ILX, help me decide on a laptop computer

How full-featured are we talking?
I just have bad memories of the old old old-school toshibas being a little chintsy.

it's weird, but even though everything is correct on it, I have this strange twinge of engrish-dar that's not present on other sites (not even sony).

I can't quite explain it.

(xpost)
Yeah, I'm with you on that. I tried to switch to mac a year or so ago, but it was too difficult to port over all my projects.

shame, the battery life in my ibook is a good 2 hours longer than the pc laptop i had before it. i get well over 5 hours if i'm just using it to wordprocess.

That and a few other things are my main deterrants.

Also, the price is a bit high in general.
I know, I know, I mean I did fork out damn near $400 for an ipod, but still.

iMap
ArcExplorer
Canvas 9 GIS
Grass GIS (free/open source)
Generic Mapping tools

But as I said before, that's not the only reason why I can't switch.

not to mention Autodesk's cad software is currently not for apples (despite apparant petitions for them to port it).

As much as I'd love to make one of those dumb 'switch' ads, these bits of software and some others aren't available on apples and probably won't be anytime soon.

The mac/PC issue isn't really up for debate here, it's a sad conclusion I had to make ahead of time.

But I'm definitely going to look into some of these models mentioned.
I've already been exploring IBMs multitude of thinkpad setups, I just worry that the more poewrful ones I was drooling at might have shit battery life.

I used ArcView on a first gen G4 running virtual PC back in the day!

Unfortunately the copy of arcgis (I think 4?) is hella unstable.
Like whenever I try to make certain dataset layers visible it just straight up crashes. It really blows, because MassGIS is the only place to get a lot of the data, and they only have the one version that crashes it for me.

: (

But still, yeah.
Depending on what I'm doing I'm switching between arcgis and arcexplorer (for the really basic shit). Mostly arcgis lately, though. explorer is just too limited for most of what I need to do with it.





also, I had no idea you were into GIS stuff????
awesome.

how important is processor speed vs. memory vs. hard drive speed? i read one article that said there's no reason to worry about memory as long as your notebook's hdd is at least 5400 rpm. if my thinkpad's memory is only 256mb, is there still "no reason to worry" or should i spend the $80 and upgrade to the more standard 512mb? also, would you say that 1.6GHz processor speed is more than adequate for someone who isn't a big gamer/overclocker?

Seriously, the laptop offerings are 1000x better than the PC world. There is no substantitive mac/pc price difference for laptops anymore. Oh and "no spyware (yet)" and no "internet explorer security holes"

also the people on the "i hate apple" thread are mostly talking about customer support (which i have found good the one time i had to use it) and weird quibbles about changing fonts in the finder or something equally incomprehensible to me

gahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!

also the people on the "i hate apple" thread are mostly talking about customer support (which i have found good the one time i had to use it)

i found my small handful of experiences with apple customer support pleasant as well. but i'm worried that as apple are increasingly identified as "the ipod company" they'll be too preoccupied refurbishing thrashed ipods to have time for powerbook repair.

and weird quibbles about changing fonts in the finder or something equally incomprehensible to me

that is one thing i've never liked about macs.

my bf, bless his soul, is a dyed-in-the-wool mac dude, and while i think he's a brilliant and wonderful and effervescent soul, i'm sure he'd be the first to admit that most of his apple computer luv comes from his days as a '70s/'80s california teenage haX0r. and that bird i cannot change, whoa-whoa-whoa. but it's 2005 now, and if you're reasonably well-informed and not a total moron, you can buy a damned good pc and keep it out of trouble.

This may be meaningless to you, but it's kinda true. I have a PC at home and a Mac at work, and while my PC does most things I want it to, I can't wait to get back to what I consider my more efficient, better-featured, and, yes, better *feeling* computer at work. Also, I'm addicted to Quicksilver now, which is this program that makes searching easier than you could ever imagine on a PC and lets you set up your own hotkeys for anything you want and does especially good things when browsing iTunes. This situation is only going to improve with Tiger, I am told.

The trouble with a Powerbook, though, is that they're not really comparably priced to PC laptops. They're still a good bit more expensive. Sorry.

I go back and forth all the time on what my next computer will be, and generally decide to wait for my next raise in either case. (Which may be soon!)

I'm no zealot, don't get me wrong.

i've owned one, and i've worked on them in two jobs.

Oh, I KNOW! So many times I hit f9 at home, only to get a big ol' nothin'. Such a letdown.

law school will not let me get a mac
it can't be heavy. i have to carry it around, possibly on a bicycle
must be inexpensive, really inexpensive
i want to watch movies on it sometimes
other than that i only need word processing and internet

i am considering the tiniest dell, but dells are bad, huh?
what do i do

wtf, does this school specialize in NAZI LAW?

