[aklug] Re: Mac laptops and reliability

I used an Apple/Mac once, for about an hour. Was playing with the
original "Flight Simulator" (before Microsoft bought it). I think it was
about 1982 ;-)

-- 
Jim Gribbin <jimgribbin@gmail.com>
On Mon, 2010-08-16 at 18:14 -0800, Damien Hull wrote:
> I don't use a Mac but I know people who do. They love it. If you have
> never used a Mac you have no idea what your talking about.
> 
> People see the price and walk away. However, I think it's good stuff.
> Much more reliable then windows. You also don't have to worry about
> viruses as much. But it still gets them.
> 
> The business world is all windows. So if you plan on doing any
> business stuff you need it.
> 
> That's my 2 cents.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
> On Aug 16, 2010, at 5:43 PM, Tim Gibney <timgibney76@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> > 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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> >>
> >
> >
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