Porsche Designs a Laptop

An anonymous reader writes "Cnet is reporting that BestBuy is selling a porsche designed widescreen ultra thin laptop the looks almost exactly like a Tibook. Sadly, it runs windows so no one will actually want to use one for real work, but it looks pretty cool for minesweeper. Ah, I guess that the TiBook is no longer a status symbol if you can run Windows on it. It has all the trimmings, like those "made for windows 2k stickers" that get the screen all nasty when you close it."

Comments

Will it Save Xmas?

[Blackneto]

Thats what I want to know before I switch.

Re:Will it Save Xmas?

[poopsie]

No, that's Porsche. Porche will save Christmas.

Re:Will it Save Xmas?

[operagost]

Janie informs that instaling a digital camera in Windows sounds like ARRRRRRRRRRGNH!

Re:Will it Save Xmas?

[neuroticia]

Funny. To me it sounds like the slipping-in of a USB 2.0 plug, and the 5 seconds it takes for Photoshop to start up.

But, maybe that's because I'm using a REAL windows computer, and not one of those silly Windows-95 computers that were the last computers those Switchers used. ;)

-Sara

Re:Will it Save Xmas?

[Moofie]

You know, I talk to a LOT of people who hate Macs because the System 6 toaster Macs they used in college touched them inappropriately or ate their homework one time ten years ago.

"Real" Windows computer? Define.

Re:Will it Save Xmas?

[racermd]

(Flame me if you must...) You seem to be very biased as pro-Mac. It also appears you've never really properly configured a system running Windows. I'll agree to the point that Windows (anything), not just XP, is bloated. That's the nature of the beast. But the defaults are installed for people who don't know better and is the primary reason that unknowing (l)users want more processor, RAM, HD, etc., for their new systems. It helps drive the industry, like it or not.

Properly installed, Windows will *fly* around any "default" isntall of the same revision. After installing, delete any unnecessary extras with the "Add/Remove" control panel, and disable a slew of non-essential services. Memory usage drops to about 50-60 MB or so. Each installation is different (based mostly on the user's needs), so YMMV. Mac's aren't exempt from this, either. A default installation of OSX prior to 10.2 didn't allow you the option of selecting which printer definitions you wanted and which ones you didn't. It's all-or-nothing. And a default installation of OSX Server prior to 10.2 still wants to install all the localization files that don't have any place on the server. How hard would it be to select the localization option automatically when choosing which language you'd like to see the installer in?

My point is that Macs != Good and Windows != Bad. I've been down the Mac vs. Windows battle a few too many times, and I keep telling everyone the same thing: Computers are tools. There are better features for specific tasks, but nobody can say, for certain, that one operating system is better than the other. The individual features should be compared against the required tasks. An analogy I commonly make is this: Which is better - Spoon or Fork? How about Sports-Car or Pickup Truck? How about Helicopter or Airplane?

Depends on the task and your preference, doesn't it? Sounds just like "Windows vs. Mac" to me.

And there are plenty of other places to make the "Windows vs. Mac" than /.. I understand that there's plenty of anti-MS sentiment here, but effective IS/IT is less concerned about corporate favoritism and more about what gets the job done.

Re:Will it Save Xmas?

[DavidRavenMoon]

Funny. To me it sounds like the slipping-in of a USB 2.0 plug, and the 5 seconds it takes for Photoshop to start up.

But, maybe that's because I'm using a REAL windows computer, and not one of those silly Windows-95 computers that were the last computers those Switchers used. ;)

My friend who has TWO REAL windows computers, running W2KPro can't get her new digital camera to work on either computer, a laptop and a desktop, no matter what she does. It did work on a friends W98 laptop though.

Worked without a hitch on OS X. Didn't have to install drivers, just plugged it in.

Sara, just because your PCs work, doesn't mean no one has issues with thiers. You aren't an average PC user either. You are übergeekchick! :P

Re:Will it Save Xmas?

[DavidRavenMoon]

My Quickcam likes OS X for about 10 minutes, then quits with an unexpected error. :p

Crappy software has nothing to do with the OS. Logitec writes crap for drivers.

I'm talking about a real digital camera, like a Sony or Cannon, that uses a memory card. On her PCs the card wont mount and the camera cant be accessed, on my Mac is does every time.

Another funny thing, our brand new W2k file server at work. We were told to do daily backups because "sooner or later it will crash and you will lose all your files" ... so says the people who installed it! You call that stable? We never lost any files on the Macs in seven years. ;)

Pathetic

[waldoj]

I expect Mac rip-offs from companies like Compaq and eMachines. But Porche? It's bad enough that they've designed a laptop for Best Buy. (What business is Porche in, anyhow?) But to just blatently rip off the TiBook design is pathetic.

-Waldo Jaquith

Re:Pathetic

[Faggot]

Ripping off unique Apple designs is not just pathetic, it's inevitable. I'm glad someone still takes design chances with their hardware -- it comes out quite well very often. :)

Re:Pathetic

[jackjumper]

Uh this is from Porsche Designs GmbH which, like most design houses, needs to make money so they (gasp) design things for whomever pays them.

It is *not* the same as Porsche cars, although they do design very nice high end stuff.

Re:Pathetic

[modecx]

In all serriousness, I don't think Porche has reallly quite done it. They may have been aiming fot a PowerbookG4 look, but the dimensions just aren't there:

G4 specs From apple.com:
Size and weight
Height: 1.0 inch (2.6 cm)
Width: 13.4 inches (34.1 cm)
Depth: 9.5 inches (24.1 cm)
Weight: 5.4 pounds (2.45 kg) with battery
Titanium Case.

Porche book from cnet:
6.4 pounds
13.9 inches wide
10 inches deep
and 1.2 inches thick.
Case presumably made from magnesium alloy.

It's bigger, heavier, and just not as sexy, in my opinion. That said, it looks like enough, and also has some decent hardware. Might be better if it were fire engine red, though.

Re:Pathetic

[uncoveror]

What is even worse was that this "news" story was a blatant advertisement. Is Best Buy paying Cnet and Slashdot for it? How about Porche?

Re:Pathetic

[Aqua OS X]

Moreover, it's typically never done quite right. That note book looks like a bizzaro-Ti-Book. It's not a very interesting case design at all.

Re:Pathetic

[timeOday]

Just wait until you see the Packard-Bell 911 turbo.

Re:Pathetic

[Zimm]

Ripping off unique Apple designs is not just pathetic, it's inevitable. I'm glad someone still takes design chances with their hardware -- it comes out quite well very often. :)

Why is it that people always think it's other companies that rip off apple? Sorry, when I saw the apples titanium laptop, i thought Fujitsu lifebook. Just because apple makes something popular, doesn't mean they invented it.

Re:Pathetic

[Zeinfeld]

I expect Mac rip-offs from companies like Compaq and eMachines. But Porche? It's bad enough that they've designed a laptop for Best Buy. (What business is Porche in, anyhow?) But to just blatently rip off the TiBook design is pathetic

Porche were in the designer PC business long before apple. They did the design for the 'Turbo Pet' back in the early 80s. The design did not sell too well because CBM failled to move up to 16 bit and got crushed by the IBM Pc.

Porche has always been an outsourced design studion that builds cars on the side. They have also designed bikes and such. They do a lot of design work for VW and other auto makers, their main competitors are folk like Pininfarina in Italy.

Re:Pathetic

[bigmouth_strikes]

"What business is Porche in, anyhow?"

Porsche is in the business of design, i.e. they design things. Check out their web site.

They also manufacture cars, but the basis was always design, since that is what Ferdinand A. Porsche was good at.

Bash, Bash, Bash

[timothy_m_smith]

It is hard to take this post seriously when all it does is bash Windows. It is fine not to like you Windows, but you don't have to make it that using Windows is the crime of the century.

Re:Bash, Bash, Bash

[Insightfill]

I think it's been determined in court that selling Windows was the crime of the century.

Re:Bash, Bash, Bash

[blackcat]

It is fine not to like you Windows, but you don't have to make it that using Windows is the crime of the century.

