My laptop is 7 years old. The keyboard is missing 4 keys (kittens pulled them off for fun) and I have to use a pair of pliers to yank the prongs on the power supply into position every time I plug it in. So I’m going to get a new one.
I’ve basically got $1000 budget. My requirements aren’t too steep: I’ll use the internets, I’d like to be reasonably up-to-date with whatever people can do with computers these days. And I’d like to be able to play some of my old Windows/DOS computer games, games I still play constantly despite the fact that they are all 5-20 years old and rot my brain. I just do it to impress the ladies.
My basic question is: PC or Mac? I’ve owned PCs for the past decade or so, mostly because they’re cheaper and there’s more software, but the thought that Vista might actually suck more ass than XP has me seriously considering switching teams. I love the idea of the Mac OS – I’m comfortable with UNIX, and I’m very comfortable with not needing 2GB of memory to run a goddamned operating system – and people tell me that it’s possible to run PC software on the new OS X. But I’m pretty sure they’re lying. Also, Macs seem expensive, even when you consider how much hardware isn’t wasted by the operating system pooping on everything. So I don’t know what to do. Advice?
February 22, 2008 at 9:40 pm
A MacBook is the V-2 rocket of Liberal Fascism.
February 22, 2008 at 9:47 pm
Macs are good machines. With Bootcamp, it will run XP. I run it on my MacBook Pro, for testing things in IE (software guy). You’ll probably need to reauthorize it with the Borg.
There is a cost premium. I think it is worth it.
Tip: don’t buy RAM from Apple. They charge absurd premiums on it. Dunno where you live, but I’m sure there’s someone local to install good aftermarket RAM for you, if you don’t feel comfortable doing it yourself (it isn’t hard).
February 22, 2008 at 9:47 pm
Hold a fundraiser and get a Mac. I’ll kick in 20 myself if you do.
February 22, 2008 at 10:19 pm
You can get a refurb macbook from apple.com for 1000$ (with same warranty as new).
Great machines.
February 22, 2008 at 10:24 pm
On an Intel Mac, you can run XP under VMWare Fusion or Parallels while still running Mac OS. They both cost money. You can also dual-boot for no extra money using BootCamp, but that means you can only run one OS at a time. Using dual boot is essential if you want to run things like PC video games.
February 22, 2008 at 10:26 pm
I just got a Mac PowerBook G4, top of the line at the time a few years ago within the last month, used, obviously, but also loaded, and it kicks ass.Run you about $800.00. I’ve been using the Safari browser over a wireless router, DSL and it’s very fast, faster then Firefox, because you’re mostly returning to the same sites. I also have a Dell desktop that’s about two years old. I find myself using the Mac more. MacLife is nice, “Garage Band”, iphoto, MS Office suite, time machine. You’ll also want Mac The Ripper, which helps your, ehm, back-up your dvd collection. Mac’s have no virus problems or less, and there’s that.
February 22, 2008 at 10:28 pm
Also, in the Bay Area, check out Fry’s Electronics. They always have great deals, whichever direction you in. I wouldn’t mind a laptop with linux if I didn’t have the G4.
February 22, 2008 at 10:30 pm
Mac. If you’re handy with unix it’s hard to live without it. I pop into every once in a while to reformat something with emacs or some crazy crap.
It’s totally worth the extra money. $100 is worth not having the frustration. When you run windows it seems fine most of the time, but sooner or later you’re going to spend six hours trying to fix something stupid.
I get my mac ram from oempcworld
February 22, 2008 at 10:32 pm
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powerbook_g4/stats/powerbook_g4_1.67_17_hr.html
February 22, 2008 at 10:32 pm
Go to the Apple Web site. They offer refurbished MacBooks at a discount there which may meet your budget constraints.
What fishbane says about running XP.
GET APPLECARE EXTENDED WARRANTY.
That is all.
February 22, 2008 at 10:32 pm
Performance of XP is quite good on my ’06 iMac model; I don’t know what it would be like on a MacBook but I can’t imagine it’s unacceptable.
For game playing purposes, though, you can often just run the emulator DOSBox and play things directly from the Mac OS.
February 22, 2008 at 10:36 pm
I run Parallels (85 bucks) on a Macbook Pro- it is a PC emulator that runs XP just fine (meaning you don’t have to reboot like with Boot Camp).
February 22, 2008 at 10:44 pm
I would *not* go to Frys or any place like it. If you want something new and good — and you don’t want to throw down for a Mac — get a ThinkPad. They are easily the best made laptops that don’t have a fruit on the case, and they can be had for not a ton of money.
February 22, 2008 at 10:49 pm
Find a used or refurbished Mac laptop, make sure it is Intel architecture (all of them the last couple years) so you can use XP via Bootcamp and also run Leopard and future versions of Mac OS.
You shouldn’t run into any problems with processing power or memory with an Intel Mac laptop for your purposes, though of course you should get as much as you can for your money. You might run into hard drive space problems if it is an older base model, depending on how much stuff you store, because Bootcamp is basically asking you to divide one harddrive to hold two different computers worth of OS and data, but most should have enough, and worse comes to worse you could always network your new computer to your old one from time to time to load and dump XP files back and forth as needed, keeping the XP partition on the new one as small as possible.
Your 5 year old games will scream with speed and graphics on an Intel Mac running XP under Bootcamp, even though the laptop isn’t designed for gaming, just through the miraculous march of progress, so no worries there.
You should be able to use and authorize your current XP software on a new computer if you trash your old one, but I’m not sure how that works. If you can’t, that’s another $150 or whatever it is now to get a fresh copy of XP.
