[aklug] Re: Mac laptops and reliability

Over the years Toshiba has proven to put out a snazzy and unreliable machine since their
chunky early incarnations which you could beat with a stick and they still ran.

I have a ten year-old Dell Latitude d400 that runs as good as it ever did.
A Latitude d600 8 years and if it wasn't for the display pins being abused by human error would still be in my possesion.
Heck even the oft maligned Gateway company migrated a used GWM6309 my way,
that is Totally Linux friendly and Suspends and Resumes as well.3-4 years old

I opted out of Macs several years ago as I generally found I could buy 2-3 notebooks for the price of
one of theirs and have a dazzing display if desired. (Tried E17 and Compiz lately?)
The classic clamshell PowerMac will always be my favorite.
As it was the right price several years ago, used at 300$ May it RIP.
Its flawed guts, cronic and documented sound probs and flaky dvd drive finally made it unusable.
I cherish its memory anyhow. I just "Liked" it.!

The http://www.system76.com/?gclid=CIyLmrKhv6MCFQQBbAodlCUJhA System 76 people have a sterling rep. and
have high ethical standards which may prompt me to break down and actually buy one myself soon !
There are other Linux vendors which have kept their standards high over the last several years.

This discussion is tantamount to one of religion or politics so I am merely offering a comment or two
with no agenda or particular flag waving.
The national "happiness quotient" of Bhutan is more my style these days.
If it makes you happy then....(..and when it cones time to pay the bill will you "still" be)

Good Luck. This is a decision many of us face from time to time.
I think it is more shades of gray than black and white.

WH (Bill) Bouterse
Fishhook

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tim Gibney" <timgibney76@gmail.com>
To: aklug@aklug.org
Sent: Monday, August 16, 2010 2:00:17 PM
Subject: [aklug] Mac laptops and reliability

For those who attend the LUG at Anchorage, I am the one cursing Toshiba and
anything Ubuntu on it.
Well my misery is over, may the horrible atrocity known as my Toshiba laptop
rest in peace ... or I should say piece. :-)~

My wife has a malfunctioning Toshiba as well that is a very expensive gaming
laptop that works well as long as you do not run games??

I am applying for the masters in computer science with the University of
Alaska Fairbanks. I will need a new machine if I get in and my wife is very
cynical to the idea of wasting money again on yet another laptop or desktop.
I am thinking of getting a Mac. A true Unix OS that has well supported
hardware and great visual editing tools if I want to start my web business.
How reliable are powerbooks? Are they worth 2x the cost? Should I just buy a
desktop like an iMac?

How is Linux support in bootcamp? Yes they can boot Linux but can Linux
support the EFI features such as temperature control fans and CPU throttling
that are mac specific?

I also have to repurchase MacOffice and a $200 OEM version of Windows 7 if
its required and that makes it very expensive.

What is everyone's opinion? How long do they last? Since they cost 2x as
much I am looking at +4 years of life minimum to justify the cost. Do they
last that long?

Thanks

Tim Gibney

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Received on Mon Aug 16 17:05:47 2010