Grr, the power cord issue! Good to know that it hasn't actually been solved with the new MagSafe thing -- my roomie was the first to trip over my cord on the iBook but the pin bends so easily, I am officially now on my 5th power cord -- or maybe 6th? It's ridiculous either way, with them costing at least $60 each. And of course, not covered under warranty!

I have a couple of friends who love their MacBooks. I guess I'm just concerned that I'll be in the same boat in another 2 years, having made the MacBook do the duty of a much tougher machine.

I think my secret option is to ask my employer to build some kind of equipment subsidy into next year's budget -- something like, I pay half and they pay half. I work for a non-profit so I am sort of expected to have my own work computer but I don't think it's unreasonable to see if the organization can go halfsies on a MacBook Pro in a year or so. And in the meantime, I can try out the iMac thing and see how it goes? I dunno!