The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Early last summer I did something I never thought I would do; I bought an Apple laptop. I had never considered Apple products before when a friend suggested that I should check them out. My family travels a lot so I wanted a laptop with a DVD player and a long battery life so we could watch movies in the van. I do everything from writing (obviously) through web design, producing animations, and editing video, so I needed a machine that could do all of these tasks. Apple's marketing strategy is to have their computers become digital hubs for users so my iBook came with a host of software, including iMovie, iPhoto, and iTunes. As well, I was able to purchase Microsoft Office for Mac so I have no trouble with compatibility issues at all. Any piece of software I've got for my PC I've been able to find for my Mac. In the end, it came down to choice. I figured out what I needed a laptop to do, made a list, and then went shopping. With so many choices, people really need to be careful about what they are buying. I bought my first computer about six or seven years ago. It had one of the new Pentium processors in it and ran at the blazing speed of 133 MHz. Since then, chips have increased in power by over 3,000%. The chairman of Intel corporation, the world's largest chip producer, years ago predicted that computers would double in speed and halve in price each year. This prediction came to be known as Moore's Law, named after Michael Moore, the man who made it. The only problem with it is that it has been outpaced in reality, computing power increasing at a faster rate then he predicted. What this means for the average home user is that we need to be informed about what we are buying. If you just want to surf the net, send email, type out letters, and even download pictures using a digital camera, you certainly don't need the fastest computer on the market. What drives a lot of the speed computer maker's aim, is the video game market. Games which are becoming increasingly realistic, and with huge storylines require massive amounts of computing power. The Matrix Reloaded video game is the hugest ever produced, and uses a series of extremely complex physics engines to drive the action to be as realistic as possible. The problem, of course, is that only people with high end machines can reap the benefits. If you're not into gaming though, do you really need the power? If you need more power, upgrades are fast, cheaper then buying an entirely new machine, and quite simple to do. You can hunt down directions online to help you through any upgrade. Look at adding more memory to your machine, buying a new video card, or upgrading your processor before you buy an entirely new machine. Figure out what you need and consider your options. Machines are cheap and easy to build. More power isn't always your best option. ([email protected])
