My first new Mac was a 12" PowerBook, bought in February 2005. It was the Superdrive model, the second to last 12" G4. It has served me well for almost five years. It's been in various countries, it's been used in cars, on planes, trains and a ship and in the field. It's been dropped once by myself, once by my wife and twice by our two-year-old (so technically my fault). It's got a few dents to show for it, but it still works perfectly.

It was running Panther when I got it. I upgraded to Tiger a few months later. Never liked the Dashboard thing much as the PB seemed a bit underpowered for it, but Spotlight was good. Leopard followed. That is the end of the line, as the PowerBook can't run Snow Leopard. It's not the fastest machine in the world, but it is reliable. Like a Mercedes 240D, I suppose. I'm sure I could get it to run on veggie oil like the Merc if I tried. It is strange to say this about a computer, but this old thing is a part of the family. I can't see myself selling it, even if they are worth half a MacBook.

So, got a brand new 15" MacBook Pro, 2x2.8GHz, anti-glare, 500GB 7200RPM. The works, basically. The new one is great, looks beatiful, doesn't do the wind-tunnel impressions like the Powerbook. Don't like the trackpad though. The Powerbook has a button. It's easy to use. The MBP doesn't. Command-click for a new tab doesn't work well on the MBP. I never felt the urge to use a mouse with the Powerbook. I plugged one in during the first Final Cut Pro session on the MBP. I also prefer the feel of the Powerbook keyboard. There is a huge difference in the screens. The MBP's colours are much colder. The Powerbook screen looks almost yellow next to it. I thought the Apple pro stuff was supposed to be as true-to-life as possible.

Final Cut Studio is already installed and I'm playing with some HD material that needed attention. I wonder if the MBP will replace the Powerbook. It's fast and I haven't used the PB for editing for a long time, but for the daily stuff? I really don't know.