…through his stomach? Hmmm…maybe. But I reckon I know a faster way. Technology!
I’m not big into T.V. I’m not mad about cars. I don’t have a games console, or play any computer games. I don’t go to the gym. I don’t play golf. I don’t even have a mobile phone at this point and time. In fact, there are a lot of things young men do that I have little/no interest in.
However, a massive percentage of things I do, is done through my laptop. There’s a part of me which hates to admit this, but without my laptop, I’d be a ‘little’ (gross under exaggeration) lost! I not only do what can only be done on a laptop (surf the web, email, web design, etc), I also use my laptop to source material for my sermons, both online and offline (although strangely, I don’t type my sermons, I prefer writing them). This means I spend long hours on my laptop most days of the week.
My laptop
So what is the trusty weapon which I use? It’s a 15.4″ Dell Inspiron 6400. It runs on a 1.66Ghz Centrino Duo processor, 1GB of RAM, 80GB HD, and integrated graphics. I bought it 18 months ago for about £550, and I must say, I’ve had zero problems with it, which is quite remarkable considering,
- It’s a Dell, and they’ve got a lot of bad press in the past
- It’s used constantly
It might not be the most aesthetically pleasing machine, but in practical terms, it just works. When I bought it, I got the larger battery option, which when new, was able to power it for 5+ hours. Amazingly, after a year and a half of use, the battery will still power it for about an hour.
Dell: a lot better than Acer
My wife on the other hand, has been using an Acer. It was cheap to begin with, but after a year of use, it’s temperamental in use, and will die within 5 seconds of pulling out the power cable. There are heaps of things which are really annoying about it, but I’ll not go into them all here. Basically, I’d never buy Acer again.
Now where am I going with this? (I’m getting there…)
I’ve had a desire to give Mac’s a whirl. Not just because I want a Mac, but simply because on the price/power ratio, they’re hard to beat. Having said that, their Macbook Pro range is hardly ‘cheap’. The basic model is $2899 AUS (however, if you know where to look, you can get it for $2600). That’s well over £1000. On top of that, if I go Mac, it means new software, and some of it ain’t cheap either (e.g. CS3).
To be fair though, the little Macbook is a bit of a bargain these days. They’ve just launched an updated version which has a 2.2Ghz Core 2 Duo processor, and takes up to 4GB of RAM. I can get one from the States for about $1500 AUS, which is about £600, and that’s with the 4GB of RAM!
Gotta love my wife…
Now this is my point. My lovely wife is actually encouraging me to get a new machine. She’s not sure whether to go for a Mac or not, but she thinks we could do with a new one, as hers is causing a bit of frustration. Talk about paving the way to gain even more of my affection!!
I’m undecided though, and I guess I’m writing this to see what you guys can add to this. I had set my heart on getting a new machine in 6 months time, but I might not be able to refuse this offer.
Are you a Mac or PC user? Would You change if you had the choice? What would you do, if your wife was telling you to buy your favourite piece of technology?
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Added Commentary
By Brian Purkiss
on 14.12.07
I’m a Mac user and I would HIGHLY recommend getting a Mac. It’ll take a little getting used to at first, but in the end it’s worth it. I’ve been using a Mac for over almost three years and I’m loving it. I’ve only had to force-restart twice, never had a virus and I don’t have any virus protection, and it just works. I don’t get any annoying pointless errors.
As for which laptop, that depends on what you’re doing.
I’m a web and graphic designer and I’m doing just swell on a MacBook.
The only reason I’d go for a MacBook Pro is if you use it for slideshow/video presentations, serious gaming, video editing, or you need the large monitor.
Otherwise, save your money and get the MacBook. That’s what I did, upgraded it a little, and got a second 20″ monitor - for less money.
If you have any further questions, feel free to email me!
By Armen
on 14.12.07
Brian - Are you always the first to comment on the blogs you visit frequently?
Thanks for the decent response. Getting used to using a Mac doesn’t bother me, and I don’t see why people think it’s such an issue. You treat a Mac the way you treat anything new; you have to allow time to learn the ins and outs.
