New Notebook... Which one?

[Hoosier]

I gotta buy a laptop this weekend...Leaning towards a mac laptop...Just dunno which to get, the macbook or the pro...any opinions?

Lucky guy.... As I understand, Pro is the upper grade line...

 

[Warthaug]

Most software designers seem to serve Microsoft, and many programs aren't made for Macs.

Blame mac's asinine (former) licensing policy. They did it to themselves - hardly anyone could afford the rates they charged. And who's going to pay licensing fees for software developed in-house, for in-house use? There is a reason why mac went from the largest OS company to 3% of the market, and they only have themselves to blame.

But, you can easily run XP on a mac. Yes, you have to purchase XP, but it can be done and most people who need to use a PC-only program do this, rather than face the horror of PC.

And what horror is that? The insides of a mac vs pc are identical, although macs have less variety. The only real difference is the OS. The very fact that many mac owners are now running xp speaks volumes...

As for iLife being superflous, I remind you that PC comes with a video software as well, just it's freaking useless.

But it is removable. Ilife is not, and is "integrated" to the point where removing it would make the computer unusable.

iLife actually works. Being able to make slideshows is very nice and useful, especially for a businessman.

Really? All of the businessmen/women I know use powerpoint or some other form of presentation software. As do I.

And, if you want to get picky, PC's also have a slideshow feature - simply open a folder of pictures, hit "show slide show", vola - slideshow...

You have to be able to speak well and with visual aids, and when it comes to visual aids, Mac does just as well, if not better than, PC's.

Every scientific presentation I have ever seen - and I've seen thousands (and given dozens myself) used powerpoint. Even those given on macs. There is a reason for that - powerpoint works and is easy to use. It one of the few microsoft products I don't mind spending money on, and is far superior to any other presentation software I've tried.

That said, I do have a lot of hope for open office...

Especially for grpahics and video, it seems to me that most people seem to use Final Cut Pro HD, or Avid. (Avid is PC, I think.....I use FCP )

This was true in the past, but no longer. Most major editing suits are now made cross-platform (FCP is the only exception), as are all image editors of significance. Video editing is a hobby of mine, I own several editing packages, and all are PC based. I migrated away form FCP years ago (at the same time as I moved away from macs), and have never looked back.

Now if only they'd make a decent linux editing package.

Indeed, straight off the bat, without paying a few hundred for any other software, Mac is set up and ready to make you a video or manage your photos.

But at an added cost that exceeds the cost of buying equivalent software...

And one of the reasons I have decided to never give Mr. Gates any money again is, well, my computer blew up. When I got it running again, they pretty much refused to let me reinstall XP with the old numbers, I spent hours and hours with tech support but basically I had to go and buy the software again.

You're very unique in this. Installing XP, even on upgraded systems, is easy. I do it all the time, and have never had the problems you describe.

And, with a PC, you at least have the option of upgrading. Mac's are very limited in this - when the allow it at all.

Upon loading this software, I discovered that I couldn't even watch a dvd! I was expected to pay another $15 for codecs to watch a dvd!

That was foolish. There are a ton of free codecs, and players, for DVD on PCs. Likewise, the new media player will play dvd's, and is free, through windows update.

Bryan

 

[Hoosier]

Ok Guys.

As I post, I picked up Lenovo 3000 V200. It is an excellent and better than Dell. As you know, IBM Thinkpad series has been the most expensive notebook in the market and its quality is a top notch.

Lenove is manufacturing two model lines, Lenovo and Lenovo Thinkpad. Their Thinkpad series is still pricey, but Lenovo series is very price competitve.

No matter what brands you buy, it is mostly maid in China, even Toshiba. The Gateway was sold to Acer (Taiwan brand) yesterday as well.

It looks like Lenove copycated Thinkpad series for their own Lenovo series.

I can't be happeir on this selection. It has an Intel Core 2 Duo T7300/2GHz with 800 MHz bus speed...

 

[RonDawg]

It is an excellent and better than Dell.

It's also a brand now owned by the Chinese, a fact I'm not fully comfortable with.

