Which laptop? Please help~~
Hiya, I'm considering getting a Powerbook G4 663 or a Dell Inspiron 4100. This laptop is will be mainly used for work, school, and business (eg: checking email/web, chatting, dvds, word proc, ect). I do not need this laptop to play games since I already have an OC'ed Athlon XP 1800 at home. What I'm looking for is a laptop that is fast, stable, and durable. I have asked the forum I usually go to and they say go to Dell (probably because its a PC Forum, so I need a second perspective). I guess my main concerns are how does a Mac run, since I have never used a Mac in my life except once which is a G3 I think in school, and it seems slow (I think it was OS 9..) Does it boot up as fast and run as good as Windows 2000 Pro? And I can't really see the justification to spend so much on a 663mhz when I can get a 1.6 ghz just for a prettier laptop (what is a 663mhz comparable to a PC?) Please give me an honest opinion... and state facts, since I can't really make a decision with just statements as "get a powerbook because its better." Thankyou
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<strong>Hiya, I'm considering getting a Powerbook G4 663 or a Dell Inspiron 4100. This laptop is will be mainly used for work, school, and business (eg: checking email/web, chatting, dvds, word proc, ect). I do not need this laptop to play games since I already have an OC'ed Athlon XP 1800 at home. What I'm looking for is a laptop that is fast, stable, and durable. I have asked the forum I usually go to and they say go to Dell (probably because its a PC Forum, so I need a second perspective). I guess my main concerns are how does a Mac run, since I have never used a Mac in my life except once which is a G3 I think in school, and it seems slow (I think it was OS 9..) Does it boot up as fast and run as good as Windows 2000 Pro? And I can't really see the justification to spend so much on a 663mhz when I can get a 1.6 ghz just for a prettier laptop (what is a 663mhz comparable to a PC?) Please give me an honest opinion... and state facts, since I can't really make a decision with just statements as "get a powerbook because its better." Thankyou</strong><hr></blockquote>
This is a decision that many people have to make, so I'll be as objective as I can.
First off, rest assured that the Powerbook G4 is no slouch in speed. It's actually a 667 or 800 Mhz chip, btw, but regardless, its also got a MB of L3 cache which drastically improves performance. Of course, here's the required mention of the "Mhz Myth." A 667 Mhz G4 isn't more than twice as slow as the 1.6 Ghz P4. The clockspeed (mhz) is merely a measure of how fast each step in execution is. But whereas the P4 might have 20+ steps to do, the G4 has only 7, so its fewer steps at a slower speed, but its still fast. This is a total oversimplification of the entire story, but its a decent way to describe it. Similarly, would you buy a car with a 9000 RPM redline over a car with a 6000 RPM redline? Sure the 9000 sounds 1.5 times as fast...and they sure will market it as such...but there are a LOT of 6000 RPM cars out there that will best the 9000 RPM Honda S2000. Mhz is as useless a measure without more info. OS X boots up quite quickly on a Powerbook G4, though I can't offer a direct comparison to Windows 2000 (never done one) and the idea is...once you boot it, you shouldn't have to shut it down. Just put it to sleep and it will wake instantly.
Second, OS X is the most important reason to buy a Mac. Its stability and ease of use is unrivaled. The fact of the matter is (all marketing aside) that the software/hardware integration of the Mac is what makes it so nice. If you buy a Powerbook you may find yourself using it more than your PC before you know it. iTunes and all the other programs OS X comes with are designed with UI in mind, unlike their PC counterparts. OS X's UNIX backbone is far sturdier than Windows 2000--I have had Windows 2000 crash on me more often than OS X (5 kernel panics on 100s of machines in a year) and I use Macs 100 times more often than PCs.
Why buy the Powerbook? Because, to quote the Switch (www.apple.com/switch/) campaign, it just works, and it never gets in your way. Go to an APple Store or reseller and try one out--they are incredible. I have a Powerbook G4 667 also and I have never loved a computer more than this one.
