mahimahi42

I've only had to contact Apple support once, and I was very impressed. The only problem was after the computerized voice transferred me to an actual human, she had a thick Indian accent (outsourcing anyone?), and it was sometimes was hard to understand her. But once I got to an American (or at least someone I could understand), I was helped very well. I was offered a replacement iPod free of charge, and since it was the Product(Red) Nano, they would even donate the money again. However, my problem was eventually solved with trying it on another computer, she was very helpful. Point being, if you need customer support you don't have to learn yourself (sorry Linux), trust Apple.

At my old middle school, 7th and 8th graders got white MacBooks in a similar situation. They were mildly helpful, as the computer labs were always full, and it was nice going online to access extra related material, but it was pretty much pointless. The school division's filter blocked out pretty much everything (except for Hak.5, as I recently found out ^_^), and they blocked out the cool programs like Terminal. Thing was, they had a few 5TB servers in the library so teachers could send students work and so students could backup their work, but the only security they put on them was the internet filter, and a user/pass combo. Now, the school was split between the regular kids, and the gifted kids (us). The regular kids never did anything...good(grey hat I mean)...but we did, and often. Notes were electronically sent, and the wi-fi they put in at the end of the year didn't even have the filter on it until after they took the laptops back. But alProxy-Connection: keep-alive Cache-Control: max-age=0 us kids got the universal password easily with some ingenuity. Point being, know the kids you're giving the laptops to. Or, at least, give it some kind of security.

In my poor school backback, I carry - School books (durr) - Über-binder, complete with Apple stickers and Hak.5 sayings =) - Couple 1GB USB drives (Ubuntu installer on one, MAC OS 7 on another, Portable Apps Suite on a third, and a few extra for projects and general hacking.) - Pens and Pencils - LG Musik (yes, my phone sucks, I'm saving up for an iPod Touch though, SMS ftw) - Product(Red) iPod Nano 4G 8GB Engraved (anyone know of a good Linux distro for it that it compatible with iTunes, or that iTunes can at least restore to factory settings.) - Extra headphones - 1GB Sansa mp3 player in case the iPod dies on me. - Duct Tape wallet In my camo Air Force backpack however... - 1TB external hard drive (might put Ubuntu on it) - 5 1GB USB drives, loaded up with Linux and Portable App goodness, and WAIK - Water bladder, complete with telescopic straw (Military engineering for you =P) - When I get it, white Mac Book 120GB with charger and maybe extra battery - Notebook and writing utensils - Air Force multitool (At school right now, so I can't upload a pic) - CDs with WAIK when someone I know gets BSOD/screws up their Dell I might make a few patches based on Hak.5 schwag to sew on both =) Either way, I'm ordering some schwag here soon hopefully.