Toshiba MacBook: even has the same crappy integrated graphics
http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=337637&pfp=browse&tabtype=ts#moreinfo

must be inexpensive, really inexpensive

that does rule out macs though, no?

You can always buy AppleCare later, up until the one-year anniversary of your purchase.

i remember girlz who wanted ultralight cheapies carrying around VAIOs, though most girls carried around real machines. yr not going to use it after 3 years anyway, most likely, right?

applecare might be important when your machine dies in the middle of the semester and you're on-call in 2 classes next week and you don't want to spend half the day on the phone with the computer people.

I got the MBP on a whim, mainly to run aperture which I haven't decided to get yet, however Im glad I did as Civ iV looks like it will require discrete graphics.

But you're probably going to notice the shitty screen, which has a pink tint and some shocking colour ghosting.

Either way, the calibration shouldn't affect the colour ghosting (which is wild on text too: scroll ilx and the screen goes nuts).

I can't decide if Macs have more problems than other manufacturers or if we owners are just more vocal.

(The best test, btw, is a flickr picture. Wiggle the window around and you'll see the control buttons disappear and the flickr logo go all turquoise)

then plug the model you find into froogle:
http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=TOSHIBA+Tecra+A7&btnG=Search+Froogle

a) will never touch advent again
b) it has to be a pc laptop
so
c) i should go for toshiba, yes? are compaq any good? and i run a bunch of programs all at once, so i should aim for the largest RAM i can get, yes?

thank you in advance...

have been offered one as a present. y'all must use em: some current advice pls?

cheapio ideally since I have a desktop and wouldn't be using it for much more than tinternet and maybe some bits of cooledit. dvd player handy.

get the best apple the gift giver can afford and slap some extra ram up in that bitch (buy it separate so it cost you about 50% less, it is so easy to install an untrained monkey could do it)

oh, xpost. uhh... cheap. second hand?

no no no no no. i do not want an apple. i demand a right mouse button goddamit.

i'm working on an apple right now (not mine obv) and while i like the look of them and they are nice to type on i've still never developed much of an attachment despite putting in the hours.

and not second hand.

you know you can plug in any usb mouse and the right button acts as a pc-style right click?

Then buy a normal mouse/trackball.

Whatever the Microsoft travel mouse is that works off a usb thumb-drive is great, it works better than any wireless mouse I've used.

the mouse is not my only grievance. i just use my pc for so many different functions and have found macs to be a lot less versatile. although i'm confident mac users will wax lyrical to the contrary.

"wouldn't be using it for much more than tinternet and maybe some bits of cooledit"?

I've never found myself lacking in software for the Mac. And you can always install Windows on it and run Parallels or BootCamp.

I'd look at the lower end of Lenovo's Thinkpad line if you want a Windows-only machine. Toshiba and Fujitsu have also been quality in my experience.

i think i want a laptop that performs as a pc so i might as well just get one of them rather than adapting a mac right? cheaper too. i shall look into the toshiba und the fujitsu.

I have a £500-£600 budget and don't do much gaming. I'm tempted by the Macbook linked below, but have only real experience of Windows operating systems.

Anybody got anything in this range that they're very very happy with? Should I go Mac?

YES GO MAC FOR THE LAST FUCKING TIME

That seems to be the general gist I'm getting elsewhere kthnx.

http://www.digibarn.com/collections/systems/compaq/DSC06451.JPG

We've pretty much decided to get an XO.

craig get a macbook. i'm very very happy with mine.
yr pal,

<i>I'm tempted by the Macbook linked below</i>

Linky where? My budget's the same as yours, and I want one!

Try this ($899).

lol get a mac

(srsly)

lol get a mac with virus protection

Click "ok" and enter your systems adminstrator's password and it will be installed on your computer with full system access after which you are, to use the jargon, "pwned", or scuppered.

anyone who does this deserves what they get

libcrypt, that Macbook says "out of stock"

I've got macbook, but I'm not completely convinced it wouldn't have been better to get a hp laptop - by the time you add in applecare, macbooks are pretty expensive for what they are.

The main reason I changed to mac is that i was totally fed up with all the microsoft security updates...doing a full clean install of XP would take hours because of all the additional security updates, and i guessed Vista would be the same.

I got an iBook clamshell w/OS9 for $50 and it is love. For what I need to do, which is typing papers & playing SimCity 2k.

retro macs rule...the current range is actually a bit bland

http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/2314/4656507280137337f06qu3.jpg

Speaking of retro Macs, anyone know a good place in London to pick up a cheap 12" G4 iBook? Everything on eBay seems a bit pricey.

Who wants to buy a 1st-gen clamshell iMac?

libcrypt, that Macbook says "out of stock"

Sorry about that. The Apple refurb store tends to update very quickly. Guess they ran out between my posting and you looking. Anyways, it was a white MB, 2GHz.

Maybe someone bought it after looking at my post.

Rock, do you mean you have one for sale, or "Why the hell wld anyone buy one?" I like mine.

