Folks who know me best know that, while I like to keep track of cutting-edge trends, I myself am the classic late adopter. Part of it is practicality — if it works, why replace it? Part of it is excessive sentimentality. Up until a few years ago, I was still using a wallet my parents had given to me in elementary school!    (1JC)

For the past seven years, my laptop of choice was a Toshiba Satellite Pro 425. I had upgraded the memory twice and the hard disk once, and it ran Windows 95 and Linux. About a year ago, I started having hard disk trouble. That, combined with my desire to run Compendium and to have wireless access compelled me to finally replace the machine… a year later.    (1JD)

A few weeks ago, I purchased an iBook G4. Reasons for going Mac:    (1JE)

• I wanted a machine that ran Mac O S X. There are a lot of interesting applications that run only on Mac O S X, especially those in the collaboration space, such as SubEthaEdit. Mac O S X also is based on FreeBSD. I can run most of the UNIX applications I use regularly while also having access to Mac O S apps.    (1JF)
• These Apple notebooks are simply beautiful. I’ve been enamored with the form factor and ergonomics of these machines ever since they first came out, and I haven’t been disappointed.    (1JG)

The alternative was an IBM Thinkpad X series notebook. I also think those are beautiful machines, and they have features that I really miss — thumbpad mouse, two (!) mouse buttons, etc. Plus, as much as I’m enjoying the Mac O S UI, there are still quirks I haven’t gotten used to. For example, Command-Tab doesn’t work exactly as I would like; I haven’t figured out how to cycle through windows as opposed to apps (although I’ve quickly learned that F9 is my friend).    (1JH)

Nevertheless, I am very, very happy with my purchase. I’m also enjoying the new mobility and flexibility that the small form factor and built-in wireless affords me.    (1JI)