While my Dell contains Chinese-made parts, at least the company is US based (Round Rock, TX near Austin). And I would much prefer buying Taiwan-made over mainland-China anyday.

It's a shame Big Blue sold out.

 

[Hoosier]

It's also a brand now owned by the Chinese, a fact I'm not fully comfortable with.

While my Dell contains Chinese-made parts, at least the company is US based (Round Rock, TX near Austin). And I would much prefer buying Taiwan-made over mainland-China anyday.

It's a shame Big Blue sold out.

Dell is not only Chinese-made part, but also just put their label on Taiwan or Korean pre-maid notebook. Specially most Dell notebook is outsourced. Even, MS programming division is located in India as I recall.

Lenovo is based on Hong-Kong, not mainland China.

 

[RonDawg]

Dell is not only Chinese-made part, but also just put their label on Taiwan or Korean pre-maid notebook. Specially most Dell notebook is outsourced. Even, MS programming division is located in India as I recall.

While I do lament the outsourcing of American jobs as a whole, I definitely take pause when I see the words "Made in China" on something.

Looking on the bottom of my Dell Latitude notebook (purchased just last month) I see it's primarily made in Malaysia with some components from the Philippines. However, I do notice the power brick is made in China. Considering the recent scares involving Chinese-made tires, pet foods, and now toys, I can't trust leaving that thing plugged in when I'm not around.

Lenovo is based on Hong-Kong, not mainland China.

Last time I checked, Hong Kong was part of the People's Republic of China as of 1997, when the British lease on the territory ended. Although the handover agreement specified that Hong Kong continue with some sort of autonomous government independent of Beijing, that's only good until 2047, and if Beijing decided they didn't want to wait that long, would the world necessarily intervene on Hong Kong's behalf?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking the ThinkPad series, as I stated in another thread I used to own one and was particularly impressed with it (though I think it was actually made by Acer with an IBM label). I just have issues giving away money to a regime... (political commentary deleted by me to prevent post from being locked or disappearing)

 

[Hoosier]

While I do lament the outsourcing of American jobs as a whole, I definitely take pause when I see the words "Made in China" on something.

Looking on the bottom of my Dell Latitude notebook (purchased just last month) I see it's primarily made in Malaysia with some components from the Philippines. However, I do notice the power brick is made in China. Considering the recent scares involving Chinese-made tires, pet foods, and now toys, I can't trust leaving that thing plugged in when I'm not around.



Last time I checked, Hong Kong was part of the People's Republic of China as of 1997, when the British lease on the territory ended. Although the handover agreement specified that Hong Kong continue with some sort of autonomous government independent of Beijing, that's only good until 2047, and if Beijing decided they didn't want to wait that long, would the world necessarily intervene on Hong Kong's behalf?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking the ThinkPad series, as I stated in another thread I used to own one and was particularly impressed with it (though I think it was actually made by Acer with an IBM label). I just have issues giving away money to a regime... (political commentary deleted by me to prevent post from being locked or disappearing)

I understand your concern and feeling on the outsourcing. But, it lowers the price of the commodity.


Sure, there is a big difference between China and Hong-Kong. Even though Hong-Kong became a part of China.


Dell outsourced their product line from here and there. It is their beauty of flexibility to lower the manufacuring cost and change the design. The one of old models was made by SamSung in Korea.


Acer made Thinkpads? I didn't know that, but it isn't surprising fact. They just bought Gateway.

 

[RonDawg]

Acer made Thinkpads? I didn't know that, but it isn't surprising fact. They just bought Gateway.

My particular ThinkPad was an iSeries model, which was IBM's budget line of laptops. I bought it for under a grand at Costco, when the cheapest "real" IBM was over twice that much.

I've read in a couple of places that these were actually made by Acer, and that's why IBM was able to sell them much cheaper. I forget where it was built, but it looked and acted just like an IBM-manufactured one.

 

[RonDawg]

Oh, and if you think my reluctance to buy Lenovo due to their ownership is unreasonable, check this article out.