Inspiron or Ti Book for college?

24

Comments

  • Reply 21 of 61
    tigerwoods99tigerwoods99 Posts: 2,633member
    I don't get all these people who claim that "Oh, Divx sucks on Mac you can't use Divx" etc. What's the basis for this? I use vlc and it plays everything fine.
  • Reply 22 of 61
    torifiletorifile Posts: 4,024member
    You walk into a coffeeshop and see a Dell laptop. Ok, no biggie. You see someone with a Mac laptop (iBook or PowerBook) and you instantly know that person is cooler. :cool: Seriously, a Dell (or any PC laptop for that matter) is non-descript and says nothing about you. If you want to make a statement, get the Mac. You'll get more girls, too.
  • Reply 23 of 61
    frawgzfrawgz Posts: 547member
    [quote]Originally posted by torifile:

    <strong>You'll get more girls, too. </strong><hr></blockquote>



    If that's the goal, best to ditch the Inspiron and TiBook and just get a puppy.
  • Reply 24 of 61
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    That Alienware's not even a laptop. It's a luggable. And it's funny how a person that usually brings up the price/performance ratio difference of PCs vs. Macs suggests an Alienware...



    Boggles the mind.



    As fo Dell laptops, I'd never get one. I'd possibly go Sony, but my sister's not too crazy about hers. I think IBM's desktop replacements are still probably the best built, best looking, and not too humongous. IBM ThinkPads carry hefty price tags though.



    Right now I'm using my sister's brand new PowerBook G4. It's pretty sweet!



    [ 08-09-2002: Message edited by: Eugene ]</p>
  • Reply 25 of 61
    pyr3pyr3 Posts: 946member
    [quote]Originally posted by digitalandres:

    <strong>Im in the same situation, heading off to college, can't decide between an inspiron or an iBook. I love Macs, and can't stand working in windows, but I don't wanna be left behind being the only scmhuck who can't play "x" over the network with buddies, or who can't see "x" files or anything. Gah.



    Is VPC stable?</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Playing games on PC laptops is a joke, unless you are talking about those huge desktop-proc-in-a-laptop thingies like goverat posted. Best compatibility = Mac laptop + PC Desktop
  • Reply 26 of 61
    nebrienebrie Posts: 483member
    As someone who has owned a dell, a sony, and an apple, here's my opinion.



    Gaming: As long as you're not doing any heavy gaming, you'll be fine; and if you are, why get a laptop period? Any laptop will only be able to keep up for so long.

    File X: VPC usually handles any wierd apps. I don't think I've seen any files I couldn't open because I was on a mac.

    Dell: I agree, I am also amazed when someone says "Dell" and "Award Winning Service" in the same line. My current experience is so bad that I am currently threatening to take them to small claims court

    Vaio: If you get a vaio, get the top of the line extended warranty that covers everything. I was amazed to discover that Vaios are still as flimsy as they ever were; my friend got one last week and by the end of the first day, the port covers had already fallen off.



    [ 08-10-2002: Message edited by: Nebrie ]</p>
  • Reply 27 of 61
    pyr3pyr3 Posts: 946member
    [quote]Originally posted by Shanksta:

    <strong>digitalandres: you hit it on the nail. Thats my only big fear. No counterstrike with the group because I'm on a Mac. But right nowm I'm starting to care less and less about that.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    CS = evil in college I quit CS because it's too addicting. I get the 'one more round' syndrome. Of course I still have to cure my anime downloading problem, but at least I can work on homework while downloading. =)
  • Reply 28 of 61
    pyr3pyr3 Posts: 946member
    [quote]Originally posted by frawgz:

    <strong>



    If that's the goal, best to ditch the Inspiron and TiBook and just get a puppy.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    He's going to college and he'll want the hot sorority chicks. All he needs then is some jewelry. Buy a TiBook's worth at Tiffany's and announce at a frat party that these are for the taking to any girl that will have sex with you. Dole them out like candy, that will attract thegirls, albeit materialistic ones, but girls nonetheless
  • Reply 29 of 61
    pyr3pyr3 Posts: 946member
    [quote]Originally posted by groverat:

    <strong>About not having CounterStrike or about being on a Mac?



    There isn't a damned thing wrong with Windows if you learn how to use it. WindowsXP is solid as a rock and fast.



