[designerguy]

I'm getting the 12" ibook sometime soon...will I need/find useful the blue tooth option?

Also there's an option for a bigger hard drive 30, 60, 80 gb. Which is best? The 80 is $125 more. (the only downside is that only apple.com has the option to upgrade the drive..the other discount stores offer more freebee stuff any ideas?)

[ghoti]

Bluetooth is useful if you have a mobile phone that speaks BT and that you want to sync with. Also, Internet access using your phone and BT can be handy while you're on the road. Another application is using a BT headset, especially for VoIP. If you don't use any of those, you probably don't have much use for BT, however.

As for the HD, I would recommend the biggest one you can/want to afford. Replacing it later is difficult and pricey, and you really can't have too much space - especially if you plan on having that PB for several years.

[Stevuh]

BT is also useful for some wireless mice. Like the apple wireless mouse and keyboard. It means that you don't have to have both the mouse and the wireless station to use it.

[ghoti]

Speaking of mice: I also use Salling Clicker to use my phone as a wireless "remote" when giving presentations. That's very handy, and I don't have to take a separate thing (BT mouse) with me for that purpose.

[Luca]

Yes, but Bluetooth keyboards and mice generally suck. They lag and have connection issues. I've heard so many people complaining of jumpy Bluetooth mice that I've decided to completely stay away from Bluetooth at all costs. I am so used to using wireless mice that I can't live without one, but I have to use a Logitech MX-series with its FastRF to eliminate any lag. For about a year and a half I used an MX700, and just recently I sold that with my old computer and now I use an MX1000.

[Stevuh]

Huh i used one of the Mac BT mice and it worked awesome, after we got it set-up, but in retrospect even that wasn't really that hard. Hmmm ::Gives Up::

[torifile]

BT is great if you have a phone that uses it. Or a PDA. Either one will allow you to find something useful to do with it.

[mers]

I don't have any problems with either my Bluetooth keyboard or mouse and my Powerbook. I use iSync to synchronize my K700i's phone book and calendar over BT, and I use my phone's built in HID profile + Apple's builtin HID support to use my phone to control Powerpoint presentations.

I'd be lost without Bluetooth.

[longwood]

how come there is no option to upgrade not only size but also the speed of the hard drive? for me personally, 4200rpm is a little slow.

[Luca]

I guess Apple considers 5400 RPM hard drives to be in the realm of pro customers, the ones who buy PowerBooks. There are a lot of features that are only available in the PowerBooks.

I think this will change fairly soon... mobile hard drives are slowly but surely getting faster and larger. Right now the biggest 4200 or 5400 RPM hard drive you can get is 100 GB, and the biggest 7200 RPM is just 60 GB. Soon those numbers will be pushed up to 120 GB and 100 GB, respectively. And that is just the beginning. With laptops and MP3 players getting to be so popular, storage companies are looking for ways to compete aside from just offering a fuck-ton of space for desktops. I mean, there's a limit to how useful a 600 GB hard drive is over a 400 GB. Most desktop owners don't need more than 120-160 GB anyway. But laptop owners are not only restricted to 100 GB currently, but they also tend to be a bit more demanding.

If I remember correctly, desktop hard drives got to 120 GB several years ago and shortly after that, they rocketed to 250 GB in rather short order. I'd like to see laptop hard drives do the same.

By the way, my comments about Bluetooth are based on what I've read and heard in various places. I haven't actually used an Apple Bluetooth mouse or keyboard, I've just heard bad things about them. But since I haven't used them, you can't consider me to be a great authority in the matter... I was just offering my opinion based on what I know.

[Maciej]

Bluetooth is nice, I have an apple wireless mouse and it is handy (there's also other BT mice out there). My phone syncs with the PB and the address-book/calander, which is really handy for keeping consistency on the go, and I just recently synced the phone with the Beemer, which is really handy for handsfree calling with the phonebook from my phone.

I can only agree with Luca about the hard-drive...

[LAmezq3984]

I would be lost without bluetooth!! I use it on my powerbook all day, its constantly on. Ihave the apple wireless keyboard, and that is great, haven't had a problem with it. I have the S710a Sony Ericsson phone, and I use that with salling clicker to control movies, control itunes, move the mouse, check my e-mail, all in my bed (Bluetooth=lazy). I sync my address book in my phone to my PB. Bluetooth is just amazing, it has made my life so much easier. But if you don't have use for those things, then leave it out