Not only is the throughput better on a wired connection, but it is also (IME) a lot more reliable. The wireless routers I've used have a habit of flaking out periodically. I have to reboot it before a device can see it again.

I went wireless on my Series 2 when I moved into the new place here and so far it's been rock solid. I'm not transferring between Tivo's so I can't speak to the speed of that, but I do use the music streaming quite a bit.

My base is an Airport Extreme station from Apple. Also, all three of my powerbooks seem to be rock solid. At the moment I only have a small amount of Cat 5 running in the office and that's the way I hope to keep it. I'm planning to switch those connections over to GigE soon so that I can really have a fast connection to my effects and music server.

Has anyone else had problems getting to Hotmail lately? My work computer (which, admittedly, is slow) has been giving me server errors whenever I try to access the site for over a week.

I had no problems getting to Hotmail this morning, LJ.

Is anyone using the Voice over IP technology for their phone line?

I'm looking at one of the Vonage/Linksys products for my FAX line.

I'm not, but my buddy uses Vonage and thinks it's great.

Cool. I use my cell phone for everything and I'm tired of all the hidden charges and stuff on my landline bill. All I really need the line for is FAX and occasional voice calls.

Re: Applecare. One good thing about Applecare is that you have 1 year from your time of purchase (of your computer) to buy Applecare. I recently used this option as it's nice to not have to front the entire cost.

Also, if you are deciding between a 15" and 17" powerbook, I strongly suggest you physically see/hold both before buying. I have a 15" instead of the 17" because the 17" is just too big for where I generally want to use it.

The 17" are quite wide and deep, that is very true.

I was looking at 15's when I got mine, and thought that the 17 would be too unwieldy. The thing that Apple got so right is making the 17 so thin. I carry it with me all over the country and have been quite amazed that the size hasn't bothered me.

I ended up on the 17 because the extra screen real estate trumped the potential hassles of a big machine. I do audio editing and being able to see a few more tracks on a mix is worth so much to me. I also do a lot of remote desktop control where I'll have up to 5 computers controlled from my laptop and again the extra screen area makes a big difference.

I need to stop by my local Apple store and touch them both. I don't want the laptop to be a) the "little" computer or b) so large it never moves. What's the selection like on computer bags for 17" laptops? Getting better, I figure. I'll need to track down a knapsack.