You're new to Slashdot, aren't you?

Re:Bash, Bash, Bash

[mocktor]

not that i'm particularly pro-ms, but...

Sadly, it runs windows so no one will actually want to use one for real work

Exactly what planet are you living on? Last time i looked the majority of computer users do 100% of their computing in windows.

Comments like this in the front page of /. jsut serve ro make the linux/open source community look like a bunch of sulky children because *their* os doesn't come installed.

Re:Bash, Bash, Bash

[Conare]

I disagree. CmdrTaco's story selection is completely objective, and the anonymous reader's story submission is very well balanced. Now where did I put the rest of that acid.
Welcome to Slashdot.

Re:Bash, Bash, Bash

[sql*kitten]

You're new to Slashdot, aren't you?

I remember when /. used to publish the browser statistics - IIRC, 80-90% of /. readers use Windows. Perhaps the Linux users are simply more vocal, or perhaps they just have more time on their hands.

Re:Bash, Bash, Bash

[daeley]

Dude (and moderator dude), note the emoticon.

Kids these days...

Re:Bash, Bash, Bash

[FortKnox]

This is from an anonymous reader. So Taco could of done what some other editors sometimes do. They post the link with their own words, instead of the posters. No one is going to get hurt (hey, if they cared, they woulda posted logged in), so make it a story that doesn't make Linux users look like the whiny children no one wants to listen to.

Warning: Typical FK rant to follow:
Honestly, people, if you want people to switch from Windows to Linux, you have to support Linux, not bash MS. All bashing does is make you look immature. Think about it. What does Linus say about Windows? He doesn't care? You mean he hates it right? What? Doesn't care one way or the other? Maybe you should too...

Re:Bash, Bash, Bash

[Neon Spiral Injector]

Bash, Bash, Bash? Don't you mean cmd.exe, cmd.exe, cmd.exe?

Re:Bash, Bash, Bash

[AnalogBoy]

Cloud bootup, eh? Might explain why people here are still bashing windows for instability and 0-uptime problems.

might i suggest upgrading from 98. There are better things out there that have the microsoft logo affixed.

Re:Bash, Bash, Bash

[cduffy]

The worst part is that the most vocal types are frequently the least knowledgeable. Even among the Linux users, "windoze"-bashing fanboys are a rarity -- but they're so vocal that we all get tarred with the same brush.

Re:Bash, Bash, Bash

[Lochin Rabbar]

Thats even a more retarded statement! Man, you guys are in the running for the most ignorand and uneducated pro linux argument ever!

There are some times when you really don't want to make a typo.

Re:Bash, Bash, Bash

[vsprintf]

might i suggest upgrading from 98. There are better things out there that have the microsoft logo affixed.

That's true, but writing documents with that X-box controller is a real pain. :)

Re:Bash, Bash, Bash

[King_TJ]

Thank you! I was just about to post something similar. I mean, I would expect Slashdot to at least discuss the merits vs. disadvantages of this new notebook. Perhaps someone who actually *used* one could submit a story about it?

But to simply make inane comments because you're miffed it "looks like a Mac" notebook? Whatever.... If you haven't noticed, Winbook has been making a really light-weight, thin silver high-end notebook for well over a year now. I think it resembles a TIbook a little bit, too. Should be all bash on Winbook now, and make senseless comments about it not being useful "for any real work" and being a "ripoff of a Mac"?

Personally, I've contended that Apple has always been a "hot seller" primarily with folks concerned with "style over substance". (Note, this has *no* bearing on whether their OS is technically "good" or "useful". It simply means that most of their loyal customers are concerned first and foremost with the styling/looks of the machine.) Apple would be long dead by now if they sold all of their systems in standard beige "clone-style" mini and mid-tower cases.

If someone else (figures it'd be a maker of "status symbol" cars, like Porsche) wants to try to capitalize on this "style over substance" sales idea - then more power to them. As a self-proclaimed "techno-geek", though, I'll still be much more worried about the functionality and performance of said system.

Re:Bash, Bash, Bash

[sweetooth]

Uhm, you don't compile nightly builds, nightly builds are compiled for you. That's why they are called "builds."

Re:Bash, Bash, Bash

[Erik Hollensbe]

Well when you can script and automate everything, instead of pointing and clicking your way to RSI...

OF COURSE YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE MORE FREE TIME.

Re:Bash, Bash, Bash

[bombdotcom]

...you don't have to make it that using Windows is the crime of the century.

Its close. By buying and using Windows you're validating Microsoft's business model. You know, the business model which says its ok to lie, cheat, and do WHATEVER it takes to win the sale, or stay on top.

By supporting this company and this business model you're doing a small part to stifle innovation and generally make the computing industry a less-fun industry to be in. And I resent you for that. Microsoft needs to be sent a message that they can't act like an 800 pound homicidal, rabid gorilla, and that message gets muted by people who continue to support them by buying their products.

Re:Bash, Bash, Bash

[timothy_m_smith]

That's fine, I am a strong believer that you should not do business with a company or individual that you do not agree with. My real point here was that this story is flamebait itself:

Sadly, it runs windows so no one will actually want to use one for real work

I think that there are much more intelligent arguments that you can use. When you step out and make arguments that are not well thought out, it pretty much ruins anything else that is said.

Re:Bash, Bash, Bash

[Suppafly]

Exactly.. It's hilarious.. the only people who use linux are those who like it and go out of their way to do, so of course you aren't going to find much linux bashing.. no one who doesn't use it cares enough to bash it. Maybe if 98% of the world used linux, you'd get some decent criticism of its many flaws.

Re:Bash, Bash, Bash

[91degrees]

I just have to say, "Huh!?"

Configuring and installing X is not the same as turning off frickin preview! It's closer to installing the OS. The only time I'll install X is if I need to upgrade. The same applies to Windows - upgrading the GUI requires reinstalling the entire OS because they are inseperable.

But regardles. I agree. Configuring X is hard. This is due to lack of design. I never said it was easy. Did I ever say "Windows should be like X" or anything implying that X was in any way better or worse, or even acknowledged the existence of X anywhere in my post?

Turning off preview does not solve the problem. It just disables the preview. I might want to see a preview. But, I want it such that the act of displaying the preview does not mean I have right to click the item I just selected. Not a great problem, but it is mildly irritating, offers no benefit to the user and is therefore a piece of bad design. Oh what the hell - this guy explained it better than I can.

Re:Bash, Bash, Bash

[91degrees]

So - what benefit do others gain from the menu coming up and then disappearing before you have the chance to do anything with it?

I can get this to happen in Win2k. Perhaps this glitch was fixed in XP. This would sort of undermine your argument. If it isn't a glitch, why did they change it?

Re:Bash, Bash, Bash

[DrEldarion]

So next time you see a retard like that SPEAK UP. Just sitting back and letting them complain won't do anything to help the image of Linux users.

-- Dr. Eldarion --

Re:Bash, Bash, Bash

[poot_rootbeer]

Or, the editors could have fucking EDITED and taken out that childish Windows-flame before posting the story.

This thread could have been about the Porsche-designed notebook like it should have been, but instead we're complaining about the editors. Thanks, editors.

Re:Bash, Bash, Bash

[Permission Denied]

I'm assuming you're advocating Apple's wares with your post, since the thread seems to be moving in that direction (and if you were a Free Software type, a PC laptop is much more suitable for running a truly Free OS than a TiBook or an iBook).

And of course Apple Computer is a saintly company, an example for all of us.

Nevermind that they will sue you at the drop of a hat if you design a "theme" with gel-colored drop-shadowed buttons.

Nevermind that they've been stiffing unix users over the QuickTime fiasco: when we ask them to release a binary-only codec so we can view Sorensen videos using xanim, they can't do that because Sorenson owns the rights to the codec. However, when Sorensen tries to sell the codec to Macromedia, Apple jumps in and claims that they have exclusive use of the Sorensen codec.

Nevermind that they're a premier member of the BSA, an organization based solely on blackmail and extortion.

