recent poor decisions on their part, Timbuk2 no longer makes an affordable laptop sleeve; instead, they offer a $50.00 over-designed rip-off in several garish colors. No sale, jerks. Possible alternatives include the made-by-space-Amish RoadWired R.A.P.S. or the pretty-much-my-old-one Spire Boot. Case shopping is a quest. Yeah.

Backlit goddamn keyboard.