I’m now spending most of my time on an Apple computer, the 20″ 2.4 GHz iMac. I also use a Dell Inspiron e1505 and a Toshiba R100, both of which just run Windows. In my opinion, compared with the typical big-box computer (there are exceptions, like some Dell laptops, mainly the XPS series, and some other units by other lesser-known manufacturers) units by Apple hold some advantages if you’re deciding to purchase one over the other:

1. No promos
I like promo-hunting but lots of people don’t. Apple’s simply computer line  doesn’t rapidly vacillate in price, and the relative dearth of customization options make it pretty easy to figure out what Mac you’re gonna buy. Easier than, say, buying a PC from elsewhere.

2. It can run the best of both worlds.
Macs run Windows too. And they run their own pretty-darn-good operating system. So while in the hardware arena ou give up some choice by going Apple, you get twice the operting system choice you do normally from a PC. Heck, the percentage is actually less…in a good way…x86-based Linux will run perfectly fine on n Apple unit.

3. They don’t skimp on components
As opposed to the PC manufacturers, which start you off with 512 MB of 533 MHz memory, a single core 1.46 GHz processor and a rather limited operating system, not to mention a lowcapacity battery in some instances, for Apple computers the low-end models are perfectly capable of doing everyday tasks very smoothly. The desktop situation is a bit better for PCs, since Apple elects to use a bunch of notebook components in their iMac(the only thing I don’t really like about having that system). But to get down to cheap price levels, PC makers skimp on components that Apple doesn’t, thus making Apple look betterand PCs look nearly as costly as Macs when you get similar features, at least on the consumer end of things. Macbook Pros are much more expensive than Dell XPS m1530s, but less expensive than workstation laptop models that Dell tucks away in the business categor. Likewise, Mac Pros are more expensive than high-end home machines, but are cheap compared with desktop workstations in many cases. :/

4. They DO skimp on bloatware
PC makers are getting better about this, but Apple never had any problems with it to start with. One suggestion that you might want to buy a .Mac subscription, and you’re on your way. All trial versions of software are neatly tucked away should you want them, but they’re tucked away so you won’t be annoyed if you don’t want them. Again, Dell at least is slimming down the junk they include with their computers, so that the darn things will run with 1 GB of memory and a rather slow dual-core processor in a Vista environment without grinding to a screeching halt, but no matter whether you put Windows or just keep Mac OS on your Apple computer,  things are quite clean.

5. Mac OS is pretty, and so are Apple computers
Don’t get me wrong, Windows Vista looks awesome, and actually is much flashier than Apple’s Leopard OS. But Mac OS X has been doggone beautiful since pretty much the start, and thus applications built for the system are actually made to look nice, as opposed to a rather haphazard collection of Windows doodads. It’s probably easier for programmers to make pretty Mac apps, too, what with all the developer tools Apple builds into the operating system. Oh, and on the hardware side, while PC makers are getting better about this every day, I still think my iMac looks better than the Dell XPS One system. The Macbook also looks very cool compared with…oh…every other laptop on the market, though expansion capabilities, beyond memory and hard disk space, are nil internally. Yep, no ExpressCard slot on that little bad boy.

So if you just want to use your computer, whether that means using WIndows or using Mac OS, the Apple bunch trumps Dell, Gateway, HP et al. Though if you’re willing to work it a bit, the latter manufacturers will get you a better deal on a better system. Just be prepared to delete a few miscellaneous trial versions at the get-go. Oh, and your computer won’t be designed by Apple in California, for what that’s worth. Hey, I have nothing against anybody…yet…my next normal laptop will likely be the Dell XPS m1530. My next ultraportable, coming soon? If it proves worth the wierd USB and headphone jack arrangement, the Macbook Air.

