MacBook® All-in-One For Dummies®

Chapter 1. Hardware That Will Make You Giddy

In This Chapter

• Using digital cameras, digital video camcorders, and scanners

• Adding keyboards, trackballs, joysticks, and drawing tablets

• Using optical recorders

• Adding speakers, subwoofers, and an iPod

Hardware. We love it. To a MacBook power user, new hardware holds all the promise of Christmas morning, whether your new toys are used for business or for pleasure. We pore over magazines and visit our favorite Mac Web sites like clockwork to check on new technology.

These hardware devices don't come cheap, however, forcing you to make the painful decision regarding which new hardware you really need in order to accomplish what you want and which hardware is a luxury. Also, if you're a new MacBook owner, you might not know what's available. For example, I constantly get e-mail from readers, asking, "What can I connect to my new computer?" I guess I could reply, "Why, the kitchen sink!" To that end, I decided to add this chapter to the book to let you know how you can expand the hardware for your mobile Mac OS X Snow Leopard powerhouse.

Each section in this chapter provides a description of what a particular device does, an idea of how much it costs, and a set of general guidelines that you can use when shopping. Although this isn't in-depth coverage — after all, the book is supposed to be about your laptop — it will serve to get you started if you've just become a MacBook owner. If you're especially interested in a specific piece of hardware, ...