I am scared of OS X and Dead Pixels
Firstly, like to say a bit of apologies if I have been *too* crazy all over the forums. The insanity is getting to me. 
1. Dead pixels. In Australia, every opportunity for you to buy Apple laptops, desktops or displays, brand new or refurbished-from-Apple.com.au, there is no way to be sure there are no dead pixels. I have been plagued by dead pixels from Apple in 2004 and Sony LCD in 2005.
How do you deal with this? This is holding me back from buying a brand-new Core2Duo MacBook (white 2ghz) at EDU price (about $1900 AUD) also now with some funds opening up for me, thanks to my parents, some of my hard work, and so on.
Once you open the box, if there is one or two dead pixels, Apple Australia will not replace the panel, and refunds (only in some resellers or Apple.com.au direct) will cost a 15-20% restocking fee. That's like over $300 if the MacBook shows some dead pixels.
Last I understand a laptop or desktop or display LCD needs 3-5 dead pixels "spread out" across the screen to qualify for replacement.
2. Moving back to OS X. In 2002-2004 as I moved strongly into OSX for most of my design and music (Reason/ Rewire/ AbletonLive/ M-Audio/ BehringerMixer), I got pretty deep into it and left the world of PC-Windoze behind. Burning out of creative design work at the end of 2004, 2005-2006 was getting to know good ol' Windoze again, at least this time with XP2Pro, and some very nice solid gaming as I've said too many times with my nVidia 6600GT - NFS:MostWanted, HL2, FEAR, UT2004, LOTR:BattleforMiddleEarth2, SW:KnightsOldRepublic2...
In looking for some IT-related or sales or call centre but not web design work, familiarity and pragmatism and practicality means back to Windows.
I'm scared if I get my own Mac laptop, even if I run Parallels WinXP2 or god forbid Vista (which I might do just to check out the hideous jumbled candy-mess it is...) I'll just use OSX most of the time, and cut down my employability. I have scoped out and applied for Mac/iPod reseller positions. But it does narrow you down. Yeah, the flipside of the coin is the "jack of all trades master of none" issue. But in this confusing (but not scary once I get my head and heart around things) job market... ??
1. Dead pixels. In Australia, every opportunity for you to buy Apple laptops, desktops or displays, brand new or refurbished-from-Apple.com.au, there is no way to be sure there are no dead pixels. I have been plagued by dead pixels from Apple in 2004 and Sony LCD in 2005.
How do you deal with this? This is holding me back from buying a brand-new Core2Duo MacBook (white 2ghz) at EDU price (about $1900 AUD) also now with some funds opening up for me, thanks to my parents, some of my hard work, and so on.
Once you open the box, if there is one or two dead pixels, Apple Australia will not replace the panel, and refunds (only in some resellers or Apple.com.au direct) will cost a 15-20% restocking fee. That's like over $300 if the MacBook shows some dead pixels.
Last I understand a laptop or desktop or display LCD needs 3-5 dead pixels "spread out" across the screen to qualify for replacement.
2. Moving back to OS X. In 2002-2004 as I moved strongly into OSX for most of my design and music (Reason/ Rewire/ AbletonLive/ M-Audio/ BehringerMixer), I got pretty deep into it and left the world of PC-Windoze behind. Burning out of creative design work at the end of 2004, 2005-2006 was getting to know good ol' Windoze again, at least this time with XP2Pro, and some very nice solid gaming as I've said too many times with my nVidia 6600GT - NFS:MostWanted, HL2, FEAR, UT2004, LOTR:BattleforMiddleEarth2, SW:KnightsOldRepublic2...
In looking for some IT-related or sales or call centre but not web design work, familiarity and pragmatism and practicality means back to Windows.
I'm scared if I get my own Mac laptop, even if I run Parallels WinXP2 or god forbid Vista (which I might do just to check out the hideous jumbled candy-mess it is...) I'll just use OSX most of the time, and cut down my employability. I have scoped out and applied for Mac/iPod reseller positions. But it does narrow you down. Yeah, the flipside of the coin is the "jack of all trades master of none" issue. But in this confusing (but not scary once I get my head and heart around things) job market... ??
Comments
2. Many IT professionals use Windows at work, and Mac at home. If you've got the time, there's nothing to stop you learning both.
2. I use OS X exclusively at home. I'm a software developer in a Windows/MS shop. I manage just fine.
As far as the tech support/call center/general IT field is concerned, most people working in it can barely use their computers anyway. Some of our developers don't know how to install a video card; they don't have to know it for their job. The point is, the days of IT professionals being obsessive eggheads about every single aspect of the computing industry are not with us anymore. You can learn computer skills like you can learn anything else without spending a great deal of time toying with those same computers at home.
It took me about six months to feel absolutely comfortable using our Windows servers and working all day in Visual Studio, SQL Server, etc. It's a job. The Mac is a passion.
12" PB
20" ACD
13.3 MacBook Black
not even a single dead pixel, i guess apple QC is good in displays (thats why sometimes they are way too expensive)...
i am SQL Server DBA and enjoy OSX as much as ...