I know it’s rare for a PC, but I’ve had no virus’ either. I’ve had a few potential threats, but nothing ZoneAlarm couldn’t handle without any problems. Warnings have been few aswell, so I’m very thankful. I’ve had to force restart now and again though, but nothing too major.
Video editing is the one thing which would make me consider a MBP. I don’t do it all that often, but part of the reason is because this Dell is so slow to work with. The new Macbook is running 144mb integrated graphics, which is a slight improvement. But even with 4Gb of RAM, it’s still going to struggle, because video is GPU intensive. I’d love to have a Macbook for a week, and edit some videos, just to see what it’s like.
As for screen size, the little Macbook has the same pixels as my Dell, so working with it will be ok. You still can’t work with two programs at once with the 15″ MBP, so it doesn’t make too much of a difference in efficency. A 20-23″ external monitor would be much better.
By Peter
on 14.12.07
Ahhh, is this little box big enough for this discussion…
Agree with Brian though, once you get used to using the Mac (translated as “rid yourself of inefficient, painful Windows habits, patches, security holes and all other Windows evils”), you won’t regret it.
No one I know who has bought a Mac (book or otherwise, mini in my case) has ever expressed a desire to return to Windows unless they absolutely need it for a specific application. The most common response I hear from Mac users is “they just work” closely followed by “I didn’t realise how bad Windows really is”
I have to admit, Macs weren’t really on my radar until they went to an Intel chipset and changed their OS to a Unix (BSD) core. Both those decisions have given Apple a huge boost, in the developer world (the iPod helped them a lot in the non-developer space…not to mention their usual perfection in hardware design…mmm….).
The big increase in porting open source software to Mac is a huge plus as well (www.macports.org for instance), especially for someone like yourself who has a bent for web development.
Ok, enough from me or there will be no space for anyone else! Catch you on the weekend
By Kevin
on 14.12.07
Armen - I have to agree with the others. I switched to a MacBook 7 months ago after using PC’s since 1989 or so. I’d used and managed Macs and PCs in the print industry for several years so was familiar with Macs.
Over the last few years as a full-time pastor I’d grown increasingly frustrated with how much time I had to spend keeping things working on the PC. I believed that if I made the switch I’d have far fewer OS hassles leaving windows almost totally behind and I have had absolutely no regrets moving to the MacBook other than wishing I’d done it sooner. I’ve had more time to study and get things done and have had NO technology hassles. For me it has been a great investment.
I do run XP from VMWare Fusion a couple times a week when I’m digging into Logos for study purposes. But Libronix is working on a Mac version so I shouldn’t have to even use XP any longer very soon I hope.
And when my wife encourages me toward a purchase, I take that as an affirmation that I’m on the right track.
By Armen
on 15.12.07
Peter and Kevin - Thanks for the input. It definitely seems like a positive move. I, like you Kevin, would have to use Parallels or something similar, to run XP now and again. But I reckon over time, I’d find Mac alternatives to work with.
What about Applecare? Everyone says it’s worth the extra for peace of mind. It wouldn’t be so bad if I was a student, as students get it pretty cheap. However, it’s an extra $199 US for me.
By Justin Tadlock
on 16.12.07
I won’t tell you to get a Mac. I actually won’t try to sway you either way.
I’ve always thought about getting a Mac, but have been scared of investing in something that I might not like. I’ve used the desktops in my college journalism classes, and like how well they ran multiple applications at once. I’m one of those people that it takes a long time to change, so it could be a while before I tried one out for myself.
By the way, I’ve been mobile phone-less for four months now. It took a couple of months to get over my addiction though. I’m sure I’ll get a new one when I go back to the States next year, but I’m living perfectly fine without one. You can’t take my laptop away though. It’s like an extension of my very being. I’m fairly certain I can’t live without it.
By Stephen
on 28.02.08
Hi Armen
Like Mac’s myself - the big ones.. always better than Burger King to my mind…
Applecare - is that like a new McFlurry or something?
Take the point that Mac desktops can be a problem especially if they have too few staff on.. especially on a Sat. afternoon… need the paralell processors running then!
Later..
Haven't you got anything to say?