I’m running Leopard and Vista on one of the new aluminum iMacs, and everything is fine except for the fact Vista totally sucks and makes me hate America every other day. The Mac side is so sweet, intuitive, and compliant that if I didn’t need the Vista side for one or two programs for my work, I would delete it in a minute and apologize profusely to my computer for despoiling its purity by imposing such a screwed up bloated bag of crap on its sleek architecture.
February 22, 2008 at 10:49 pm
Ask your self this: Hodgman, or that other dude? Easy choice…
I’m sure Macs are fine and all, but I mean you’ve had yours for seven years, that’s got to be an endorsement in and of itself. I’ve seen a sun $500 Toshiba satellite and a $550 Sony Vaio or whatever they are called. I have a freaking Dell fer chrissakes, and have simply just never had anything happen that made me say, “if only I had a Mac”. And I like not being a Mac guy. Retarded, I know. I also bought a Zune, so maybe you should just disregard this completely.
Do Macs have all the open source software options that PC’s have?
February 22, 2008 at 10:51 pm
Sheesh, you’re askin’ for a flamewar, aren’t ya? I guess I don’t have anything better to do, so I’ll bite.
Apple? Meh.
If you just want to be able to get some work done, stick with Windows. Mac’s are purty, but they’re spendy and you only have one vendor to chooose from. Walk through a best-buy or similar place and see the plethora of sizes, shapes and features available for Windows based laptops and then compare it to the 3 choices you get from Apple for 1.5x the price. AS far as I know, you still cannot get a tablet from Apple, nor one of those big 15 pound giant screen mutant laptops either. You get what Steve Jobs likes or nothing.
People swear on their mothers that Mac is easier to use, but that’s a canard. They were easier to use compared to others maybe in 1986 when they had a gui and a mouse and everyone else had command line interface, but things have changed a little since then.
If you buy a Windows based machine you won’t have to buy new applications or throw out your old peripherals, either.
Finally, if you buy a Mac, I might stop posting incomprehensible non-sequitur Pantloadisms in every thread, and you know how much everyone would miss that.
February 22, 2008 at 10:57 pm
I think a Mac would do you very well. If you do decide to go that route, remember:
1) Buy your machine with the least RAM you can. Apple charges an obscene markup on memory, so you should ALWAYS go third-party for RAM.
2) Having said that, get as much RAM as you can cram into whatever Mac you get. OSX isn’t quite the RAM hog that Vista is, but the more RAM you give it, the quicker and more enjoyable an experience using it becomes.
3) The Apple website does sell refurbs at a very nice (20%-30%) discount. They’re waranteed as new machines, and there’s no reason (apart from severe, Howard Hughes-level germaphobia) not to get one from here.
4) AppleCare, unlike pretty much every other extended warranty pacakge, is actually worth considering getting, especially if you’re getting a laptop. If money’s tight, you can always buy it later – anytime before the end of your one year standard warranty.
5) The dot-Mac service is not worth it. Avoid.
6) Parallels is swell, but if you’re not going to use PC games all that much, you can just throw your copy of XP on Boot Camp and run that when you need to get your Master of Orion II fix. If you find yourself craving Parallels’ features, you can always purchase and install it later.
A check of store.apple.com shows a Refurbished MacBook 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo – White for $949. Given what you’ve said, I can see no reason not to get it. I’d skip Fry’s – their Mac prices aren’t anything to cheer about, and their service is lousy.
February 22, 2008 at 11:14 pm
For $1000 you can get a good machine that will run faster Vista faster than a mac runs today.
I’ve been running vista for a while now, and it has gotten significantly better. SP1 is about to be released, which should fix many problems.
I also have a mac, and think it is nice, but not nice enough to justify the extra dollars.
February 22, 2008 at 11:27 pm
Dear Editor;
Get a low end Mac laptop. They just work.
Love
Joe
February 22, 2008 at 11:34 pm
I have a macbook pro and heart it. It has two partitions, and one of them is for Windows so I can play whatever video game might tickle my fancy if fancy tickling occurs with a video game. I also use parallells (runs windows applications inside MacOS via magic). But all that is kind of bullshit, because even though ihave many options for running widnows applications on my mac laptop it has been months since I made use of em.
My recommendation is this: if you don’t feel like you’ll be getting shagged on hardware by going apple, go apple. If you decide you hate MacOS, you can always just run it as a windows machine.
After you buy the laptop, you will have one year to get applecare protection. The Protection plan is fantastic (and I am not normally a fan of computer warranties), and a requirement. If you cannot meet that requirement, DO NOT buy an Apple.
February 22, 2008 at 11:38 pm
I was all hot to get a Macbook a month ago. Then I discovered the Joy That Is OneNote. Also, one @*&^$%#( button? I mean, that’s just stubborn. The Mac desktops all come with two mouse buttons now, after all.
Also, that omnipresent menu bar at the top of the OS X desktop just bugs me for some reason.
I may buy a Mac yet, but I’m leaning toward a TabletPC instead. That’s out of your price range, though.
February 22, 2008 at 11:44 pm
Curious — what old-school DOS games do you still play?
I’m up against the same rock myself right now, but mostly because I really, really, really, really ( .. .. .. ) REALLY don’t want to go to Vista.
And that thin notebook is damn sexy.
February 22, 2008 at 11:52 pm
Vista’s not that bad, honestly.
February 23, 2008 at 12:03 am
$1000 ?