Okay, so here are some rapid-fire bits of bloggery I need to get off my chest to be totally caught up with everything…here at least…

First off, I admire the few, the porud, the assembler programmers. Yu know, the guys who write in assembly language. They are the people who create awesome apps that can be downloaded over dialup like it was broadband, then flipped onto a floppy with room to spare. These guys could probably create an operating system that could fit on a floppy yet still have a graphical interface, mass storage support, decent video and audio, and enough extensibility to add apps easily. For example, a web browser, e-mail client, word processor and spreadsheet that all fit onto another floppy. But I’m probably exaggerating…exaggerating how much space this sort of thing would take up. After all, Steve Gibson’s a-mc-mazing SpinRite disk utility weighs in at around 140k, including a FreeDOS mini-operating system and the means to format and make bootable the media of your choice. Wow. Any other assembler programs out there of note? I’d like to revel in their amazing-ness. After all, not even Windows is written in assembler.

Second, I hope that Google’s Android system is a success. Even if that means an ad or two on my phone, I’ll take it for a smartphone operating system that just works, and works well, providing for lots and lots of powerful applications, no matter whether your phone has a touch screen, a full keyboard, both or neither. Personally, I’m looking to replace my HTC Mogul with a sweet new HTC Dream when that phone comes out for CDMA networks. If Sprint stays above water for that long, that is :/

Third,  both mycell phone headsets have bene washed. My HTC Mogul headset survived, albeit with oneof its heabuds dead. My iPhone headset looked like a piece of junk coming out of the dryer, but it worked fine. But I now dont know where it is…probably washed into oblivion. But hey, that’s a testament to Apple construction. But anyhow, I’ve replaced my Apple heaset with a par of cheap TDK “Gummy” earbuds. To work with the iPhone though, I had to shave off a quarter-inch long swatch ofplastic sheathing near the 3.5mm connector tip. If I have to do that for the Macbook Air (I’m trying it before buying it at this point) that’s just one more reason not to get the little laptop.

Fourth and finally, neener neener. You see, my PC an run Windows XP simultaneously with BSD. Well, Mac OS X, which is based on BSD Unix. Which counts because I can pull up VIM (Vi IMproved) from the Mac OS X terminal. Anyway, with the assistance of my choice of either Parallels or VMWare Fusion, my computer runs two hi-fi operating systems at once, more than can be said of any computer not made by Apple Inc. Cool, huh? Well, it’s cool enough that I’m using OS X instead of Windows to writ ethis post…

Well, I finally updated this site, by deleting that page of stuff to do as far as posts go. After all, after making off with $1000 worth of software for $100, including TaskPaper (Google it) I can write task lists on my very own computer with ease, so I’m just keep ing blog to-dos there.

So instead of doing calculus 3 or economics questions at the moment, I’ve decided to listen through “Something To Say” by Matthew West to see whether any of its melodies are fit for my radio show, now airing at 6-7 pm Mountain Time Mondays because my original time gotrather hijacked…even though I’m now radio station president. But anyway, I’m also going to rant and rave about text messaging…

First off,why the heck to carriers think they can chargetwo arms and a leg for a service that effectively costs them nothing in bandwidth, is not time-sensitive, is ten years old and generaly a staple that should get cheaper and not more expensive? But let me explain…

A text message merely gets slotted in when your phone checks, every few seconds, with the tower to make sure there are no incoming calls or important stuff like that. There are a few hundred bytes left in the status message, so why not use those to transmit short messages from phone to phone? Thus SMS (Short Message Service) was born. Again, when a phone sends or receives a text, it’s send ing some sort of information anyway, this time around it just happens not to be an empty container.

So why the price hike from five or ten cents per message to fifteen, and now twenty, hard-earned pennies for somewhere between 140 and 160 characters of  text? Even if you can formulate your thoughts better textually than via voice, you can now on a typical phone plan talk for a full two minutes for the price of one text, one way. Two minutes at one hundred words per minute (not unusual) gets you 1000 or so characters. Seems to me texting is WAY overpriced. Especially since the bandwidth it uses, even when directly compared to voice, is less 0.2 seconds of a call. I’m not making this stuff up.  You heard me right; if a carrier is charging 10 cents per minute for calls, they should logically charge 0.1 cents per text message to maintain a similar profit margin. So even a penny per message is a big ripoff. And…twenty cents per message. If you were paying even a penny per text message for data access in that quantity, data would cost six cents per kilobyte, double the “pay as you go” rate for most providers’ rip-off data plans. And we’re paying twenty times that for a single message. Geez.

