iBook Battery Recall.

Turns out there's a problem with iBook batteries made between October 2004 and May 2005. Guess who's affected? I checked my iBook battery serial number and lo and behold, my battery is among those eligible for a replacement.

Well, now! I have never been involved in a recall before! Fortunately, Apple handles the battery recall in a very professional manner and via the website they had so kindly prepared, I was able to order a replacement easily.

Apple says they'll send a replacement within 5 days... but I'm not too sure about that. We'll see. In the meantime, I'm supposed to not use my iBook battery because it might overheat and burn up. My! What a nuisance.

Size Doesn't Matter!

Consider this piece of conversation:

"Hey, man. That's a bit titchy!" says the first man.
"Well, I don't think so," answers the other man. "People tell me 12 inches is big enough."
"No, man, you need at least 15 inches to be happy," opines the first man.
"I'm telling you, 12 inches is enough to get things done," the other man insists.

Had this conversation before? Of course, I'm talking about notebook screen size here, and one of the many things people do when they find out I've bought a 12" iBook G4, is that they scold me for getting too small a screen. The thing about getting notebooks is you have to get 15 inches, at least 14, or so they preach.

Of course, the size of your notebook is a matter of preference, and most who have actually commented in the negative upon knowing my purchase of a 12-incher have not seen the 12" iBook in the flesh (or in the silicon, whatever).

But when they see my shiny iBook in all it's shining white glory, they are immediately astounded and complaints of a small screen are no longer heard. They praise the build, the look, the feel and of course, the virtues and style of Mac OS X.

Suddenly it dawns upon the naysayer of a 12-incher--size doesn't matter.

Getting; got an iBook.

In preparing for what was to be my future purchase, I scoured and glossed over multitudes of Apple and Mac-related websites to learn all I could before the inevitable purchase of my iBook. The downside to this, however, is that I tend to get too excited and then I get the urge to rush things.

And that's exactly what happened. Not bearing to wait any longer, I headed over to the nearest AppleCentre (located at MidValley, but I think the nearest to my house would actually be in Ikano Power Centre, but I digress) and told the good man who approached me that I was interested in a 12" iBook G4. He didn't even need to give his marketing pitch. I knew what he was going to say and he knew I knew.

After the business of swapping money was settled, he went to the back of the store and brought out a new, white iBook G4 box and a 256MB RAM chip. He sat on some benches (how cool; it's so informal this way), and proceeded to install the RAM chip in my iBook. After doing so, he booted the virgin iBook and proceeded to perform all the initial setup steps before showing me the ropes on my new notebook PC.

The guy, Steve (how appropriate), was a real friendly guy, and told me he'd been working there for half a year now. I asked him if he used a Mac at home for his personal use and he replied, "of course!". Don't you just love the passion of these Mac guys?

So, yeah, anyway, I am now a proud owner of a brand new 12" iBook G4. How is it? Great! In fact, this blog post is being typed on my iBook, using it's excellent WiFi capabilities and utilising my WiFi-enabled internet access at home. Pretty sweet.

Thinking Different.

Apple hopes that their introduction of the Mac mini will entice more Windows users to their camp. Well, I can attest to that! For I, myself, a staunch Windows user, am willing to take the plunge (or leap, whatever) to Aquadom.

Funny thing is, though I did entertain a notion of actually purchasing the Mac mini--and how could I not? The Mac mini's so cheap and cute, I can't help but slobber for one--I finally decided I didn't need another desktop. I already have a monster of a Windows box at home which is capable of anything I throw at it, and I use another, more sedated box at work. But it was too late. I had already took a bite of the Apple, and I wanted the whole fruit to myself. I had to have a Mac. Mac OS X was too cool to ignore.

In my line of work, a notebook's always handy to have around, so that's exactly what I'm planning on getting. A Mac notebook. Since I can't afford a PowerBook (sniff sniff), I'll have to make do with an iBook G4. Which is good too. I've decided that a 12" iBook G4 upgraded with 512MB would be suitable for my needs, which would be word processing, e-mail and web-browsing. I know I can get a cheaper notebook for such tasks... but then it wouldn't be a Mac now, would it?

I plan to get one in the early days of March, when my February salary comes in. A Mac in March. Not bad, huh? I could probably get the iBook sooner, but I'm planning on getting an iPod shuffle first, on which topic I will deal with in its own blog post.