Thread

If you buy the Dell, you’re going to regret it in mere days.  I’m not just saying that because I prefer the Macbook (though I do); I don’t know a single person who purchased a Dell notebook who was pleased.  If you’re looking at Windows laptops for a budget, I’d steer you towards Toshiba.  But there’s an interesting thread over in the EE forums that’s somewhat related, though now closed. 😉

Yeah but if you get a computer with 1GB you are going to be sorry right away.  I’m not against Mac, but you need to upgrade it from the basic offering - This means more $.  You didn’t mention student discount so that changes things.

Indeed, you’ll want 2GB in the Macbook.  I’d recommend two of these for a total of $80.

I have to say that I agree with most of the posts, especially the two Dereks, I have two IBM Thinkpads and a MacBook 2.16Ghz, I did consider the MacBook Pro, but as I travel around a bit, I find the MacBook much easier to live with. When I’m at home/office I plug my MacBook into a 22” Widescreen TFT.

The major reason I chose to go with the Mac, was OS X on Intel. I can run Win2K server for my C# development work, I use Parallels to acomplish this, and I can have the pleasure of being able to turn my system on, use it, and turn it off when I’ve finished with it. No drama, no fighting to configure it before I can use it, it just works.

I use the built in Apache web server, Php and a MySQL package to run local copies of my LAMP sites on my MacBook as I’m quite used to running Linux on my Thinkpads as one of the boot options.

Build quality, I’d have to say that the MacBook is very well built, pretty much on a par with my Thinkpads, and they’re rock solid.

Price, well although the MacBook may appear to be expensive, think about total cost of ownership, with the Mac, you can use Bootcamp and install a Windows partition, if you had a problem with your OS X, you’d just boot up in Win(2k/Xp/Vista), if you run Parallels and migrate your existing Windows setup into an image on the Mac, then make a copy of it, when it fails, you can just copy your backup image copy over and be back up and running in minutes.

I should declare my interests here, I started out in computers on Mainframes twenty years ago, have been involved with Unix for about the last fifteen, am a Microsoft MCSE, and only started seriously using Macs since the Mac Mini was launched.

I’m not out to convert anyone, I think you should use the appropriate tools for the job in hand, my personal opinion is that if I was the average user, just browsing the net, doing email, photos, video, dvds, music etc.. no question I would absolutely buy a Mac, why suffer the pain of viruses, endless Windows updates ....

For a developer, it’s a little more complicated, I have a bunch of sites that I currently support, mostly in classic ASP on SQL Server, and some in C# again on SQL Server, so I’m a bit stuck, I need a Windows box, but for all my LAMP sites a Mac is the perfect solution (well Linux would be fine as a server, but as a desktop it’s lacking). The Mac is a good server AND desktop ! If I were just developing LAMP applications, I’d have chosen a Mac immediately, as I’m not, I did consider various Windows / Linux systems, in the end I still chose a Mac, and I have to say, I’m glad that I did.

For the last eight or nine years, I’d hoped that desktop Linux would become more of a match for Windows, and although it’s got better, it’s still not there yet. OS X has BSD roots and for a Linux / Unix person, it’s very familiar ‘Under the hood’, I like being able to use Subversion at the command line if I want to.

I was hoping that Apple would have Leopard out when I bought my Mac, but Tiger is a great OS, still better IMHO than Windows, I’ll be happy to buy Leopard when it’s out.

I hope that whatever you choose, it works out right for you.

I’d steer you towards Toshiba.

Which Toshiba would you recommend? I hate to drag out this thread but I want to make sure I get the best bang for my buck.

**For those asking:

I develop in PHP/APACHE/MYSQL/ETC and this is what I’m getting the laptop for.

I don’t keep up with releases, but typically their track record is good and price is low.

MacBook Pro 15.4”!

I would prefer DELL as I am also using it and it’s working excellent.:D

I cant believe this question has been asked!

BUY A MAC!!!!!

Use all of your money, sell your shoes and socks and hair and blood and semen and anything else to get the most whizz bang Mac you can.

Then, sleep next to it at night (as you’ve probably sold your duvet) and hug it all day long.

I’ve agreed to let the mrs have some silly pram made by bill and ted or something just so that she’ll let me buy a macbook. I’d have let her have a pound of flesh to be quite honest.

I’m interested in the macbook VS the macbook pro debate though, which i think you’ll agree is the only logical debate, due to Dell VS Mac having only an obvious winner.

fanboy? :D

Everyone:

I’m writing this post from my brand new HP Pavilion dv9000. Valued at $1,800+ and purchased for $1250.

I got it fully loaded and got an amazing deal to boot (over $500 off). It was the floor model, and the last of its kind in the nearby best buy. My friend was working and was able to get it with his employee discount. I want to thank you all for steering me away from Dell and I would of bought the Mac if I had been able to find a good price for one (it just wasn’t strong enough stock).

Here are the stats:

17” monitor
2 gigs memory
2.0 GHz Intel Core Duo II T7200 4mb L2CACHE
240GB HD
256mb nVIDIA 7600
vista ultimate
some slick dvd player
built in webcam/speakers/etc

Because it was a floor model, I have 14 days return policy (with no restocking fee). If anyone has any good or bad news about this model—or recommends something better please let me know.

Thanks guys!

Told u to get the HP.  They are loaded and priced so nice—though before discount at 1800 that seems a little high. F Steve Jobs… he just wants money.

Told u to get the HP.  They are loaded and priced so nice—though before discount at 1800 that seems a little high. F Steve Jobs… he just wants money.

I guess Mark Hurd wants peace on earth and to cure world hunger, right?

This is such a total no-brainer.

Buy an intel mac because then you have bootcamp which allows you to run Windows, Linux or Mac OSX on one machine. (don’t start up some argument about vmware, vm and booting into an OS are very different)

Steve jobs just wants money? He can have all mine if he wants it. He has saved me from the boredom of a life of windows and dell laptops. He is a modern day Jesus. Sort of.

Cant we lock this thread with a [SOLVED] title and trim it down to one entry of “He bought a mac because he has some common sense”?

Cant we lock this thread with a [SOLVED] title and trim it down to one entry of “He bought a mac because he has some common sense”?

I was unaware that Apple now owns HP and is now actively producing Windows machines. You learn something new everyday.