Charles Gaba Updated His Mac/PC Shootout Charts

From Charles Gaba, "The AAPLTalk Mac/PC System Shootout charts have been updated & expanded yet again! All 4 categories have been completely updated & revised to reflect the latest offerings, including the new LCD iMac, Dual-GHz PowerMac, and 14" iBook. I've also switched to a much more accurate and easy-to-follow "best of field" rating system. In addition to the latest Mac/PC comparisons, due to popular request, I've also added two new shootouts comparing all of Apple's offerings against each other in both the desktop and laptop arenas."

-- Weekend, February 16-17 --

[Update] Review--New iMac in The Washington Post Sunday edition's Business section by Rob Pegoraro. His review is generally quite favorable. Unfortunately, the review has the price wrong! The reviewed top-of-the-line iMac is $1,799 not $1,899 as the review states. Both the print and online versions have the wrong price but maybe the online one will be corrected. Pegoraro complains about the ports being in the back of the new iMac's hemispherical base. They are easy to reach but anyone who really wants them on the side like the original iMac can simply rotate the base or the screen 90 degrees. He also complains that the 60 GB drive is small--give me a break! I have yet to fill a 20 GB drive on either of my Cubes or 500 MHz TiBook.

[Update] Circuit City $100 Desktop Computer Package Rebate: From 2/17 through 2/23 Circuit City has a $100 rebate on all desktop computer bundles that include a monitor and printer or scanner. The rebate applies to an iMac with a printer or scanner. It is presumably on top of any clearance discount one may find since Circuit City will no longer carry Apple's consumer products. [Dana Baggett].

[Update] From the Dark Side--M$ Must Provide Windows Source Code to States that are not part of the antitrust proposed settlement according to this Netscape News article. All along, Microsoft has maintained that Internet Explorer is an integral part of Windows and can not be removed. The Justice Department and States proved that was not true to Judge Jackson's satisfaction in the original trial. But, M$ now has a new judge and apparently may allege the same thing. The States want the actual Windows code, including Windows XP, to debunk the claim and to support their proposed remedy. Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly agreed with the States.

Microsoft's claim is bogus, of course. Maybe they pass their own red face test by defining what constitutes Internet Explorer in such a way that their claim appears to them to be true. Didn't a recent US President use the same tactic? [Dana Baggett]

[Update] Follow Up--TechTool Pro v3.0.6 and TechTool Lite 3.0.2 Updates are very popular and the servers at Micromat, Version Tracker and MacUpdate are swamped as a result. [Martin Totusek] All three servers are available for downloading from the Micromat site. Saturday morning we had no problem with the MacUpdate server for both updates, not so with Version Tracker or Micromat.