Feel free to Private Msg me any specific questions...I really am willing to discuss as opposed to insist
<strong>Hiya, I'm considering getting a Powerbook G4 663 or a Dell Inspiron 4100. This laptop is will be mainly used for work, school, and business (eg: checking email/web, chatting, dvds, word proc, ect). I do not need this laptop to play games since I already have an OC'ed Athlon XP 1800 at home. What I'm looking for is a laptop that is fast, stable, and durable. I have asked the forum I usually go to and they say go to Dell (probably because its a PC Forum, so I need a second perspective). I guess my main concerns are how does a Mac run, since I have never used a Mac in my life except once which is a G3 I think in school, and it seems slow (I think it was OS 9..) Does it boot up as fast and run as good as Windows 2000 Pro? And I can't really see the justification to spend so much on a 663mhz when I can get a 1.6 ghz just for a prettier laptop (what is a 663mhz comparable to a PC?) Please give me an honest opinion... and state facts, since I can't really make a decision with just statements as "get a powerbook because its better." Thankyou</strong><hr></blockquote>
I switched to Mac 2.5 years ago after 15 years of PCs. I'll never go back (unless things change drastically on the PC side). Since I'm a service tech, I'm fixing PCs all the time, and my recommendation is go with the G4 Powerbook. OS X is rock-solid stable. It doesn't crash. Windows 2000 pro is about as stable as OS 8.5 was. This is a huge achievement for Windows, but it's still nowhere near the level of reliability of OS X. Second, within a month or two of using OS X, you suddenly realize just how much thought Apple put into the layout of the operating system. Everything's easier to find and easier to do. As far as boot up time, there's no comparison. Apple's sleep mode uses so little power, you'll be putting it to sleep instead of shutting down. It takes about 2 seconds to wake from sleep. Fast enough for you? OK, you want comparisons of processor? This is tough, because you're comparing RISC processors vs CISC processors, but here goes. The 667MHz G4 is capable of a peak performance of over 5 gigaflops (gigaflop=billion floating-point opertations per second). Intel's processors are capable of a peak performance roughly double their clock speed. Thus, a 2.4GHz P4 is capable of almost 5 gigaflops. However, this doesn't mean the G4 is comparable to the 2.4GHz P4 for all tasks. While the G4 architecture trounces the P4 on floating point operations, the P4 is optimized for certain tasks such as graphics (which is why they make better games machines). Of course, AMD's processors are better than Intel's right now, but that's another topic of discussion. Then there's the overall architecture to consider. For instance, Apple's ethernet (and firewire) interface connect directly to the system controller, as opposed to the PC which typically use the PCI bus. This means low latency, better performance. There's also more bridges on a PC motherboard, resulting in more bottlenecks. For example, a PC's PCI bus is maxed at 133MBps throughput due to a bridge, vs Apple's 215MBps. There's also the Backside Cache, which means less data traveling from the CPU to main memory, reducing traffic in the system controller, freeing up bandwidth for your AGP or I/O controller. Anyway, I think that's enough info for you to ponder, I'm sure you'll have a lot of other posts to read as well.
By the way, if you do decide to stick with the Windows world, don't buy a Dell. Dell is all advertising, no R&D. In fact, Acer builds Dell's laptops for them (at least they were the contracted manufacturer 6 months ago anyway). There's much better quality laptops out there than Dell. Don't let their in-your-face advertising brainwash you. Buy Sony, buy IBM, buy HP, buy anything else. To hell with Dell.
<strong>=) Thanks for the quick reply The All Knowing 1 . I guess the best way to figure out which is better is to go to a store and test it out for myself. I'll probably go to one over 4th of July break. Sides, I got an Apple Store about 2 miles away. About the OS, I can honestly say I don't have any love for Windows =P although it doesn't die out on me as much ever since Windows XP Pro. Maybe once every month. I've been trying to learn Slackware 8.1 actually (w/ emphasis on trying) since I heard Linux/Freebsd is more stable. Is MacOS X based on Freebsd? And if I decide to make the switch, should I wait for the Jaguar to come out first since I heard it should be out end of summer (I think its not out yet). Are Mac's really compatible w/ PC's (eg: I type up a report and then plan to transfer it to my desktop once I get home, possible? Or will I run into probs?) Other than that, how is a Mac's architecture, is it similar to a PC's? Just in case I need to fix something.. I know how to repair PC's so if its similar, I think I can handle it.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Yes, Mac OS X is based on Darwin, Apple's open-source Unix system (http://developer.apple.com/darwin/) that is in term based on 4.4BSD. Go to the website to read all about it.