Apple's hands are just as bloody as Microsoft's. Apple just has better marketing folks. You may be more willing to give Apple your money because they've built up an image - so their marketing tactics are effectve.

The only thing wrong with this laptop is that it will probably only be available bundled with a Windows license. The Apple alternative is no better if you're truly worried about your conscience. The best way out is to get a laptop with no OS preinstalled (or better yet, a laptop with Linux pre-installed).

If only you could get OSX emulation

[OptimizedPrime]

Then you could run OSX on top of you w2k porsche book while the guy next to you runs 2k to manage a server by using Virtual PC on his Ti book.... I'm not touching the recursive possibilities

Re:If only you could get OSX emulation

[Rib Feast]

Unlike a fat kid in gym class, it still looks good running slow ;)

Misleading

[csnydermvpsoft]

Note that it is designed by Porsche Design GmbH, not the car company. This is a company founded by the car company's founder's grandson, and appears to have no connection, other than the name.

If I got that notebook, I'd just install Linux on it, so I might as well get a tiBook and put Linux ppc on it instead, since it looks nicer.

Re:Misleading

[zrodney]

I wondered what happened to the nice sleek curvy Porsche design look.
This laptop looks like crap -- it's just a boxy box.

from the article, it looks like it's got a fancy sound system -- which
as everyone knows, is the biggest problem with a laptop :*P

Re:Misleading

[Jon Abbott]

See also the Grundig G2000 shortwave radio, which was designed by F. A. Porsche. Although the design is nice, if you are interested in purchasing a shortwave radio I recommend the Grundig YB-300 PE, as it is $20 less, has four more station memories and comes with an AC adaptor.

moderating

[Docrates]

This post is the equivalent of moderating the story as "-1 Troll"

I mean, come on! you like linux and hate windows (or at least you want this crowd to think you do), the very worst way to make others see things your way is to simply slam the "other system" with absolutely ZERO arguments or logic. Yeah, windows sucks, because, well, it does! and nobody who does REAL work uses it!

What you think Alan Greenspan doesn't use Excel??????

Re:moderating

[Sloppy]

What you think Alan Greenspan doesn't use Excel??

I don't know. Is there any particular reason that he would? (One would think that Greenspan probably gets to use whatever he wants to, instead of having to follow some policy set by a PHB.)

Re:moderating

[mblase]

What you think Alan Greenspan doesn't use Excel?

Only because MS gives him free copies in exchange for keeping the market up. ;-)

Re:moderating

[eunos94]

I can tell you this for certain. Greenspan may use Excel for his personal finance and some neat presentation stuff. But Excel is NO WHERE near up to the task of full statistical regressions needed to do quality economics in today's world. Having been forced by a professor to use Excel for a thesis project, I can only state that if Greenspan does use Excel for his econ, he's a hell of a lot less smart than I ever thought he was.

Re:moderating

[John Harrison]

What you think Alan Greenspan doesn't use Excel??????

I have no idea what Alan uses personally, but I can tell you that the Fed uses IBM's IMS to keep track of where all the green pieces of paper are going.

Re:moderating

[Spunk]

gr33n5pan 0wnz0r5 j00r l4m3 a$$!!

Did anyone read this bit?

[Drakin]

...Porsche Design GmbH, the Austrian firm founded by F.A. Porsche, grandson of the famous engineer.

As in, it's not designed by the world famous car designing company, but someone's who's of the same family, and I'm thinking cashing in on the reputation that Porsche brings in this venture.

Re:Did anyone read this bit?

[Osty]

Porsche Design is in the same family as Porsche, but you're correct -- it's technically not being done by the famous car manufacturer. Also, Porsche Design does a lot of things, from sunglasses to pocket knives to bicycles to tobacco pipes. Everything they have is well-crafted and premium quality, but expect to pay a premium for it. Also, many of their items are simply re-brands, like the bicycles (not available in the US) are actually Kleins, just with the Porsche name (Kleins are still expensive, but you might save $1000 if you buy a Klein rather than a Porsche).

Even so, for the Porsche fanatic that loves anything Porsche, Porsche Design fills a niche.

Re:Did anyone read this bit?

[Neon Spiral Injector]

Yeah, the headline should have been:

Porsche Design Designs a Laptop

Re:Did anyone read this bit?

[Rob Parkhill]

True, not the car company, but the design company of a similar name.

They do have a reputation for quite stunning industrial design, though. I have a Fuji camera designed by F.A. Porsche Design. They also design pens, mountain bikes, and just about anything else a customer is willing to pay to have designed.

I found a F.A. Porsche Design store when I was in Orange County a few months ago. The variety of overpriced shiny objects they had for sale was amazing!

Re:Did anyone read this bit?

[Rob Parkhill]

Whoops! Substitue "Porsche Design GmbH" for "F.A. Porsche Design" in the above post.

Re:Did anyone read this bit?

[valmont]

Actually I have seen the Porsche Bikes for sale here in the U.S., in Beveryly Hills, California, at the Porsche Design store near rodeo dr. up on that street that goes up and off to the side with a fountain at the end of it. Also BMW makes a pretty damn nifty bicycle.

Re:Did anyone read this bit?

[radish]

Yeah, except the design firm has been around for quite a while, and is (IMHO) one of the best industrial design firms around. I have one of their watches (designed by them, made by IWC) and I wouldn't swap it for anything...

They also do shavers for braun, sunglasses, kitchen equipment (kettles, toasters etc) and various other bits and pieces. Usually heavy on the brushed aluminium/titanium, textured black plastic, and their trademark "little red dots".

Re:Did anyone read this bit?

[jedrek]

The Fujifilm Finepix 6800 3.3mpx digital camera is another F.A. Porsche desgin. There's even a label on the lens cover.

Re:Did anyone read this bit?

[frank_adrian314159]

Grundig also markets a model of their shortwave radios with a case designed by these guys...

Re:Did anyone read this bit?

[jafac]

I hate to be pedantic, but the original Porsche car company was the same thing. Founded by someone of the same family as Dr. Ferdinand Porsche (to be fair; his son) - cashing in on the famous name. Turned out that the talent for making the most ass kickinest cars in the world runs in the family. (IMHO).

what a troll

[PissedOffGuy]

from the post:

Sadly, it runs windows so no one will actually want to use one for real work

and:

It has all the trimmings, like those "made for windows 2k stickers" that get the screen all nasty when you close it.

what do stickers have to do with anything? and whats the point of saying you cant do work on it? are those comments just so CmdrTaco will put the story up? slashdot is pathetic.

Re:what a troll

[PissedOffGuy]

Then why are you here?

for the laughs, of course!

Re:what a troll

[Parsec]

Yeah, it's 50% thicker, and .3 lbs heaver with the "Dell TravelLiteTM module" module (which means no CD-ROM, right?), only has one USB port, no FireWire, a smaller screen 1024x768, maximum ram is 512MB, and Ethernet doesn't seem to be a standard option. Dell spec.

In contrast, the TiBook (original) is 5.3lbs with battery and DVD, has two USB ports, FireWire, 1152x768 resolution, up to 1GB RAM, has 100Mbit Ethernet standard, and can use a wireless network without sacrificing your PCMCIA slot. Apple Spec.

And it's not bug ugly. "Zealot fanboy" my ass, it's simply a better product.

Re:what a troll

[Zeinfeld]

Sadly, it runs windows so no one will actually want to use one for real work

I agree, pretty piss-poor attitude here. I have always liked the design of the tiBook but there is simply no way I would switch to a Mac, I loath the horrid things, had to use one for a year at the AI lab because it was the host of my Symbolics card.

However in slashdot land it is ok to say you hate windows but say anything against the Apple which is just as proprietary and even more closed and you get modded as flamebait.

Methinks that the slashcrew are no longer as representative of the readership as once was. Not that I think that Windows users are any less bigotted about their platform than apple or linux users. Its the preaching that irritates me. Anyone who disagrees with the premise that Apple or Linux is the font of all goodness is clearly uninformed and needs education. They simply cannot bear the idea that there are people like myself with 20 years in the computer industry, who have written systems more successful than Apple, Linux and Windows combined and still disagree with them.

