MacBook

macbook.jpg on Flickr

Yesterday, after a fortnight of waiting, my new MacBook arrived. Wait a minute, I hear you say, don't you already have a 12" PowerBook G4? Well yes I do, though not for long. You see, I figured I should get on the Intel bandwagon at some point before I end up being relagated to a PowerPC limbo. So, as the PowerBook is two years old now, I figure if I sell it now I'll get as much cash for it as I ever will. So I did some maths, worked out the best value configuration and went about ordering my 13" White MacBook. Since I didn't want to spend a huge amount on it above the cash from the PowerBook, I went for the 1.83Ghz model but upped the RAM to 1GB. This, with AppleCare and the HE discount came to £756 off the Apple Online Store. Not bad considering I have been promised £250 for my old PowerBook G4. Anyway, moving on...
When I got home from work on Thursday there was a box waiting for me in the hallway. I decided however, to have some restraint and spend some time with Baz who'd just got back from the Vet's after minor operation on his paw. (Yes, you can say 'awww')
Still, I could only restrain myself so long, and before I knew it the glossy new MacBook was sitting on the table in front of me. I plugged in the MagSafe powercord...or rather I got it so far and then it plugged itself in, magnet magic. After a few minutes of setup time I was staring at a beautifully bright glossy screen sitting behind rows of odd looking keyboard keys (note the flat keys with weird looking gaps between). At this point I should also note it automatically configured itself to connect to my home network and searched the internet for OS updates. Crazy.
I didn't even last an hour before downloading and installing Boot Camp. I tried manually triple booting with Ubuntu Linux as well as Windows XP, but I ended up having to use the factory restore CDs on the MacBook within 24 hours of owning the damn thing because I messed up the partitions. I'm tempted to add the following to my list of core 'life principles':
If you want something done properly, always read the fucking manual first.

Anyway, in short. The MacBook is simply gorgeous. It looks great, it feels great, it works great. Far superior in build quality than the iBook was and it certainly feels nicer than the PowerBook G4 to use (though I havn't tried a MacBook Pro yet). As far as value for money goes I'm thinking this is simply the best Mac ever made.
Though I would say, if you want to put Windows on it, do so via Boot Camp, trying to install too many operating systems isn't big or clever, it could end up with you digging out the restore discs.

Thus my current system is:

macbook.jpg on Flickr

Update

Since the question was asked, I'll answer briefly.

My exams were pretty shocking this year. I passed them, just. Better get my act together next year and try for a decent grade. I'm probably on a 2.2 at the moment though I'll know for sure once my mark breakdown comes in.
As for work placement, yeah I'm already sitting at the desk I'll be at for the next 13 weeks. Same place as last year, a small Structural/Environmental Engineering firm in Liverpool.
I'm hoping to do more stuff this summer, as in social stuff. Get some people from college to come to Liverpool or for me to go visiting others around the country.


P.S. Could people not leave comments as 'Anonymous', If you are asking me a direct question I'd like to know who's asking so I know what kind of details to go into! Ta.

While my guitar...

A video of a my favourite song as sung by the man himself.

So yeah, I've not been updating much, I'll get around to it.