A little spare coin leaves me in a dilemna. Plus I wanted to see SMF’s poll options. So what do you all think I should do?
I voted buy a new laptop because new stuff is cool 
but my recommendation would be to check linux support on your current laptop as well as the new one. Oh and install ubuntu, with the exception of the recent prism54 driver debacle everything including tv out just worked outta the box.
Just get a Macbook and be done with it 
You can triple boot, or do the parallel virtualization thing, and run Windows, Linux, Mac OS X.
Screw that… Stay away from the new apple laptop’s the macbook and macbook pro they suck ass. They really are not that much faster and well if you plan to use it on your lap kiss that idea good bye… The new laptops get so hot. So many people are complaining about them. If i wre you id wait a whyle * maybe few more monts* Its not that fast BUt it runs windows WOW a pc laptop can do that too. I paid 3100$ for a dual 2.0 with 2 gigs ram. SO not worth it. I took it back and tried the macbook black one. It sucks too. Get the Cheap 699 Acer…
Well, my experience with both the Macbook and the Macbook Pro have been the exact opposite of yours, Jason.
In fact, I’d have to say that my experience with computers in general have been the exact opposite of yours. I don’t know why, but you seem to constantly have problems, and are constantly getting new computers for some reason.
Weird all my other computers work fine. My other powerbooks run fine myibook still runs perfectly fine as a server, And my g3 350 runs flawless. Search google and you will see all the people complaining of these laptops ( macbook pro and Macbook ) They just get to hot. And 89Deg Celsius is way to hot for surfing the net and checking email. My advice Read on google and on blogs…
Here is a great one for the macbook pro.
I dont like to agree with Jason but I have also heard many of the complaints about the macbook, and in my opinion OSX is overrated.
hey look a flame suit 
Future Shop quoted $2699 for Macbook Pro. That’s simply too much to try a Mac. The 17" desktops at $1499 are even at the edge of financial comfort. I really wish they’d go with a standard case, mobo/Athlon64 combo and seriously try to lure some new users.
I’m pretty convinced on the $699 Acer if they come back in stock. Did you know they come with the drive partitioned into 2X 20GB Fat32’s? Gotta get rid of that right away regardless!
I just ordered our guys to replace all the internet cafe units with Sempron-Ubuntu boxes except one. I’d like to get people to try Ubuntu side by side and see what the public reaction is. I was amazed that a Sempron/Foxconn 761 combo completely setup with ubuntu in about 15 minutes, found every driver by itself. Found the shared Samsung laser on the windows box in 5 seconds too and Samsung even had the linux driver on the CD. Wow, complete with OpenOffice.
I just ordered a Macbook for $1199. Minis are cheaper, especially if you already have a display and mouse/keyboard, etc.
If you’re going to compare prices, at least do it fairly. The Macbook pro is in another class than an entry-level Acer. You should compare the Macbook pro to a top-of-the line Dell laptop, for example.
Don’t bother with Futureshop. Buy it from Apple.ca – $1999 for the Macbook Pro, $1199 for the Macbook, $680 for the mini, iMac is $1399. Sign in as a K-12 educator/student
That’s the G4 laptop? And I probably would’ve already grabbed a MacMini a year ago if London Drugs had ever had a mouse/kybd combo in the store.
FYI
$699
ACER AS3623XCI CELERON 1.5,25640GB,DVD/CDRW,14.1"WXGA,XPH
$799
ACER AS3624WXMI CELERON 1.6512,60GB,DVD±RW,14.1"WXGA,XPH
or
ACER;AS3613WLCI CELERON 1.5256,60G,DVD/CDRW,15.4"WXGA,XPH
3 YR TOTAL PROTECTION $299
[quote=“jesus”]
I dont like to agree with Jason but I have also heard many of the complaints about the macbook, and in my opinion OSX is overrated.[/quote]
All I hear all day are non-OS X complaints. Viruses, worms, crashes, spyware, blah blah blah.