I think the budget points you toward Windows. With careful shopping, you can get a Windows XP laptop, with what used to be considered “extras” for just about $1000 — 9 cell battery instead of 6 cell; 7200 rpm disk instead of 5400; Intel AGN wireless; Core2Duo processor with 4MB of L2 cache, built-in camera, built-in bluetooth, DVD-burner, 90W power adapter instead of 65W.
[Pay attention to what I wrote about 4 MB L2 cache! Nobody knows what that is, but 4 is a better experience than 2.]
There’s a lot to be said for a Mac — generally, you get a premium computer, without the necessity of careful shopping. You pay a price, but the premium these days is only about 25%.
The downside, though, as always is that it is still a Windows world, and even mundane things will trip you. Quicken on a Mac sucks! Ditto for Rhapsody! Backward compatibility for old DOS games? Forget it — Mac doesn’t even backward compatibility for old Mac games.
Parallels (or VM Fusion) offer the promise of Windows on a Mac, but there are some caveats and limitations. If use Bootcamp to set up a dual-boot between MacOS and Windows, and then use VM Fusion to access the physical XP installation from within MacOS, you can overcome almost all of them. But, it is a lot of trouble to go to — and to be entirely happy, you would need to invest not just in the $65 for the software, but also in a larger hard-drive and more RAM, to offset the demands of such a setup. (Plus, you should pay for a Windows license)
If your budget really is $1000, then the path of true happiness lies in accepting that limitation — simplify. For that kind of money, a nice, low-style Dell Vostro (from Dell Business), properly equipped, is the best use of funds.
February 23, 2008 at 12:44 am
I think a total of 6 people had caught on to that. This is like the Sesame Street when everybody could see Snuffleupagus. LAME.
Dude: crack cocaine.
February 23, 2008 at 12:54 am
Refurbished Mac. My wife and I have a small business. We have 4 droids; 2 Mac, 2 PC. I won’t bore you with stories.
We’re phasing out the two PCs. ‘Nuff said.
that is just about all.
February 23, 2008 at 1:05 am
February 23, 2008 at 1:07 am
No sir, this: http://sportslogopundit.blogspot.com/2006/09/whiskey-chimp.html
is just about all. Go Whiskey Chimps!
February 23, 2008 at 1:08 am
Really, though, no matter what you buy, your DOS games can play. Get DOSBox for whatever you run. The real problem is if you have games from the 95 2000/XP crossover. Vista just balks at DX5 based stuff.
I will say this: I was a Linux user since the mid 90′s and since OSX shipped, I have slowly been won over to the point here I am a full time Mac guy now. The thing about Mac stuff is this: It is more expensive, but it is generally of good to great quality and you will spend 90% less time f***ing around with it that anything else. In my advancing age, I don’t want to spend a bunch of time dicking with my computer anymore. I just want to get stuff done.
If you aren’t getting a Mac, I would say get a ThinkPad notebook or Alienware desktop. If you want to run older software, getting Vista is likely a bad idea. However, if it is really that old, you can get something like DOSBox or VMWare and run it on Windows 3.11 if you want to.
February 23, 2008 at 1:18 am
I’m not going to tell you anything you don’t know. Oh, wait, yes I am. BUT A FUCKING MAC! (Caps locks at ease.) I’m done now.
February 23, 2008 at 1:32 am
The gentleman on a budget might also find tremendous value in Sennheiser HD 555 headphones. An excellent $100.00 pair of very comfortable cans for the glasses wearer, (“is that velvet?”)
http://www.headphone.com/products/headphones/full-size/sennheiser-hd-555.php
What’s a laptop without proper phones? Earbuds make music sad.
BTW, an amp for your phones is just crazy talk, imo. I guess it could be kind of cool, but seriously?
February 23, 2008 at 1:41 am
Look at G4 laptops on eBay. For $1000 you can get two tricked out Titanium Powerbooks.
February 23, 2008 at 1:45 am
What ever you do, don’t get a laptop. Leave your computer at home.
February 23, 2008 at 2:35 am
As long as we’re talking refurbished mac, let’s look at, say, a refurbished lenovo:
http://www.discountlaptops.com/index.php?section=configurator®ular_model_id=1523&model_id=1524
February 23, 2008 at 2:54 am
For what it’s worth: I have managed small-to-huge networks of Windows, MacOS and UNIX machines for a living for 15 years now. It’s what I do. This is what I tell everyone who asks me this question:
Do you value your time? Get a Mac. Period. The low-end MacBook is $1100 and is perfectly usable for everything except gaming (but who games on a laptop?) in its default configuration.
It’s not that XP and Vista can’t be made to function: they can. It’s not that you can’t find laptops with a faster CPU for less money than what Apple charges: you can and will. It’s not even that OSX is necessarily “easier to use” in some all-consuming sense than XP or Vista. It’s that it just sits there and works. You’ll spend a week or three adjusting to the new environment, and then the OS will do what an OS should: fade into the background and stay the fuck out of your way 99 days out of a hundred. No viruses, no spyware, no mysterious “why is my thousand-dollar computer suddenly running three times more slowly than it was yesterday?” voodoo. Also no having to call up Microsoft on the phone and beg for a new activation key because you changed your video card too many times and XP decided you must me a software pirate.
Windows is great if you’re in a corporate environment where a 24/7 shop of IT professionals like me can get paid (whee!) to lock shit down and stay on top of its idiosyncrasies. For a home user, there’s just no need to subject yourself to it any more.
