The New Phone Books Here, The New Phone Books Here!

Like Steve Martin's character Navin Johnson in The Jerk I find myself running around with a big smile on my face today. Yes in fact we did get 2 new phone books today, but thats not the reason for my excitement. No the real reason is I got a visit from the FedEx man this morning with a package from Apple Computers. I mentioned in a July blog that I had found my next laptop and it was not the one I thought. I've been content for the last few years to be behind the times with the last iBook G4 to roll off the shelves and while its been a bit long in tooth lately I thought a new MacBook would suffice. It looked much like my iBook in white, but a visit to the Apple Store got me revved up for the Aluminum MacBook Pro. Being the savvy shopper I am I noted that I could get the same form factor in the older model Macbook Aluminum. I found what I wanted and started saving pennies. Monday I pounced. However, it was in fact the MacBook Pro that I snagged and I am so happy with it. It's LOVE all over again. Those of you that are considering the switch to a Mac should be like Nike and Just Do It! The design and style just blow away anything from ANY other manufacturer. Tis thing is so smooth quiet and light with a battery thats guaranteed to go 7 hours between charges. I can even run Windows® if I want. The guts are the same as any other PC and thats good. Whats better is the OS. Thats the difference. Apple works the bugs out before they release a new operating system. Oh well I'm starting to sound like a commercial.

I Fixed It!

I did a little DIY repair on my laptop today and the fact that I'm typing this means it worked. I replaced the DC power in port. You know the thing you plug the power cord into so that your laptop actually can recharge the battery.

For the last few months mine has been on the way out. Finally in the last week or so it became impossible to recharge my battery no matter how I rigged the plug or whatever I did. I got a couple quotes for the repair and both wanted $300 to fix it. Since my laptop is several years old and barely functional I just could not bring myself to pay that much. I decided to look online on my REALLLLLLLLY old ibook G3 to see if this was something I could do myself. I found a few other that had the same issue and this led me to a site called www.ifixit.com. They had a complete tutorial and photo directions and had the part I needed in stock for about $30. I picked up the 2 small tools I would need and did not already have. The package arrived yesterday and I cracked it open today and I'm in good shape now. In all honesty it wasn't that hard to do. There were a few steps that required a bit of courage, but in the end it all worked out great. My trusty ibook G4 is back in business. If you need some mac repair I highly suggest their website. Besides the thrill of doing it yourself there is the recycling aspect and thats good for the environment.

The thing that bugs me the most i all this is that the darn thing is fixed now...

That sounds strange huh? Well thats because today I was at the Apple Store at Easton and got a chance to play with the latest and greatest Macbook and Macbook Pro computers from Apple. To say I want a new one now is an understatement. I was pretty sure that a white Macbook would be great. With a list price of $999 it is not too bad and heck I can get a refurbished from Apple for $750 with the same warranty as a new one. That was what I wanted, but today I got a chance to play with the aluminum Macbook Pro and I am now in LOVE with that model. Oh well I guess I will have to save the pennies a bit more. At least I'm back online.