We have one that might be for sale in a few weeks.

I wouldn't mind one.

Everyone at my work is so enchanted by it. "That is the CUTEST thing in the ENTIRE WORLD."

The one you should get is very obviously this one:
http://craphound.com/images/jpsteampunklappie.jpg

Or maybe this:
http://craphound.com/images/datamancerlaptop.jpg

first the screen died
then the speakers died
then my husband put a dent in the keyboard
now we need to buy a replacement laptop

recommendations from the experts?

we want something fairly fast/powerful and are willing to spend a little more on this than we normally would

(no mac recommendations, please)

There's plenty of options, but narrowing it down is difficult without an idea of your budget and requirements re screen size - ie. is this intended for true portable work, or will you primarily be using it on a desk?

a bigger screen - yes
truly portable - not important. will mostly be used at home.
budget... probably no more than $1200 at a stretch

my husband likes dell and is thinking of getting a dell studio xps

that's a good choice - top of the list for my recommendations would be dell or toshiba, just for sheer reliability and build quality, whilst retaining a keen pricepoint.

the xps studio 16 with LED display and core 2 duo processor options is a little less or a little more than your budget by the look of it, dependent on if you go for the faster processor option and bigger hard disk.

from my husband:

"putting my initial budget aside for a second, is it really worth $500 or so more to upgrade to the core i7 processor in the high-end xps studio 16? or if i'm not gaming or watching movies all the time, is a core 2 duo more than enough?"

definitely not worth the upgrade - you'll find that a modern laptop with 4GB memory, Windows 7 and a c2d chip plenty fast enough for pretty much any "home" use.

I'm trying to figure out how to write a simple script to kill the wireless on a Thinkpad (with the alt-f4 command? something like that) for a period of every day tied to the computer's clock. Does anyone know how I could do this? There must be a way.

My 'buying a laptop for music and DJing' woes are continuous and well documented here on ILX and elsewhere. I'm really at the end of my tether now.

So far:

1. Bought a £500 Windows laptop from Dell as part of a special offer. A friend who described himself as a 'techie' recommended I snap it up saying it was increidbly high-spec for the price. Unfortunately the AMD processor meant that it was rubbish for DJ and music applications. Graphics on Serato were jerky and it generally felt laggy and unresponsive. After a good while with their tech department I ended up getting a refund.

2. Bought a £600 refurbished Mac. 16GB RAM running Catalina. I use a Mac for work so it's not like I'm completely new to them, but I found the interfacee a bit hard to use - lots of niggly little problems. Also it would get extremely hot and then lag.

3. The guy I bought it off switched out the insides into a supposedly better machine, but the issues continued along with lots of audio and USB drop-outs. Twice also it decided to disconnect my external hard drive for no reason and I had to first aid and remount it before it would work again. Plus I hated the fact I needed a dongle to plug in all my external equipment. I ended up cursing Apple and all they stand for. Bizarre since so many friends recommend Macs for music because they 'just work', whcih they clearly don't. I'm getting a refund on this one.

So six months down the line, and a lot of frustrating hours trying to troubleshoot all the issues, I'm still on my old trusty Asus 2012 Windows 7 laptop, which works at least even though it grumbles a bit when I ride it hard.

This review of a laptop especially for DJs really impressed me. Especially since it has a whole load of ports and great ventilation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqkUrgOvWx8 but a lot of comments were of the "no way, I'd rather get a Mac" variety. Is there really that much in it? I've always found Macs to be a bit haughty and fussy about the way things get done. I don't like how they ask for authentication each time I breathe in. I don't like their lack of inputs and ports. I don't like the way I can't customise column headers to show things like Bitrate or Artist in Finder. I don't like their attitude. But so many people tell me there's no contest.

So do I save up and get this XMG thing, or is it a gimmick? I'd mostly be using it to run Serato and Reason 11, but I might like to do a few other things at some point of course - wouldn't like to find that it's not designed to do, say, graphic or video editing work. I don't see myself gaming on it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Tsfh1GNvpQ

gaming laptop?

lol didn’t even see the last work in your post was gaming. but yeah, I recently read some “best laptops for producing music” and a bunch/most of them were gaming laptops

that surprises me. from what i've learnt there's a big difference between gaming laptop and music laptop specs, especially when it comes to processors: Gamers favour AMD whereas music and DJ software much prefers Intel.

tbf, I would not evaluate Mac's "it just works" claim on a refurbished machine that had its insides completely swapped out

(This is not to say the claim isn't bullshit but you've effectively bought a used car from someone who has replaced the engine and drive shaft themselves, then complained about the original maker when the thing pulls hard to the left)

yeah yeah i know. but there are lots of inherent things about macs that make me wonder what exactly they were thinking when they decided to go down that particular ux/ui route. all a matter of choice, but the things are so. damn. inflexible.