One small word of caution: for any laptop, Apple or otherwise, get the longest warranty you can afford. Laptops break. Nature of the beast: they’re crammed into a tiny package and then people toss them around like beachballs, drop them on the ground, spill coffee on them and otherwise generally abuse them. Extended warranties are a ripoff on desktops, but pretty much a requirement for portables.
Oh, and if you don’t get a Mac, get a Thinkpad.
February 23, 2008 at 3:24 am
a small postscript, mainly for Henley: mac laptops actually do have a second trackpad button. Just put two fingers on the trackpad before clicking, or tap with two fingers. Voila, instant right-click. (You may have to turn this on in the mouse/trackpad control panel, I forget.)
February 23, 2008 at 5:33 am
3 years after I got my iBook, it’s been relegated to jukebox duty in the home. It’s a fun machine, but over the past three years, it’s been completely unsuccesful at cost-justifying myself. I do all real work, including Photoshop work, on my desktop, which runs Ubuntu linux. The desktop machine is a year older than the iBook, by the way.
If you’re familiar with Unix, you might want to try one of the Dell laptops that are offered with Ubuntu preinstalled. You’ll need to tweak them a bit, with special attention to the Wine package, if you want to run high-profile productivity apps like Photoshop or MS Office – but you can totally do that.
Macs for me have two disadvantages:
1) the price.
2) the thin line that exists between “It just works” and “It just doesn’t work, and there isn’t a damned thing I or anyone else knows what to do about it.” Linux, for all its faults, comes with a community of people who are smarter than either of us and will have answers to your questions. The Mac community, as a whole, lacks intellectual curiosity, to the point where many of them are unaware of basic functionality that exists on their machines, let alone what to do if, say, wireless doesn’t work.
This is not to knock the Mac completely. I’ve found my iBook fun to use, much of the software that either comes bundled with it or that you can get with it is really good, user-friendly and robust, graphics performance beats any similarly-specced PC out of the water (and native graphics apps for linux just can’t compare), and most importantly, the laptops are a whole lot better looking than any models that ship with Windows on them. I’m in the market for a new laptop myself, but what’s stopping me from buying PC laptops is that the things are butt-ugly. Not so with any Mac.
February 23, 2008 at 5:53 am
Mac. Also: Fundraiser. Contributing would help me sleep better.
February 23, 2008 at 6:23 am
Mac’s are ridiculously expensive for no observable benefit. In fact, you apparently have to troll websites religiously telling everyone to buy one to make yourself feel better for wasting your money.
My girlfriend has a Mac, and she can play wow on it… and I just bought her Civ IV for it… but that’s basically all it has going game wise. I’ve used it, and it seems good (once buy a two button mouse – WTF were they thinking!?)… but not worth the money. Plus Apple is fascist. :)
I don’t know anything about laptops, but with 1K I would go to newegg and I could build a machine that knocked the knickers off any Mac.
February 23, 2008 at 6:29 am
I’ve been a systems architect for about 30 years now. I don’t usually give advice to people, but I like your writing, and want to support it (and thus you). I’ve rewritten this answer a number of times, trying to be polite, balanced, things like that. While those are in general admirable goals, they’re not more important than giving you good advice.
If you value your time, and want your computer to be something that *gets out of the way* of whatever you’re trying to do, just get a Mac.
(As already discussed, Intel-arch MacBook is both low cost and swings all ways. Refurbs at the Apple Store are the way to go here.)
A different but perhaps apropos way of describing the visceral difference between using the systems is this: do you want your computer to be more like the people who read this blog – or the people you write about? ;-)
Get a Mac.
(P.S. As a recording musician who’s worked at both an independent label and for feature film, headphone amps (driving good phones, of course) are a wonderful thing. To invoke the technical insight of Patrick from SpongeBob, “That’s not crazy talk. *This* is crazy talk!” *recommends Windows, dismisses headphone amps*)
February 23, 2008 at 6:30 am
I’d say, fuck Mac AND PC. You can get a good old fashioned typewriter on ebay for under $100. The operating system is built right in and never changes, there are no compatibility issues with software (because it doesn’t use it) and it looks really cool and antique-y.
Connecting to the internet, however, may pose a bit of a problem….
February 23, 2008 at 6:38 am
One more thing. I have a tip for laptop buyers.
Laptop components (and cases) are made by only 3 companies in the world.
You don’t have to buy from HP, Lenovo (IBM), or Dell (or even Apple for that matter)
You can buy from Sager Notebook or some of the other lesser known company and know that you are getting the exact same machine for significantly less.
The only thing you give up is the ability to purchase it in a store.
A friend of mine bought the equivalent of a $6000 Voodoo PC latop for $2500 from Sager. You will be able to buy a lot more laptop from them.
February 23, 2008 at 7:23 am
See this article:
I love my Xbox 360s, I think Popfly rocks (Silverlight will bring much needed competition to Flash). Plus, I can’t live without Exchange and its server-side rules. I love my Microsoft mouse more than any other mouse in the world. Surface looks totally awesome, too. Microsoft does some amazing things – very amazing things. My choice, however, for a primary desktop operating system is no longer Windows – it’s Mac OS X.
February 23, 2008 at 7:44 am
Also, white people love Apple products.
February 23, 2008 at 7:47 am
If you get a MacBook, beware of this: their factory-installed hard drives fail at an alarming rate. They’re easy to replace; you’ll be under warranty anyway. But back up the l’il sucker constantly.
You really want to buy my 4.5-year-old Powerbook G4 for $600. (You can run Windows on your current kitty playtoy.) This baby’s loaded and has worked without flaw, 24/7, from birth. Then I can buy a new MacBook Pro.
