A Day Late

I’m still trying to decide what to do about a new laptop. I’m a little torn and not sure which way to go (ANY advice/recommendations would be appreciated). Right now I’m leaning towards the Apple Powerbook 1ghz G4 for a few reasons. Probably most important is its size and weight. I’ve searched around and I just can’t find a comparable PC laptop that’s 1″ thick, weighs around 5 pounds and has a 15″ screen. I’d also like to try out OS X and try using a *nix system as a desktop as opposed to just a server. I’ve installed linux on my laptop and such…but I just don’t think it’s quite there when it comes to desktop computing. Finally, I can get a REALLY good price on it through school. Anyway…basically those are my only reasons for “switching.” I do have a few concerns such as hardware. I’ve read a few reviews where people indicated the systems run noticeably slower than PC’s. I’ve also noticed the screen resolution can’t be set as high as it can on a PC. The other concern is stability. Despite claims that Apple’s “never crash” I’ve come across a few unhappy owners who claim it just isn’t the case. As a side note I also read an entry in Jeremy Zawodny’s blog today where he mentioned OS X asked him to reboot after upgrading Java. DEFINITELY a step in the wrong direction there.

Ok…so that’s the Apple option, my other option is to buy a new PC laptop. The things I want, in order of importance, are: size (yes it does matter), weight and battery life. Integrated wireless and a 15″ screen are definite requirements. Like I said earlier, in these categories PC laptops just can’t seem to touch the Powerbooks. Honestly, I think if I could find a comparable PC in these categories I’d just stick with a PC. One thing that does irk me is most manufacturers require shipping Microsoft XP with the system. Problem is I already have multiple copies and licenses for XP that I’m not using (they give it away to students all the time). So it just ticks me off that I’m paying an extra hundred dollars or so when I already have the OS. Anyway…this is my dilemna. Fortunately I have a few weeks before I need to decide (in other words a few weeks before the educational discount price on the powerbooks is out the door).

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 12th, 2003 at 12:37 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.