    You'll lose the ability to say "I only use Macs" and that's about it. And you gain a hell of a lot.



    I hate Dell, look at my location field.

    There are plenty of good PC laptops out there, from Toshiba to Fujitsu to Sony.



    If you really despise Windows, though, then your choice is made.





    Playing DivX movies is a pain in the ass on a Mac, by the way. Download the NIMO codec for a PC and launch and play anything on Windows.





    [ 08-09-2002: Message edited by: groverat ]</strong><hr></blockquote>



    DivX on Mac is NOT a pain in the ass. The easy non-unix-geeky way is to use VLC (Video LAN Client). The geeky way is to go to fink.sourceforge.net and install everything that you need and run mplayer (NOT the native Cocoa port, the port is still too unstable ... the port is not at the Fink homepage either .. search google for the port).



    [ 08-10-2002: Message edited by: pyr3 ]</p>
  • Reply 30 of 61
    telomartelomar Posts: 1,804member
    [quote]Originally posted by Shanksta:

    <strong>Ill be using the laptop for:



    -Basic usage (web surfing, writing papers, music, yada, yada, yada)</strong><hr></blockquote>



    The PowerBook will do all of this stuff fine.



    [quote]<strong>-Website design to make some extra cash</strong><hr></blockquote>



    I don't work in this area at all but from what I gather the mac is a fine platform for web development.



    [quote]<strong>-Moderate game usage (not the ability to play every game on the market but play one game alot, ex. War 3 on battle.net)</strong><hr></blockquote>



    The technical specs on the Powerbook aren't a whole lot worse than the iMac specs really...



    [quote]<strong>-Movies in divx format</strong><hr></blockquote>



    A little more annoying than the PC side but easily doable. There's a thread on the subject somewhere on the AI forums. Start demanding mpeg-4 format instead though



    [quote]<strong>-Complete (or near complete) compatability</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Virtually everything I ever encountered in my working life in the management sector has been completely compatible across platforms you just need to find the right package to deal with some things. My engineering life is a whole other matter.



    [quote]<strong>However, and here lies the problem, Im not sure if its right. Like I said, Im majoring in business and I jst want to make sure everything works. Some books come with cds just for pcs and I may have to get a special mac version, or my professor may send a windows compatible file over. I would also be a loner in terms of a business mac vs the pcs.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Technically there is no reason to not use a Mac. For the book cds just pick up a copy of VPC or just load them onto a comp in a lab at uni. For the most part everything on the cd is in the book though. The business world in particular is far more caught up on Windows than it needs to be.



    Whenever I see someone carting around a big think hefty PC notebook I always feel sorry for them. I remember my sister used to have to carry around 2 laptops when she travelled (security issues apparently although frankly I still don't understand the why of it) and just for the ease of it she loves her Powerbook.



    I'm also a big fan of OS X so you won't hear me clamouring to support Windows XP.



    Anyway moral of the disjointed story (sorry running late for a movie) is Apple's desktop line may not be perfect but their laptops have even me considering buying one and I have never been fond of laptops. I also love my iPod

    [quote]<strong>BTW - I will probably wait until Jagwire comes out to get the new laptop if I go with the TiBook.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    If you can wait until late september. If you need it now I would buy it when Jaguar comes out though.



    [ 08-10-2002: Message edited by: Telomar ]</p>
  • Reply 31 of 61
    Okay- Ive got a bit more time right now, so I've got some questions and general wonderings. Like I said before, I'm in the same boots as Shanksta. I'm going to college and need a computer. I'd get a desktop in a heartbeat, but in this case it looks like its just more pracitcle to go portable. I'll either be getting an iBook or likely a Dell Inspiron if I go Windows.



    Firsrt off: I hate Windows. For me, it's simply unpleasent to look at a PC screen. I can't tolerate how it feels to just be on one. Eww. So I would really hate to have to actually get one.



    HOWEVER - I could give you countless stories of the times so far in my life where I can't play Counterstrike or WarCraft or Diablo or anything with buds because I have a Mac. There have been countless AVI's and DivX movies I've never ben able to see because of my Mac, and Im sick of it.



    *Important note: Im still on OS 8.6. As far as I know, OSX is much better with this.*



    Onward come the questions:



    1. Like I asked earlier, is Virtual PC stable? Can you run it consistently on a Mac without any problems? Because that would probably seal the deal for me. Essentially, does VPC actually let you run any PC files?