February 23, 2008 at 7:50 am
I have a <a href=”http://www.allaboutapple.com/museo/pictures/donazioni/mac_plus.jpg”Mac Plus (circa 1987) kickin it with 1 MHz RAM and a 20 MB hard drive. You can play Dark Castle and Tetris until the ladies swoon (or until your brain leaps out of your head in search of a new home).
Shipping’s on me.
February 23, 2008 at 7:52 am
I have a Mac Plus (circa 1987) kickin it with 1 MHz RAM and a 20 MB hard drive. You can play Dark Castle and Tetris until the ladies swoon (or until your brain leaps out of your head in search of a new home).
Shipping’s on me.
February 23, 2008 at 7:59 am
I feel shame.
February 23, 2008 at 8:04 am
Mac OS-X is fantastic. It’s easy, intuitive, reliable, and everything Just Works. Parallels or Fusion are both completely dependable ways to run Windows (or any other x86 OS).
As much as I like OS-X, I still can’t imagine getting one of the new Mac laptops. The Mac Book Pros are too expensive and too big for me. I would consider a Mac Book, but I hate the new keyboards. I know some people like them, but I just can’t imagine using them for hours on end. Also, the screen is too short. It might be a good form factor for spreadsheets, but not for text.
It’s pushing your budget, but you can’t go wrong with the Lenovo Thinkpad T series. (not the 3000 series, which feels much bulkier and flimsier) They are well-built and will last forever. I like that they still offer a non-widescreen option, but I seem to be in the minority on that. Most importantly, the T series has hands-down the best keyboard of any laptop out there.
It’s been a few months since I checked, but I think you can still get them with XP instead of Vista – which I highly recommend. Vista is bloated, slow, and unreliable. I assume they’ll make it usable over time, but right now it’s just horrible.
February 23, 2008 at 8:10 am
Vista’s not that bad, honestly.
Now there’s an endorsement.
February 23, 2008 at 8:30 am
Yeah, I’m posting this from a Windows laptop, but that’s only because that’s what my job gave me. Otherwise, I’d be posting this from a macbook like the one I just bought for my wife. Like a lot of people said, emulate or dual boot into windows to run the old games, and you should have no problems.
Also, I like ’80s nights, the Toyota Prius, expensive sandwiches, and the films of Michel Gondry.
February 23, 2008 at 8:46 am
Mac. Definitely. I switched over in 1999, after years of futzing around with PCs, and have never looked back.
February 23, 2008 at 8:47 am
Hey, I have a 1.5 year old 15″ MacBook pro we’re no longer using that I’d sell ya for a $900. 2.16 GHz core duo, 100G drive, dvd superdrive, built in iSight, etc. It’s in great shape – wife only used it at home (small crayon mark on top cover courtesy of my charming daughter). Was going to sell it on EBay, but it’d be nicer if it went to a kitten friendly blogger. I’m in the Bay Area, too. Drop me some email if you’re interested.
I switched to a Mac when they went intel and haven’t looked back. It’s great. Using Parallels on the Mac does indeed give me all of XP (or even Vista, which I don’t ever want) which I use for Explorer related crap my employer requires to use.
February 23, 2008 at 8:54 am
How much do you travel?
My 5 year old ThinkPad has traveled many miles, been dropped a couple times, and is still going strong. Sure, I have to reboot windows constantly, but the hardware is practically indestructible. The only thing that I’ve replaced is the rubber cap on the clit mouse- and I’ve still got one more spare that originally came with the machine! A colleague of mine loves how ‘robust’ his mac is because of the OS, but seems to think it is perfectly normal to have a complete hard drive or motherboard failure every year or two. Maybe he’s just unlucky. Or maybe I’m rationalizing because I’m pretty much locked into windows because of my job.
February 23, 2008 at 9:06 am
Dude, DON’T BUT A DELL! That’s the only important bit of PC advice you need.
Macs are purty, but the HW is expensive, and if you’re used to a PC the keyboard WILL eventually drive you crazy. Dual-booting Vista via boot camp works very well, tho.
The best PD deal around is to wait for a $100 or whatever off coupon from Costco, then go get whatever HP laptop they have the coupon for. It’ll be the one closest to your $1k price range, so the coupon will take it down around $950 w/tax. I just bought one for my wife when YET ANOTHER 1-year-old P.O.S. Dell laptop went South on us, and we’re very happy with it.
What we’re most happy with, of course, is the fact that Costco doubles the factory warranty, to 2 years! Also FWIW, Costco is famously biased towards Democrats in their political donations.
February 23, 2008 at 9:25 am
I AM QUITE HAPPY WITH MY TRS=80. YOU SHOULD GET ONE.
February 23, 2008 at 9:45 am
I really, really, really appreciate the sentiment, but I’m hardly poor. (I’m cheap – there’s a difference.) People who will spend your money on more important shit than new laptops to play crappy games on (and I’d be plenty flattered if you gave them money because I suggested it, if that matters):
http://www.oxfamamerica.org/
http://www.aclu.org/
http://www.amnestyusa.org/
http://www.wwf.org/
Again, thank you thank you, but Save The DINKs is not a legitimate charity.
February 23, 2008 at 9:48 am
Oh, and buy my book. Annoying Jonah is a totally legitimate cause.
February 23, 2008 at 10:19 am
I’m in the same boat. I was out in Phoenix for Super Bowl weekend and my old pal gave me a tour of his Mac. I was impressed. Then he took me to the Mac store and I was more impressed.