Windows- so what

[rgmoore]

So what if the thing comes with Windows. If you really dislike Windows that much, you can always wipe the hard drive and install your favorite *nix distribution- Redhat, Debian, FreeBSD, etc. I realize that you're still paying the MS tax, but the overall price still works out to less than a TiBook.

Re:Windows- so what

[mblase]

Ah, I guess that the TiBook is no longer a status symbol if you can run Windows on it.

You can run Windows on a TiBook using Connectix VirtualPC (and many do). Alternatively, as rgmoore pointed out, you can run any number of Linux and BSD distributions on this laptop instead of WinXP if that's your choice.

How can you seriously condemn a computer just because it ships with Windows, as if that was the only choice you ever had or ever will have with it?

Re:Windows- so what

[SirSlud]

Let me get this straight:

> I realize that you're still paying the MS tax, but the overall price still works out to less than a TiBook.

I'm paying MS for something I won't use, but its alright, because its possible to find a more expensive alternative?

If I can find more expensive alternatives to things you buy, and you throw another 20$ my way on every purchase? Cause, you know, its still cheaper than the most expensive alternative .. :)

I'm not so concerned about the price, but its kinda hard to 'vote with your wallet' when you're stuffing the ballot box with votes for your enemy just to get into the polling station.

Re:Windows- so what

[SirSlud]

> Which shows simultaneously what an objective "journalist" he is, and how he's an insightful "computer expert".

Whats funny is people who think he has any obligation to be either of those things.

Re:Windows- so what

[CynicTheHedgehog]

If this were a desktop debate you might have a point. Alternatives to OEM desktops exist--I could build a desktop PC with no operating system and install Linux without paying $99 for a pre-installed version of Windows. Better yet, I could take the $99 I save and buy support from RedHat, SuSE, Mandrake, et al.

However, with a laptop there is no alternative. I can't buy commodity laptop parts and slap one together. I'm forced to buy an OEM product, which means I'm forced to buy Windows. This is unnacceptable, especially if I plan on purchasing a Linux distribution as well. It's unnecessary added expense.

The Microsoft EULA of course offers a refund, but this can only be gotten through the OEMs, who haven't been cooperative in the past. In fact, there are a few class action lawsuits over this very fact.

It would be nice, instead, if more OEMs offered pre-installed and supported versions of Linux, which would save me all that trouble. It would be even nicer if they could sell both types of systems, or even dual booting systems, without fear of sanctions from Microsoft. Right now the OEM market is dog-eat-dog, and these companies can't afford to piss off Redmond.

That is what I am upset about, and that is why it is dissappointing to me when a new system ships as Windows-only, particuluarly if that system happens to be a laptop.

Finally!

[Cy Guy]

BestBuy is selling a Porsche designed widescreen ultra thin laptop the looks almost exactly like a Tibook. Sadly, it runs Windows

Finally, I'll be able to crash a Porsche and be able to walk away.

Any hope of getting an OS free version?

Still lacks something...

[AIXadmin]

After the iMac came out. Every company did a nock off. They all failed. Now there is a nock off of the Apple Titantium Power Book. I think it will fail too. And not just because this economy sucks.

Because it lacks that certain refinment that makes the Apple Titantium Power Book so nice. Same with the majority of Apple's products. There is a certain attention to detail that shows up in the product from Apple, that you don't find in other vendors products. That is what makes Apple's products special.

Re:Still lacks something...

[blair1q]

Yeah.

When your Mac locks up, you can rest secure in the knowledge that it's got the best form, fit, and finish of any locked-up Mac in the cubicle.

--Blair

Re:Still lacks something...

[pogen]

Because it lacks that certain refinment that makes the Apple Titantium Power Book so nice. Same with the majority of Apple's products. There is a certain attention to detail that shows up in the product from Apple, that you don't find in other vendors products. That is what makes Apple's products special.

(Cue music) Like an old sweater that keeps getting warmer with age, you can count on Tweek's coffee to start your day.

The parent post was a paid advertisement from Apple Computer, Inc.

(Oh, relax, I'm just kidding.)

Re:Still lacks something...

[valmont]

Yup. Plus, aside from gaming, most of your beloved windoz applications have either been ported to OS X or have better equivalents, of note are the recent ports of audio/music programs which sent a couple of my music-authoring friends running to the nearest Apple Store. I would like to point out that Microsoft actually writes some pretty damn good software for Mac. They've got some old school Apple developers working for them. Office X works really well, I really like Entourage. Internet Explorer 5.2 is also a good browser to get you started with a familiar program until you explore the many nifty lightweight tab-supporting spam filtering OS X browser alternatives such as Omniweb, Chimera and Mozilla.

Another nice thing is plugging your mac on any network, hit the "connect" menu and instantly see:

• all the samba shares on your network
• all the apple shares on your network
• all the unix nfs shares on your network

And if you are like me and you actually use your computer to work for a living, you get the added perk of having a stable, reliable, dependable UNIX operating system lying at the core of a very intuitive and powerful environment, with a slew of goodies for developers: Java 1.3 SDK (don't pester about 1.4, it's still in beta anyway), Apple Developer Tools (comes with OS X package), with gcc 3.1, cvs. I highly recommend BBEdit from Barebones Software which is a very powerful text editor that has been around for the mac for about 7 years (I still proudly wear my BBEdit, it doesn't suck T-shirt). Note that BBEdit installs a command-line executable at /usr/bin/bbedit that allows you to open files directly in BBEdit from the command line. All files matching the argument pattern to the command are open in separate BBEdit windows, which I find highly powerful:

find ./code/java/net -name "*Factory*java" | xargs bbedit
bbedit *.xml

Vim is also available as a native OS X application.

Many more open-source *nix-flavored packages can be easily installed via Fink, they already have well over 600 packages. I've got X11, Gnome and Gimp running in OS X on my old 400mhz TiBook.

If you ask me, such a set-up beats the *crap* out of using cygwin in windows. It also beats running linux on a laptop.

Oh ... one more thing. Aside from CPU clock speed considerations (as in, you spec two laptops with the fastest cpu available for each vendor, knowing that *yes* pentiums will give you slightly more bang), if you are comparison-shopping for a dependable high-end laptop to do serious work, if you add to a PC laptop all the features that come standard on Apple powerbooks, you'll see that both systems come at about the same price. Oh and the PC laptop will be thicker and heavier. If they are lighter it means they're missing a cd/dvd/rw combo drive. I'm not sure about the Porsche one.

Hey i'm not a zealot. I used macs for years, at work and at home, then i used windows NT on some 500mhz P3 dell laptop at work which i then upgraded to windoz 2k, it served its purpose for a while, cygwin was, after all, a very good compromise ... Until Mac OS 10.1 came out, i no-longer needed to compromise and i switched. And it has been fun ever since.

Re:Still lacks something...

[ianscot]

Who in the world actually LIKES the things?

Hey, extra points for turning on the five-year-old products, big hitter.

For what it's worth, I got one for a song about a month after they came out, as a promotional thing. Didn't take it seriously... but you know, it ended up on the kitchen counter and turned into virtually the only box that ever got turned on. The kids were on it constantly, we eventually installed the cable modem on it, and the shrine unto my other box has sort of been dismantled by now.

Take a look at that school setup again, and ask yourself what yahoo decided on all the trappings. The volunteer computer guy who works as a corporate LAN guy, is what the answer was at my kids' school. Lately the same yutz has decided to move all the old iMacs into the classrooms, because he doesn't know how to network them or something.

They actually work quite well in schools, as other all-in-one designs do. The no-floppies thing was supposed to be trouble. Wasn't.

Re:Still lacks something...

[uradu]

> in part because it's an obvious knock-off, and anyone driving it would probably be ridculed.

Lexus owners don't seem to be ridiculed for driving Mercedes knock-offs.

Re:Still lacks something...

[uradu]

> nock off of

The mind boggles. When will the insanity end?

Re:Still lacks something...