    2. Excluding having to run VPC, is OSX much more PC files frindly than my experience on 8.6?



    3. Are there good OSX file sharing programs? I can only run limewire on my OS 8.6 and it absolutly sucks ass. With Napster I never once couldnt find a song I wanted, but it happens all the time on Limewire. Essentially, on OSX, is it really easy to get music / movies / music vids?



    4. Just to be clear: OSX DOES read DivX and AVI?



    *really wants to able able to get the iBook*



    edit: oh yeah. About when will iBooks start shipping with Jag installed? And if I got one Before that, then Jag would only cost $20? Is that right?



    [ 08-10-2002: Message edited by: digitalandres ]</p>
  • Reply 32 of 61
    klinuxklinux Posts: 453member
    I am still a mostly PC guy despite buying my first Mac last month. My opinion is to have the best of both worlds/hardware/software - get a PC desktop and a Mac laptop.
  • Reply 33 of 61
    $$$ =
  • Reply 34 of 61
    klinuxklinux Posts: 453member
    If Shanksta is considering a Powerbook, he/she most likely can afford a combination of PC desktop ($750 tops with monitor - Dell (just an example) 2 ghz + a 19" CRT) and an iBook for $1200. This may be obvious but buy it after you get to the campus - not only for the educational institution discounts but also so one may better evaluate one's needs.
  • Reply 35 of 61
    telomartelomar Posts: 1,804member
    [quote]Originally posted by digitalandres:

    <strong>Okay- Ive got a bit more time right now, so I've got some questions and general wonderings. Like I said before, I'm in the same boots as Shanksta. I'm going to college and need a computer. I'd get a desktop in a heartbeat, but in this case it looks like its just more pracitcle to go portable. I'll either be getting an iBook or likely a Dell Inspiron if I go Windows.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Seriously if you'd prefer a desktop just get one. I don't like to carry around a laptop. It drives me nuts. I'm certain if I can manage without one you would succeed at uni. I can definitely say you will have times when you wish you had a laptop but if you'd prefer a desktop get a desktop. As someone else said wait until you are at uni and see what seems best for you.



    [quote]<strong>HOWEVER - I could give you countless stories of the times so far in my life where I can't play Counterstrike or WarCraft or Diablo or anything with buds because I have a Mac. There have been countless AVI's and DivX movies I've never ben able to see because of my Mac, and Im sick of it. </strong><hr></blockquote>



    Warcraft and Diablo should definitely be fine. Counterstrike you won't be able to play though. Just wait for Doom 3 and everybody will be playing that instead



    QT has problems with AVIs and DivX. There are workarounds just see the thread about it somewhere. Personally I'm not a big fan of DivX though so it has never been a huge issue.



    [quote]<strong>1. Like I asked earlier, is Virtual PC stable? Can you run it consistently on a Mac without any problems? Because that would probably seal the deal for me. Essentially, does VPC actually let you run any PC files?</strong><hr></blockquote>



    I've never had problems with VPC beyond speed constraints, which aren't terrible except in OS X. Anything that requires 3D hardware acceleration though don't even attempt to run.



    [quote]<strong>2. Excluding having to run VPC, is OSX much more PC files frindly than my experience on 8.6?</strong><hr></blockquote>



    You won't have any problems with most files if you have the right programs, or at least I haven't. There will likely still be a few though.



    [quote]<strong>3. Are there good OSX file sharing programs? I can only run limewire on my OS 8.6 and it absolutly sucks ass. With Napster I never once couldnt find a song I wanted, but it happens all the time on Limewire. Essentially, on OSX, is it really easy to get music / movies / music vids?</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Limewire is terrible. I heard some suggestions the other day but they slip my mind. I'm certain there is something to suit your desires I just can't recall it right now.



    [quote]<strong>4. Just to be clear: OSX DOES read DivX and AVI?</strong><hr></blockquote>



    As I said above QT has trouble with both but there are 3rd party apps that will allow you to deal with it. There is a thread on it that I will actually <a href="http://forums.appleinsider.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=10&t=002217"; target="_blank">link</a> to one of these days.

