New questions (I hope) here!!!!
Well, i know you guys and girls have answered to thousands of similar threads but please do it for once more!
I have read most of the threads with similar context, so i will try not to ask the same questions.
Here is my case:
I havent buy a new mac for 6 years.I have never used MacOS X productively (My last experience was 7.1, one of the most stable versions of MacOS i think).The last years, i have been stuck with pc's, lots of them. But as now i have to rely entirely on my laptop, due to constant travelling, I feel so depressed. Blue screens at the most inappropriate moments, small hard disk, crashes all the time, and all the things u get if you install more than Office on a windows box.
Cause of my work, and cause of my taste, i also use linux but booting all the time in two Oses is not the most productive thing. When MacOS came I said cool, unix and Mac together (and whats more BSD like, which i prefer from linux).But the need for specialized windows programs kept me on the dark side.
Well, here re my thoughts:
Ibook, the 12-inch combo seems ok for me and my budget (also with max RAM)
Questions:
a)Speed of virtual PC running non 3d applications?
b)Experiences of you unix freaks guys with X?
c)I know apple models have a greater lfe span than PC's (and i mean the time you can productively use them). But with todays standards how much time will you expect that a 800 ibook with the 32radeon could stand a decent performance?
d)and finallly even you mac addicts, if productivity was your primary target, would u choose an apple or a PC on the ibook price range?
Thats it, please try to be helpful, for my budget even the ibook is a beyond the limits invesment, but i m determined to do it if i am going to be saved from windows and cheapy pc equipment as long as i will be able to do my work for 2 years or more without a feeling that my machine is toooo slow.
Thank you all
I have read most of the threads with similar context, so i will try not to ask the same questions.
Here is my case:
I havent buy a new mac for 6 years.I have never used MacOS X productively (My last experience was 7.1, one of the most stable versions of MacOS i think).The last years, i have been stuck with pc's, lots of them. But as now i have to rely entirely on my laptop, due to constant travelling, I feel so depressed. Blue screens at the most inappropriate moments, small hard disk, crashes all the time, and all the things u get if you install more than Office on a windows box.
Cause of my work, and cause of my taste, i also use linux but booting all the time in two Oses is not the most productive thing. When MacOS came I said cool, unix and Mac together (and whats more BSD like, which i prefer from linux).But the need for specialized windows programs kept me on the dark side.
Well, here re my thoughts:
Ibook, the 12-inch combo seems ok for me and my budget (also with max RAM)
Questions:
a)Speed of virtual PC running non 3d applications?
b)Experiences of you unix freaks guys with X?
c)I know apple models have a greater lfe span than PC's (and i mean the time you can productively use them). But with todays standards how much time will you expect that a 800 ibook with the 32radeon could stand a decent performance?
d)and finallly even you mac addicts, if productivity was your primary target, would u choose an apple or a PC on the ibook price range?
Thats it, please try to be helpful, for my budget even the ibook is a beyond the limits invesment, but i m determined to do it if i am going to be saved from windows and cheapy pc equipment as long as i will be able to do my work for 2 years or more without a feeling that my machine is toooo slow.
Thank you all
Comments
<strong>
a)Speed of virtual PC running non 3d applications?
b)Experiences of you unix freaks guys with X?
c)I know apple models have a greater lfe span than PC's (and i mean the time you can productively use them). But with todays standards how much time will you expect that a 800 ibook with the 32radeon could stand a decent performance?
d)and finallly even you mac addicts, if productivity was your primary target, would u choose an apple or a PC on the ibook price range?
</strong><hr></blockquote>
a: no 3D in virtual PC
b: it's full UNIX
c: it depends on what you are doing and what you consider decent. If I bought one, I'd keep it for at least two years before looking to replace it.
d: if I was buying a laptop in the iBook's price range, it would have to be an iBook. Most PC laptops are junk, and the ones which aren't are very expensive.
I got a 17" imac and a big part of my decision was the unix. Its like linux with the best GUI you have ever seen and the ability to run commercial apps like M$ office and Photoshop. I use it on my home network and have no problems sharing files with my wifes pc laptop (she wants an ibook like the one you are thinking of) She is a professor and does her class presentations with powerpoint on her laptop then burns them to cd on the imac (she would do it all on the imac but its hard to get me away from it). I switched from a 1ghz AMD to the 800 mghz imac and it seems to be just as fast if not faster and I have found mac counter parts or alternatives for everything I did on my pc.
Grass (i konw there is a X port with a cocoa interface as well)
Autocad
Arcview (but its not demanding, it runs on my 600mhz laptop with 64mb of ram very well)
ERDAS Imagine (there is a BSD port for it, i hope it will work on X with Xwindows)
Matlab(only for MacOS 9)
And i also need a developing enviroment.
For c and c++ mostly
Is the Apple's Developers tools included in the software package?
(mad props to the apple-buying madman murbot)
Although, I have heard of people NOT getting them... depends on what kind of mood the CD packing ladies are in that day.
The Developer tools will come as an installer on the Hard Drive, but not installed. They will work with ANSI C and C++ (Standard C tools will need to be run in terminal). You just double-click to install them.
VirtualPC is okay, I wouldn't run such drafting software in it even on my DP1250, interface is just too friggin slow, partly due to the graphics emulation virtual pc does. It does think it is a 667mhz 686 though (though this is using WinXP Pro with interface stuff turned off, I hear 2k is faster). Actually for numerical processes vpc is quite fast, but not for graphical (like rc5 scores are 3000MK/s for me in VPC, no altivec... versus 4000MK/s in OS X sub altivec).
If it helps you decide, I sold my PowerBook G4 667 and bought the new iBook 800 12" combo model and pocketed the difference.
It was an excellent decision, the iBook feels tougher, seems to run really quick in X, the new video chipset is a winner and I have run VPC and found it more than acceptable for 2d work.
just my £0.026 pence worth (sorry don't speak american...yeah yeah take it to fireside chat...)
Also, ibook only gets 640 MB of ram, any hack for more memory wet?
As for the software issue, the time i wll touch my mac i ll begin to work in order to have more scientific Unix software in MAcOSX (with Aqua interface ofcourse!)
The basic reason i have opened this thread is cause my budget is too tight, but if i can have a decent graphical interface with Unix and sometimes windows i can spent these pounds (KDE is not decent yet in my opinion, comparing to commercial products).But the only thing i dont want is to find that my sexy new ibook is just sexy and not up to my expectations
<strong>on the website apple offers the developer tools for download for ADC members only.
</strong><hr></blockquote>
Which is, of course, a free membership.
Well, i couldnt resist.I confess.
Now is even worse, waiting is a bad feeling.
So one more question before my sweet thing arrives.
What memory should i order?I have found so many sites with different prices.Any hints?
Crucial (http://www.crucial.com) is good, I've ordered a lot from them.
Amorya