[Large Green Mallard]

I've had a TiBook since July. It's never crashed. The only reboots have been due to system updates, and once or twice because its process table was full due to a wacky script I run at login to my terminal that doesn't properly cleanup at logout.

I've had an iBook since last May.. again, same story. I have three cousins with iBooks running OSX 10.2, I've seen one of them kernel panic and crash.. but probably because the guy had like 50k free on his HDD.

I also have a desktop G4 which I have kernel paniced about 4 times, but 3 times were because I was loading kernel modules with a force option, since they didn't want to load manually, and the other time was a flakey USB cable continually registering/unregistering devices.

MacOSX is nothing like MacOS 9 in terms of stability. I push my machines. Running OS9, there would be daily crashes a-plenty. I initially got into Linux because I wanted to setup a router box to save on redialling each time my mac crashed (local phone calls are 20c each in Australia).

"My name is Alex, and I'm a Solaris/BSD/Linux/Windows System Administrator"

Ugly ?!

[ANTI]

Is it me or is this thing really ugly ?

I didn't even read the specs.
The picture just scared me off.

OK,

I just read the specs now.
15" display ?
1280x854 resolution ?
Slot-in CD/DVD ?

No 3D acceleration ?

Common, for that money I can buy a ThinkPad A30p and that actually looks sleek....

Re:Ugly ?!

[esw]

> No 3D acceleration ?

Actually, according to PC Magazine, it has GeForce4 420 Go graphics.

~Eric

Re:Ugly ?!

[radish]

Man, it's gorgeous :) Each to their own I guess...

Re:Ugly ?!

[cpeterso]

yes, that Porsche notebook looks like some crap from the 80s. In fact, it looks more like a Delorian notebook.

Other Porsche items

[teamhasnoi]

Porsche seemed to have a whole bunch of crap 'designed' by them in the 80's. Sunglasses, corkscrews, lamps, swiss army knives, cheap cameras, ect.

Mostly Sharper Image items if I recall. I remember going into the Sharper Image store in Mpls. and seeing a whole pile of it. It was really shoddy stuff.

Kind of like all the "Harley Davidson" licenced items. Basically slap a name on something and sell to the rabid fans who will buy anything.

I'm a fan of the cars, sure. But the licenced stuff is crap. With a capital Crap.

Re:Other Porsche items

[Dylan2000]

I don't know anything about the history of this company, founded by the grandson of Porsche, but my bet is most of that cheap crap from the '80s was all made in Taiwan and then someone, somewhere, with the ability to sign the merchandising agreement just authorised them and got a fat payment. Kind of like Krusty the Clown.

What I do know is that this company works together with Siemens and they make some of the most kickass home appliances I've ever seen...
blender
coffee machine
kettle

Brushed aluminium, stainless steel, These things look like TiBooks too, I even think they were out before the TiBook was and this laptop looks as much like them as it does the Apple machine.

TiJuicer?

So don't judge Porsche designs by those plastic gas station sunglasses, cause they make some awesome stuff!

Re:Other Porsche items

[teamhasnoi]

I like the stuff, but the blender needs to be clear! How do you know if your stuff is mixed correctly if you can't see the contents?
This is my Blender.

I just got this for a wedding gift, and it rocks. Clean, old-school design, and bulletproof!

risk offending Apple?

[mblase]

Retailer Best Buy is aiming to take a bite out of Apple Computer with the release of a new, wide-screen notebook designed by Porsche.

Considering that Best Buy was/is the first retailer to sell iPods (Target having been recently announced as the second), I'd think they'd not want to risk slighting Apple with something like this. Even without the CNet article saying so, this laptop is clearly and squarely aimed at what is probably Apple's highest-margin computer.

The notebook was designed by Porsche Design GmbH

More accurately, it was re-designed by them.

Re:risk offending Apple?

[dhovis]

Considering that Best Buy was/is the first retailer to sell iPods

You mean aside from CompUSA? And Fry's? and Apple themselves?

Anyway, I'm not convinced that this is quite to the level of a TiBook. It is 20% thicker, at least a pound heavier, and I haven't seen any info about battery life (which makes me think it will be very poor).

Until someone gets their hands on one to review, I'm not convinced. That C|Net writeup sounds like it was written by marketing people, not people who've used it.

Re:risk offending Apple?

[tswinzig]

Considering that Best Buy was/is the first retailer to sell iPods (Target having been recently announced as the second), I'd think they'd not want to risk slighting Apple with something like this.

When Apple told Best Buy they had to buy iMacs in even colored lots, Best Buy told Apple to stick it where the rainbows don't shine.

Apple needs Best Buy.

Besides, how many Apple computers have you ever seen sold at Best Buy? It's not like Apple is losing out.

Re:risk offending Apple?

[donutello]

Considering that Best Buy was/is the first retailer to sell iPods (Target having been recently announced as the second), I'd think they'd not want to risk slighting Apple with something like this.

Considering that Best Buy was/is the first retailer to sell iPods, I'd think Apple would not want to risk getting slighted by something trivial like this.

Re:risk offending Apple?

[uradu]

> this laptop is clearly and squarely aimed at [...] Apple's highest-margin computer

How? It doesn't even LOOK like the Apple notebook. You have to really WANT to see a TiBook in it to notice much similarity.

Re:risk offending Apple?

[aaarrrgggh]

If you do check out a review, the battery runs for 2 hours for DVD playback, and 3 for the benchmark. Another plus for Apple...

Whatever

[ryanvm]

Sadly, it runs windows so no one will actually want to use one for real work

Oh the monomania runs deep here...

Not worth it from what I've seen

[Dark Paladin]

While I have a lot of respect for Porche (though I'd never drive one of their cars - I'm just a "back and forth, no need to make up for my small penis size" car guy), I haven't seen much on this laptop compared to the Apple Titanium to make me give up my OS X slim box o' wonder.

The Porche box does not come with 802.11 b and Firewire installed, and is a pound heavier than the Apple Titanium. (Note I'm not putting in the whole "Runs OS X or Not argument.)

So while you can give props to Porche for "innovating" (what, hadn't you heard - innovation means "rip off what the other guy did only make it crappy), I don't see myself giving up my Unix command shell for this.

Just my opinion, of course. I could be wrong.

Porche Laptop:

Re:Not worth it from what I've seen

[Kombat]

While I have a lot of respect for Porche (though I'd never drive one of their cars

You're confused - this laptop has absolutely nothing to do with the carmaker, although admittedly, the headline was very misleading. Porsche is manufacturing some pretty stupid things lately (an SUV? *Gag*!), but laptops aren't one of them.

I'm just a "back and forth, no need to make up for my small penis size" car guy

You're still confused. The small penis guys are the ones with trucks. Porsches are actually very sporty, comfortable, efficient and practical cars, if you've got the money. Nothing really terribly audacious about them anymore.

Comparing size and weight to TiBook

[mcwetboy]

The "article":

It all comes in an eye-catching, silver-magnesium case that weighs 6.4 pounds and measures 13.9 inches wide, 10 inches deep, and 1.2 inches thick.

PowerBook G4 specs: weighs 5.4 pounds and measures 13.4 inches wide, 9.5 inches deep, and 1.0 inch thick.

It's still smaller and lighter.

Troll

[Strange Ranger]

CmdrTaco: "I'm bored, heehee watch me start a flame war."

Posters: "We'll take that flame war! And we'll raise you 40 off-topic posts!"

Re:who really made it

[foistboinder]

The VPR Matrix 200A5 is the third notebook Best Buy has created, and it's the best.

That's like saying Moe was the smartest stooge...

Reverse flamebait!

[Anonymous Freak]

those "made for windows 2k stickers" that get the screen all nasty when you close it.

Uh, doesn't Windows 2k get your screen all nasty when you open it? :-)

Re:Useful for work

[DJ FirBee]

Both OSX and MacOS support full screen playback just fine on my TiBook. Troll.

Re:Sexy.

[npietraniec]

I thought it looked kinda ugly and boxy. My Sony Vaio PCG-R505ECK is sexier.

Good grief.

