Hamilton Computer Stores

[Jon Dalton]

I'm done with PC's and Windows once I finally replace my junk computer. Seriously, such garbage.

[omro]

Originally Posted by Jon Dalton

I'm done with PC's and Windows once I finally replace my junk computer. Seriously, such garbage.

What'll you get?

[omro]

Originally Posted by sofasurfer

Speaking of which, you really ought to get AppleCare at the same time - it's under 50 quid if they get it at an Apple store, instead of the usual edu discount if done online. This really is a no-brainer for 3 years' global replacement warranty (I've had to use mine, one issue was down to a pure accident on my part and they replaced the part without batting an eyelid).

I had AppleCare on my current Mac, it's now 4 and a half years old, never used it.

[sofasurfer]

Originally Posted by omro

I had AppleCare on my current Mac, it's now 4 and a half years old, never used it.

I've got a MacBook and it's travelled around with me a lot (probably why I've had to use it )

I guess I'm trying to say that for under fifty quid as part of the UK edu discount deal, it seems well worth it (199ukp is a much harder call)

[omro]

Originally Posted by sofasurfer

I've got a MacBook and it's travelled around with me a lot (probably why I've had to use it )

I guess I'm trying to say that for under fifty quid as part of the UK edu discount deal, it seems well worth it (199ukp is a much harder call)

Definitely.

[Jon Dalton]

Originally Posted by omro

What'll you get?

Mac. They're not cheap but judging by the prices on craigslist, they don't depreciate much. More like a Toyota than a Chrysler. Makes sense, because they also seem to keep working.

I just wish the business world wasn't so committed to PC. I could work more at home and on the train, but not if it means spending my own money on a bad computer.

[Jon Dalton]

2009 will be the year I finally get a mac book. I avoid everything that involves using a computer because it takes so long, and that's holding me back.

[omro]

Originally Posted by Jon Dalton

2009 will be the year I finally get a mac book. I avoid everything that involves using a computer because it takes so long, and that's holding me back.

I bought mine on a whim and except for the dent in my credit card, I never regretted it. Just be sure you're getting the right MacBook, as you'll be living with it for a good 4/5 years!

[adam]

Anyone with an old computer laying around I'd highly recommend trying Ubuntu Linux. All the software is completely open source (free to you). I have a Pentium III with 512mb of RAM and it is just as fast as my friend's P4 quad core with Vista.

[matt602]

I'm using Windows 7 now. Trust me when I say that it is NOT Vista SP2. At all. So vastly improved. Don't knock it until you try it.

[flar]

I have it installed on one of my computers. The taskbar and some other parts of the GUI have changed and it looks like Microsoft has tried to address some of the complaints about UAC. Under the hood, there doesn't seem to be any difference between Vista and 7. It had the exact same driver issues as Vista on my box and is still a hog. It is essentially the same operating system with a slightly better interface. The interface is more responsive, but actual work is still sluggish. It seems more polished and I think it will be better recieved than Vista was. for me, Windows 7 still seems like a crippled monstrosity compared to my regular computing environment.

[SteelTown]

Great thing about a Mac.....no virus protection needed, saving about $30 a year and no annoying virus scan once a week.

[adam]

Saving money using a mac? Interesting.

[MsMe]

I have never used a mac but I know pro photographers will usually use a mac. I heard they have better graphics.

And I heard that about mac's being more safe with viruses.

[omro]

Originally Posted by SteelTown

Great thing about a Mac.....no virus protection needed, saving about $30 a year and no annoying virus scan once a week.

Very true, never had virus scanning on my Mac and it came with all the software I've ever needed for it. Love iPhoto, iTunes, etc. Everything else I've downloaded as freeware. NeoOffice is great on the Mac.

[omro]

Originally Posted by MsMe

I have never used a mac but I know pro photographers will usually use a mac. I heard they have better graphics.

And I heard that about mac's being more safe with viruses.

To be honest, it's no longer a case of having "better graphics".

These days Macs are nothing more than intel PCs with a much tighter hardware specification and a much more attractive exterior and operating system. So, on the hardware side, this is no longer true. You can build a PC that has similar specs, just perhaps not the build quality.

As for the software, pretty much any software that you can buy for the Mac, you can get for the PC. My Sister-in-Law is a photographer and she uses PhotoShop on her PC.

While many people are happy to just buy a Mac for their design flair and caché of ownership. The operating system is the selling point for me.

