My laptop may have met its demise

There was a poll on this topic just over a month ago, but at the moment it seems that power no longer is feeding into my iBook from the power adaptor, and so I'm currently using what's left in the battery to back the thing up onto my desktop computer's hard drive.

It could be the little charger brick that died, or it could be something interal to the machine, but I suspect that it's not worth the cost & hassle of diagnosis (unless someone has one of these charger thingies available for short-term loan).

I suppose this leaves me with a few questions: Can I afford a new laptop? Is a digital SLR a higher priority? If I should go laptop shopping, what should I look for? Is anyone looking for an iBook G3 for parts - or to try to get working again?

Comments

I would say that a laptop is a higher priority. Having a digital SLR would be nice, but not essential unless you have some sort of purpose in mind for the photos (like selling them, or entering a contest).

Do you want another Apple laptop? The new Intel-based Apple laptops are looking very interesting. The Core Duo is getting very good reviews, and with the release of Apple's Boot Camp there are some very cool dual-booting possibilities.

Regarding non-Apple laptops, I'm currently a fan of Asus. Their laptops are very nicely equipped and they have a decent range of selection. I don't know which stores carry them, if any, but I can put you in touch with a reseller.

I wouldn't mind trying to get your G3 working again. I presume that it's no longer under warranty.

I would say that a laptop is a higher priority. Having a digital SLR would be nice, but not essential unless you have some sort of purpose in mind for the photos (like selling them, or entering a contest).

Well, film is rather a nuisance and developing is getting more expensive as it becomes less popular. I figure that I've probably spent a total of $20 the past week on film. Were I to continue at a similar pace a digital SLR should pay itself off reasonably quickly.

Do you want another Apple laptop? The new Intel-based Apple laptops are looking very interesting. The Core Duo is getting very good reviews, and with the release of Apple's Boot Camp there are some very cool dual-booting possibilities.

I was thinking of going for something with a core duo, but I might be opting for something a little cheaper than Apple.

I wouldn't mind trying to get your G3 working again. I presume that it's no longer under warranty.

The extended warranty ran out mid-February. I figure that I might try yet to find someone with an iBook that I might be able to borrow a power adaptor from (although I think that Apple since moved to a new connector).

Oh... I also forgot to mention the quality issues converting film to digital.

A Nikon D50 can be had for $850 locally (including an 18-55mm lens), and, even without a laptop, I still have a computer at home and a computer at school.

$850 is pretty good. Do your existing lenses mount on it?

If you think that a laptop is not essential, then it's definitely not essential, and if you're going to continue taking the number of pictures you currently take then it does make sense to get a digital SLR. I'm very familiar with the annoyance of trying to convert film to digital; always have to fiddle with it to get it looking as good. Nobody at my use is using film anymore and even with a mere 3 megapixels there are no regrets. (It's worth noting that we've only once ordered a 5x7; everything else has been 4x6. 8x10 probably wouldn't be spectacular without the better resolution of more megapixels.)

I have multiple 8x10s from my D30 (3.3 MP), and they look great. From a technically strong shot I wouldn't be surprised if I could get an 11x13 which would look just fine on the wall.

I'm not crazy...oh, wait, nevermind.

Ah - but you're also shooting raw and Scott is probably digital. Apparently even Nikon's NEF format has some level of compression in it - see http://www.majid.info/mylos/weblog/2004/05/02-1.html for details (D50 I don't think is any better than D70 in this regard).

Nikon has also managed to annoy me by refusing to open the specs of its white-balance info formatting (it's been cracked - but apparently under US law this might not be legally distributable, and I don't trust the Canadian government enough to be confident that we won't end up with a similar law). Hence, I've also been looking at Fuji DSLRS (which seem to use Nikon lens mounts), and also at the possibility of ditching my Nikon lenses and picking up a Digital Rebel (slightly more expensive).

Apparently, the rule of thum is divide the resolution of the picture (say 800 x 600) by 20 and you'll get what size picture you'd get of good quality...or something like that.

The images out of my D30 come in at 2160 x 1440. Divided by 20, that gives 108 x 72. So what kind of units are we looking at here? Certainly not inches (9 feet by 6 feet? I think not), or centimeters (3 feet by 2.5 feet). Any more info on the rule of thumb, Ryan? I know that to *equal* slide film you need something on the order of the 11+ MP of the EOS 1Ds. However, supposedly 5 foot wide prints are not unreasonable from that camera!

I'm not crazy...oh, wait, nevermind.

My existing lenses would mount on it, albeit with a 1.5x multiplier effect (which is why I'd want to get that 18-55mm lens, as I like wide-angle stuff).

I think that I may be jumping to Canon though.

You could find an alternate power supply and turn the iBook into a DIY digital photo frame. If you want another Mac, you might want to wait a couple of months for the MacBook (non-pro, the successor to the iBook) to come out.

FWIW, the MacBook Pro is a really nice machine, almost as fast as my Dual-2GHz G5. And, believe it or not, it won't depreciate quite as fast as a DSLR.

-- Fazal Majid (www.majid.info)

It looks like its the power adaptor thats failed. Just look at all the negative reviews on Apple.com for this thing. Now I need to debate whether or not its worth the cost of fixing - a minimum of about $50 after shipping it would seem for a replacement from eBay.

Cheaper than a new laptop.

Indeed, but a new laptop would be faster and also still under warantee. Mac OS 10.2 (which is what's on there) won't even support WPA encryption for wireless, which is another point against it.

Presumably your existing laptop could support later versions of OSX. Not sure how much an upgrade would cost though.

Lately people have been having overheating issues with the MacBook Pros. I've read stories from people who send it in for repair and it comes back but still has the problem. One guy opened his up and fixed it himself, but of course that voids the warranty.

Not sure how much of a hurry you're in, but perhaps you want to wait for 10.5 to be released?

Even with student pricing the OS update would be about $100.