From Nathan Nettleton

12 January 2006

Hi

For me it would be no question: I’d take the iBook every time. That’s what I’m using now and I couldn’t be happier with it. I don’t bother with a desktop machine anymore. I just have a full keyboard and mouse that I plug into the laptop when I’m working at the desk, but there is nothing my iBook can’t handle that a comparable desktop machine would.

But the real question when comparing the iBook to the others is the operating system. The iBook is a Mac, and so runs Mac OS; the rest will run Microsoft Windows. So maybe it is a question of what she has used before and whether she wants to negotiate a change of system (culture?!). Computer users are mostly zealously loyal to one or the other operating system, and I’ve always been a Mac man so I’m biased. Conventional wisdom used to be that Macs had the more user-friendly operating system but that there wasn’t as big a range of software available for them. Successive generations of the Windows operating system have closed the gap in terms of ease of use, and there is more software available for Macs now, so the differences are not as large. The huge dominance of iPods in the MP3 player market has meant that many more younger people are now turning to Macs as the native companion of the iPod, so Macs are gaining market share and that is further increasing the software development for them.

Another factor to consider might be what is preferred in the study field that your daughter is going into. In a lot of scientific fields, Windows systems would dominate and there may be necessary software that is available only for Windows. On the other hand, industries that do a lot more graphic imaging stuff often prefer Macs because Macs have always been ahead in handling graphics. The Graphic Design industry mostly prefers Macs, and I think the film editing industry is similarly biased.

Apart from biases, the only other really objective thing I can say in supporting the argument for the iBook is that the Mac operating system is verifiably more stable than Windows and infinitely more virus proof. Many Mac experts don’t even run virus protection software at the moment because there is currently no known computer virus capable of infecting the current Mac OS. That can save a bit of money and a lot of hassle and may justify the extra outlay at the start (Macs are a bit more expensive to buy).

Factor in my Mac-loyalist bias and then make of all that what you will!

Peace and hope,

Nathan