Windoze for bread winner! OSX for everything else!!
you will enjoy the investment!, if i were you i will get iMac 20" (A$2299) value for bucks!, since i am in states i am always moving in between project i never had interest in iMac, once i return to singapore i will get the iMac (at that time may be Core 2 Octo!)
Don't fear dead pixels. Embrace them. Be glad you could spend time with them and enjoy them while they lived.
The hardware comes brand new with the pixels already dead
...I've never had pixels "die" on me unless it's catastrophic display failure.
It's been an issue of a few pixels already dead on new hardware.
*Sigh* I never even knew them, and how they lived.......
goto store near your place, ask the sales guy you want to see the display and change back ground with black and few other color ... make sure no dead pixel and take home that toy!
1. In my experience in the US, returns for dead pixels will be about equally problematic whoever you buy the displays from.
Yeah, I agree, I'm not blaming Apple specifically. I just know it's and issue in general for LCDs. But I have noticed things have been quiet on the forums and not much lawsuits or stuff going on with dead pixels.
2. I use OS X exclusively at home. I'm a software developer in a Windows/MS shop. I manage just fine.
As far as the tech support/call center/general IT field is concerned, most people working in it can barely use their computers anyway. Some of our developers don't know how to install a video card; they don't have to know it for their job. The point is, the days of IT professionals being obsessive eggheads about every single aspect of the computing industry are not with us anymore. You can learn computer skills like you can learn anything else without spending a great deal of time toying with those same computers at home.
It took me about six months to feel absolutely comfortable using our Windows servers and working all day in Visual Studio, SQL Server, etc. It's a job. The Mac is a passion.
Interestingly, where I have thrived in the past, is in a more R&D mode, where from 12 or 13 I used to tinker a bit with replacing RAM, installing CD/Hard disks, DOS, games, and so on. In the late 90s it was more related to web and some music hardware (Creative Sound Cards/ Midi) ... 2000-2004 It was more web/ graphic design and from Mac-PC to Mac-platform used for Flash/Graphic/Web design. 2005-2006 while being mostly unemployed I went back to fooling around with a lot more hardware-component based stuff and keeping in touch with Mac news.
I woke up at 5am today and thought about this R&D mode which has been successful in the past, how to get back into it, and today, yeah, y'all given me something to think about in terms of highly specialised roles in the corporate world. But like Outsider said, I'm not a drone-personality type person. I like to tinker with stuff, and find applications for them which can be deployed rapidly without having to specialise deeply in it. In the past few years I've lost the general foundation of dealing with the income-producing aspect of it. And my lateral thinking/ personal management/ stress/emotional handling due to bipolar.
I *know* one area I could thrive in is the ad/marketing industry. There is an ad for a "Dry" Beer, and they show a stream of water bending around the beer bottle. I'm not sure if it is CGI, but it looks pretty good, and I remember you can actually do this in Science with electromagnetism. (http://www.columbia.edu/cu/physics/r...emo/eandm.html see
5A40.3 Deflection of Water Stream
A charged rod held near a stream of water will deflect it.
That picture is very basic and looks crap, I think the ad people were able to charge the correct size rods, get some very excellent water photography, Photoshop cleanly the bottle and water (masked out) for the final piece. Brilliant, I think. And in the ad world, sometimes it is just plain stellar when you do something physically (sometimes in movies as well) rather than just CGI everything. I mean, particularly things like water.
In real life though the ad and marketing industry is intense, high-pressure, sometimes just plain nasty ass environment to work in. I've tried it a bit. Something that clashes with my personality or ethics or whatever.
I was talking to my psychologist yesterday, and I said, how do I harness the good bits of bipolar and inspiration in general without harming myself mentally/ physically. And he talked about a foundation based on routine which then enables hobbies. Kinda like what a lot of you do in handling PC at work, Mac passion at home. There are some people that have passion as routine, they don't think of it (eg. tennis pros, golf pros) as passion or routine as such, just, what they do. And they have hobbies which also they don't think of passion or routine, just ways to unwind or just do something else. Like when I go for a run or swim to get away from the computer, and sort out my thoughts, or have some inspiration sometimes about Apple or IT or the environment or spirituality or something else.
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Trainspotting
(STRONG LANGUAGE WARNING)
"Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a fucking big television, Choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players, and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol and dental insurance. Choose fixed-interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisure wear and matching luggage. Choose a three piece suite on hire purchase in a range of fucking fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who the fuck you are on a Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pissing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked-up brats you have spawned to replace yourself. Choose your future. Choose life... But why would I want to do a thing like that? I chose not to choose life: I chose something else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who need reasons when you've got heroin?"
(END OF STRONG LANGUAGE WARNING)
Sadly, drugs are not a sustainable long term answer
Yoga and meditation is good but a form of drug in its own way for some people.
Totally rambling now, but I notice that white people are less susceptible to negative effects of long term recreational drug use and heavy alcohol drinking. Yoga and meditation is a good balancer that doesn't intensely open a pandora's box.
