Diagnosis for our dead Powerbook indeed shows both a dead charger as well as a bad PMU. We were unable to find a store in Singapore that had a new PMU in stock so, after some deliberation, we went ahead and purchased a new Macbook.
It was tough giving up the old Powerbook. More accurately, it was painful shelling over $1400 for the new computer. But we were tired of putting money into a dead horse, and the headache involved in getting the computer fixed—plus the likelihood that something else would break further down the road—just made it seem like buying a new computer was the logical answer. Our budget is busted, but man this thing is nice.
We opted for the white 2.0ghz model, and the computer company we bought it from went ahead and threw in 1gb RAM free of charge. We also upgraded to an 80gb hard drive to help store the photos from our trip. I would have preferred the black model, but it was $200 more for essentially the same computer. Black is nice, but not that nice.
Build quality is excellent. The high density plastic the Macbook is made of is actually stronger than the aluminum of the pro versions, which is good since we still have some hard months of travel ahead of us. The computer is noticeably faster that our previous one, but that really shouldn’t be a surprise as, in computer terms, our last one was literally an antique.
Our main concern was running Adobe Photoshop, as there are no native builds for the new Intel chips yet. I’m happy to say, while the performance is noticeably slower than native apps, Photoshop still runs better than it did on our previous computer.
As an added bonus, the new computer comes with an Airport Extreme card. Using it on the street here in Singapore, we now pick up a good 15-20 wireless networks in most places, most of them completely unprotected with a password, meaning free internet for us. Wahoo!
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Comments
Hi, So glad to hear about the new computer. Looking forward to hearing about the diving soon. But I do agree with Kaie’s last entry. Hope you are taking enough down time and not working too much on the computer. I know how they can suck you in 24/7. You should post the original and offical recipe of a Singapore Sling and we’ll drink to your new computer’s health and long life. Love, Dianne
Don’t worry were not spending too much time on the computer. We have been enjoying downloading 24 from iTunes and working on pictures and posts. Hopefully everyone is still wanting to know about our adventure. (we love to see comments on our posts!)
Here is the original recipe, better consumed at home as it costs 19 singapore dollars almost 12 us dollars a piece. Hardly a bargain but tasty nevertheless.
This is taken off the card given to us at the Raffles Hotel, which is where the drink was invented. Wikipedia has a recipe in ounces for non metric users
Singapore Sling
Historically this drink was for ladies, but Kai enjoyed it just as much as I did.
Cheers!
I know spending so much money on one thing, when you still have to make it half way around the world back home, is daunting and frustrating. But don’t ya just love the new mac?!? I love my new iMac!!! It’s just so pretty ;-) More pictures please! And I think Katie and I need to try out that drink in your honor…
you’re worth it! and, whatever keeps you in touch with us, is worth every penny. Love you.