Nope, still can’t see it.

😆

Macs (and indeed Apple products generally) have shiny cases and their own flavour of unix; for that you pay a 100% premium.

ftfy – your post going on about cheap laptops with windows on therefore must have substandard hardware (while inferring that macs don’t cut costs and give you a really strong spec) is just myopic. macs and the majority of everything else has intel chips on, similar bus speeds and the same board controllers etc so the comparison of the vaio and the macbook is quite valid.

I have used windows and linux and mac OSX and guess what? none of them are perfect operating systems. do your homework, try all the operating systems out and make a sensible decision on what hardware you want to support the operating system that gives you the access to the applications that you will use.

elfinsafety has the right idea, this thread was boring without pictures, I’m going back to page 3

Can you help me find the Ubuntu logo?

I only speak from my own experience. Two time VAIO owner. One time MacBookPro owner.

I’m nowhere near an IT bod or computer tech whiz so all this defrag talk goes right over my head.

As a lay user – skilled in the use of software packages such as Excel and such but not in OS’s – I had a nightmare with both VAIO’s. I lost count of the times I did clean installs of Windows on my last VAIO and still the speakers would only work when they felt like it – amongst other annoyances.I just wanted a computer that did what it said on the tin and I can’t say my experience with VAIO gave me that.

By comparison I’ve had no such issues with the MBP. When I close the screen, it goes to sleep. No tantrums like I used to frequently get with the VAIO. The VAIO would frequently refuse to go to sleep and just cook in that closed state until it reached near nuclear temperatures.

The MBP cost more than both the VAIO’s put together but it always does what it says on the tin. And their customer service is awesome. I just had the top cover and screen replaced 11 months out of warranty for free. That’s a £500 repair gratis.

My MBP is two years old but works like the day I bought it. By contrast after 6 months with each VAIO I was at the point of throwing it through a window.

On the point of getting a Mac ‘just for using the web’ for £300 why not look at just getting an iPad? Admittedly still over your £300 price point but not as much over as a MacBook.

Thanks for all the helpful contributions. I ended up spending a little more and getting a MacBook. It just under two years but the spec is decent enough. I was going to get an iPad but with our other laptop having ‘issues’ I felt better to have another laptop which can word process etc and there ain’t much I can do on an iPad that I can’t do on my iPhone.

I’m a long time windows user or sufferer & have a hp/compaq 2510p laptop for work and an acer something or other. I bought a macbook pro 6 mths ago and tbh I can see some benefits of the apple such as start up speed and screen, but the battery life is pretty crap and it’s been back twice to get the cd drive replaced.

Overall i’m not converted. .

I use PCs because i’m…

a) computer literate
b) a cheapskate
c) a gamer
d) an anti-snob

I also like the fact that if I want to upgrade my processor, GPU or memory then I can.

Chicks dig Macs

Office by the beach

I think I’d rather have something entertaining, practical and fun than something that looks good on a beach towel.

Same with computers.

aracer – Member
I tend to buy new ones tax-free at the airport

How does that save you money by the time you’ve paid taxes when you import it? Or are you funding your Mac habit by smuggling?

Nope, most UK airports (plus the Eurotunnel terminal) have a tax-free Dixons – although they seem to have rebranded as Dixons Travel now. It’s not actually tax-free, just discounted so you’re effectively getting close to the VAT-free price – so applies to internal and EU flights too.

Their website is being redone so you can reserve online, but I’ve always just called up a few days in advance, they reserve an item for you (anything Dixons stock, so no build-to-order Apple stuff), when you pass security you pick it up. If you’re not away for too long they’ll hold it for you and meet you once you arrive back to hand it over.

As an example, the mid-spec 15″ MBP that is £1649 is £1433.91 this way. £30 over VAT-free, but still over £200 saving and below the education store price without pretending to be a student.

If you have to fly for work, do the odd trip through the tunnel to France or a weekend away in Europe it’s a pretty handy way of getting a good discount off a new Mac.

For video the advantage is FCP, nothing else as good for windows without paying AVID prices

Edius. Full res output, native AVCHD file handling with no rendering.

When I close the screen, it goes to sleep

*closes W7 laptop screen, it sleeps, open, it awakes*

Hey, whaddya know.

There are more crap instals of Windows out there on laptops, and there is more crap hardware. Sony are one of the worst offenders for bloated installs imo.