[American AC in Paris]

From the article:

I'm not an audiophile, but I know high-quality sound when I hear it. That's definitely the case with the VPR Matrix 200A5, thanks to the Sonopür Digital Audio system, with its patent-pending 24/192 upsampling technology. This system dramatically enhances digital music and offers very rich sound.

I'm not a stable hand, but I know horse shit when I smell it.

I mean, I know I'm supposed to either be 'ooh'-ing or 'aah'-ing, but the best I can manage is a 'hwah?' Sonopür? What, does the umlaut act as a built-in sounding board for the thumping, thumping base this ultraslim laptop undoubtedly cranks out? Upsampling and high fidelity used in the same sentence? Right.

Hey, cnet! I've got this little Gaussian blur filt--uh, I mean, JPEG Edge Enhancement System, with patent-pending Blürfexxion(tm) technology! Care to give me a writeup?

Re:Good grief.

[sean23007]

Just so you know, "upsampling" and "high fidelity" are not used in the same sentence in the article. But your reaction is the same as mine when I read the quoted paragraph; upsampling doesn't help the sound quality much.

Never mind the bad OS...

[Brian Stretch]

...that I can correct. It's the choice of CPU that bugs me. Put in an Athlon XP, Best Buy, and we'll talk.

Working on Windows

[gcondon]

Boy, a lot of people have been jumping all over the following quote from the original post ...

Sadly, it runs windows so no one will actually want to use one for real work

As many have pointed out, the majority of the world (to their eternal shame) actually does use Windows to do their work.

However, I will stand by the original poster and observe that precious few of them wanted to use Windows.

Heck, pretty few of them even wanted to do their work in the first place and using Windows is rarely a satisfying experience in and of itself.

Just because they did it, didn't mean that they wanted to ;-)

Not that impressive.

[n-baxley]

Really this doesn't look that different from the Toshiba I bought. Except my toshiba doesn't have a metalic case. Therefor I save some $s and upgrade the RAM. Seems kind of silly to me whatever OS you're running.

If you don't compare it to the Apple PowerBook...

[Kaypro]

it actually isn't a bad PC notebook. First off compared to other notebooks, it has a nice form factor, good battery life, slot loading DVD/CD-RW combo, widescreen aspect ratio and both USB 2.0 and Firewire (unpowered though) ports. One of the few notebooks on the market now which combines all these features. Yes, most of the stuff was ripped off from the PowerBook, but if you're a PC zealot then it's worth looking into. The whole Porsche branding is merely a marketing tactic (I'm sure the real Porsche NOT the Astrian Porsche could have come up with a slicker design).

If it supports FreeBSD or Linux it's worth a look. It would have been nice if it used the ATI Mobile 9000 chipset instead of the Gefore 4 GO but...

I'd still probably rather get a real PowerBook though :)

When did Porsche start designing boxes?

[sjonke]

Rather, boxy things. Every porchse car is curvy, arguably even too curvy. This laptop is all sharp angles. It's a pizza box. I don't see "Porsche" in it at all, except perhaps in frequency of crashes.....

Re:When did Porsche start designing boxes?

[jafac]

it's aircooled?
(I know, I know, Porsche finally broke down and went watercooled a few years ago - what's next, front wheel drive?)

Cost comparisons...

[Elfboy]

So now that the Windows World has put out something comparable to the TiBook, where are all the rabid "Macs are too pricey compared to PCs people..."

Oh wait. Maybe the $2399 price tag shut them up.

I guess the $100 dollars more for TiBook nets you firewire and gigE.

I'll try not to gloat. honest.

Re:Cost comparisons...

[Dynedain]

So now that the Windows World has put out something comparable to the TiBook, where are all the rabid "Macs are too pricey compared to PCs people..."

Oh wait. Maybe the $2399 price tag shut them up.

I guess the $100 dollars more for TiBook nets you firewire and gigE.

Funny, expect for the gigE and firewire, this laptop compares (in terms of RAM, HD, combo drive, [lets not even start the processor speed flamewar]) to something inbetween the $3199 and $3799 TiBook. It blows away the specs on the $2499 one.

$100 difference for equatable machines huh? I think you're off by a factor of 10 or so.

Re:Cost comparisons...

[BlueGecko]

I guess the $100 dollars more for TiBook nets you firewire and gigE

And iMovie, and iPhoto, and OmniOutliner, and OmniGaffle, and iSync, and iCal, and Sherlock 3, and iTunes, and half a dozen artistic utilities and programs that ship with the thing, and . . .

Really, there is more to a computer than just the hardware and the OS. It's all the other programs (in this case, bundled) that make the thing worthwhile. I'd say that suite of programs alone is worth the extra $100 from me.

Re:Cost comparisons...

[Hard_Code]

Wow, you're right, an overpriced laptop from a famous Porsche design company costs about the same as a TiBook. Wait...your point was...?

Re:Cost comparisons...

[extra88]

Yes, that's FireWire. However they're probably 4pin vs. the 6pin ports the TiBook has. The difference? 6pin ports carry power, 4pin don't.

Re:who really made it

[Sanglant]

Corporate Reality #93: "We Paid For It ergo We Created It"

Think about it, when was the last time you heard the newscaster say "Dr. John Doe, who is currently working as a research scientist for Merck, created a cure for bone cancer."?

When was the last time you heard "Merck, pharmaceutical giant, recently discovered...."

NDA = No Damn Acknowledgement

Enough already with the MS bashing

[Anonymous Coward]

I come see here every day... MS that MS this...what is the point of coming to this site.

I really don't think the type of bashing going on here is healthy for the community as a whole, and its spreading to real life. I seriously cant stand talking to someone who has to roll his eyes everytime I say the word Windows to them.

It doesn't look much like it, though.

[neema]

I just looked at the thing... sans maybe the silver outside (the inside being black), it doesn't resemble the TiBook as much as I originally thought from reading the post.

A while back I saw the Winbook X2 and that looked a hella like the TiBook... and definately more so than what we have here.

Jesus, what is wrong with you L.Z.'s?!!!

[Thud457]

If you're gonna pay the premium to buy an Apple notebook, why the hell would you put Linux on it when you've got a perfectly crunchy BSD distro in Mac OS X?!! If you're going to put Linux on a notebook, go for the hardware with the most bang for the buck.

Re:Jesus, what is wrong with you L.Z.'s?!!!

[photon317]

I don't know if I'd call OSX "crunchy" after the recently revealed mach core that's optimized for the wrong endian-ness.

Re:Jesus, what is wrong with you L.Z.'s?!!!

[ivan256]

If you're going to put Linux on a notebook, go for the hardware with the most bang for the buck.

Because powerbooks are the hardware with the most bang for the buck. They're less expensive then PC laptops with comprable features (go look) and, most importantly, they beat the pants off of any x86 compatable laptop in battery life.

I love my Powerbook. It runs linux instead of OSX because I use linux for work.

Re:Jesus, what is wrong with you L.Z.'s?!!!

[g4dget]

when you've got a perfectly crunchy BSD distro in Mac OS X?

Unfortunately, you don't. BSD support on OSX is more like Cygwin on Windows: the command line tools and systemn call interface work, but system management, the GUI, and the kernel itself differ greatly.

However, I agree: if you are going to buy a Mac, it doesn't make sense to run Linux on it: you are paying a premium for the ability to run MacOS. If you just want a sleek laptop for Linux, there are cheaper choices (like this one).

I know, seriously...

[CaffeineAddict2001]

I can't tell you how many times I've picked up a date in my porche to have them run out of the car screaming when the onboard computer boots up windows.

Not to add to the flamewars but...

[maggard]

Isn't magnesium pretty flammable? I mean, I know in a high-oxy atmosphere nearly any metal will burn but I recall Magnesium being one of the easier-to-get-going ones. That combined with a faulty Lion battery could be kinda fun...

"My Best Buy / Porsche laptop just crashed & burned!"

Kinda makes we wanna go out and get one now... Naw, still drooling over Apple's TiBook.

Re:Not to add to the flamewars but...

[bobdotorg]

No it's those sodium metal laptops that you have to watch out for. Although they do have one nice feature - when they become obsolete you can just chuck them in your backyard pond.

