Laptop Recommendations

I got a Mac Book Pro 17" last year, the equivalent laptop from Dell with the same proc, memory, hard drive, graphics card and screen would have cost $300 more.
I run a windows on it as well, no prob. So far I haven't come across a windows laptop that can boot faster.
What makes it easy to maintain is that the software drivers/support for all the components/software are incorporated into the OS. I haven't had trouble with an incompatable driver since Mac OS 8 1997?
A beta version of Adobe CS3 was up and running on the Mac, instantly stable and compatable with everything, not one glitch, I can´t say the same with setting it up on Windows, took months.
In 12 years of using Macs on the internet I have never once used anti virus software nor had any reason to do so.
Up to OS9, it was a doddle to manage the extensions, drivers, software support whereas finding troublesome things in the Windows registry was a feckin nightmare.
Since OS X I haven´t had one reason to even have a look where the drivers are on the OS.
I got a white Mac Book for my daughter to use at her school. For school she uses the Windows side, for everything else she is on the Mac side.

Boot Camp is an absolute doddle
I haven´t tried Paralells (supposedly even easier) because at the time Paralells didn´t support 3D.

Nowadays Mac OS can installed on a PC (with some extra effort) so brand name doesn't matter. I´d be interested to piece together my own now.

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Originally Posted by GavinZac

What exactly is superior about it?

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Speed, Stability, ease of navigation and the colours on screen are much closer to actual colours when processed. the last being the main reason they are used in the Graphic and Print industries

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Originally Posted by GavinZac

I agree that the average bebo, ebay and word processing user will probably have far less hassle and problems if they used a Mac over Windows Vista.

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Is that an air of superiority I detect Gavin?

I don't use social networking and rarely use word processing on my Mac.

I orginally bought my Imac for design reasons, as I live in the standard Dublin small one bed apartment and wanted something I could stick in the corner of my bedroom.

The reason I'd continue buying Macs is probably now more about stability and the vastly superior user interface (vs vista or especially XP).

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Originally Posted by Block G Raptor

Speed, Stability, ease of navigation and the colours on screen are much closer to actual colours when processed. the last being the main reason they are used in the Graphic and Print industries

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I don't know about speed, but stability over windows is an advantage - however, I can't see that being a reason for graphics works choosing it since the average IT worker on windows NT has a lot more to lose should their machine go, than an artist. not sure about the last one; isnt it just a case of selecting the right deisplay settings for the right monitor? Its that way in linux anyway.

None of that seems to give any advantage over linux, however.

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Originally Posted by OneRedArmy

Is that an air of superiority I detect Gavin?

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No! I dont see how saying that people having different needs for their PC implies any kind of superiority. What I am saying is that the stability and lack of maintenance required makes it perfect for a home user - but again, you can get the same thing for free...

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I orginally bought my Imac for design reasons, as I live in the standard Dublin small one bed apartment and wanted something I could stick in the corner of my bedroom.

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You wanted the shiny fruit coloured backside of it, in other words, and you paid the extra dosh for it. If I may start generating that air of superiority now, thats pretty much like selecting books for your library because they've got nice covers. if someone is happy to do that, fair play, but I'd see it as nonsensical.

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The reason I'd continue buying Macs is probably now more about stability and the vastly superior user interface (vs vista or especially XP).

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Again, I'll give you stability but then the same is true of linux, at zero cost. UI vastly superior? I don't know. Really? I mean, it does look pretty out of the box but then with a little effort its pretty easy to exactly replicate the mac look - after all, its pretty much just a theme and an iconset.

Windows: http://www.teknobites.com/wp-content.../tekno/osx.jpg
Linux: http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/4842/286861wq6.png

Personally I prefer my set up, aero's glossiness can be a bit distracting while trying to code.

http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/8...eenshotxa7.png
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/8...enshot1hk0.png

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Originally Posted by GavinZac

You wanted the shiny fruit coloured backside of it, in other words, and you paid the extra dosh for it. If I may start generating that air of superiority now, thats pretty much like selecting books for your library because they've got nice covers. if you're happy to do that, fair play, but I'd see it as nonsensical.

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Don't expect to be taken serious with this hogwash of slyly refusing to take ORA's reply as it was stated. This type of debating tactic is low standard.
ORA wrote clearly what his original reason was and what his reason is now.

The original reason why I bought a mac is radically different to why I would continue to do so.

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Originally Posted by geysir

Don't expect to be taken serious with this hogwash of slyly refusing to take ORA's reply as it was stated. This type of debating tactic is low standard.
ORA wrote clearly what his original reason was and what his reason is now.

