Help!!! (Macbook vs. Thinkpad)
So I'm attending law school in the Fall and am trying to decide between a Macbook and a Thinkpad x60s. I love the Macbooks however their portability scares me. I know they weigh around 5 pounds and I feel that might be heavy for a student commuting from home to school 5 days a week, lugging the computer around everywhere. The thinkpad x60s weighs around 3 pounds, however after dealing w/ PC issues on my previous Toshiba I kept telling myself my next laptop would be an Apple. Is there anybody out there who is knowledgable about these two machines that would be able to give me an unbiased comparison (even though I AM at an apple site)?? Thanks!
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The Macbook also has the advantage of being able to run both Windows and OS X and it has nice things like magnetic power cord and latch. It seems the x60 has slower chips too 1.66 Core Duo vs 1.83 Core 2 Duo and Intel G945 vs Intel GMA 950 and I read it uses an external optical drive. I wouldn't buy a laptop without an internal optical drive. A 2.6 hour battery life is pretty crappy in the X60 too.
I imagine you might be able to find a decent rival to the Macbook but I don't think the X60 is it. For features/spec vs price, Dell is quite good but they are rubbish quality and the machines are massive. Sony are good quality and make small machines but they don't have very good spec for the price.
I had a Mac at university and it definitely attracts more girls so on that note, I'd say get the Macbook. I just reeeeeally wish Apple would bring back the 12" and also call it an ibook again.
So I'm attending law school in the Fall and am trying to decide between a Macbook and a Thinkpad x60s. I love the Macbooks however their portability scares me. I know they weigh around 5 pounds and I feel that might be heavy for a student commuting from home to school 5 days a week, lugging the computer around everywhere. The thinkpad x60s weighs around 3 pounds, however after dealing w/ PC issues on my previous Toshiba I kept telling myself my next laptop would be an Apple. Is there anybody out there who is knowledgable about these two machines that would be able to give me an unbiased comparison (even though I AM at an apple site)?? Thanks!
In that environment, I would go Apple. You are going to spend a lot of time in the library and in class rooms using the LAN, printing, swapping documents with people. I had a Dell my first year and had nothing but problems due my PC being infected with all sorts of crap. Nothing sucks more than having a comment or brief all F'd up at 3AM because some sort of macro has screwed your MS word up. Less of an issue with a mac. My iBook got me through years two and three with no problems at all.
On the down side, some schools provide limited support for Macs, so you need to be a little more self-sufficient. Although the things you will need support for will be simple issues like joining a network or adding a printer, rather then cleaning up an infected hard drive. (In case you haven't guessed, virus issues were very common)
Whatever you buy:
1. Get an external hard drive and create back-ups ALL THE TIME. No one is going to care if your PC dies at the end of a sememster.
2. Buy a lock-cord and lock your PC to something. People can do nasty things to those around them when rankings are involved.
3. Always remember: the first year is the worst, after that you're golden.
... however after dealing w/ PC issues on my previous Toshiba I kept telling myself my next laptop would be an Apple. ...
MacBook - no question. From your comment, you already know this
I just bought my Macbook and after 2 days of using it I stil absolutely love it as much as I did when I bought it.
2 days...
2 days...
5 pounds is nothing.
Macbook can run OS X and Windows too.
Thinkpad cannot run OS X.
Decision made.
As you probably know, the X60s does not have an optical drive. This is one of the reasons that the compter is so light. Now, the only time that you will likely use an optical drive is to load software, or back-up files. Most of the time you will use a flash-based drive for transfering files, and you will not need to carry an optical drive along with you. It is a good idea, therefore, to purchase the X60 dock (which will have a CD/DVD drive, USB ports, power port, etc), that will just sit on your desk at home. If you do use your CD drive a lot, then this will not be the best arrangement, but I doubt that this is the case.
One more issue with the X60s that you ought to be aware of is that it has no track pad. In my opinion, this is the computer's only fault (it can't run OSX either, but this can't be helped). I hate those little mouse-pointers that IBM uses. So you will likely need to get a mouse to take with you. I have a little wireless BenQ M310, which may be too small for a large person's hands, but is great for me.
I guess the last thing that you ought to consider is that you are studying law. Being in a professional (and in a somewhat business related) field such as that, you may be constrained by not having a PC (I'm sure this is why other posters have been quick to point out that the Macbook can run XP through Bootcamp). This is probably not much of an issue, but I thought that I should at least mention it.
The next time that I purchase a notebook, it will also come down to a choice between the X60s and the Macbook. Neither one is perfect (the Macbook is large/heavy and only comes with a glossy screen, the X60s has no trackpad and will not run OSX), but they are both great options no matter which way you go with it. Happy Buying!
Now, the only time that you will likely use an optical drive is to load software, or back-up files.
Or watch DVDs or listen to audio CDs. I doubt people will rip a DVD every time they want to see a movie on the go. I wish one day we do get rid of optical drives once and for all and replace them with some sort of solid state storage but it's not going to happen soon and not having an internal drive would be enough to put most people off the machine.
I hate those little mouse-pointers that IBM uses.
I actually liked it when I used one. I thought it would be good if Apple used those on the Mighty Mouse instead of the ball.
get rid of optical drive? possibly the opposite will be true... it would be nice to use optical drive use as RAM, to load software and run it on the flight... the box can be configured to any system as you wish (just like switch of a SIM card in your cell phone... get a new identity of the box)... just pop the right optical drive in... my 1.74 cents
"I wish one day we do get rid of optical drives once and for all and replace them with some sort of solid state storage but it's not going to happen soon and not having an internal drive would be enough to put most people off the machine."
get rid of optical drive? possibly the opposite will be true... it would be nice to use optical drive use as RAM, to load software and run it on the flight... the box can be configured to any system as you wish (just like switch of a SIM card in your cell phone... get a new identity of the box)... just pop the right optical drive in... my 1.74 cents
Never going to happen. Mechanical storage access has speed limitations that will limit what they can be used for. Flash is going to take over:
http://www.trustedreviews.com/storag...eam-in-2006/p1
5% of the power consumption of hard drives and faster read/write speeds, less heat, no noise, no danger of breaking due to dropping. Just have expresscard slots and we won't need optical drives ever again. We just need the price to come down a lot.
only SONY ultra-portable notebooks have optical drives in them.
Yeah, for a good notebook, I'd probably only look at Sony for portable models but as I said before, they tend to have lower spec for a higher price than a Mac. The 10" laptops looks great but they only have Core Solos. If Core 2 Duos are cool enough, I'd love to see Apple make a really small laptop.
I'd definitely get the Macbook. 110%.