    [quote]<strong>edit: oh yeah. About when will iBooks start shipping with Jag installed? And if I got one Before that, then Jag would only cost $20? Is that right?</strong><hr></blockquote>



    You can get the update for free if you can be motivated enough to go to the store to pick up an update but yeah that's right.



    [ 08-10-2002: Message edited by: Telomar ]</p>
  • Reply 36 of 61
    matsumatsu Posts: 6,558member
    See if you can find out in advance what kind of special student pricing your college offers, if any. Not just for comps, but especially for applications.



    My university offers Office for 90 Canadian, but others do much better than that and they do it on a far more extensive list of software. Then you'll know how much you can budget towards a computer and how much you have to budget towards software -- or how much time you have to budget towards peer-to-peer searching



    It sounds like your main uses will be porn and games, though, and the PC is a lot better at both of them.



    That Alienware is extremely ugly in the puke green, but in black it's be no more offensive than any other generic notebook out there (except for the size.) I'd worry about the battery life and heat, if you must get a laptop, try to get one with a laptop CPU/mainboard in it; one from a major manufacturer. Alienware is not a major manufacturer. Get a Dell or an IBM.



    Or better yet, don't get anything untill you've been on the campus for a few months and have figured out what your classes actually demand. If you have any sort of useable PC (just good enough to run office) take it with you and sort the rest out later.



    [ 08-10-2002: Message edited by: Matsu ]</p>
  • Reply 37 of 61
    ringoringo Posts: 329member
    I have a friend who bought an Inspiron for college. She had wanted to get an iBook at first, but the school told her it would be better to get a PC laptop. She used it for a while, but had a lot of problems with stability (Windows ME). During the winter break a friend of ours installed Windows XP, but she still had problems with stability after a short time. While at my house a few weeks ago she saw Linux for the first time (Red Hat 7.2 with KDE) running on my web server. She was so impressed that she asked me to install it on her laptop. I set her up with a dual boot system, but she only goes to windows when she really needs to. She reminds me quite often that she wished that she had bought an iBook, and that she had never really needed a PC, despite what the school (UConn) had said.



    I have another friend who recently bought an AlienWare Area51m. The people on this board make it out to be some piece of crap, but really it's the best constructed PC laptop I've ever seen (DEFINITELY better then a Dell or a Sony). The battery life is actually decent (big battery) and it's incredibly fast. Unfortunately it is absolutely huge, weighs a ton and throws off a LOT of heat. The funny thing is, besides the CPU, it has almost all of the same specs as a TiBook. I swear, take a look for yourself.



    I say go with the PowerBook.
  • Reply 38 of 61
    pyr3pyr3 Posts: 946member
    [quote]Originally posted by digitalandres:

    <strong>Okay- Ive got a bit more time right now, so I've got some questions and general wonderings. Like I said before, I'm in the same boots as Shanksta. I'm going to college and need a computer. I'd get a desktop in a heartbeat, but in this case it looks like its just more pracitcle to go portable. I'll either be getting an iBook or likely a Dell Inspiron if I go Windows.



    Firsrt off: I hate Windows. For me, it's simply unpleasent to look at a PC screen. I can't tolerate how it feels to just be on one. Eww. So I would really hate to have to actually get one.



    HOWEVER - I could give you countless stories of the times so far in my life where I can't play Counterstrike or WarCraft or Diablo or anything with buds because I have a Mac. There have been countless AVI's and DivX movies I've never ben able to see because of my Mac, and Im sick of it.



    *Important note: Im still on OS 8.6. As far as I know, OSX is much better with this.*



    Onward come the questions:



    1. Like I asked earlier, is Virtual PC stable? Can you run it consistently on a Mac without any problems? Because that would probably seal the deal for me. Essentially, does VPC actually let you run any PC files?



    2. Excluding having to run VPC, is OSX much more PC files frindly than my experience on 8.6?



    3. Are there good OSX file sharing programs? I can only run limewire on my OS 8.6 and it absolutly sucks ass. With Napster I never once couldnt find a song I wanted, but it happens all the time on Limewire. Essentially, on OSX, is it really easy to get music / movies / music vids?



    4. Just to be clear: OSX DOES read DivX and AVI?



    *really wants to able able to get the iBook*



    edit: oh yeah. About when will iBooks start shipping with Jag installed? And if I got one Before that, then Jag would only cost $20? Is that right?