I’m worried about all the stuff I have backed up on an external drive…would it transfer? Without geek-level skeelz?
I found most of what I was shown to be more appealing than the XP I’ve had for some time. I haven’t had any hard drive problems *knocking vigorously on wood* but every now and then the damn thing sounds like an old lawnmower.
I’m thinking of starting with a Macbook Pro, and eventually, when I have the scratch, going to one of the Mac desktops to complete the set.
I don’t do any gaming…mostly work, to which I can interface from home with a Mac (allegedly), blogging, WORDish stuff and the periodic spreadsheet for finances.
All my IT guys at work have Macs at home, and they say they “don’t break,” so this news about the hard drives is disconcerting.
Thanks for all the tips.
February 23, 2008 at 10:29 am
Reinder Dijkhuis – I’m ok with Linux – I ran Red Hat at home about ~10 years ago, and I got by, although the installation/configuration nightmare is something I’m not interested in taking on again. My concern is the same as with Mac OS, though – I understand that people claim you can run WinDos stuff on these OS’s, but as you can often barely run these things on Windows, I find it hard to believe. Have you done it, personally? I’ll Google it.
Azael – You’re in my price range, and that sounds pretty good. (Plus, customized cover!) If you can hold off selling it for a week or so (and remind me if I don’t get back at you in a timely way – I’m not an organized person, so I’ll just apologize for that ahead of time), that sounds like an option. If not, totally understand, but I’ll never save your life in ‘Nam again.
Monty – My first computer was a 512e. Your rig sounds BADASS.
February 23, 2008 at 10:36 am
Editors: you can, for real, run windows stuff side-by-side with MacOS on the Intel Macs. The products you want to look at are “VMware Fusion” and “Parallels Desktop”. Alternatively, you can install Windows on a second hard drive partition using a piece of apple-provided software called Boot Camp.
For running games, you probably want to use BootCamp: Fusion and Parallels both have issues with DirectSound. Plus BootCamp is free, minus the cost of a copy of XP.
February 23, 2008 at 10:47 am
I join the chorus.
Mac Book Pro here.
Aside from all the others chiming in a couple of comments:
I am an anti-corpratist and hate marketing for the most part, but the older Apple campaign really *does* apply: “It Just Works.”
If coming from a Windows enviornment, you can do everything you always did, but some things in a different way. Workflows are different but much, much MUCH smoother and quicker. Inter-application communication is so nice and well-integrated.
The first time you use some type of virtualization desktop and have Windows and Mac OS X running side by side is pretty damned amazing what you can get done.
Additionally, the quality with which the products are made and the design. They really do understand human interface design. Not just the software (which I certainly have some issues with) but the hardware. MacBooks and MacBook Pros just *feel* good to use. The tactile experience is one of the intangibles that’s hard to quantify in an ad or listening to us tell you Macs are great to use.
Bottom line: Go MB or MBP. Set up a fundraiser. I bet most everyone here would kick in a few dollars.
February 23, 2008 at 10:50 am
Oh and as for the drive issues.
Hardware issuse are Mac/PC agnostic. A hard drive is a drive is a drive. OEM’s let some bad issues through fact of life and they are few and far between and pretty localized.
I wouldn’t worry about it much. PC’s seem less expensive, but the quality of parts is crap-ass. Obsolescence is much much faster on a PC
February 23, 2008 at 10:52 am
Like almost everybody else is saying, get an intel mac.
As a former IT guy, I deeply appreciate the way that my macs just work, which is not the same thing as saying the hardware never fails. I have heard there is an unusually high failure rate for the hard drive in the machine I am typing on (20 month old first gen MacBook), but it hasn’t failed on me yet.
By ‘just work’, I mainly mean that the software available does what you expect, is easy to figure out, and the configuration of said software doesn’t seem to spontaneously change or disappear.
External hard drives are generally easy to work with. That said, I had an external hard drive that I had formatted with ext3 with linux, and to get to the data on it, I ended up booting up my mac mini with a linux live cd, and then copying it to a drive formated with good old FAT, which windows, osx, and linux all support. Its a crappy old filesystem, and it is exactly what I recommend you use if you anticipate hooking up a drive to more than one kind of box.
I have personally used DosBox to run old DOS games on a G4 (the first Heroes of Might and Magic, also Might and Magic III), so between DosBox and the plethora of choices for running XP on the intel macs, you should really be able to use any old dos game.
February 23, 2008 at 11:04 am
Another Liberal Fascist for Mac!
I went over to the dark side for a few years, but I came back. WAY fewer viruses and stuff, just for starters.
And bundled with a new Mac you’ll get a really cool software to help you do anything on the web you want to super-easy.
February 23, 2008 at 11:31 am
Sweet fancy Moses! The Editors have been reduced to trolling for Mac v. PC flame wars.
Dell is still selling machines with XP
February 23, 2008 at 11:36 am
Just for the record:
I’m a ThinkPad fan. If you want a good deal on a new or used, go here:
and subscribe to the list. Then announce that you’re in the market, and Bruce and/or Bill will get in touch. Never worked with Bill, but Bruce (an irascible Republican) is v. honest and his prices are good. He’ll have new, refurbs, used, etc.
And the list, like any such list, is populated by people who among them know everything and are delighted to help.
February 23, 2008 at 11:39 am
The new Mac backup software (Time Machine, bundled into OSX.5)is teh roxxor.
