The titanium PowerBook
G4, now commonly called the TiBook on the Mac Web, is going to mean
some changes in the way
I work. Some of those changes will be for the better (portability,
wireless networking, and a bit more speed), but some won't.
The Display
At my last job, I had a Power Mac G4/400 (Yikes!) with a
very nice Sony 20" monitor. I ran that screen at 1280 x 1024, which is
a lot of real estate. I could have Claris Emailer open on the left,
WebChecker on the
right, Internet Explorer 5 on the left, and my Claris Home Page notes
on the right. ClarisWorks documents would be on either the right or the
left. AIM was in the upper right corner.
I used Application Switcher when I needed to access a buried
application.
My home system is a bit less ambitious - and far more in keeping
with the low-end focus of this site. I have a SuperMac S900 I bought "bare bones" for
$300, a slightly accelerated (by today's standards) ixMicro Ultimate
Rez video card, an IBM 15.2 GB IDE hard drive and a TurboMax card to
drive it, and an Optiquest V95 19" monitor I picked up for about $340.
I've also added a USB card, ixTV card, and E100 fast/wide SCSI &
10/100 ethernet card - and boosted the computer to 212 MB of RAM.
I run the screen at 1152 x 870, Apple's traditional "two page"
resolution, although once in a while I do boost it to 1280 x 1024. But
in anticipation of the TiBook's 1152 x 768 screen, I'm going out of my
way to avoid the higher resolution.
In fact, I have several spreadsheets to track site stats
(ClarisWorks is great for that kind of thing); they were one of the
reasons I'd switch to 1280 x 1024. The monitor was a bit fuzzy at that
setting, but I could see so much....
Over the weekend I set my monitor to 1024 x 768 and resized those
spreadsheets to fit the height of the TiBook. Then I switched back to
1152 x 870 and moved the spreadsheets to the left, resizing them as
necessary but making sure not to make them any taller on the screen. My
new PowerBook may not arrive for weeks yet, but my spreadsheets will be
ready for it.
I already miss 1280 x 1024, but I'm getting used to 1152 x 870. I
know I'll miss those extra 102 pixels at the bottom of the screen, but
getting used to 1152 x 768 shouldn't be too difficult. Still, it's the
biggest compromise I'll be making when moving to the TiBook in February
or March.
Of course, you can use the TiBook with an external monitor, so I may
find myself connecting to the Optiquest at home - along with an
external mouse and keyboard.
The Keyboard
I've been using extended keyboards for almost nine years. I
appreciate the full-sized arrow keys, forward delete (Del), F13-F15,
command and control keys on both sides of the spacebar, and an Enter
key right next to my mousepad. I'll miss them all. I may look into an
external keyboard for office use - I've been very happy with the Apple
Pro Keyboard I've had at work for the past few months.
Nice as Apple's laptop keyboard is on the iBook and recent
PowerBooks, I'm also used to typing on an angled keyboard, so I'll be
exploring options for tilting the back of the PowerBook up a fraction
of an inch. I might even try my hand at building the
NadPad posted at Applelust.
The Trackpad
I've been using mice since my PC days and own a lot of different
mice. My plan is to carry a Contour MiniPro optical mouse in the field,
since it's compact, works smoothly, and has a case to protect the mouse
and cable. There will be times when a mouse isn't practical. At those
times, I can be grateful that Apple has been using trackpads longer
than anyone else and essentially perfected it on the iBook. I'm
assuming the TiBook will have a trackpad at least that good. That will
be great for working from the living room or back deck.
But in the office, I'll probably work with a full-sized mouse. My
current choice is the Kensington
Mouse-in-a-Box Optical sitting on a Contour UniTray.
AirPort
I've got a few weeks to research alternatives to Apple's AirPort
hub. I have a cable modem, which for the past month or two has not
cooperated at all with my Hawking router. I have a DSL modem, but so
far neither I, EarthLink, nor Covad have been able to make it work with
my OS 9 setup or my updated Hawking router. (Covad tells me they can't
get any Macs running OS 9 to work with EarthLink, but they can make it
work with other providers - one more thing to research.)
We have a large ethernet network I want to share the DSL or cable
connection with. My preference is DSL, which may be a bit slower but
also specifically permits access by multiple computers and even running
a server. (Details may vary by service provider. Yet another thing to
investigate.)
From my perspective, it would be ideal to have a single device that
(a) connects to the Internet via modem, cable modem, or DSL modem, (b)
shares that connection on my network, and (c) also acts as an AirPort
hub for my forthcoming PowerBook and my wife's iBook.
In the Field
There are a lot of reasons for buying the TiBook: watching DVDs
anywhere, eliminating the noise and clutter of a desktop system, the
easy-on-the-eyes LCD screen, or simply bragging rights to the world's
thinnest laptop.
For me, the key factors are simplification (everything in one box),
portability (I can take it to Macworld with me), and OS X compatibility
(everyone seems to be running into a brick wall with OS X on SuperMac
computers). But the main reason for choosing the TiBook over a Cube and
flat panel display is portability; I want a large screened laptop I can
take on the road.
At the Expo, I'd probably throw the TiBook in my Tutto case, which has four
wheels and plenty of room for sales brochures, software, the power
adapter, and who knows what else. (I helped start a trend at Macworld
Expo in July - time and again people would ask where I got that great
case.) But I'll also be looking into more practical over-the-shoulder
solutions.
Accessories
I think the TiBook is going to create a market for clever
accessories, such as a power plate that's maybe 1/2" thick and adds
maybe 5-10 hours of battery life, a solar cell array that fits on the
lid and charges the battery outdoors without hiding the Apple logo, and
a folding hood that blocks sunlight and makes the screen easier to see
outdoors.
Of course we'll see titanium-colored mice, laptop bags designed for
the 13.4" width of the TiBook, and one or more docks that make it easy
to use your PowerBook G4 with a monitor and other peripherals in your
office.
Then it's just a matter of waiting for Apple to release the
PowerBook G4.
