I finally got to replace my ancient iMac (a seven-year-old G4), courtesy an OK bonus at work. After suffering along with a machine that wouldn't run my newish 160 GB iPod Classic, I managed to get an entry-level MacBook. Of course, the first thing I had to do was soup it up with extra memory and a bigger hard drive, adding 25% to that base-model cost.

Macs are well-known, so I'll spare you all the usual descriptions in favor of a few of my impressions that you won't see in the various web reviews.

I miss having a full keyboard. It's not just the lack of a ten-key pad, but having both a delete and a backspace key. And the fact that some of the function buttons are forced into double duty is not a thrill. I've never used a laptop extensively before, so I wasn't fully prepared for how much I'd miss the extra keys.

I paid to get a copy of Apple's iWork software suite, their version of office software (word-processing, spreadsheet, presentation). After opening my Excel-formatted budget spreadsheet, I immediately wanted my $50 back! I've already installed Microsoft Office for Mac and as always, it's the best software I've ever seen from the Redmond giant. Better than the Windows version!

I bought the Apple remote for the laptop and have been running the computer's included Front Row software occasionally. That is a sensational feature. I've stopped using Front Row in favor of running iTunes with the remote. It works great and I love being able to turn off the music from bed without getting up. Makes it easier to fall asleep.

It's nice to have BitTorrent, after finding that there weren't any compatible clients for my old computer. I might use it now and then, tee hee!

CDs listened to today:

• Various Artists: Awesome 80s, disk 1
• Charles Wuorinen: String Trio
• Dmitri Shostakovich: The String Quartets, disk 4
• Various Artists: Totally Hits 2