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The magic system as stated in the GWB is simply this:

An earthly magic spell can do what technology can do. Mortal mages can manage less than a half-dozen 'normal' spells before becoming fatigued. There are a few things that make magic somewhat preferable to using equivilant technology:

Flexible

You don't need to actually carry a gun with you to get the same sort of effect as shooting someone with a pistol, and you don't have to worry about forgetting your cell phone at home when you need to get in touch with someone.

Portable

Provided you've done your homework, there's no need to carry much with you to do a spell.

The limitation/definition I've placed on this to let me play a bit looser with the 'four spells and your out' rule is that the magic allows equivilant of actions that a moderately well-off person could manage with technology in the same period of time. The difficulty or cost of doing something with technology is roughly comparable to the cost of magic.

For example, in a given day, I might:

• Drive a short distance to work.
• Communicate with any number of other people on various topics (with varying degrees of success, depending on how busy/distant they are).
• Look things up on the internet that are relatively easy to find in a short period of time.
• Drive home.
• Clean up the house a bit.
• Buy something on ebay. I might get this tomorrow if I pay quite a bit more, or let it take several weeks to arrive.

A mortal mage in Nobilis might then:

• Transport themselves in relative comfort and safety a short distance ( <100 miles)
• Communicate with any number of other people on various topics (with varying degrees of success, depending on how busy/distant they are).
• Scry for information on various topics.
• Clean up their house via spells or the aid of fractious sprites.
• Begin a week-long summoning, or conduct a more taxing summoning that will complete within the next 24 hours.

On another day, I might:

• Drive for ten hours to visit family: time consuming, but more affordable, leaving me some resources to play with once I arrive.
• Spend considerably more money to fly to visit family, arriving in a matter of hours, but with considerably less disposable income to use once I arrive.

A mortal mage might then:

• Perform a transportation spell for a long distance that is somewhat taxing, but not overly slow, due to the fact that movement is relatively slow.
• Perform a transportation spell for a long distance that is much more taxing, but gets them there much faster, albeit generally more 'tapped'.

I might:

• Spend a rather significant sum on money to buy a discreet firearm to use to defend myself with.

A mortal mage might then:

• Spend a great deal of time developing a reasonably deadly spell to defend herself with.

The one place where magic exceeds modern technology is in the realm of necromancy and demonic summonings/negotiation, for which there are (to the best of my knowledge), no technological equivilants.

This system works on several levels, not the least of which is governance: no one's going to be tossing off a bunch of fireballs, simply because no normal person with normal income is going to have access to a rocket launcher. They might get a hold of one in very extreme circumstances, but those events are passing rare, as would be the mage that would have developed a use for such a thing. (Special forces -- ie: the Camorra -- would have such things if necessary.)

Also, by extension, it's possible for me to 'tap myself out' for a long period of time by investing a lot of my resources in something more expensive. Such a purchase might lower my overall resources until the next payday, next month, or even next year, is it's something quite useful and expensive. Therefore, this lets me deal with a mage who performs a great many powerful magics in a short period of time, well exceeding the normal limits, and then face the consequence of being tapped out for a longer period of time -- perhaps even burned out entirely.