OS X First Impressions

Having got my powerbook, i was all filled with excitement on how it feels to use one regularly. I had played around with a powerbook at my local apple reseller. I was only convinced that this will be a nice and a happy experience. I was actually thinking that having experienced using the powerbook and os x panther briefly that was all to it. Or so i thought , i was bracing for an anti-climax however it did not turn out to be an anti-climax after all.

Right from when i opened the package, it was such pleasant experience. The packaging and the smell was a delight. Seeing the new powerbook was a treat. I then decided to give the ergonomics of the mac a test. I just made a note of my network settings and asked Mekal to install. She managed to install and began surfing in about 15 minutes , now that just struck me hard. I don’t think i could have her pull that off on another machine even though she was computer literate.

Immediately i got to work again feeling the os. One of my first treats was to launch the terminal and feel the Unix beneath and it gave me immense satisfaction. My next days was spent on looking for all the cool software. I found just about everything i need mostly free. I found myself just experiencing joy at just using the powerbook. There was no need for me to keep routinely updating virus signatures, scan for malware, cleaning my installation. Installation of software which were mainly drag and drop was a welcome change and it was a bit daunting to get used to the simplicity.

I then moved on to install darwin ports and fink. I settled to preferring darwinports. In about 2 days i had completely set up my powerbook to the taste of me and Mekal. I was equally amazed at the ease at which Mekal settled down to using OS X. I was thinking of retaining my old notebook (Toshiba SP 2100 Pro) around in case she would take time to getting accustomed to the Powerbook. I realized soon that my fears were unfounded. She was in fact beginning to show me tricks she picked up herself purely by intuition.

In the end i finally was happy with my powerbook 15” with no regrets at all.