tommy's scratchpad

Finally, after completing my Christmas shopping, I lucked out and got my MacBook. Future Shop was clearing them out and I took the opportunity to cash in my points and take the plunge. I ended up buying the same model as I originally planned, but in white (apparently there’s a significant price diff for the colour). I declined the “extended service plan” due to my bad past experiences with them (it comes with a one-year warranty from Apple).

Whoever said it just works is right. I was up and running in no time. No need to search for digital camera software, I just plug in and it works. Same with my printer and iPod. In about an hour, I was upgraded to Leopard and the latest software updates and up and running on my wireless network.

I then downloaded NeoOffice, Skype and Adium and I was off to the races. All this ease, and with the flexibility to use the native UNIX core when I want. Porting over and plugging in my content (music, photos, etc.) was a snap. Smooth sailing ever since.

Some initial thoughts:

• the corded mouse (I didn’t want a cordless and the battery dependencies that came with it) has a mighty short cord, which is not bad, but a bit iffy when the USB port is on the left of the MacBook (I’m a right handed mouse guy)
• What do folks do about warranty? Is it better to buy an AppleCare package?
• Say I wanted to build MapServer, is there a specific/preferred way to do this? Maybe I’ll ask Steve (Lime) or hobu

Now I just need a way to manage my bookmarks across browsers…