The original reason why I bought a mac is radically different to why I would continue to do so.

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the "you" in question was generalised, the rest of my post answered the rest of his. I don't use "youse" :rolleyes: . If thats unclear, I'll edit "if you're happy" to "if someone is happy".

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Originally Posted by GavinZac

the "you" in question was generalised, the rest of my post answered the rest of his. I don't use "youse" :rolleyes: . If thats unclear, I'll edit "if you're happy" to "if someone is happy".

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Pull the other one.
Sound even more corny now.

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Originally Posted by geysir

Pull the other one.
Sound even more corny now.

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What? Elaborate or go spam another thread.

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Originally Posted by GavinZac

You wanted the shiny fruit coloured backside of it, in other words, and you paid the extra dosh for it. If I may start generating that air of superiority now, thats pretty much like selecting books for your library because they've got nice covers. if someone is happy to do that, fair play, but I'd see it as nonsensical.

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1. Its white. All white.
2. It has an integrated one box design which has a smaller footprint than any desktop I'm aware of.
3. Its actually more akin to selecting a paperback because you haven't got room for the hardback...

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Originally Posted by OneRedArmy

1. Its white. All white.
2. It has an integrated one box design which has a smaller footprint than any desktop I'm aware of.
3. Its actually more akin to selecting a paperback because you haven't got room for the hardback...

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oh ok, by imac, i assumed you meant one of these old monsters because we were talking past tense. Thats fair enough if the new slimmer "reconfigured laptop" size ones made more sense.

The rest stands, however.

Macs are a niche product. Like or hate it but Windows rules the business world.

I'm afraid he's right. I'm a linux consultant, developer and sysadmin, but I simply have to run Windows on my workstations for compatibility, communications, ease of use, etc. As much as I love desktop linux, it doesn't sync with my mobile, it doesn't work with my bank, and it's still buggy. It is getting there very fast though.

Wouldn't touch a mac with a barge pole, for the same reason I wouldn't buy an iPod or any other Apple product if I can possibly avoid it. Apple is a closed-minded, closed-source, self-serving and suppressive company that doesn't deserve the support of anyone that believes in open standards, open source and open society.

Don't even get me started on Vista. If it wasn't for Office, Microsoft would be in big trouble right now.

adam

This strip pretty much sums up what I think of Mac users: http://www.pvponline.com/2007/04/06/apr-6-2007/
As you might have guessed, I'm not a fan.

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Originally Posted by tetsujin1979

This strip pretty much sums up what I think of Mac users: http://www.pvponline.com/2007/04/06/apr-6-2007/
As you might have guessed, I'm not a fan.

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So you just ignored all the posts above?

Hugely open minded. Since you're so keen to pidgeonhole, I'll put you firmly in the nerdlinger category.

Macs are for people that use computers to do things, not people who use computers because they like to.

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Originally Posted by OneRedArmy

So you just ignored all the posts above?

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Nope, I've been reading the thread with interest since I posted on the first page

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Originally Posted by OneRedArmy

Hugely open minded. Since you're so keen to pidgeonhole, I'll put you firmly in the nerdlinger category.

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Sounds about right, I've owned a few PC's, and I've Linux on 2 of my machines at home at the moment, and one one of my work machines. Like Adam, I only use Windows out of necessity.

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Originally Posted by OneRedArmy

Macs are for people that use computers to do things, not people who use computers because they like to.

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Are you saying that people who use PC (Windows or Linux) don't use them to do things? If that's your point of view, it's not mine but I respect it.

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Originally Posted by OneRedArmy

Macs are for people that use computers to do things, not people who use computers because they like to.

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Computers are for people who use computers to do things. I've yet to hear of anyone getting hot under the collar for sitting at a keyboard.

I don't know if you're implying that linux users "use computers because they like to" but I cant really think of anything that Mac users would be doing that linux users wouldnt, except perhaps paying for all of their software.

From what I've seen, mac users tend to want to be different, and yet still conform to something. Has anyone been bold enough to try the live cd?

http://ie.releases.ubuntu.com/gutsy/...sktop-i386.iso

For the record, I do have an iPod. I had 2 creative Zens before that, both of which died on me, so I went with the iPod. I really hate iTunes though, so I stuck rockbox - http://www.rockbox.org/ - on it. Problem solved.

