Lately I have been feeling that my laptop (aka the waffle iron) has not been meeting my needs. It's hot, heavy, bulky, slow, and underpowered. Sometimes when I close firefox (the only app that I have running) I watch the screen repaint and it takes like 20 seconds. No exaggeration. :-(
So I have been thinking about getting another laptop. I really enjoy the freedom of being able to not have to sit at a desk to use a computer. Now here is my dilemma: I think that I want to move away a MS Windows OS. So that means either looking at a linux flavour (ubuntu?) or a mac. At this point I'm leaning towards a mac 'cause it will "just work". When doing stuff at home I don't want to have to do something like recompile the kernel to get wireless to work. The biggest drawback for me to get a mac is the cost.
On this computer I'm going to be doing "home" things like surfing the web, photo editing (another plus for the mac). I'm not really planning to do any hard core gaming or development at this point.
I'm looking for some advice. Does any one have any suggestions on what to get? Any horror stories? Would getting a mac be worth it?
Yep, get a MacBook. You can even run Windows on it. :)
ReplyDeleteNice to see you are making the break from M$. You know that I'm a big Linux enthusiast.
ReplyDeleteYour concern over having to recompile the kernel to get wireless to work shouldn't be the motivator however. There are laptops that have linux drivers for all the hardware contained within. It may required a bit of research.
My advice to you would be to try both out. Maybe you could lease a mac for a month. I've used a friends mac a few times and find it just different enough from what I'm used to to be frustrated by it. However, maybe if I used it for a month I may get past those frustrations.
You should take a serious look at linux too. Perhaps before ditching the current laptop you might want to try installing Linux on it to get a feel for it. (This would be worth while, even if it means dragging an RJ-45 through the living room for a while.)
$0.02
Linux is a great OS provided you can get all your hardware working with it. When you have hardware problems, it can be a real pain. If I were you, I would probably go for Linux. I've found that just like "The Third Rook" that Mac is just different enough to be frustrating. Especially if you're still going to be using windows machines often, such as at work. Mac has a big price premium, and although you'll probable end up getting a nicer looking laptop, I'm not sure if it's worth the price for web browsing and photo editing. Oh, and that photo editing thing is so 1989. Windows and Linux have been able to edit photos just fine for a while now. Also, if you want to edit photos, I don't understand how that will work with a Laptop. I guess if you hook up an external mouse/trackball then you could be ok, but photo editing with a trackpad would have to be an exercise in futility. As far as Linux distros go, I'm a big pusher of Mandriva. I've tried Ubuntu, Fedora, Gentoo, and others, and still always end up going back to Mandriva. I haven't found a distro that easier to install and configure than Mandriva.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I've seen, the Mac "price premium" doesn't exist any more. Now that Macs have Intel processors, it's easier to compare them to PCs ... and the prices are similar for the same hardware. MacBooks have really come down in price.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Mac being different -- yes, it takes a little getting used to. After a while I felt that it was an advantage though: using two different UI paradigms gave me a greater appreciation for usability/design and I started to see why those design decisions were made.
...and yes, why not use Linux? You could. There are package managers to update the install regularly and the GUI window managers are nice looking. But a Mac is a complete package deal. It's easier to manage -- it just works. It's seamless.
I love my Mac, I agree with Ryan that the "price premium" is just FUD. For all the added goodies such as iLife and great codec integration to a single video player (I love the architecture of QT).
ReplyDeleteOn top of that there are builds of all the nifty Linux apps that save your life (VLC is a good example, VLC now supports the Mac remote too!). Plus OSX ships with VIM :) If you want a mozilla based browser but hate Firefox; I recommend Camino, it has beautiful native integration to Cocoa.
You can't go wrong; going to a mac is like going from an automatic transmission to standard; you regret your choice in the first week but then later-on you won't understand how you ever got along without it.
Just note one thing 512MB of RAM is NOT ENOUGH for MacOS X be ready to upgrade your RAM.
The other added benefit is you can snob people who don't use macs and become a Jobs fanboy.
Hi Jim,
ReplyDeleteI'm a friend of Ryan. I use Ubuntu Linux at home extensively, Windows, and I have a MacBook. Depending on the Laptop you buy, the hardware may or may not work. Wireless on Linux still has issues depending on the hardware you have. Be prepared to do some work to get that working. Also, Wireless N is just around the corner. Going from 20 Mbps (G) to 100 Mbps (N) is a big deal for me. So think of the future as well.
There is no price premium on the MacBook. I got my MacBook with a student discount and black friday discount...and I graduated from Ottawa U 6 years ago! Your student number still works. Try to get a Core 2 Duo with all the Firewire, Gigabit Ethernet, Wireless N, USB 2.0 80 GB HD, 1 GB in a PC version. You'll find out that it's pretty much the same price.
I'm also running Bootcamp on my MacBook with Windows XP SP2. It runs fine and I can I connect to my work on my MacBook through my VPN and Citrix on Windows XP SP2 running natively.
Also, I spent years running OpenBSD and FreeBSD. The shell in Mac OSX was natural for me. You have package managers and ports and a lot of stuff that Linux has.
For me, I just don't have time to make drivers work so I can connect to the Internet. Heck I use to build my own routers using OpenBSD and then compile a hacked version of UPnP!! Those days are gone and I have a life now ;)
So weigh those options out.
One more thing about getting a Mac -- wait a few months. A new version of Mac OS X is coming out in "Spring 2007". If you wait you'll get it on the system when you buy it. If not, you'll have to pay for the upgrade.
ReplyDeleteThank you everyone for all the great advice.
ReplyDeleteFrom what you guys have said, I think that I've made my decision to get a mac. I'll wait till the next version comes out (thanks Ryan!).
The price premium on the Macs doesn't really exist, but the fact is that the lowest end Mac will cost you more than the Lowest end PC. This is where the price difference comes in. If the $700 Dell fulfills all your needs, than spending $1300 on the cheapest Mac may seem a little expensive. Mind you the 1300 is worth the 1300, but if you want a cheaper laptop, you may have to stick with a PC running Linux. I wish Apple offered lower end machines sometimes, because they make really nice computers. Then again maybe it's not possible to make a low end laptop that looks that good for $700.
ReplyDelete