Mac OS X is a gem. My PowerBook G4 is ancient by anyone's standards. It's 4 and a half years old. When I bought it, it came with Mac OS 10.3 (aka Panther) and last year, on a whim, I bought Mac OS 10.5 (aka Leopard). With Windows, you buy a more up-to-date OS and you need to beef up your hardware just to make it work acceptably. Leopard actually made my PowerBook work smoother!

Windows vs Mac OS comparison.

Use a Windows computer to copy 100GB of files from harddisk one to harddisk two. This will make your PC so sluggish that you want to cry, especially if the files are individually large.

Use a Mac OS computer to copy 100GB of files from harddisk one to harddisk two. You hardly notice that this is happening in the background, even if the files are individually large.

If something crashes on my Windows computer, even though this rarely brings down Windows anymore, it can often cause Windows to behave erratically and again more sluggishly, especially if you try and restart the program that crashed, forcing you to reboot Windows in disgust.

If something crashes on my Mac, and to be honest the only things that have ever crashed have been Firefox and MSN, you can kill them off and everything behaves as if there had never been a crash. Start the program that crashed and it will behave normally.

[mic67]

http://www.linuxquestions.org/blog/j...l-sucks-1504/?

"Windows 7 ..... still sucks
Posted 01-07-2009 at 04:41 PM by jkzfixme
Being an IT professional its pretty much in the job description to move with the marketplace, unfortunately that usually consists of installing and learning the ins and outs of whatever piece of crap bill gates just put out. So being a good dork I throw together a testing box as I don't feel virtualization is fair to testing. I tested first the 6300 then the 7000 64 bit ultimate platform. Much to my amusement it is still a far inferior OS to my old faithful linux boxes.
Although I wont get into timing or truly scientific tests I will give you my initial thoughts, and gripes.

I. Slow boot up , although faster than vista, so was windows ME

II. Slow in general , I would say XP was 2 to 4 times more responsive.

III. Looks like KDE 3.5 , If your gonna steal something at least do it right and make it a recent version.

IV. Stability, not only did things crash constantly but it went though an infuriating process of figuring out it crashed telling microsoft why it crashed and then restarting it without bothering to ask you whether or not you wanted to waste 5 minutes of your life.

V. Driver signatures, This part is really infuriating, you can no longer install the unsigned drivers AT ALL without a registry hack. My understanding is that they want a decent chunk of change to digitally sign a driver.

VI. Did I mention slow ? I administer windows systems all day long unfortunately, so its not just a matter of using only linux at home for 8 year,and being jaded. Its seriously freakin slow

VII. Networking, They implemented this new " homegroup " scheme trying to dumb down networking for the Average Joe. This is stupid. The average joe was not meant to do networking and when you engineer something to do two things, it doesn't do either well. You cant be simplistic and powerful and yet use microsoft psychobabble instead of industry standard terminology.

When I checked out the os it was on a pretty modern system running an AMD phenom quad core , 4 gigs of ram newish nvidia all the fixings and it was still slooooow and unresponsive. It seriously gives me hope, Even after the great Vista debacle microsoft is still willing to throw more customers away... Long live the penguin people , your day will come.

Regards
Jesse Ziter"


http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/e.../dd353205.aspx

"Welcome to the Windows 7 Beta Customer Preview Program

Published: January 2009
Learn about Windows 7 Beta
Test Windows 7 Beta in your lab environment
Stay informed on updates and resources"

mic67

[astroblaster]

i am looking at getting a mac book pro to use for audio/video applications. i need the next laptop i get to be extremely stable. it can't crash.

the pc laptop i have now crashes ALL THE TIME. at the most inopportune moments. it's holding me back from doing many of the things i want to do with it.

i'd love to test drive a mac for a month and see if i can live with it.

[astroblaster]

Originally Posted by adam

Anyone with an old computer laying around I'd highly recommend trying Ubuntu Linux. All the software is completely open source (free to you). I have a Pentium III with 512mb of RAM and it is just as fast as my friend's P4 quad core with Vista.

i second this. ubuntu is a great distrubution. if you're just checking email, surfing the web, word processing etc, this is a great, cost effective solution for older computers. slight learning curve for some users though.

[Millstone]

Originally Posted by mic67

bullshit

Stop the presses, some neckbeard over at linuxquestions.org hates Windows.