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Originally Posted by dahamsta

it doesn't work with my bank

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Which bank? from complaints on ubuntuforums.org, it seems as though some banks are blocking non-windows access, possibly in a misguided attempt to increase security (linux? isnt that what hackers use?). a suggested fix is the user-agent switcher for firefox (built into opera, also) which lets you pretend to the server its a vista box. of course, send a complaining email to the admin anyway.

Picked up a great bargain today in PC World.

Got an Apple Mac mini for only €249, a saving of over €300 on normal retail.

For anyone interested they also have Netgear DG834PN ADSL MIMO wireless modem routers with USB adapter for €79.99!!!!

Dragging this old boy up again.

My old beauty of a Dell Inspirion 1100 which has been on the go for years is starting to show its age to an extent. Having trouble with network both on the work on via ethernet (it keeps saying network cable disconnected etc etc) and on wifi it seems to lose the signal all the time.

I work in a British University which has an attached IT shop for students and staff so I went in and had a look around and this caught my attention. At first I thought it was a toy but it seems to have quite the cult following. Tiny little laptop with 7" screen, 4gb ssd and Linux Xandos installed. Been mentioned to be that Ubuntu would be better to use on it.

All I ever do is write word documents, internet and read pdf so the supplied firefox, mozilla and open office would seem to do the trick.

Am I mad to be considering this?!?

Ideally what I'd like to do is some how fix the Dell laptop (thinking maybe a usb ethernet adapter might do the job?) and then get the eee pc as a mobile yoke. I've been using a second hand jornada 680 for on the go stuff but its suffering from poor health too and the tiny keyboard isnt really an option for writting papers etc.

A few people I know are raving about them. Personally I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole, but then I'm a power user that believes in Big Monitors.

adam

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Originally Posted by SÓC

Been mentioned to be that Ubuntu would be better to use on it.

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No it wasn't :p Ubuntu would be better, but for this PC, i'd imagine the pre-installed distro would be the best option; otherwise they wouldn't have picked it ;) I just find Ubuntu's downloading/ubuntu system (the same as debians) to be the easiest; In fact it now frustrates me a lot when i have to go manually download things in Windows rather than just typing what i want into a search bar and having the latest version pop up immediately.

Someone I know is looking for a laptop, it'd mostly be used for playing games and maybe typing stuff the odd time. Very rarely used for internet. Any suggestions? Budget around 4/500.

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Originally Posted by sligoman

Someone I know is looking for a laptop, it'd mostly be used for playing games and maybe typing stuff the odd time. Very rarely used for internet. Any suggestions? Budget around 4/500.

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Plenty round for that price if it is for typing and internet etc but if they are planning on playing games then their budget would have to be 2k plus especially if it is any of the latest games as most of them would reqquire dedicated graphics memory, couple of GB ram

Lads I'd appreciate your opinion if you don't mind. Thinking of getting a laptop soon. Just general usage, e-mails, browsing, downloading music etc. I'm not computer illiterate but most of the lingo would go over my head.

I'm happy for any suggestions but I was on the Dell website and saw an Inspiron 1525 with this spec for £399. I just want to know whether that's good value or not or whether you can get better. It seems a decent offer to me anyway...

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T5750 (2.00 GHz, 667 MHz FSB, 2 MB L2 cache)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium SP1 - English
15.4" Wide Screen WXGA (1280 x 800) Display with TrueLife™
Integrated Intel® Graphic Media Accelerator X3100
2048MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x1024]
250GB (5400RPM) SATA Hard Drive
8x DVD+/-RW Optical drive, including SW
1Yr Limited Warranty - Collect & Return

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Originally Posted by drinkfeckarse

Lads I'd appreciate your opinion if you don't mind. Thinking of getting a laptop soon. Just general usage, e-mails, browsing, downloading music etc. I'm not computer illiterate but most of the lingo would go over my head.

I'm happy for any suggestions but I was on the Dell website and saw an Inspiron 1525 with this spec for £399. I just want to know whether that's good value or not or whether you can get better. It seems a decent offer to me anyway...

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T5750 (2.00 GHz, 667 MHz FSB, 2 MB L2 cache)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium SP1 - English
15.4" Wide Screen WXGA (1280 x 800) Display with TrueLife™
Integrated Intel® Graphic Media Accelerator X3100
2048MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x1024]
250GB (5400RPM) SATA Hard Drive
8x DVD+/-RW Optical drive, including SW
1Yr Limited Warranty - Collect & Return

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I cant see too much wrong with that one myself. You said you download music, those specs will serve fine I think.

Thanks Pauro.

I dont know if this was mentioned but Laptops Direct can be good

Thanks also A Face.