So I’m trying to decide what my next Macintosh will be. Some swank powerbook this summer, cuz I love the new features (bluetooth, better airport, etc) or a new tower, because they are so fast.
The disadvantages to a tower, though, is that I’d have to sit at a desk, which I loathe when I am home. The couch is a much warmer, friendlier atmosphere!
So I was thinking about using a tower remotely via my current powerbook. A friend told me to check into Apple Remote Desktop. Has anyone had any experience using it over 802.11b? Is it fast?
I’d like to have a super fast tower with tons of disk space for compiling, video editing, etc. If I can do some of that work from the couch, even better!
If video playback was too slow (which I imagine it would be) I wonder if 802.11g would help? I could get some PCMCIA 802.11g card with an Airport Extreme basestation. That would solve my airport reception issues as well.
Then the only laptop issue would be integrated bluetooth. Maybe some enterprising company would ship a combo bluetooth/802.11g/802.11b PCMCIA card with OS X drivers 🙂
Thoughts?
Hi
Remote Desktop works–but it’s not fast. It’s OK for quick log ins to help an end user (the way I used it) or an emergency change setting, but not for real use. In fact, I think it’s perhaps even a little slower than using Timbucktoo.
As for what to buy, I’ve been buying laptops since the 180. You can use it a desk of you want (there are a number of stands and docking stations that make it more desklike) and if you get a PowerBook you can use an external monitor. That way, you have the desktop and the laptop. And as fast as they’re getting, it’sgetting to the point that unless you’re doing rendering or digitizing, I’m not sure you really, on a daily basis, get that much from the speed.