Apple of course don’t have this problem.

My point is that just because one Windows laptop is crap doesn’t mean they all will be. But of course, that’s one mark against PCs really. There are dozens of manufacturers, hundreds of component manufacturers and thousands of software authors, and Windows has to keep track of them all.

This business model makes it rather difficult for the consumer at times, but it’s also the very reason why PCs are so ubiquitous and cheap. In fact one could argue that it is responsible largely for the huge success and availability of personal computing in general. Until Apple re-invented itself as a niche upmarket product, Microsoft and the PCs had all but killed every one of their competitors.

molgrips… not every file system needs defragging…

If by “need defragging” you mean “suffers from fragmentation,” I challenge you to name one that’s in widespread modern usage.

FAT – ostensibly introduced fragmentation to the masses.
NTFS – initially claimed not to need defragging by MS when it was introduced, they later said ‘oops’ and backpedalled. Has real-time optimisation to keep fragmentation down but still gets fragmented.
HFS+ – like NTFS, attempts to keep fragmentation to a minimum on the fly but can still get fragmented.
ext2 – needs defragging.
ext3 – can’t be defragged natively (well, without converting back to ext2) but still fragments over time.
ext4 – recognises issues with ext3, proposes to re-introduce defrag.

“Can’t be defragged” isn’t the same as “doesn’t need defragging.” However, if when you say “need” you’re arguing that fragmentation isn’t a massive performance issue on a modern machine except in certain very specific circumstances, be that on Windows, Linux or OSX, I’d agree with you. It’s largely a non-issue.

If as I suspect it’s merely a badly researched attempt at willy-waving that “the Mac doesn’t need defragging and PCs do,” modern Windows OSes run a weekly scheduled defrag task on a very low system priority in order to keep fragmentation to a minimum. Most people aren’t even aware of this and it can of course be disabled. The Mac, however, doesn’t do this; not because it’s not required but because it’s not possible.

To defrag a Mac requires third party tools (not free) and requires exclusive access to the volume whist it runs – so you can’t use your computer. It’s also inherently risky, something Microsoft managed to fix back in the 90’s.

This is fun, anyone else want to make any wildly inaccurate claims to the supremacy of their platform or have I made my point? (-: Hey I know, shall we do viruses next?

Since when did I say I use a Mac? 😉

“Need” in this context is from a performance perspective, not a technical statement saying it cannot be defragged. So bringing fragmentation into the Mac Vs. PC arguement is pretty pointless, as it brings very little noticable benefits for the average Joe Bloggs desktop.

Now who’s waving their little friend around by listing filesystems?

In your haste to go “ha!” in a triumphant manner, you’ve overlooked the fact that I was replying to Molgrips, not you.

it brings very little noticable benefits for the average Joe Bloggs desktop.

… which is exactly what I said. This is true of both Mac and PC, it’s a non-issue as far as comparisons go. The only difference is, with NTFS you have the option to do so, should you desire. You don’t “need” to on either platform.

Chicks dig Macs

Office by the beach

How it is this is work? I not understand. Can please explain to me this with pictures?

Thank you.

It’s like this kind of ‘work’ elfin…

No, I still is not understand. Need see more please.

Cougar…. you quoted me….

In my haste to go “ha!” in a triumphant manner, I’ve overlooked the fact that I was replying to you, not Molgrips.

Mia Culpa, sorry about that.

8)

Actually – who in their right mind would take a laptop to a beach? It’s going to get very full of sand very quickly.

Isn’t it mea culpa rather than mia?

Yes, but extending this thread to latin pedantry is probably not going to help anyone 🙂

I’m still struggling with the MS Mouse not working on a Mac when I’ve been using one for years as I hate Apple mice..

Yes, but extending this thread to latin pedantry is probably not going to help anyone

It’s about as useful as the platform pedantry on the rest of it 🙂

Isn’t it mea culpa rather than mia?

Probably. In my defence, I’ve not been well so my bloody Latin might be a bit rusty.

q-:

Hackintosh is the new Mac

I’m still struggling with the MS Mouse not working on a Mac when I’ve been using one for years as I hate Apple mice..

El cheapo 2 button USB mouse is the answer… I bought a Dell one off ebay for £3, plugged straight in and worked with my Mac no issues…