February 23, 2008 at 11:41 am
Uh, I see the link failed to survive the transition to the site. Hm. Let’s try again:
http://stderr.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/thinkpad
February 23, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Editors: my personal experiences with running Windows programs on linux are limited, but I use Photoshop regularly – I use an older version, though, because that’s the one I got and that was what the Wine people could guarantee would work at the time I installed.
What impressed me about that, though, was this: after installation, I posted on my blog to say that I was impressed with the fact that it worked (because I’d tried Wine in the late 1990s and it was complete pants), but I still had some trouble with tablet sensitivity and some cosmetic issues. Within a day, I got an email from Dan Kegel at Wine asking me to submit those problems as bugs and pointing me where to do that. Clearly, he was actively looking for people with even the slightest complaints about Wine and Photoshop. Since then, Wine has been fixed up so tablet sensitivity works properly.
Apart from that, I have little reason to use Windows software. I do all my word-processing/spreadsheets in OpenOffice. If I needed advanced macro functionality, I might run into trouble, but it’s got all the features I need at home and more. Might want to try getting Internet Explorer to run for web design purposes, though.
Installing linux has become a whole lot easier these days. Actually, it has been for a while. Some tweaking is still necessary (particularly for etertainment, because many linux distributions don’t come with codecs that you’ll need), but it’s not something you need to be an ubergeek to do, anymore.
February 23, 2008 at 1:29 pm
A lot of Mac wienies. Hi ho. The poor fool who thinks you reformat *nix with emacs is typical of the lost and longing non tech types. RMS is laughing some where. Just get a Mac “it just works”. Good thing too because if it didn’t they’d be toast.
Just picked up an new Acer with a santa rosa, same as the macbook pro, chipset and standard stuff …. $520.
Vista will probably die but it’s the first time since NT 4 that I have had a non stolen M$ os. Slackware is taking over the machine. My GPS runs and we’ll be both M$ and Apple free soon ;).
February 23, 2008 at 1:57 pm
I love my Mac laptop, and other folks have covered the Boot Camp and Desktop Parallels angles. (I’m out for a new computer, too, but alas, there’s a lot I don’t like about the iMacs and Vista blows, so for now I’m just waiting.)
Good luck!
February 23, 2008 at 2:09 pm
I’ve never commented before but I will do it just to tell you how much I encourage you to get a Mac. The extra money is well worth it. If you want good technology, have somebody who designs BOTH the hardware AND the software to interact. You don’t see this happen in Windows. But you do see it in iPhone, Mac and even XBox, and it creates a stronger product.
February 23, 2008 at 3:45 pm
I haven’t read all the comments so don’t know if this has been addressed. What is the configuration of the computer you are considering replacing? You don’t need to buy a super device if your needs are modest. Then, If you don’t need the extra power, consider fixing the one you have. I have a several year-old Dell. The keyboard was also damaged by a kitten, cost about $35 to replace, easy to do. I also had power connection problems, so bought a new connector into the computer (about $50 on the internet). I had to take the computer apart to replace it, no problem the directions for taking apart are available on the internet (assuming Dell). The only problem is in being able to solder it.
If you wish to discuss it further send me an email, I may be able to help you save a bunch of money, just the cost to replace those parts.
February 23, 2008 at 4:53 pm
One other thing I learned in my shopping was that Mac’s new wireless router (out this month) is also a 500GB backup device, which is kind of nice, as I’m told it works automatically with Time Machine.
February 23, 2008 at 4:56 pm
Think of your immortal soul.
February 23, 2008 at 5:01 pm
[...] Laptop advice My laptop is 7 years old. The keyboard is missing 4 keys (kittens pulled them off for fun) and I have to use a pair of […] [...]
February 23, 2008 at 5:08 pm
Oh, no, no–this is bullshit. No matter what I say, whatever happens is going to be all my fault! Every time you have to reinstall your operating system, or you lose all your emails, or this doesn’t work, or you don’t like that, or whatever, until the end of time, it’s going to be all my fault.
Fuck that.
You make your own mistakes.
Then, we’ll all laugh at you when you do something stupid like buy another PC.
February 23, 2008 at 8:09 pm
I got a Mac Mini at work, against my wishes (I had beaten XP into submission: meaning I had it set up the way I liked).
I have no real issues with it: I use my own keyboard and trackball (I *do* dislike the Apple keyboard/mouse), and got a nice monitor from elsewhere. I run Windows apps using Parallels, which was a pain to set up to use the company network that I VPN into: mainly a function of me being unfamiliar with setting up the network in Windows. I only have 1GB of RAM, and so I either run my Win apps (req’d for work) *or* I run the Mac apps. Switching between is slow: the Win virtual machine is using half the RAM, and the Mac OS is using the other half.
Of course, my old PC was a dog, and I could be running CP/M and not complain with the zippy CPU and HD. I’m working on getting that additional 1GB of RAM.
I guess my point is I don’t really care either way: the Mac is fine, and so is XP on my home machine. I might get one for home, if I ever upgrade, but pricing may drive me to a PC (I’m cheap *and* poor).
February 23, 2008 at 9:37 pm
Good thing too because if it didn’t they’d be toast.
What. A. Load. Of. Crap.
No, it just works means that I can spend my time doing what I want to get done, not worrying about the stupid shit. I work both sides and even with proper precautions installed, the amount of maintenance time on the Win side for *stupid shit* is down right annoying.
Mac side: monitor tcp/ip chatter, run a few cron scripts and I don’t have to waste my time with all the crap.
If Windows works for you, great! Seriously.
