Extract From Byte Magazine - Jan 08 - Why use a Mac

[Steve Bildermann]

As Byte is now a subscription service I thought some people might enjoy reading some extracts.

One Way Networking

It's not really one way: If you sit at the Mac after getting it on the Windows Active Directory network, everything works. You can see any machine on the Windows net that wants to be seen, and you can copy any file set up to be shared. You can also write to any folder you have permission to write to. This all works exactly as does the Windows network accessing other PCs, and you can do this without Thursby AdmitMac although you will have a lot of trouble doing it; it's a lot easier with Thursby.

Alas, if you go to one of the Windows machines and try to access the Mac, it's not so simple. With Active Directory and Windows Sharing it won't work at all. If you use AdmitMac, you can read from folders the Mac has designated for sharing, but writing to them is another matter. That can be done, but it takes setting things properly: The Mac defaults are much more secure than the Windows systems are set to be. <continued>

[Steve Bildermann]

[Caustic Saint]

Pretty spot-on, with one slight exception:

One moral of this story is always buy computers with the least possible amount of RAM, then buy what you need from Crucial or Kingston. It will cost you less: RAM prices keep falling, and often computer companies paid more for RAM than you can buy it for now. I now have a useless 256 MB RAM module, and pretty soon I will have two. Thanks, Apple.

When buying in the US (where he is) - yes. If you're in Japan, however, check out the New Year Promos at the Apple Store. The big one being the "Double your memory" promo.

Some of the RAM prices still aren't that good of a deal, but on the iBook you can jump from 256MB to 640MB (lose a 128MB stick and get a 512MB one) for only 10,000 yen. A better deal than buying the extra RAM on your own and figuring out what to do with the leftover 128MB stick.