Just today, my iBook got one
year old. lilith, as it’s dubbed, still runs very well, despite of
being used just about every day and sleeping the rest of the time. In
fact, I can show all uptimes since last December (not counting
intra-day reboots):
12 + 19 + X + 19 + 30 + 73 + 106 + 53 + 45
The X represents one bad crash, if you make it 8 days, the sum would be the complete year with 365 days. It think it’s pretty awesome to own an computer that you reboot only nine times a year.
Of course, the case got a few scratches and you can see the places where my hands rest, but it really doesn’t look bad for being used all the year. Apple did a very good job, I once got the battery called back because they feared it would get too hot, but else I there was nothing to complain about. (Not that I’d complain about getting another fresh, new battery for free. ;-))
Not that I would call myself a Mac user now, I still have a Debian box around, and heavily use free software on the iBook. That is, I probably can count the non-free non-OS X-default programs with my fingers (and most are just convenience, if I’d go Debian again I could quickly find replacements, but I don’t really see a reason for that.) Panther is still fairly well supported (I don’t want to buy Tiger), and while that is lasting, I have a very nice notebook that just works.
Actually, I think the only problem I currently have with it is that X11.app doesn’t work anymore after shutting the lid, maybe someone knows what’s going on?
That said, if I had the money, I probably wouldn’t buy an 12.1" iBook again, but instead get the 15” PowerBook everyone seems to own now. And I wouldn’t buy that one if it had an Intel chip inside, either. However, for a nice architecture that is well-supported by the things I use, I’d spend a bit more money than usual.
And now, I shall hack happily until next year’s December 8.
NP: Dire Straits—Private Investigations