No need to wait until Jaguar comes out unless you want to. It will supposedly be a free upgrade (20 bucks if you need to order a CD) and will be easy to install as always, so unless you want it on the computer when you get it, no need to wait. But I WOULD wait until after the Macworld NY expo the 17-19th of July, because Apple will update things there, and while I doubt there is a Powerbook update coming, you never know.
PC compatible? You betcha. I tend to recommend DiskonKey (www.diskonkey.com) as a storage/transfer device, as its simpler than CD or ethernet/email, etc. You just plug it into any Mac or PC and it loads as a drive. Drag things in, move to the other computer, and the reports (I assume you mean Office files, etc) should open perfectly. Windows networking via SMB is fully implemented in Jaguar, and just about every compatibility issue is solved now.
As for architecture...Especially on the Powerbook its a tricky issue. Repairs yourself are a no-no, as it immediately voids the warranty if you do much more than install RAM or an Airport card. Repairs need to be done by an authorized Apple service tech, because if they aren't, how could Apple ensure the perfect synergy of hardware/software if you've been in there tinkering?
But yes I'd definately go to the Apple Store and play with the machine some before you make up your mind. I think you'll be pleased
<strong>=) Thanks for the quick reply The All Knowing 1 . I guess the best way to figure out which is better is to go to a store and test it out for myself. I'll probably go to one over 4th of July break. Sides, I got an Apple Store about 2 miles away. About the OS, I can honestly say I don't have any love for Windows =P although it doesn't die out on me as much ever since Windows XP Pro. Maybe once every month. I've been trying to learn Slackware 8.1 actually (w/ emphasis on trying) since I heard Linux/Freebsd is more stable. Is MacOS X based on Freebsd? And if I decide to make the switch, should I wait for the Jaguar to come out first since I heard it should be out end of summer (I think its not out yet). Are Mac's really compatible w/ PC's (eg: I type up a report and then plan to transfer it to my desktop once I get home, possible? Or will I run into probs?) Other than that, how is a Mac's architecture, is it similar to a PC's? Just in case I need to fix something.. I know how to repair PC's so if its similar, I think I can handle it.</strong><hr></blockquote>
OS X is more stable than XP Pro. The core of OS X is Darwin, which is based on the Mach Microkernel and BSD Unix. It's also open source, so it's constantly being updated and improved. So if you want to learn Unix, you can open up a Terminal and mess around with all of the Unix commands. But you've also got a powerful and rock solid GUI to work with for your every day computing. Compatibility is not an issue. You'll be able to transfer word and excel documents back and forth no problem. As far as Jaguar goes, yeah, you'll probably want to wait for it (or at least the Mac Expo in New York). As far as a Mac's architecture, yeah, it's basically all the same stuff, although with a laptop you're not going to be doing much messing around. RAM upgrade yes, HD upgrade sure, CPU upgrade possibly, but that's probably about it. By the way, if you do go down to the Apple store, have them open a G4 and show you how easy it is to service/upgrade. You won't believe how archaic the PC industry is after seeing that.
<strong>If I'm working w/ business applications and emailing though, would it make much of a difference if I got an 700mhz ibook though, since I'm not going to do anything really cpu intensive as playing Jedi Knight II or play Marrowmind.</strong><hr></blockquote>
The 700 Mhz iBook is also a fine machine. Since it is a G3 and lacking Altivec, it will not be quite as fast as the Powerbook G4 (it also lacks the Powerbook's faster bus) but definately a fine choice for basic and even moderate applications. You're right I wouldn't play Jedi Knight II on it, but I could easily play Quake III, and can do anything office related in a snap.
<strong>Hiya, I'm considering getting a Powerbook G4 663 or a Dell Inspiron 4100. This laptop is will be mainly used for work, school, and business (eg: checking email/web, chatting, dvds, word proc, ect). I do not need this laptop to play games since I already have an OC'ed Athlon XP 1800 at home. Thank you</strong><hr></blockquote>
Wongg62,
Oh mman a Dell?
[ 07-04-2002: Message edited by: fantastic happy dinner man ]</p>