Choice of platform, for the most part, does not inhibit getting done what you want/need to. Its the path to getting those things done that’s important to me.
Calling people idiots or saying that BSD is so yesterday does nothing to bolster your argument.
February 23, 2008 at 9:56 pm
My current computer is a 2001 Gateway desktop. but when I grow up, I’m going to buy a Mac. There’s really no contest.
February 23, 2008 at 10:05 pm
it is possible to run Windows on your mac, you just need a copy of the os! windows runs flippin fast on macs, and i switched from pc to mac in july 2007 and i dont feel like going back, i <3 my macbook :)
February 23, 2008 at 10:06 pm
and to run windows at the same time your running mac, you just need to purchase Desktop Parallels which is only $80.
February 23, 2008 at 10:13 pm
Everyone agrees that MAC’s are great.
But if money is an issue, buying the mac and then all of the software & games that doesn’t run on OSX can add up fast. I came to this similar crossroad last fall when I started back into school. Money was an issue, So I picked up a Toshiba Satellite, widescreen laptop on sale at Best Buy for around $700, plus upgrade to Office 2007 student addition. It came with Vista Home edition. So far this has been a great laptop. I have not had any problems with Vista in spite of all the horrible reviews. My sister-in-law is on her second Toshiba laptop and swears byt them. My wife had a compaq and it sucked monkey balls. So here’s a plug for Toshiba laptops. When I graduate and start making money, I’ll probably switch teams. (That means switching to MAC, not sexual orientation for you perverts out there!)
But until then I’m all about Toshiba.
-Todd
February 24, 2008 at 1:57 am
That’s not fucking Todd, I’m Todd. Mac because Industrial Design counts.
-Anton Chigurh
February 24, 2008 at 5:40 pm
Just ask yourself, how many people do you know who bought a Mac switched to a Wintel on their next purchase because they were so diappointed? Probably so few you could count them on your left hand. But how many people have switched from Wintel to Mac and never looked back (like me)? Countless. Get a Mac.
February 25, 2008 at 4:16 am
Hi The Editors,
What I’ve been doing for a while is using a dual-boot laptop with Windows XP and Ubuntu Linux. This meets all of my needs and is cheaper than buying a new Mac laptop. It doesn’t sound like you need Vista either.
February 25, 2008 at 10:45 am
Get one of these. Sure, it’s a bit of overkill for dos games, but on the plus side, it will keep your house warm on chilly days.
February 25, 2008 at 1:50 pm
If you commit to buying a Mac, I’ll kick in $20.
No viruses. No malware. No BSOD. No registry bullshit. Out-of-this-world warranty support. (I dropped my iBook on two separate occasions and they fixed it under warranty, no questions asked.) Kick-ass software like iPhoto and Garage Band. Plus, people will be able to instantly see how cool you are, and you can still run Windows.
Once you go Mac, you’ll never go back.
February 25, 2008 at 1:53 pm
BTW, for those still peddling the “Macs cost more than PCs!!!ONE!11! party line:
1) The differences ain’t so great anymore, particularly if you get a refurb from Apple Store, which is good as new and carries the same warranty as new.
2) The utter lack of headaches are more than worth the price difference between a Mac laptop and a Windows PC laptop. System maintenance on a Mac is stunningly simple – you could teach your computerphobic parents how to do it.
February 25, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Yeah, about that… Microsoft makes XBox. Just sayin’.
February 25, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Hey, speaking of ancient DOS games… anybody out there still playing the original Railroad Tycoon?
I have two versions… one was the original floppy disk install which had England and the TPV trains in Europe. Then, a few years later, I found a later revision of the original RT which took out the TPV (boo hoo) but added additional scenarios (Africa, South America, eastern US) and removed England (bummer!).
February 25, 2008 at 2:03 pm
oh… forgot to say I found the later revision of RT in a cutout bin at an electronics store in Italy. Amazing. Of all the cool stuff I’ve found and bought in Italy, finding RT at MediaWorld @ the Gigli mall outside Florence is right up there.
Yeah, I’m a geek…
February 25, 2008 at 4:55 pm
A hate to repeat myself, but: Dude. The childhood you wish you had is all right here. And it’s free.
February 25, 2008 at 5:52 pm
You can get some amazing deals on PC laptops on the Dell site’s outlet area – and with what you save, you can buy the extended warranty.
February 26, 2008 at 9:11 am
Macs are great, if you just want to surf the web and upload youtube clips. start writing weeb services and the hate will flow.
February 26, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Mac’s are better, definitely better, but switching to Windows isn’t easy (yet, they say it is getting better). And you can’t get a good one for $1000. Get a Sony Vaio. They are pretty awesome and they’ll play your old games. There is a new one out but I think you can still get the generation before it for significantly less than a thousand bucks.
February 26, 2008 at 1:55 pm
“Do you value your time? Get a Mac. Period. The low-end MacBook is $1100 and is perfectly usable for everything except gaming (but who games on a laptop?) in its default configuration.”
Yup. I got a pimped-out Dell m1330 for a great price, but the total suckiness of Vista and f**king around with drivers lost me a month of what would have been actual work/gaming/pr0n viewing time. Dell’s support wasn’t bad though.
Two weeks earlier, I’d helped my sister buy a computer: I told her to buy a Mac.
But I didnt’ follow my own advice, ‘cos I’m a manly tech dude. What was I thinking.
March 13, 2008 at 5:21 pm
[...] makes me feel somewhat better about caving and buying an HP Vista machine after all. I understand this is a shallow decision, but the hardware specs on even a modestly-priced on are [...]