Purchasing a Laptop -- help needed

[Cadet]

Don't know if this is still accurate, but when I was buying my Mac laptop a few years back the USB port was a big deal... the little iBooks didn't have them on the right side, making it tough for a right-handed person to plug in and use a mouse without an extension.

While I love, love, love my Powerbook, PC laptops do seem to be a little more durable... mine is very tempermental about being picked up and moved, I usually have to restart.

 

[sportsed]

I luse a Mac Desktop G5 for some work I do and I like OS X and obviously all of the software you might need from the MS suite for writing to Quark to InDesign, Photoshop etc. runs on the mac. The one thing I will caution is that Apple is selling overpriced hardware to people who want their operating system. You can get a comparable computer with the same power as one of the new macs running the Intel Duo Core processor for a fraction of the price, but the machine will be running windows, not OS X. Apple's business model is that people want the apple software bad enough to overpay for the hardware. It's a personal choice you have to make.

As an aside, when Apple decided to build its new machines with Intel processors, instead of on the Motorolla processors they had been using, they opened a can of worms. They had to rewrite OS X to run on the Intel architecture, and the minute those early versions of the operating system were released to developers the hackers got to work on it. You can actually now run OS X--hacked, patched versions that are easy to find--on any Intel-based machine. If you want to go to the trouble, you can build a machine with very comparable parts to the new Macs--same processor, components, etc.--and minimize the chance that some components don't work with the hacked operating system. The machine you build will cost a fraction of the price of what Apple is charging. I know most people aren't going to go to that kind of trouble, but I am running OS X on an old Dell laptop that isn't even optimally set up for it, and it runs fairly well. I did it just because I could.

Take a picture of that and post it ... I'd like to see that on a Dell.

 

[Pastor]

While Apple makes an exceptional O/S, there could be a case of portablity of old data.

The old computer was a Dell, and as long as the hard drive is not the reason for the PC's death, all data can be saved.

Also, check on the applications that are most important. Are they offered for the Apple O/S? While this concern has been minimized greatly in recent years, it still isn't exactly on par.

 

[The Big Ragu]

I luse a Mac Desktop G5 for some work I do and I like OS X and obviously all of the software you might need from the MS suite for writing to Quark to InDesign, Photoshop etc. runs on the mac. The one thing I will caution is that Apple is selling overpriced hardware to people who want their operating system. You can get a comparable computer with the same power as one of the new macs running the Intel Duo Core processor for a fraction of the price, but the machine will be running windows, not OS X. Apple's business model is that people want the apple software bad enough to overpay for the hardware. It's a personal choice you have to make.

As an aside, when Apple decided to build its new machines with Intel processors, instead of on the Motorolla processors they had been using, they opened a can of worms. They had to rewrite OS X to run on the Intel architecture, and the minute those early versions of the operating system were released to developers the hackers got to work on it. You can actually now run OS X--hacked, patched versions that are easy to find--on any Intel-based machine. If you want to go to the trouble, you can build a machine with very comparable parts to the new Macs--same processor, components, etc.--and minimize the chance that some components don't work with the hacked operating system. The machine you build will cost a fraction of the price of what Apple is charging. I know most people aren't going to go to that kind of trouble, but I am running OS X on an old Dell laptop that isn't even optimally set up for it, and it runs fairly well. I did it just because I could.

Take a picture of that and post it ... I'd like to see that on a Dell.

Can't do it till tomorrow, but sure, why not...

 

[PaseanaARG]

The MacBooks, as a bonus, can run XP without too much trouble since they're using Intel chips now.

I'm using an older Powerbook, and it's still plenty fast for me. I love Apple. LOVE Apple. I can't imagine not using one.

 

[Perry White]

If you have a Dell laptop, see if it's being recalled due to a fire hazard: https://www.dellbatteryprogram.com/Default.aspx

 

[BYH]

If anyone here buys a Dell I will hunt you down and kill you. And no court in the land would convict me.

Dell. forking. Sucks.

I forking hate Dell. The day I get a new Mac--and drop this hunk of shirt off the tallest building I can find--will be one of the five happiest days of my life.

 

[HeinekenMan]

If anyone here buys a Dell I will hunt you down and kill you. And no court in the land would convict me.

Dell. forking. Sucks.

I forking hate Dell. The day I get a new Mac--and drop this hunk of shirt off the tallest building I can find--will be one of the five happiest days of my life.

But, dude, it's a Dell.

 

[Chuck~Taylor]

If anyone here buys a Dell I will hunt you down and kill you. And no court in the land would convict me.

Dell. forking. Sucks.

I forking hate Dell. The day I get a new Mac--and drop this hunk of shirt off the tallest building I can find--will be one of the five happiest days of my life.

But, dude, it's a Dell.

 

[lono]

Macs totally rule. But buy the extended warranty. It's money well spent.

I travel all over the country with my Mac and it gets tons of use and insane abuse. When the hard drive shirt the bit at the end of last season, Apple replaced it free of charge, no questions asked.

The local Apple genius told me, "There are only two kinds of hard drives. The ones that have crashed and the ones that will."

Glad I got the extended warranty.