Seems to be different for Indians/ Chinese/ indigenous people, for example, that have more "mystic" traditions and cultures? Where recreational drugs and yoga/meditation/qi-gong* have strong mind-effectz???
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qi_Gong
Controversies within qigong (can be criticisms of Yoga/Meditation as well - eg. mystical Yoga practice without "proper guidance")
"In the 1980s and 1990s, the increasing popularity of qigong and related practices led to the establishment of many groups and methods in China and elsewhere that have been viewed in a critical light by more traditional qigong practitioners as well as skeptical outside observers. In this view, a large number of people started studying qigong under inadequate supervision, indeed, perhaps the majority of people today who study qigong study from books or video tapes and DVDs without supervision by a teacher. This laxness can lead to several problems, according to those who view themselves as representative of orthodox schools. Most traditional training takes many years of practice under the supervision of someone who has also learned over years, someone who can guide and prevent the student from taking an unbalanced approach to qigong practice. The theory is that unbalanced circulation of inner energies eventually leads to unbalanced effects on the various systems of the body, both mental and physical.
Stories of unguided practitioners or inexpertly guided students developing chronic mental and physical health problems as a result of such training are not uncommon. A term used by English speaking practitioners and teachers for one example of this syndrome is "Qigong Psychosis" (Now included in the DSM-IV as a culture-bound syndrome: Qi-Gong Psychotic Reaction: DSM-IV General Information: Appendix I, Outline for Cultural Formulation and Glossary of Culture-Bound Syndromes). Another function of improper training involves frauds and deliberate charlatans who promote themselves as qigong "healers" promising miracle cures of any conceivable affliction for the right amount of money. Traditionally, qigong is considered more of a health maintenance regimen, and any promises of miracle cures should be viewed with suspicion, according to traditional teachers and practitioners.
This recent popularity has also led to increased attention for quasi-religious groups teaching styles of qigong in an atmosphere of New Age-like spirituality. Qigong has been associated in China with Taoist and Buddhist meditation practices for two thousand years, and this association has recently been exploited, according to traditionalists, by many would-be cult leaders. Perhaps the most notable example of a group promoting a synthesis of overt religiosity with qigong practice is the Falun Gong group, whose worldwide popularity grew to the point that the People's Republic of China government started a suppression of Falun Gong in 1999."
1 15" studio display
1 15" iMac G4
1 12" iBook
1 15" Powerbook.
1 20" Dell widescreen.
No dead pixels, yet.
Anecdotal I know, but:
1 15" studio display
1 15" iMac G4
1 12" iBook
1 15" Powerbook.
1 20" Dell widescreen.
No dead pixels, yet.
You either have a) very good luck or b) no clue what a dead pixel is!
or I just have really crappy luck...
You either have a) very good luck or b) no clue what a dead pixel is!
or I just have really crappy luck...
Heh. Actually, I remember, during my manic spending in 2003-2004 I also bought and sold an iBook G4 14"(I think), iBook G4 12", PowerBook G4. No dead pixels. 2004 and 2005, as I reported, 1 AppleDisplay 3 dead pixels AppleCare refused to replace, 2005 Sony LCD 3 dead pixels refused to repair until my mum badgered them into doing it.
Heh. Actually, I remember, during my manic spending in 2003-2004 I also bought and sold an iBook G4 14"(I think), iBook G4 12", PowerBook G4. No dead pixels. 2004 and 2005, as I reported, 1 AppleDisplay 3 dead pixels AppleCare refused to replace, 2005 Sony LCD 3 dead pixels refused to repair until my mum badgered them into doing it.
Which is why I buy monitors off of NewEgg because they take returns on stuff.
Don't let dead pixels stop you from buying something. A few monitors I've bought off NewEgg I've been able to return (which they are very good about by the way) for dead pixels. The first time there was only a single pixel also in the middle of the screen. They took it back no problem
Which is why I buy monitors off of NewEgg because they take returns on stuff.
I'm surprised they did that, that's not their stated policy. This is why I would not want to buy a monitor through them:
LCD Dead-Pixel Policy
Newegg.com sells many products such as Notebooks and Monitors that feature LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) screens. Newegg.com adheres to the dead-pixel policy that is observed by the majority of our manufacturers. In order to declare any product with an LCD screen "defective" and eligible for replacement or refund through any applicable Newegg.com Return Policy, there must be a minimum of 8 (eight) dead LCD pixels.
http://www.newegg.com/CustomerServic...nPolicy.asp#16
The regulations give consumers an unconditional right to cancel an order. This is to allow the consumer the opportunity to examine the goods or consider the nature of a service.
If a consumer cancels an order, written notice must be given to you by seven working days from the day after that on which the goods are received by the consumer.
Where a contract is cancelled, the consumer must ensure that reasonable care is taken of any goods received and 'restore' them to you. This does not mean that they have to return them - unless you stipulate this in the contract - only that they make them available for you to collect.
I've never had a dead pixel, but if I ever do I'll return the device based on this law.
ohmmmm