Re:Not to add to the flamewars but...

[shepd]

You'd be lucky to set a magnesium computer case on fire.

Take a look at the punishment this NeXT cube took before it melted -- you'd probably have better luck with concrete.

Err...

[Wakko Warner]

...have you even looked at the Porsche laptop? The only thing reminiscent of the Titanium Powerbook design is that both are rectangular.

What business is Porche in, anyhow?

This is a joke, right?

- A.P.

Command.com, Command.com, Command.com

[yerricde]

It is hard to take this post seriously when all it does is bash Windows.

The article doesn't bash Windows the way Cygwin bashes Windows. Cygwin bash is better than the alternative.

you don't have to make it that using Windows is the crime of the century

For the poor, it is. A one-seat Windows XP license costs $300. If you use Windows without paying for it, you have committed either theft or copyright infringement.

Plus, you're not timothy.

Re:Mind numbing

[RailGunner]

As someone who's posted several Anti-Microsoft posts, let me agree with you. Bashing Windows or Microsoft because you think it's "l33t" to do so only pisses off the people who we are trying to convert to Linux. If the message is "Use Linux Instead of Windows" then back it up with reasons WHY (like better stability, better performance on legacy hardware, cost, OpenOffice, KDE, GNOME, The GIMP, etc.)

The fact that this Porchse Design laptop comes with Windows pre-installed in and of itself should not be a knock againt the laptop. Knock the look of the laptop, or the weight, or the keyboard layout, or the hardware specs..Besides, how hard it it to just wipe the drive and install the distro of your choice?

Face it, companies are going to pre-install Windows to reach the largest target market - that is, until the Linux community can convince enough people to switch to where MS doesn't have such a dominance over the desktop.

But please, stop the insane "Everything Microsoft Does Sucks" mantra. Some Microsoft Technology is very good, though it usually doesn't take long for the open source community to come up with something better. Instead of mindlessly bashing Microsoft, it's better to praise the excellent alternatives that Linux offers - OpenOffice, KDE, GNOME, The Gimp, the GNU development tools, the cost or lack thereof, the abscence of restrictions on concurrent IP connections (*cough*cough*Win NT 4 Professional*cough*cough*) and the list goes on and on.. sell people on the idea that by switching to Linux, they're getting a superior platform.

So it runs MS-Windows - big deal!

[bildstorm]

Didn't they run something on the Nation of Apple lately? Sounds like some Anonymous Coward is a member. I am frankly amazed that someone would take the "high ground" on that and then be anonymous.

Anyway, the important part to me is that it has more standard parts, will probably run Linux in the near future, and I'll be able to use my software on it.

I know OS X is great and all, but when they start ripping away Classic support, buying all new software is going to suck.

I guess I suffer from animosity towards Apple in general because unless I buy overpriced hardware from Apple, I have to deal with wondering if drivers will work. I usually have rather poor selection choices in that regard, unless it's a core component, like a CD-ROM or hard drive. And then Error Type 2 or Error Type 11 open up enough cans of worms. Well, let's just say I'm glad that I'm not resposible for tech support on my wife's machine.

Now you're just being ridiculous

[metalhed77]

It is just you, it isn't ugly at all in my opinion. I couldn't tell you for sure until I saw it in person, but from the pictures I thought it looks fine. Is your zealotry clouding your taste? I think it looks pretty cool. Besides blah blah blah hardware etc half the time slashdot rails against consumers for buying more than they need because hardware is so far ahead of software, the other half the time they reject computers for not being at the cutting edge. If you just want to get your office work done in a super cool looking way then go with it! Looks are more important to some than others, I recently bought a $200 printer not because it had features the ones at half the price didn't but because it was the cheapest one that looked good to me!

People, read the damn article... and pay attention

[Gruneun]

Porsche Design GmbH, the Austrian firm founded by F.A. Porsche, grandson of the famous engineer

This is not designed by Porsche (the car company responsible for some incredible cars), but rather Porsche Design the design company founded by a not-nearly-as-famous grandson. The only car-related work was a start-up project designing a plant that built 911's, not the car itself.

Does it have...

[alispguru]

TiBook battery life?
TiBook operating temperature?

Considering it's based on a 2 GHz P4-M, I seriously doubt it.

TiBook sleep and wake behavior?

If it's running Windows or any Linux, I doubt it. One of the reasons I use an iBook is its wake from sleep time (two seconds) and its reliable sleep and wake behavior. I have NEVER lost work due to failure to wake from sleep, and my uptime is routinely in the multi-week range - I only reboot to install OS upgrades.

They can copy the chassis, but hardware/software fit and finish is MUCH harder to copy.

Re:Does it have...

[Wesley Felter]

TiBook battery life?

Ah, give me Pismo battery life.

TiBook operating temperature?

I hope not; my TiBook almost burned me the other day!

Porsche Crest?

[JTFritz]

Ok, I give...

Most laptop manufacturers put their logo on the case of the laptop. Take a look at the Apple, Dell, or Compaq badges on many notebooks. So, the question is:

WHERE IS THE PORSCHE SHIELD? I would love to have one of these with that famous shield emblazened on the top.

If I want to ultimate in sexy notebook computers, it better dress the part!

Re:Porsche Crest?

[Kranfer]

It is a VPR Matrix notebook which is why there is no Porsche notebook. No offense to you but geeze everyone, we all have went over this.. the porsche company that did this is NOT the car company. The car company would probably put out the laptop as looking as some sort of bubble or something since most cars are looking like that. Although a bubble like laptop... interesting concept... hmmmm

Re:IDEO does most of apples Industrial Design

[Woodie]

While it's nice to think it's Apple who has "certain attention to detail", you might want to check that Apple hired IDEO to do a lot of their design work. So really, it's just that Apple was smart enough to hire a _good_ industrial design firm.

It Really **IS** a Porsche

[dbretton]

It's ugly as all Hell.
It's too damn expensive.
I betchya it's lots of fun to play with.
And when I turn it on, I'll have lots of SEX

Probably with myself most of the time...

Porsche's other projects

[hansroy]

Porsche has been involved in lots of non-car products. One that sticks out in my mind was a full-suspension mountain bike. I don't remember how involved they were with the design, but I know it was produced by a bike manufacturer. They tossed Porsche stickers on it, and added it as an option.

For future articles, could we keep the level of bullshit to a tolerable amount? Some of us actually lead productive lives with Windows. I know what parts of it suck, just like I know what parts of Linux suck.

I Disagree

[waldoj]

...have you even looked at the Porsche laptop? The only thing reminiscent of the Titanium Powerbook design is that both are rectangular.

I strongly disagree, A.P. Much of the design is strikingly similar, though shoddy by comparison, IMHO.

* Same unusual dimensions.
* Same widescreen format.
* Same keyboard placement relatively to the body shape.
* Same rectangular, curve-free format.
* Same silvery body.
* Same slot-loading CD drive

It's not in any way nuts to say that this design is highly derivative.

>> What business is Porche in, anyhow?

This is a joke, right?

Of course not. It was a legitimate question. I was under the impression that they were in the car-manufacturing business. Fortunately, others have replied and pointed out that Porsche Design GmbH, is more or less unrelated to the auto manufacturer, and is actually in the business of designing things other than cars for third parties. No joke, just a question, one to which I got a satisfactory response.

-Waldo Jaquith

Re:I Disagree

[Wakko Warner]

I strongly disagree, A.P. Much of the design is strikingly similar, though shoddy by comparison, IMHO.

Shoddy in what way? How can you discern durability and build quality from the small photos provided on the site? For all you or I know, it could be bombproof.

Same unusual dimensions.
Which means they used the same LCD panel, maybe.

Same widescreen format.
My Sony Vaio Picturebook has this too. It also does not look like a Titanium Powerbook.

Same keyboard placement relatively to the body shape.
You mean below the screen? Yeah, I see that a lot with laptops. Since it has a touchpad instead of a trackball or pointing stick, the keyboard must be set further up. My Gateway Solo notebook has a design like this too -- and it's from 1998.

