[aklug] Re: Mac laptops and reliability

I am thinking of Adobe Dreamweaver for website creation mixed with
PostgreSQL and a few free Javascript debuggers. Most of the jobs in
Anchorage require experience in it or Microsoft's Sharepoint thingie. I
chose Java as my electives in my undergraduate years so starting with .NET
will be a burden.
How is MacOSX not a Unix or a Linux? My intention was to replace Linux with
a well integrated OS with the hardware and still have the benefits. Linux is
a cool toy to play with but I just want to play World of Warcraft and run
Office and a few tools. Windows might be a requirement for some classes.

I am just curious on the Apple brand from people who have switched.

On Mon, Aug 16, 2010 at 5:28 PM, Bruce Hill <bruce@slackwarebox.com> wrote:

> On Mon, Aug 16, 2010 at 02:00:17PM -0800, Tim Gibney wrote:
> > 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??
>
> Having repaired countless laptops over the years, Toshiba is one of those
> names that gives me cold sweats at night. We also had one, which was given
> to us when it was 3 months old by the owner who could not get support to
> prevent the constant lockups and crashes. The first thing I did was write
> zeroes to the drive, then install Slackware. That solved the problems. To
> have a dual boot I reinstalled with a WinXP Home CD, not the Toshiba
> recovery CD, which installs a lot of useless Toshiba apps. The laptop ran
> okay for what it was, a Toshiba hunk a junk. ;)
>
> > 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?
>
> Your wife is gun shy because of the poor Toshiba products. Wait until you
> pay extravagant fees for the Mac, then buy Windows and it's apps in
> addition, then install Linux ... curse the sleepless nights! ;)
>
> Seems that compatibility issues might be the big 'gotcha' for running Mac
> software, and it's not a true Unix OS, either. (Has the Vim vs. Emacs
> thread run it's course so we can start a Unix clone vs. Linux vs. Unix
> one?)
>
> And yes, why pay 2x the cost plus more to get the thing to do what a PC
> would do in the first place? If you want a laptop, but a ThinkPad. They
> have a long track record of being very reliable, their Linux support is
> great, and you'll get the obligatory Windows OS that your school chums and
> profs will require you to use anyway. You get a good, reliable, well
> supported and well built ThinkPad and shrink the Win7 (don't buy another
> Win OS) partition, install Linux, and be done with it. Mac has icons and
> graphics that are more eye appealing, but the base software that you use
> to do your work is what's important, not eye candy.
>
> Tools? Software is written for all platforms ... web pages can be written
> in Vim, or even notepad if you want no syntax highlighting. In the area of
> tools (meaning apps) maybe consider the cross-platform compatibility.
> Every guy I know personally who has a Mac installs Windows and Linux.
> Linux for something worthwhile to do work with, Windows for lack of
> compatibility with Mac software. The programmers I know who have Macs only
> add Linux, not Windoze.
>
> > 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?
>
> Check out some HCL lists, TuxMobile, and <Linux> Google for the specific
> model you're considering.
>
> > Thanks
> >
> > Tim Gibney
>
> Just my 2c, but the business practices of Apple are as wicked as those of
> Microsoft ... the only product of either company we've bought in this
> decade came pre-installed (Windoze), except for the iPhone.
>
> The problem for us is always the same ... we require some apps which are
> of such superior quality to anything open source that we must have one of
> the proprietary systems they're written for to use them.
>
> Bruce Hill
> --
> May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of His suffering!
>
> "Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the
> lesson afterward. But properly learned, the lesson forever changes
> the man."
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Received on Mon Aug 16 17:43:34 2010