iBook

[flash99]

[s]Steveo wrote on 12:56, 22nd May 2004:
Mac = no

Alienware = yes

End.


What a well-constructed argument. Good advice!

Sorry, last post I forgot to write:

THE END

(does anyone else think this is a stupid thing to put on an open forum?)

[Bryn]

[s]flash99 wrote on 20:19, 21st May 2004:
Personally I'd go for an aluminium Powerbook (15-inch - 12-inches just don't do it no more:)


I like my 12" one though, as it is extremely portable. The 15" one is a little more of a luggable. My computer is so small, and so easy to carry to the library and such. I love it.

[sir Tufton Bufton]

[s]dunqn wrote on 23:23, 17th May 2004:
No! Don't get a mac. If you want something small and attractive, get one of these:

IMAGE:shop.sonystyle-europe.com/catalog/3F/3FE61218D3B900B5000000002BC29B8F.jpg
[s]Sony Vaio PCGTR2MP[/s]

In my opinion, as attractive as an iBook, plus it's a PC, so you can do so much more with it.

[hr]IMAGE:www.meatinthecloset.ws/Matrix_emoticon_II.gif



*rolleyes*

The fifteen thousand or so OS X apps available not enough for you?

What, precisely, is it that you want to do that you can't do on a Mac?

Catch inumerable virii? Download endless patches?

[le sigh]

[s]flash99 wrote on 13:35, 22nd May 2004:
So you wouldn't mind if the OS you were running crashed, say, every half hour and that you had to send your machine away every six months for repairs? Or it took a good quarter of an hour to start up and then another seven minutes to run your webbrowser despite reinstalling the OS every month (and paying for the system updates)?


Try reading what I wrote. Reliability should not be talked about as if it's some unusal thing. Reliability should be expected unless otherwise indicated, so to make a song and dance about the fact that it doesn't crash sounds dumb and like you're clutching at straws.

Also give ut up about your hatred of windows - it's the most popular OS and a lot of people happen to like it. In your opinion it sucks but in giving advice you might want to try being more impartial rather than going along the lines of "windows sucks" repeatedly.

It doesn't take much time or effort to shop around via the internet, and most of the good places let you choose no OS, or at the worst XP home edition which costs next to nothing.

If you are prepared to spend that much on a laptop it is only sensible to spend at least a little time checking out your options. If you were going for something dirt cheap it wouldn't matter but when you're talking about �900+ then it would be silly to just go on the advice of one little message board. And always remmerb to take into account that you should get at least a 2 year guarentee, at a least 3 year one would be better.

And I should know, being one of those JBH people, though in this case not a male one.

[flash99]

[s]Unregisted User le sigh wrote on 14:08, 22nd May 2004:
Try reading what I wrote. Reliability should not be talked about as if it's some unusal thing. Reliability should be expected unless otherwise indicated, so to make a song and dance about the fact that it doesn't crash sounds dumb and like you're clutching at straws.

All the examples I mentioned concerning constant crashing etc are real. As such I beg to differ. Reliability in home computers is far from expected, evn though it should be. Reliability is a crucial point in buying anything.

Also give ut up about your hatred of windows - it's the most popular OS and a lot of people happen to like it. In your opinion it sucks but in giving advice you might want to try being more impartial rather than going along the lines of "windows sucks" repeatedly.

Ah, the good old 'everyone uses it - it must be best argument'. I don't remember saying that 'windows sucks' at any point. If you must know, I feel that parts of it do, parts of it don't - in lots of ways MacOS 'sucks' too. I just have found it 'sucks' less and so it seems silly to leave such an integral issue out of consideration.


It doesn't take much time or effort to shop around via the internet, and most of the good places let you choose no OS, or at the worst XP home edition which costs next to nothing.

Sorry, but it really does take quite some time to research this stuff esp if you've not done it before - you're talking about some very technical things. After a quick search XP Home edition seems to be anything from £60-160 (amazon) which is hardly next to nothing (Incidentally, this is the OS that took 15 minutes to start up, if you're interested). I very nearly went with Linux a few years ago, but I didn't get the impression from the original posts that this was on the cards...


If you are prepared to spend that much on a laptop it is only sensible to spend at least a little time checking out your options. If you were going for something dirt cheap it wouldn't matter but when you're talking about �900+ then it would be silly to just go on the advice of one little message board. And always remmerb to take into account that you should get at least a 2 year guarentee, at a least 3 year one would be better.

Agreed, this is good advice - worth repeating.

And I should know, being one of those JBH people, though in this case not a male one.

Charmed to make your acquaintance. Incidentally, I don't think I assumed your gender at any point.

Flash!

[flash99]

[s]Bryn wrote on 06:24, 23rd May 2004:
I like my 12" one though, as it is extremely portable. The 15" one is a little more of a luggable. My computer is so small, and so easy to carry to the library and such. I love it.


The 15-inch one is about the size of a ringbinder (ie slightly bigger than a4) so I find the extra screen size better since I generally have to carry ringbinders too (i figure it's not much heavier). The tech specs seem to be slightly better at 15inch also (certainly used to be).

Flash!

[Campbell]

just use some paper, mate

[fluKe]

A few points from the posts above:

There are 64Bit linux distrobutions which can take advantage of the 64 Bit architecture - there are even some 64Bit database programs around and even 64 Bit games like UT2004.


Longhorn is not due out next year, MS wishes... it is slated for around late 2006/early 2007 at the moment though they are trying to push this date forward.


There will be a 64Bit version of windows by the end of the year - Windows XP64.


Windows XP does not, in any way, take 15 minutes to boot. On my computer (which isn't even top of the range) it takes about 40 seconds at most. It can be optimised to boot much faster as well (something lacking in MacOS I believe).


In laptops WindowsXP home often comes bundled for free as manufacturers have deals with Microsoft, XP Pro usually adds extra to the price (but only about £50 or so).


The person above mentioned somebody else said "everyone uses windows hence it's the best" that's not what they said at all - They said it was the most popular which should be kept in mind when giving advice. Which is true. Even if you hate the fact that Windows is run on a huge percentage of platforms or you don't personally like it you have to take it into consideration. Most applications are built for windows, and if you want compatibility and portability Windows is the best offering, not to mention that if you are after a gaming system Windows is about the only thing you can use. And as for compatibility etc. I would choose Linux over MacOS, every time. However obviously if somebody has used MacOS all their life they might be better of going with that.


I hate the fanboy mentality of the Mac vs PC debaters. I personally prefer a PC, give me a big hefty tower case eating up power and running windows any day - I will be the first to admit windows has it's flaws however. I also use Linux (prefer Red Hat) regularly and have a linux box at home. I have used MacOS, I personally don't like it but I'm not gonna slag it off, it's alright for some otherwise nobody would use it - it's just not for me.



If you are buying a new system, laptop or desktop you should definatley spend time researching the market. It very much depends what you want it for.

For gaming your obviously going to want to run Windows and have a fairly high spec machine.

For general office tasks probably still windows with a copy of MS Office (which even Mac users admit is a good DTP app as MS Office is generally installed on most Macs) and the specs don't matter so much.

For graphics work you might want to think about a Mac, but then is graphics all your going to be doing?

For video work... get a desktop (apart from anything else you need a lot of RAM, which for a laptop is expensive)!!!