Inspiron or Ti Book for college?
Im heading off to college soon and wanted to know everyone's honest opinion on which machine to take to college with me - Im majoring in business. Its basically between the Inspiron 8200 or the Ti Book (I ruled out the iMac because it seems the consensus that college students should have a laptop). Ill be using the laptop for:
-Basic usage (web surfing, writing papers, music, yada, yada, yada)
-Website design to make some extra cash
-Moderate game usage (not the ability to play every game on the market but play one game alot, ex. War 3 on battle.net)
-Movies in divx format
-Complete (or near complete) compatability
Basically I just want to be able to work and have the ability to download music like I would on a Windows based machine. The main reason I am drawn to the mac, besides its stabiliy and battery power, is the iPod - which I think will still suck on the windows OS no matter how hard they try to say it won't. Yet Nomad has a 40gig jukebox that runs on FireWire for $400.
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.
Please calm my fears and say that everything will be okay - and that I should get a mac. Please.
HELP ME!
BTW - I will probably wait until Jagwire comes out to get the new laptop if I go with the TiBook.
[ 08-08-2002: Message edited by: Shanksta ]</p>
-Basic usage (web surfing, writing papers, music, yada, yada, yada)
-Website design to make some extra cash
-Moderate game usage (not the ability to play every game on the market but play one game alot, ex. War 3 on battle.net)
-Movies in divx format
-Complete (or near complete) compatability
Basically I just want to be able to work and have the ability to download music like I would on a Windows based machine. The main reason I am drawn to the mac, besides its stabiliy and battery power, is the iPod - which I think will still suck on the windows OS no matter how hard they try to say it won't. Yet Nomad has a 40gig jukebox that runs on FireWire for $400.
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.
Please calm my fears and say that everything will be okay - and that I should get a mac. Please.
HELP ME!BTW - I will probably wait until Jagwire comes out to get the new laptop if I go with the TiBook.
[ 08-08-2002: Message edited by: Shanksta ]</p>
Comments
Of course I would use a typewriter before I would ever touch a Dell , here is some honest advice. There will be times when you need to run a CD that came with a book, or some random program.... but for those rare instances you can use a computer lab, or use a friends PC. These minor inconveniences are more than made up for by the pleasure of owning a Powerbook.
A real necessity is having Office, you can not survive without this. I constantly received files from my teachers in powerpoint, excel, and word formats only. Also when doing group work, you will really need office. Unfortunately it is the standard.
Get the Powerbook and get Office one way or another :cool: and you will be all set.
If you're concerned about compatability, you can always get Virtual PC (which will run better on the faster TiBook than on an iBook) and a USB floppy drive. That'll let you handle just about anything you need to. Virtual PC isn't a replacement for a Windows PC, but if you only want to make sure you can use the occasional program or file someone sends you, it should be fine.
It'll chew WC3 up and spit it out.
<strong>If you can spend $3k, get the <a href="http://www.alienware.com/main/system_pages/area51-m.asp"; target="_blank">Alienware Area51m</a>.
It'll chew WC3 up and spit it out.
Isn't that one of those monster notebooks with a desktop P4 that weighs 9 lbs or something? Btw yeah I'm pretty sure it'd easily chew up WC3, along with other stuff
Edit:
Oh yeah, back to the topic. Powerbook should be great for you, whoever mentioned about software with CDs is right, some classes may want you to use supplemental software for quizzes or other things that might only work on Windows. You'll need to take that into account and may have to get VPC and a floppy drive, or if a friend will let you use their PC then that'd work as well.
[ 08-08-2002: Message edited by: MCQ ]</p>
Probably weighs a ton and has crap battery life. It does have a dock for an extra battery though, but you'd have to give up the ever useful floppy drive they've thrown in.
It's sort of like a super bloated mucho expensive gameboy.
Weight: 9.6lbs. w/ Battery
I guess for geeky little girly men that's a problem, eh?
And you say it's ugly on here, but deep down you know it owns your soul.
Anyway, you've got 6 other colors to choose from.
I just hope that the next PowerBook Upgrade will be to the 64 meg version of the video card - that will really be nice.
iBook is also much more durable.
There's just something about a laptop that weighs almost 10 pounds and comes close to being two inches thick that doesn't strike me as being "forward thinking", regardless of the color (or lack of).
It's like they thought they had to put everything in it and couldn't make a decent tradeoff between mobility and functionality or something.
I'm sure it's fast, just not great for mobility. I guess if a person is gonna leave it in a crowded dorm room or something....
Back on topic, get the TiBook. Why? Because I said so, and because you asked.
Feel the power! Join the dark-side!
Its just a great computer and to me its like having the best of both worlds. Its protable (And frankly not too heavy) and then its like a desktop! I can bring it home put it on the far corner of my desk and plug in my keyboard and be as happy as larry!
the TiBook ROCKS! <img src="graemlins/smokin.gif" border="0" alt="[Chilling]" />
<strong>Im heading off to college soon and wanted to know everyone's honest opinion on which machine to take to college with me - Im majoring in business. Its basically between the Inspiron 8200 or the Ti Book (I ruled out the iMac because it seems the consensus that college students should have a laptop). Ill be using the laptop for:
-Basic usage (web surfing, writing papers, music, yada, yada, yada)
-Website design to make some extra cash
-Moderate game usage (not the ability to play every game on the market but play one game alot, ex. War 3 on battle.net)
-Movies in divx format
-Complete (or near complete) compatability
Basically I just want to be able to work and have the ability to download music like I would on a Windows based machine. The main reason I am drawn to the mac, besides its stabiliy and battery power, is the iPod - which I think will still suck on the windows OS no matter how hard they try to say it won't. Yet Nomad has a 40gig jukebox that runs on FireWire for $400.
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.
Please calm my fears and say that everything will be okay - and that I should get a mac. Please.
</strong><hr></blockquote>
You will be absolutely fine with a PowerBook and you will love it. Office v.X is sweet and if you are going to college than there is about a 90% chance that your college will have a site license on Microsoft products so you should be able to get v.X for free and legal from the university library.
As for the odd cd here and there that requires windows, get a copy of Virtual PC without Windows (~ $99) and then use the university license to get a copy of Windows 2000.
Where are you going to college?
Oh, and I'm a business major at Ohio University and i use a mac. Wintel isn't really necessary
[ 08-09-2002: Message edited by: progmac ]</p>
Definitely go for a Powerbook unless your college has zero Mac compatibility. I noticed mine has a lot of Macs. The computer lab I was in was all beige G3s. I would never get a PC laptop even if I knew it was faster. You wouldn't find me saying the same thing about desktops. With Mac laptops you are getting the speed of their desktops due to the fact that the same G4s are being used (667 can run with a PM G4 800, the PBG4 800 beats the PM 800). You have a big wide screen and good specs, without the big weight that you must compensate for when getting a PC laptop. It's ultra-thin, very light, and still offers a good amount of power. I don't think anyone can touch Apple's portables. Plus they are now using the ATI Radeon 7500 Mobility so you'll get good graphics. Hmm, now I want one.
Is VPC stable?
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 ]</p>
<strong>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.</strong><hr></blockquote>
It hasn't been a pain in the ass for me since I downloaded vlc. It plays everything, no fuss. I also have the Divx 5 codec in my Quicktime library folder for general usage (Finder previews, etc).