Linkstew

Apple upgraded the Titanium PowerBook G4 again on Monday, and now I want one. Of course, I wanted one before, but my Pismo always had enough life left in it that though I wanted one, I didn't want one, y'know?

But why was this upgrade the straw that broke broke the camel's back? Why do I feel that my Pismo is no longer sufficient? Well, there were three big reasons that I was always sufficiently happy with my Pismo, but those reasons have all been either addressed by this newly revised TiBook, or nullified by my Pismo's old age.

So let's examine the big reasons I was happy with my Pismo, what's changed such that the TiBook is sufficiently desirable, and what other wins the TiBook has over my Pismo:

• Point: Sure, the TiBook's have G4s, but they aren't that much faster than my Pismo's 400 mhz G3.
• Counterpoint: Yesbut, the newly revised TiBook has an 800 mhz G4 in it. Twice as many mhz is sufficient reason to upgrade.


• Point: My Pismo's dual battery support is much more useful than the TiBook's built-in cd drive.
• Counterpoint 1: This would still be true, but, my Pismo's batteries are dying. The first one won't last more than 30 minutes anymore, and the second one only lasts a couple of hours at most. I could spend $200 to replace them, but it seems more sensible to put that money towards a new TiBook.
• Counterpoint 2: Hell, if I got 3 hours out of a single TiBook battery that'd be better than what both of my Pismo's two year old batteries can muster put together these days. And the TiBook's advertised 5 hours (which I don't particularly believe) would probably blow me away.
• Counterpoint 3: I don't even own a cd burner, so there's an extra feature I don't have to make the tradeoff more worth it.


• Point: The TiBook only has one firewire port! I keep my mp3s on an external firewire hard drive, and I need a second port to put them on my iPod!
• Counterpoint: I'll have at least twice as much disk space on a TiBook as I have on my Pismo, so I can just put my mp3s directly on the laptop.

And then there are the other advantages that the new TiBook has over my Pismo:

• The TiBook's resolution of 1280x854 pixels offers nearly 40% more screen space than my Pismo's 1024x768.
• My Pismo's screen is dying. When I wake it up after it's been asleep for a long time, it's more often than not red, though it gradually fades back to a normal white after being awake for awhile.
• Sex-appeal: Sure, my Pismo has some nice curves, but the TiBook's a little thinner, and has nicer skin. ;-)

I love my Pismo. It's never done me wrong. Ever. The biggest problem I ever had with it was when I shorted out its processor. But these new TiBooks are twice as good in several domains (screen size, processor speed, and disk (though admittedly, the disk issue could be addressed with my Pismo)), and my Pismo's getting a little long in the tooth.

So come August or September, I plan to retire my Pismo and replace it with a decked out TiBook G4. I want to wait until after MWNY to make sure that they don't sneak in any more minor revisions or drop the price, and then I'll look around for any notable deals before I make my move. Besides, I'm going to need to save for this all summer anyway.

Wow! Check out this Titanium Spork! I need to get me a titanium chain to hang that titanium spork on and put it around my neck to accompany my titanium watch! I think I want one of these just so that I can tell people that I have a titanium spork.

Okay, admittedly, it's camping gear, and in that context, the light durable nature of titanium, combined with the utility of a spork, is a pretty sensible combo. I especially like that that site has a link to see "What spork users are saying about [the titanium spork]."

When I was in San Francisco on Friday, I saw a lot of guys probably being paid next to nothing wearing Star Wars Starfighter t-shirts and handing out stickers, which reminded me that Star Wars Starfighter comes out very soon now for the PlayStation 2. So when I got home, I went and watched a lot of movies of Starfighter, and I watched a video about the making of Starfighter, and I became very excited about this game. In fact, I think it's safe to say that Star Wars Starfighter is the reason that I now actually want a ps2.

Well, that and I went and looked at some other ps2 games that are coming soon, and two others really caught my eye. First up is Gran Turismo 3. I liked the first two Gran Turismo's, but the graphics always got in my way. I can handle graphics that aren't trying to be real, but the first two GT's were trying to be as real as possible on the psx, which wasn't up to snuff. Gran Turismo 3, however, looks like it might be my holy grail of racing games.

And finally, there's Zone of the Enders, which features gigantic robots duking it out. The story looks intricate, the graphics in the video's I watched were great, and if nothing else, Z.O.E. will come with a demo of Metal Gear Solid 2 (aka, the game) when it's released in April.

So there you have it. The three or four games which have turned me from being indifferent towards the ps2 to rather strongly wanting a ps2.