March went and got all lionesque on us here — the temp was down around 11 when I got up this morning, and it still hasn’t cracked the freezing point as of 11 a.m. It’s tough to get excited about taking a bit of vigorous outdoor exercise when even a short run requires wearing everything in the closet. So I’m staying inside and buying shit over the Intertubes, hoping to jump-start the economy.
No, a new Mac is not in the works — not yet, anyway. But I am dropping a bigger hard drive in the old one while I wait for the product line to shake itself out. You can pick up an HD for chump change anymore, and there’s nothing easier to work on than a G4 Power Mac, so I’m going to clone the OS X volume from the old 20GB master drive, drop in the new drive, zap the boot volume to it, and enjoy about 100GB of breathing room. I might even do without the OS 9 partition, since I haven’t booted from that sucker in, well, forever. I use Classic to run Photoshop 4.0 — yes, that’s 4.0 — but there’s an unused copy of Photoshop Elements sitting right here next to the desk, so this may finally mean hasta la vista to OS 9.
Meanwhile, my fellow MacGeeks will appreciate learning that Apple is expected to release some type of netbook in 2009, perhaps as early as summer. No doubt it will pack big style points and an even bigger retail price. Asus must be shitting themselves. Or not. Thanks and a tug on the black turtleneck to MacRumors.com.
Mad Blog Media 
I ordered a 17″ Dell scratch and dent laptop from their outlet store this morning, succumbing to the evil influences of my son Rush who is away attending a bike fit class long with his wife Mindy. My desktop that I use for industrial vibration software development died and needed to be replaced soon.
It’s not any warmer here on the west side of the Springs. I was damn glad I had my warm hoodie when I walked the five year old to day care at 8 AM. My wife keeps says I should go ride and I keep replying, “Brrr!” I decided a nap was more appealing and just what I needed before the hellions return.
Look, I love my Macs. It’s irrational, I realize, and I can’t justify it with numbers.
But I have to say, here we go again.
Folks have been talking about netbooks for ages now, and like always, Apple waits for someone else to test the waters, then they swoop in with a curvy, sexy version for a hundred bucks more, and they get to be the geniuses.
And I’ll be the first in line at the Apple Store this summer, I am sure.
Gents, this whole technology deal is exasperating. I know there’s no way to stay ahead of the curve, but I hate to fall so far behind that I can’t even see the bend in the road.
I was just about set to pull the trigger on a 24-inch iMac, then decided I was being extravagant. I already have two good-sized monitors, so why spend good money on a third? Next I considered the revamped Mini. Ah, but Rumor Control reports that “Snow Leopard,” a.k.a OS X 10.6, may be released in June, so why buy new hardware now when you can wait a few months and get new software with it? (Never mind that I still haven’t gotten past OS X 10.4.11.)
Now the jungle telegraph hints at an Apple netbook, with a release date tantalizingly close to that of Snow Leopard. O, lawd. What is a dog to do? Buy a forty-buck, 160-gig’ hard drive for the old box and be done with it, that’s what. Sheesh.
If figure my fixation with old bicycle technology balances my Mac obsession so I end up somewhere around 1950.
The only ‘day of release’ hardware i ever bought was the iPhone an that by proxy. My sons (now there’s a technology and money hole) called me from the mall while I was de-watering during a group century training ride. Endorphins, O2 debt, hunger, dehydration something made me say yes to iPhones.
Let’s talk more about that old Mac, Patrick….I have one just like it, but it needs a power supply. Anybody got one they think will work? It’s a little sad that the older G4 has twice the hard drive of my iBook, but 2 versions older OS than the iBook.