:: A LAN FOR ALL SEASONS
::
Sorry about the pun, but I
couldn't resist ;-)
Anyhow, I've been using Macs for many years now and whilst
I've been running them side-by-side with Windows and *nix
machines for most of that time, since OS X appeared I've
found fewer and fewer good reasons to bother using anything
else.
I've recently replaced my G5 and an old G4 powerbook with a
17" Macbook Pro. I had been thinking for some years (actually
since some time before I bought the G5) that I would be
better off with a laptop as my primary machine, and I now
think that Apple have come up with the perfect compromise.
The MBP is embarrassingly faster than the G5, it has a nice
high-res 1920x1200 screen, and is a more than adequate
desktop replacement whilst still being easily portable. Given
that I make much of my living as a Windows SysAdmin, the fact
that it will also run Windows XP & Vista is a big bonus -
especially as XP runs under VMWare about as fast as it runs
natively on the 3Ghz P4 box I have at work!
I also have a 'Gigabit Ethernet' G4-400, which has been
upgraded with 1gb RAM, a DVD burner and around 1.2Tb of hard
drive space - currently arranged as two RAID 1 mirrors plus a
couple of external firewire drives. This machine currently
runs OS X Tiger Server (although will probably wind up back
on the client OS once Leopard comes out), and is used as a
mail/web server, file and media server - the latter job
running the Firefly music server, which drives a Roku
Soundbridge in the other room.
Third Mac is an old G3-400 - also installed with OS X Tiger.
It's there as a spare in case anything happens to the G4, but
otherwise doesn't get used a lot these days.
Our one remaining non-Mac machine is an HP Turion64-based 17"
laptop. I occasionally use this machine at work (although the
aforementioned Macbook Pro will put an end to that), but the
rest of the time it's my wife's primary machine, used for
DreamWeaver, Bryce, Photoshop and general day-to-day use.
It's about as fast as the G5 and has a great screen and
keyboard - the only downside is XP, but you can't have
everything. It was bought in 2006 fairly cheaply as, at the
time, there wasn't a cheap intel-based Mac laptop. The HP is
the last Windows machine we'll be owning, though - once it
starts showing its age, it'll be replaced with another Mac.
