It’s with immense pleasure that I am announcing that I’ve ordered my first ever Apple computer, the newly-released MacBook laptop through LCI. I’ll receive it at latest by mid-august.
Here are the detailed technical specs if you want to know the details (en résumé, White / 2GHz Intel Core Duo / 1Gb RAM / 80Gb HD / DVD Writer / Wi-Fi / Bluetooth).
I’ve been dreaming of a Mac for years…
Shane says
Congratulations. Oh, the anticipation! Did you go for the glossy screen?
I know you love programming. I recommend TextMate.
javed says
Congrats …how much is LCI selling the MacBook?
avinash says
To Shane:
Thanks. I’ve bought the white 2GHz version… so I’ll get the glossy screen. Most reviews say it’s great except that it is glossy ;-)
I’ll surely buy TextMate as the feature set is impressive (and it costs only 39 euros)
To Javed:
Lots. Around Rs. 63,000. But, as I explained before, they are “only” getting a bit less than Rs. 10,000 as profit (and providing the service). The rest is that bloody VAT. By the way, I’ve also bought the Mini-DVI to Video and VGA converters.
Eddy Young says
Congratulations, Avinash!
Don’t forget to post your first Photo Booth pic on your weblog!
I think all Apple Computers come with -to-VGA converters. Wait until you order one separately.
TextMate? What’s wrong with vim? :-)
Eddy
Eddy Young says
Forgot to remark: I guess you didn’t read Stephane’s post then…
http://www.stephanelee.com/2006/07/24/dont-buy-the-hype-dont-buy-apple.html
Olivier says
Congratulations! How do you like the keyboard? =)
Over here, a similarly configured white MacBook would cost Rs 52,453.80. It is Rs 45, 612 without, so if VAT is 15%, it would appear you’re right, they’ve got a Rs 10,000 profit.
How do you like Emacs as an editor?
Raj says
So I suppose you already know this
You can download the PDF containing things that didn’t go into the book.
avinash says
To Eddy:
Thanks. I am really excited to finally getting hold of my own MacBook… I have been waiting for so long (since 1989 = launch of the NeXT computer :-) )
To Olivier:
I don’t have it yet! I am a massive fan of Vi and, unfortunately, I don’t understand Emacs (even though I like Scheme and Lisp a lot). I really need to have a deep look at TextMate though… the same way I’ve really looked at Kate and found it to be a very very good text editor.
To Raj:
Thanks. But, as you correctly guessed, I am already an avid reader of Amit Singh.
My comments to Stéphane’s blog entry:
PC laptops are really cool… but, in my opinion, they are designed for “standard” computer geeks (disclaimer: this is not supposed to be pejorative nor offensive).
But I am not a “standard” geek: I drive a Renault Mégane, I am married to a non-Hindu, I am an atheist and my kids have been declared as “religion: none (until they choose by themselves when they are 18)”, I listen to Depeche Mode and Aphex Twin and Röyksopp etc., I like Ruby and Scheme and Haskell more than Java and C++ combined, I do not indulge in piracy, I do not really care about money but more about what money can provide, I like photography and art in general, I even play the keyboard… etc. etc.
I started with an Amiga in the eighties. At that time, I was composing music and doing video titling and programming in Assembly/C/C++ in a multitasting environment. When the PC revolution (?) occured in the 1990, I felt very constrained.
I looked for alternatives (so I could get the same adrenalin kick as with the Amiga) and I discovered Linux. And it was fantastic. But this was nearly ten years ago…
Now I really feel it’s time to rediscover a new world (that I’ve been longing for 18 years) hence my decision to buy the Apple MacBook…
In 10 years, I’ll buy the latest Google Quantum Cluster at $99, don’t worry ;-)
Stéphane Lee says
There is a premium to being hip and cool.
At least on OS X, you can use apt-get.
Shane says
Eddy: vim is my second favourite after TextMate :) Emacs, I haven’t used since 1999 or 2000.
Olivier says
heh. I don’t understand vi… i only know 1 command, which is :q =)
Its something i’d like to get into though.
Recently, i’ve been basking in both visual studio and eclipse.
VS was a necessity because i was called to code some asp.net web-app… no mono for me. I have to say its pretty intuitive, but not as intuitive as eclipse imo. But IDE’s make life much easier… too easy even.
In any case, my general purpose editor when i’m not coding java or c# remains emacs =)
Vik says
I’m surprised by how you’ve fallen so low by using the term ‘non-hindu’ like one of the so many independent journalists termed our first ‘non Hindu prime minister’ way back in 2003. If your wife happens to be Christian, call her ‘Christian’. If she was declared as ‘non Hindu’, I would agree with you. There are many ways to qualify one’s religious affiliation. You could have used ‘non-Muslim’, ‘non-Pagan’, ‘non-Mormon’, ‘non-Amish’ or even non-I don’t know what more.
The fact that you are an atheist is non of our business. It does not symbolise our contemporary society where money and materialism easily buy whatever crap out there including your own religion after all. Perhaps you should check out this thread:
http://www.hindunet.org/srh_home/1996_2/msg00192.html
That’s food for your thought.
avinash says
Just to make things clear:
(1) I’m actually delighted to be a Hindu who is married to a non-Hindu as this allows me to talk a lot about the hypocrisy of calling Mauritius multi-racial. Read my previous sentence once more and you’ll understand what I was trying to convey.
(2) I don’t believe in god since I’m 10 years old and this is public knowledge. I understand that some people might feel that this should remain private but, in my opinion, it’s as legitimate for me to say I’m an atheist as it is for most Mauritians to say that they belong to this or that religion, especially on my weblog.
Ah! The joys of blogging ;-)
Eddy Young says
Ah! The intricacies of the thought process. For a moment, I was trying to figure out how a blog post on a MacBook purchase could yield a comment about religion, then I found the thread.
avinash says
;-)
By the way, I’m still waiting for my MacBook. The LCI guy has promissed me that I’ll get it before the 15th of August.
I only hope Jobs does not announce a MacBook replacement during next week’s WWDC…
J000000 says
The thing that you are realistic is the most important thing. it is the choice of anybody to believe in what he/she wants. this is the way that I apreciate with Mr Avinash, he does not believe in god and he simply tell it. Who cares about. Mr Avinash est libre de dire ce qu’il veut a propos des religions.
Keep on posting Mr Avinash
avinash says
Thanks
Shriman says
Dear all, Ihave been robbed…my macbook same comfigeration as yours- 2.0 Ghz, 80 HD, 1mb Ram
white hardly used for 8 month…
Please keep a watch and please inform me if u find something…
Thank u and take care guys! Bye
avinash says
I will.