If you’re going to base a decision to buy something, at least be logical about it. You think more people complain about Apple computers than Acers? Or NCIX specials?
Check Consumer Reports and compare their ratings of Apple versus anybody else, guess who gets the most complaints per capita?
And don’t talk to me about Linux – It’s only cheaper if you’re hourly rate is cheap. I’m charging $75/hour these days, how many hours of work does it take to put the cheap-ass Linux box over the cost of a mini?
See what I mean, you’re comparing a Celeron to a Core Duo. I’ll bet I could find you an even cheaper computer with a 486 in it.
Does it have a DVD burner? Wifi/bluetooth, webcam, firewire? 5 hour battery?
The Dell with a Core Duo is $1259.
The Macbook is $1199 with a Core Duo.
3 year “protection” sounds like a Mafia scheme 
I’m not sure how much the Apple extended warranty is – I’ll bet it’s about the same price. I just use a credit card that covers all this, doubles the warranty, etc.
K, the laptop thing is for a ‘shop’ system designed for 1) letting me play w Linux 2) letting the guys take in the field have access to a cheapo laptop to do networking/wireless installs & testing. Forces them to learn more Linux too.
The Mac bug is because I never got to own a Mac, but from the little work I’ve done on other people’s (in 10 years I’ve only ever upgraded a HD and RAM. The 12 or so users in town never call with stupid questions about Outlook/IE/Windows/viruses) the interface is gorgeous and reliable. I just checked out the apple.ca and saw the IntelSolo MacMini for $699.
Now if I order it and the keyboard, can I pull a standard USB mouse and LCD from my shelf and use them? If so, I will soon own my first Mac…
Yes, USB keyboard and mouse. More here:
Comes with a DVI-VGA adapter too, in case your LCD is VGA only. Once you get it, don’t forget to contact our Russian friends for … acquisition assistance.
I’m going to engage the ‘Theory of Acquisition’ explained to me by my ex-gf’s 14yrd old daughter:
Actually touching the object one is shopping for convinces you.
Bored today, think I’ll drive into PG and look at goodies…
thx MiG, you should call Apple and demand a commission!
you"re such a typical fanboy its not even funny. Try ubuntu dapper the BETA release, by default all mime types are configured to load the proper application, all the basic office requirements are installed. Printer drivers are a breeze, theres a wireless manager/network connection manager which will allow you to setup your network connections easily.
Windows is a piece of shit so dont even bother bringing up the worms/viruses, go ahead and come up with your usual bullshit reasons how osx is so great and far ahead of everyone else (spotlight etc) but dont forget to take a look at the mac market share.
I realize the linux market share is low but distributions have only really been trying for desktop share in the past couple years.
The its only cheap if your time is worth nothing line seems to be your favorite but with a proper setup (apt proxy and cronapt) it becomes pretty cheap to maintain a lot of linux boxes.
You know how many hours i have spent working on my linux laptop in the past year? about 2 because the hard drive died and I had to reinstall on the new drive. I have servers that have been running for a few years one test server and one production, I test the updates on the test server then throw them over to my apt repository and the production server updates itself. Sounds like lots of work doesnt it, sounds like those “cheap linux boxes” are pretty costly.
You should definitly ask for commission just like the other fanboys
Nothing personal mig you’re a smart guy but osx isnt the be all end all.
OSX is pretty good… It runs really nice on the g4’s & g5’s… BUT right now it is not that fast on the intel crap. It’s doggy slow. One thing that helps is to Kill the mds service. I was talking to a few apple techs here and they all kill that processes on there laptop’s and they stay a fair bit cooler.
The one thing that is a real piss off with these new ones is they get so god dam hot Its a laptop they are suppose to run SEMI cool so you can put them on your lap. One guys remark on a forum was hey you should keep it on your desk… UM yeah people buy a LAPTOP to keep it on there desk… NOT!
