Brand spankin new

Well here I am typing to you on my ASUS M6nbe which will be going back tomorrow. This is actually my second PC laptop, the first was a Dell with a terrible screen. This one is just running hot with one dead pixel and poor build quality.
I am very close to making the switch, but I have a few questions.... please bear with me as I am very new to all of this. I have only owned Desktop PC's.
I am most concerned with being able to connect to my wireless network and share the printer connected to the Desktop PC.
The other thing would be connecting devices such as my multi card reader for my digital camera (Sandisk). Firewire will be perfect for my Sony Digital Camcorder I believe.
One more thing, my wife is very used to IE and Outlook Express, will I be able to at least use Outlook or not?
Is the screen on the Power Book G4 bright and glossy or anti glare? Any dead pixel issues? I am sure from what I have read that the build quality is awesome!

Sorry for all the questions but I have really not been happy with the PC laptops and when I spend a couple grand I expect to get what I pay for!

Thank you in advance for your advice,

Dave

1. OS X behaves very well in Windows and UNIX based networks.

2. Check with Sandisk for OS X driver availability.

3. Outlook isn't available for OS X but Apple does have a **very** nice PIM suite (Mail + Address Book + iCal calendar software, it's professional grade and it comes bundled with all computers running OS X) but Microsoft's Entourage (think Outlook for OS X) is also available if you are so inclined. I wouldn't touch IE for Mac with a 39 and a half foot pole. Safari is the bundled browser built off KHTML/WebCore rendering engines. Very fast, and much safer than using IE.

I own a PowerBook, and I don't get much glare on the screen. The PowerBook is very similiar to the build qualities of the older ThinkPads from IBM. The keyboard is spectacular to type on, I'm afraid I can't use anything else and feel productive. It's light, I get 4+ hours of battery life with the screen half dimmed and power saving and light writing/web surfing/e-mail work.

I was wondering if I can use my 3com wireless router or do I have to buy the Airport Extreme to share my printer connected to the Desktop PC?

FWIW I believe that Powerbooks are made by the same company that makes Dell's laptops (Quanta, a Taiwanese company).

You don't have to buy the Airport Extreme. I'm using my PowerBook right now on a Linksys 802.11a/g wireless router with no problems.

A lot of factories share contracts with multiple computer manufacturers. I don't know why Dell's build quality is so crappy when compared to Apple's though when they all come out of the same factory (my cousin's Inspiron has serious issues with the screen hinge breaking. Maybe it's just him.)

Different companies telling the factory to use different parts, perhaps?

Actually the build quality on the Dell wasn't so bad, it was a very fuzzy, sparkle effect only on the WUXGA screen. They have since removed that screen from their website, probably because of the vast majority sending them back, it was really bad.
So I just saw on the Apple website that my Sony Digicam TRV38 is not compatable with Mac. Something I do not understand because I would think that a firewire connection is all that is needed to stream the video, which it has.
Anyone have any experience with this. It is too early in the game to give up!!

Thanks for all of your help,

Dave

Drivers

So do you need mac drivers for every device, I can not believe I will not be able to connect my Sony Digital Camcorder TRV38 and stream video, what a bummer. :radioacti

Not sure what type of laptop you have, but there is a display difference between apple's conventional LCD and the newer technologies offered by other laptop makers (Sony Xbrite, toshiba truebrite, etc). That said, the newer Powerbooks (1.5 + GHz) have increased the level of brightness that you can view which seems to make a big difference in viewing quality. I put a 1.33GHz model next to a 1.5GHz model and cranked up the brightness all the way on both, and the newer models are much nicer on the eyes.

No you don't need additional drivers for every device, in fact I haven't installed any drivers with OS X!

1. The card reader will work fine.

2. Does the apple site just not list your sony? Or is it explicitly listed as not-compatible? Because my Sony digital camcorder works just fine and isn't listed either... I'm guessing it'll work but isn't listed.

3. Wireless network will work fine, sharing the printer should as well.

4. The powerbook screen isn't glossy, it is matt like a conventional lcd.

Thank you so much for all of your input, I am off to UPS and will be calling Apple today!! :miner:

I really appreciate all you have done for me, hope to see you soon on this forum!!

Dave