Well, there was a Slashdot story on people who bought iPods subsequently buying Macintoshes of various types. Of course, there was the usual "overpriced hardware" guff. Sadly, the story had long scrolled off the frontpage by the time I read it, so no one would read my comments so there wasn't an awful lot of point following up. So I'll bore you all with it in a JE instead.

Firstly, I've not got an iPod. In September, my Dad's old PC was becoming too painful to use - it's ancient and the hardware was flaky. So, to try and limit complaints and provide support for the three-in-one lexmark printer thingy his other half bought, the only choices were a new Windows PC or a new Macintosh. My Dad isn't very computer literate.

So I decided to get him an eMac after checking the Apple store - it comes with a built-in monitor and is no more expensive than a similar spec name-brand PC. I had it delivered to my house, and set it up so at least I could understand it. It was the first Mac I had used since the Mac Plus. Mac OS =9 was the reason I wouldn't even consider a Mac in the past (I've subsequently used a G4 with Mac OS 9 and it reminded me why I didn't use to like them). Anyway, I found the eMac surprisingly good. Neat - no rat's nest of wires - snappy performance that was better than the 2.6GHz HP WinXP desktops we have at work, and well put together with lots of thoughtful touches that make it that much more usable. Plus...a real shell.

So the Steve Jobs Reality Distortion field had started to catch on.

I was also in the market for a laptop. I like my laptops to be small. Guess what - a 12in PowerBook was just the right size. I've had it for about a month now.

It is without a doubt the best laptop I've ever used. Stuff just works. It is almost identical in spec to the Sony Vaio at work (slighly larger though, the Vaio is a 10in widescreen type). The spec of my PowerBook is about equivalent to the Vaio - built-in DVD writer, Bluetooth, wireless etc. For all the charges of overpriced hardware - guess what, the PowerBook is less expensive and it comes in a metal case. The PowerBook comes with a much better software bundle, too. The style of the design is much better - although the Sony designs aren't bad, some PC laptop designs are just too gaudy or either feel very flimsy (the HP notebooks in particular just feel flimsy and lack style). The PowerBook has a beautiful, clean design.

So I'm falling deeper into the swirling vortex of the Steve Jobs Reality Distortion Field, as you can see.

But it's hard not to when the hardware is actually designed thoughtfully, and the operating system is by far the most usable I've used - not only does it have all the easy GUI stuff, it has a proper Unix-style OS underneath. And Stuff Just Works. After struggling (and eventually giving up) getting work's Vaio to work with my phone's GPRS over Bluetooth, it took all of 5 minutes to set up on the PowerBook. The video camera just plugs in and works. The PowerBook talks to the printer attached to my Linux box. It mounts remote NFS drives out the box with just a couple of clicks. It does the same for Windows shares too.

This kind of thing is worth paying the extra for (or as it turns out, not paying the extra because the PowerBook just isn't more expensive than a similar spec major brand PC notebook).

So, anyway, now I'm feeling like perhaps I ought to get that AirTunes wireless access point thingy... argh, it's got me!