Im confused

[Wild Dingo]

Now our ol mate Joeboy on da mountain swears up and down 4 ways to hell and back that the bestest computer to get is a Macattack.... now im considering getting a laptop thingy and part of that was to go talk to the "experts" and get prices and such... so Im confused here

Joe swears by the mac laptop... but every "expert" I spoke to had definat views to the contrary about them... "if they buggar up theyre hard to get fixed" "theyre a bitch" etc etc etc... not one out of 10 I spoke with yesty had a single good word to say about macattacks

So what gives?? are they worth investing heeps of $$ in yeah thats the worst part of macattacks down here theyre BLOODY expensive!!!

Give me some laptop guidance oooohhh woodenboat.com forum gurus :D

[Joe ( Cold Spring on Hudson )]

You will NEVER have the same or the amount problems you have with a PC. That in itself is worth the price smile.gif

http://www.apple.com/switch/

[Wild Dingo]

But mate what of all the windows based programs I have!!! I mean I will have to buy mac based programs office photoworks paintshop pro Quark etc etc which are all windows based at present so Id have to purchase or chase up mac based ones and thats yet more $$$$ :eek:

The basic 12in powerbook G4 is

A$ 2,999.00

12.1-inch TFT Display
1024x768 resolution
1GHz PowerPC G4
512K L2 cache
256MB DDR266 SDRAM
40GB Ultra ATA/100
Combo Drive
NVIDIA GeForce FX
Go 5200 (32MB DDR)
Full size keyboard
10/100BASE-T Ethernet
USB 2.0
FireWire 400

AirPort Extreme Ready
Bluetooth built-in
Mini-DVI out

the 15in combo drive powerbook is...

A$ 3,699.00

15.2-inch TFT Display
1280x854 resolution
1GHz PowerPC G4
512K L2 cache
256MB DDR333 SDRAM
60GB Ultra ATA/100
Combo Drive
ATI Mobility Radeon
9600 (64 MB DDR)
Full size keyboard
Gigabit Ethernet
USB 2.0
FireWire 400
FireWire 800
AirPort Extreme Ready
Bluetooth built-in
DVI & S-Video out

and

14in ibook 1GHz G4 is...

A$ 2,599.00

1GHz PowerPC G4
256K L2 cache @ 1GHz
14-inch TFT Display
1024x768 resolution
256MB DDR266 SDRAM
60GB Ultra ATA drive
Combo drive
ATI Mobility Radeon 9200
32MB DDR video memory

I mean mate thats seriously over the top pricing compared to PC laptops! mmmm okay back to reading :cool:

[Greg H]

They are telling you that 'cause that's all they know, mate. Bill Gates has 'em brainwashed. Yep they are more expensive, initialy, but so is a Porche compared to a Holden. But you won't spend near as much time or money fixing them.

Michelle has had a g4 laptop for 4 years, always maxis it out with large graphic files. She just recently needed it looked at for the first time because the modem went wonky. Other than that, she has some directory problems occasionaly, but those are fixed with a little magic disk she has. I've got one that's 7 years old that I retired because it was too slow now, but no trouble ever with it! Well, maybe a little after I dropped it on the stone floor :D
Now I have an EMac
It has MS office X, though I don't use it, favoring Appleworks

It has translators for most MS files. It has a Iphoto, Itunes, Imovie, SoundStudio ... If Adobe paint is like Photoshop, the disk should have a Mac installer as well as one for Windows..The only thing I haven't found are CAD programs for it, they may be out there.
I'm sure Joe can tell you more :D

[Beowolf]

We've been shopping for laptops for a mobile lab here at school, and our experience has been that the prices are very similar. In both cases, $1500 will by a 14-15in, 256 Meg of Ram, 40 gig HD, CD-RW, DVD Drive, internal wireless network, and a processor designed for extended battery life.

I've had my G4 laptop for a year now and it's been entirely problem free. I've found that iPhoto, iMovie, iMusic, and iDVD are all great programs that are rather easy for this numbskull to learn quickly as well. On top of that, it's my opinion that the operating system makes file manipulation a whole lot easier, but that's just my opinion.

Personally, I think that both operating systems run fine for your average user. I've got my dad looking at the Fujitsu laptop with the AMD processor, battery life is supposed to be 60% longer. Hp, for that matter has an improved battery that runs for 6+ hours with the Pentium M processor. It's all good.

As long as whatever you buy allows you to keep posting here, we'll all be happy. ;)

Jeff

[ 03-31-2004, 10:25 AM: Message edited by: Beowolf ]

[Bruce Hooke]

Most of my extended family uses Macs so I have been around them a good bit. One thing I will say that may come into play -- before going with a Mac make sure that you have access to someone who can repair them. Some of my family who live in rural areas find that it can be VERY hard to find anyone who knows enough about Macs to work on them. While Macs may be more reliable they do still sometimes have problems and if you have to drive 5 hours or ship the thing out to get it worked on that can be a real issue.

[Jack Heinlen]

I'm confused. We knew that. tongue.gif :D

[rbgarr]

I've had Macs since 1995 and although I'm not a power user I have NEVER had any kind of problem. With a newer laptop you could get an extended warranty for piece of mind and ship it back if you had problems. If you have anyone in your family who is an educator you can buy through the Apple educators discount program which saves a moderate amount.