Thanks to Patrick I now have a new 15" Powerbook. What is even better is that it also has VirtualPC running Windows XP and soon it will also have a linux install (slackware or gentoo). I have never owned a Mac before, but to me this setup is the best possible scenerio. Powerbooks are possibly the best notebook hardware available, Mac OS X is a great (UNIX) operating system, and with the capability to running Windows and Linux without rebooting there is no software limitation. I am just starting to play with it a little bit and already it is apparent that there is UNIX underneath this beautiful interface and hardware. I bought a standard low-end 15" Powerbook and bumped it up to 1GB of RAM.
This setup seems like a very "holistic" tool. I can develop software and test it in the top three operating systems (which is impractical without Apple hardware). I can run the ubiquitous productivity tools (MS Office), the best development tools (Macromedia and open source Linux solutions), great multimedia software (iTunes, iPhoto), and fun creativity software (GarageBand, Photoshop). That is the tool I have been given. I no longer have any limitations based on the tools at hand.
UPDATE: 8:30am
I am updating this from Windows XP in fullscreen mode on the Powerbook. It looks kinda unholy but no need to be religious. I don’t think that I will use WinXP much, but I have the option. I currently only have MS Office for Windows so when I am doing the TE stuff for Marcus’ book I will have to be in Windows.