Mig, you should download coreduo for your macbook and tell us how hot your’s gets ON your lap.
I think $75/hour is a very reasonable and fair rate for servicing Linux boxes.
OS X is an awesome distro and I love the look of the new Macpro laptops…a buddy of mine let me actually touch one…sigh…very nice. 
I have one OS X box at work and love it.
For me Linux is more cost effective because I"ve taught myself Linux…I learn by doing…er screwing with my systems, lol:-) I’m very excited becaue Ubuntu is releasing their next version on Thursday, 6.06, and Slackware will be releasing version 11.0 at some point.
I love Linux and open source software in general.
[quote] Try ubuntu dapper the BETA release, by default all mime types are configured to load the proper application, all the basic office requirements are installed. Printer drivers are a breeze, theres a wireless manager/network connection manager which will allow you to setup your network connections easily.
[/quote]
It’s on my Dell laptop right now. Guess what? Doesn’t detect the video card properly, so it doesn’t do the native 1280x800 resolution.
It doesn’t detect either of my wireless networks properly either. So to use it, I have to plug it in with CAT 5.
So much for it “being a breeze” – not something my mother could install.
[quote]Windows is a piece of shit so dont even bother bringing up the worms/viruses, go ahead and come up with your usual bullshit reasons how osx is so great and far ahead of everyone else (spotlight etc) but dont forget to take a look at the mac market share.
[/quote]
I’m sure you take market share into consideration when you buy a car, or your shoes, too.
And failing miserably, because you still need someone who knows linux to get things working.
I installed Ubuntu, it doesn’t work with my display, my wireless, or my battery management. How much you think that’s going to cost to fix?
No, but let’s get back to your original post, where you “agreed with Jason” about all the Macbook complaints.
You (and Jason) both basically said that you shouldn’t buy a Macbook because of the complaints.
My point, and I’m sure you’ll agree, is that more people complain about Windows than they do about Mac OS X.
If you’re going to tell somebody not to buy a Mac, at least use some logic, instead of telling them the one reason NOT to buy one is the primary reason people buy them – less complaints.
Let’s take 30 “average users” (not people like us, but people like our mothers) and give 10 of them a Windows XP computer, give 10 of them a Dapper Drake Beta (since that’s the one you’re glowing about) and then give the last 10 a Mac OS X box.
Guess which group will complain the_least ? Which computers will not be functional within weeks?
Don’t make the mistake of thinking the world is like you, or me. It isn’t. Most people just want to use their computers, they don’t want to know about viruses or apt-get repositories or any of that shit.
A lot people want photos off their digital camera, want to make a powerpoint slideshow or some crap like that, then they want to burn it as a playable DVD, oh, and they want to throw in this video clip too. And they want to post it on the web as well as make it a normal DVD.
Now you may advocate all you want that Linux is the way for these average people, but then they gotta learn to install software(if they can find it) and recompile kernels and crap like that. Or they can just buy a Windows or Mac computer with all this stuff already there. And given the choice between Windows and Mac OS X …
So, my challenge to you, Jesus is this:
I have a Macbook and a new Dell notebook. We’ll have computer-literate (but not expert) person do the following:
-
Set up the computer (ie: install the OS).
-
Connect to the internet through my home wireless net.
-
Connect my Canon digital camera (A620 I think it is). Download photos, movie clips, and make a powerpoint presentation out of it, then burn it all into a normal playable DVD and post it on the web. Maybe fix a bit of redeye in the photos and straighten them, etc.
-
Connect his or her iPod, and grab music (both legally and with P2P), and sync. Throw in some CBC radio podcasts too.
Ok, the Dell I have is about the same price as the Macbook (but it’s a slower processor), but it has all the same specs, Wifi, burner, etc.
We’re using either Ubuntu 5.10 or 6.06 (you pick) on the Dell, and Mac OS X 10.4 on the Macbook.
Which do you think will get the least number of “complaints” ?