    [ 08-10-2002: Message edited by: digitalandres ]</strong><hr></blockquote>



    I agree with klinux. Get a laptop and a desktop if you can afford it. I am running a PC desktop now with my TiBook on the way. For windows compatibility you can run XP on the desktop and use Remote Desktop Client to run your windows programs. This won't work for games , but for games all you'd need to do is hook up a monitor to the desktop and away you go. And you can also use that monitor to span with your laptop as well when you don't need to use it on the PC. Of course, this is only if you can afford it. I can since I already have my desktop and I'm not buying a new one.



    For filesharing programs, DC is one of the best and there is a Java version JavaDC, that I have not tried, but there is an official native OSX version coming out this fall sometime. There is also Carracho and Hotline, but I haven't used hotline in ages, and last time I did it was hard to find anything I wanted. IRC+FTP is the best file getting combo. Especially since it's platform independent. Every OS has an FTP program and an IRC program, at least 90% do.



    As for DivX and AVI, Quicktime won't be like your DIvX files too much. But you can use mplayer ( a UNIX media player , you can get from fink.sourceforge.net ... fink is a collection of UNIX apps that have been modified so that they will compile in OSX/Darwin.) but mplayer is sorta the geeky route, the best route is to use vlc (Video LAN Client). VLC plays DivX, DVD, Mpeg1 and Mpeg2. You can use it to stream DVDs which is cool, but I think that the server that streams is only available on linux.



    VPC is a 'virtual machine'. It is basically a C emulator. Just like SNES9x and ZSNES emulate Super Nintendo Hardware and allow the SNES ROMs (software) to think that they are on a SNES. This is the same thing with VPC, for the most part, except that it is a PC that it is emulating. There are very few things that won't run if any. I think that they have worked most of the kinks out. Granted, you can't play 3d intensive games, but you can play some games over it like Civ2 should work (Civ2 is programmed in Visual BASIC, for those who don't know).



    Hope that helps.
  • Reply 39 of 61
    pyr3pyr3 Posts: 946member
    [quote]Originally posted by Ringo:

    <strong>I have a friend who bought an Inspiron for college. She had wanted to get an iBook at first, but the school told her it would be better to get a PC laptop. She used it for a while, but had a lot of problems with stability (Windows ME). During the winter break a friend of ours installed Windows XP, but she still had problems with stability after a short time. While at my house a few weeks ago she saw Linux for the first time (Red Hat 7.2 with KDE) running on my web server. She was so impressed that she asked me to install it on her laptop. I set her up with a dual boot system, but she only goes to windows when she really needs to. She reminds me quite often that she wished that she had bought an iBook, and that she had never really needed a PC, despite what the school (UConn) had said.



    I have another friend who recently bought an AlienWare Area51m. The people on this board make it out to be some piece of crap, but really it's the best constructed PC laptop I've ever seen (DEFINITELY better then a Dell or a Sony). The battery life is actually decent (big battery) and it's incredibly fast. Unfortunately it is absolutely huge, weighs a ton and throws off a LOT of heat. The funny thing is, besides the CPU, it has almost all of the same specs as a TiBook. I swear, take a look for yourself.



    I say go with the PowerBook.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    When you buy a laptop you want to have it on you LAP. That is why everyone is raggin on it. IT throws off lots of heat. It is large and HEAVY. And it is HUGE. The point of a laptop is portability. If you wanted something like that AlienWare then why not get a desktop?
  • Reply 40 of 61
    eskimoeskimo Posts: 474member
    I don't think a college student really needs a laptop. I had both a desktop and a laptop in college. I used the laptop a total of 3 times, twice for presentations where the room didn't have it's own A/V workstation and once when I wanted to finish coding a C++ program during lunch. You won't actually take notes on the thing, it's slower. There are a myriad of other drawbacks. It's more prone to be stolen, it's more expensive than an equivalent desktop, less upgradeable (especially for PCs). The only advantage is the portability which I feel will not be used much and the savings in desk real estate which if you go to a modern school with nice large desks shouldn't be a problem (unlike poor groverat ).



    If you really have your heart set on getting a laptop I concur with the opinion that you should save money and just get an iBook. Buy a nice PC for less than $1000 and have the best of both worlds. Oh yeah, and consider getting a AMD based PC if you get one.
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