Comments on: Laptop bleg update

By: reuben

reuben — Thu, 18 May 2006 09:00:05 +0000

cheers

By: nick s

nick s — Wed, 17 May 2006 19:49:58 +0000

Reuben: if anything, Mac virus software causes more problems than it solves. Leave it alone.

Blogging software: Ecto? The Performancing extension for Firefox?

By: reuben

reuben — Wed, 17 May 2006 14:22:48 +0000

Jon – That is such a liberating sentence to read. Now excuse me while I go kick my crappy old PC for making my last few years such a pain.

Any suggestions on blogging software that works well with Mac? Typepad seems to be missing a few buttons.

By: Jon H

Jon H — Wed, 17 May 2006 14:14:48 +0000

Reuben,

For the time being, skip the virus software.

By: reuben

reuben — Wed, 17 May 2006 13:30:24 +0000

Matt,

Does that mean it’s safe to skip purchasing virus software?

Cheers

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 17 May 2006 11:44:33 +0000

What’s a ‘virus’?

By: reuben

reuben — Wed, 17 May 2006 11:04:41 +0000

You’ve saved my bacon with this bleg. On Monday, I recieved a new iBook, which I ordered under emergency conditions – PC died at a time of peak work commmitments – and without being sensible enough to find out if anything new was coming out. If I hadn’t seen these two posts today, I wouldn’t know the macbook existed. As it is, Mac is going to let me return my ibook, and i’ve just purchased the macbook instead. 30£ more, and much higher spec. Result!

Could the folks here recommend virus software for the mac?

Cheers

By: Annie

Annie — Wed, 17 May 2006 07:25:23 +0000

Will 2GB of memory would suffice. The Mac book is nice enough to provide u with relevant data.Glad u find it!

By: John

John — Wed, 17 May 2006 06:14:04 +0000

Man, you’re going to live to regret that choice.

No, wait… What’s the opposite of regret? Savour? Relish? Celebrate?

By: Matt McIrvin

Matt McIrvin — Wed, 17 May 2006 03:09:46 +0000

My old G4 tower gets along fine running Tiger with half a gig of RAM, aside from the occasional burst of swapping when bringing up Dashboard widgets. 1GB would be more than enough.

Granted, it has a video card with dedicated VRAM, which makes some difference, and unlike Brad Delong I don’t regularly produce video.

By: EWI

EWI — Wed, 17 May 2006 01:50:49 +0000

Windows runs sluggish but pretty well

…but still faster than on that Dell, I’ll wager!

By: Stephen M (Ethesis)

Stephen M (Ethesis) — Tue, 16 May 2006 23:22:22 +0000

Glad you found something you like. The new ~$1k mac is a nice book for 13”—if you are ok with the screen size.

By: lago

lago — Tue, 16 May 2006 23:06:14 +0000

While total RAM is important given shared video memory, the “matched pair” RAM is important for reasons specific to the intel integrated graphics (which are also in the Mac Mini). If you get 1×1GB RAM, rather than, say, 2×512MB, you waste half of the dual channel memory controller. This mostly makes a difference for graphics-intensive applications.

By: BusterD

BusterD — Tue, 16 May 2006 22:35:50 +0000

As someone who works in Macintosh retail, I’m pleased to add little new other than to compliment and recommend the commenters above.

1. “Don’t be first in line for new Apple hardware products.”
I sell these things, and for professional users, I subscribe to this general recommendation. That said, I must report that the processor changeover has been as uneventful major change as I’ve ever seen. We’re still waiting for some pro apps to fully support (and Adobe products are going to require a pay-for upgrade for fullest speed), but most of us are having solid performance experiences with the new Intels. Native iLife apps, major browsers and MS Office run well. Windows runs sluggish but pretty well on the 15” units (but I’d wait for a newer Boot Camp build before trying it on the new 13”).

2. “And you should never really buy RAM as part of the build: go to Crucial and get it instead.”
I’d prefer to buy ram preinstalled by my local Apple retailer (never an Apple Store or the online Apple Store) or from a third-party vendor, because I like lifetime warranties on ram parts AND labor, but I agree wholeheartedly not to pay Apple a dime for extra ram. Overpriced.

3. “My MacBookPro does get plenty hot.”
Yep. Very hot. But I’ve been hearing strong comments from Mac portable users since the first Wall Street 292’s came out. All that waste processor heat has to go somewhere (a G5 Tower has NINE fans and a heatsink larger than the entire Mac Mini); either Apple builds in some kind of cooling (which tasks the battery/power bus), or you maximize passive wicking (which Apple has done quite well). Really need to buy a stand of some kind, passive or otherwise. Rain Design makes a very comfy iLap stand which also works well on sufaces (c. $60US)

Please do let readers know how you like it. If it’s not as nifty as it looks, we’ll want to know.

By: David Eads

David Eads — Tue, 16 May 2006 21:58:48 +0000

Here’s what I’d like to know, just out of curiosity: Why Apple is so skimpy on RAM, even on higher end Macs? I suppose it’s just to make a buck, and perhaps is warranted for something like a Mac Mini. But why does a computer that costs $3,300 come with 512mb ram in a 2×256mb configuration?