But there is hope. It’s called “what the carriers want you to do”. That is to say, get a texting bundle. You’ve got Virgin Mobile, offering 30 texts for $2, 200 texts for $5, one thousand texts for $10 and unlimited for $20. So unless you get the unlimited plan you’re paying a minimum of a penny per text, probably more. Other than the packages you’re paying 10 cents per text. To be fair, the packages include picture messaging (much, MUCH more data-intensive, and a decent use of your money,for the few times you use it…I’ve probably sent one hundred of such messages in my life, and we’re atlking 90% uploads to websites, and most people probably only send a message or two per month, if that), IM (data-service based, disgustingly small amounts of data per penny, twopenny ha’penny or dime) or e-mail (using a mini-email program so you won’t ue more than a thousand characters per message without throwing your hands up in desperation). But if you look, you’ll see in the right corner data plans, which start at $0.002 (yes, two tenths of a cent) per kilobyte, and end at a tenth of a cent per kilobyte. A thousand text messages would cost less than a buck. Way less.  But hey, you’ve got unlimited messaging if you want to text your heart out (and, contrary to popular disbelief, people do send\receive upwards of 5000 texts per month, especially if they use texting like instant messaging; with various alerts I use maybe 800-1000 per month on my included-in-plan unlimited feature).

Next, let’s quickly consider AT&T’s GoPhone service. Similar deal as Virgin Mobile; 200 messages for $5, 1000 for $10, unlimited for $20, but individual messages are 15 cents apiece. In contrast, data is $5 for 1 MB, $10 for 5 MB, $15 for 10 MB or $20 for unlimited per month. 1000 texts per month gets you through about $1 of that $5 in data. Or $5 if you pay per kilobyte, a penny per kilobyte to be precise. Not even close to the $10 per month you pay.

Contract time. AT&T has similar offerings to their prepaid service, except you pay $15 for 1500 messages instead of $10 for 1000. Lame. Verizon gives you 500 messages for $10, 1500 messages for $15 or 5000 messages for $20. Oh, and all these plans give you free text to and from Verizon subscribers. You can also get unlimited messaging as an integral part of your phone plan for $20 extra per month. Zzzz. Sprint is a bit better, though they started the 20-cent messaging craze. 300 messages for $5, 1000 for $10, unlimited for $15. Or, if you’re on a new Power Pack plan (one of their recent plans that doesn’t have free incoming calls and starts at $40 per month) you get the unlimited pack for just $10 on top of your plan. Or just grab a special plan (SERO) starting at $30 and get it included…my personal favorite choice. But $10 for unlimited isn’t horrible. Last but not least, T-Mobile gets 400 messages for $5 extra per month, 1000 for $10 or unlimited for $15. Fair enough, considering their plans are a fair bit cheaper than everyone else’s.  But the situation is stillr ather lame.

What I like better is how the smaller carriers do it. In Texas, the local carrier is Five Star Wireless. Unlimited text is $1.95 extra per month. I’ll go for that, if I had their service (I don’t but they have AMAZING coverage). The local unlimited carrier, Pocket (now with over 200,000 customers), gives everyone, on plans $25 and up (in other words, all their plans) the feature, plus unlimited picture messaging.  Sure beats having the carrier pay for voice bandwidth and inter-carrier long distance charges. CricKet gives unlimited text with most of their plans (starting at $30) or offers it for $5 extra. MetroPCS allows you to either add it for $3 per month to their $35 plan or get it free with any plan of $40 or more. That’s more like it.

Okay, so it’s a ripoff. But there are pockets of unlimited-ness out there. So if you text, lok for them and don’t bend to the unnecessary expense of having a line of service otherwise. Your texting overages will mount quicker than your talking overages…