Same rectangular, curve-free format.
I've never seen a laptop with sharp, jagged edges. Or one that wasn't rectangular.

Same silvery body.
Except it's mostly black, with a silver cover. I suppose they could've painted it, like Sony does, but what's the point? (Or is Apple the only one "allowed" to use magnesium-colored magnesium?)

Same slot-loading CD drive
You mean those OEM parts work in things other than Apple computers?

It's not in any way nuts to say that this design is highly derivative.

It may not be nuts, but your the grounds upon which you base your assertion are tenuous, at best.

- A.P.

Re:I Disagree

[Frater 219]

I've never seen a laptop with sharp, jagged edges. Or one that wasn't rectangular.

I've seen a few laptops that "grew" sharp edges when parts of the case came loose!

But, seriously -- Apple has made not one but two laptops that weren't particularly rectangular: the original "clamshell" iBook, and the eMate. The eMate was a subnotebook based on the Newton, but with a clamshell case and a full-size keyboard.

I buy a Porsche to get chicks...

[kyoko21]

My car isn't a Porsche, but my computer is. Does this mean I will have hot chicks now?

The Comparison

[Jon Abbott]

I know this is comparing apples to oranges (or something like that), but here goes:

BestBuy price: $2,399
Apple's price: $2,499

BestBuy size: 1.2 x 10 x 13.9"
Apple's size: 1.0 x 9.5 x 13.4"

BestBuy weight: 6.4 pounds
Apple's weight: 5.4 pounds

BestBuy case: Silver-magnesium
Apple's case: Titanium

BestBuy battery life: 3 hours 15 minutes
Apple's battery life: 4 hours (realistically)

BestBuy CPU: 2GHz Pentium 4-M
Apple's CPU: 667MHz PowerPC G4

BestBuy RAM: 512MB DDR SDRAM
Apple's RAM: 256MB SDRAM

BestBuy HD: 40GB hard drive
Apple's HD: 30GB IBM hard drive

BestBuy wireless: Integrated 802.11b
Apple's wireless: 802.11b ready

Bestbuy video card: Unknown
Apple's video card: ATI Mobility Radeon 7500, 32MB

Bestbuy video out: S-Video-out
Apple's video out: DVI/VGA/S-video

Bestbuy Ethernet: Probably 10/100 Apple's Ethernet: Gigabit Ethernet

Bestbuy external ports: 2 Firewire, 2 USB
Apple's external ports: 1 Firewire, 2 USB

Shared items:
BestBuy and Apple LCD: 15.2-inch LCD, 1280x854 max
Bestbuy and Apple's modem: 56k
BestBuy and Apple optical: CD-RW/DVD drive

Re:The Comparison

[Rastor]

Bestbuy video card: Unknown
Apple's video card: ATI Mobility Radeon 7500, 32MB

Bestbuy video out: S-Video-out
Apple's video out: DVI/VGA/S-video

Actually, that should read:

Bestbuy video card: nVidia GeForce4 420 Go, 32MB
Apple's video card: ATI Mobility Radeon 7500, 32MB

Bestbuy video out: VGA/S-Video
Apple's video out: DVI/VGA/S-video

Source: Best Buy

Re:The Comparison

[Graff]

BestBuy wireless: Integrated 802.11b
Apple's wireless: 802.11b ready

Actually the TiBook has 802.11b built in also, it's called Airport by Apple.

All-in-all, both laptops are very similar in features and price. What tips it towards Apple for me is MacOS X and Apple's great industrial design in its hardware. MacOS X is a perfectly Unix-like system overlaid with a great GUI. It includes tons of free, polished utility programs like iMovie, iTunes, Sherlock, iDVD, iChat, iCal, iSync, iPhoto, and Apple's own mail program - called Mail surprisingly enough. This is before you even start the figure in all of the open-source goodness which works on MacOS X, often with a quick compile at most.

The TiBook is a solid machine. It is light, thin, small but not tiny. It stands up to a ton of abuse and keeps on kicking. Almost every detail of the laptop is perfectly designed. I'm not sure how the BestBuy machine stands up in the durability and mechanical function department, but I do know that it would be very tough to beat Apple's Titanium Powerbook there.

Re:The Comparison

[Jon Abbott]

Actually the TiBook has 802.11b built in also, it's called Airport by Apple.

I wrote "802.11b ready" because the Powerbook G4 ships without an Airport card for $2499. You would need to pay an extra $100 to get the Airport card.

As for all of the other points, I heartily agree. That's why I bought one. :^)

Re:The Comparison

[Jon Abbott]

Thanks for the clarification. I looked around Bestbuy's website for information on their new laptop, but didn't find it listed. I resorted to PC Magazine and C|Net articles, which obviously weren't entirely informative.

Re:The Comparison

[Graff]

Heh, my bad. I was certain that all of the TiBook models had Airport standard. I even looked in the documentation on Apple.com, but where I didn't look was directly at the lower model in the Apple Store. Once I did that I saw that you were perfectly right. Oh well, it's good to be humbled once in a while! :)

I managed to get the use of a 800mHx TiBook from work. What a sweet machine. I haven't turned that baby off for weeks, I just keep on working on it, closing it, recharging it, opening it and working. It starts up in seconds (around 5, maybe less) and it is ready to go, airport and all. Just beautiful...

It doesn't have to...

[incripshin]

Sadly, it runs windows

Well, you can always install Linux/BSD on it. And just cause it doesn't run Mac OS X doesn't mean it's a bad laptop. Think about it: How can a company come out with a good looking laptop that looks like a TiBook and not running Mac OS X without getting ridiculed (sorry on the spelling)? They then have two choices:

• A relatively unpopular (with the general public, that is) *nix OS
• Windows, a relatively popular OS, on it

Just because it looks like a TiBook doesn't mean it has to be one.

Incripshin

Additional bits

[Jon Abbott]

Just to clarify a bit, the Powerbook G4 supports 10/100/1000 base-T, not just 1000 base-T.

I also said that the Powerbook gets four hours of battery life, even though Apple claims five. I own a Powerbook G4, and four hours is a much closer estimate for real-world use (although you can get 5-6 if you turn the LCD backlight off).

Last but not least, there is another awesome titanium product out there -- the titanium spork!

Except the TiBook is a ripoff of a Japanese laptop

[Thag]

There are a number of Japanese laptop makers that have been producing very nice high-end Windows laptops with brushed metal cases for some time now.

See http://www.dynamism.com for what I mean. Particularly the Panasonic models, which have been objects of lust for me ever since I saw a Japanese executive with one back in 2000.

So no, Apple didn't invent that look, thanks for playing.

Jon Acheson

Re:IDEO does most of apples Industrial Design

[radish]

And believe me, Porsche Design are just as good!

Will the Porsche name help or hurt sales?

[dcavanaugh]

It looks great, and you could solve the Windoze problem by running Linux, but what about the Porsche name? Sure, Porsche means "cool design and high performance", but it also means "looney-tunes pricing". Considering how many laptops are corporate purchases, I can imagine these things drawing unnecessary sniper fire from the gods of corporate cost cutting. Even a CEO might think twice, wanting to "set a good example" by using something a little less "sexy". Unless, of course, the company is assigning Porsches as company cars.

My IBM Thinkpad actually costs more than Porsche's laptop, but it has that plain IBM style that says, "Worth the price because it takes a beating and always works."

Type "R" Sticker

[AntiTuX]

If I put a Type R sticker on it, would it run 150mhz faster?!?!?!
how about a more aggressive cooling system? :P

... okay, so it wasn't funny.. give me a friggin break!!

Forward Thinking Design

[jpellino]

... apparently includes a parallel port, the cable for which prolly outweighs the laptop.

Yeesh.

I suppose...

[kitzilla]

...VW will now design a knock-off of the iMac.

Maybe

[SomeOtherGuy]

For about $2600 for this I could buy 2 regular laptops and have an extra one for the bathroom. Or better yet I could buy about 10 early pentium laptops on Ebay -- and have the whole house networked. With old hardware it is not hard to find the best OS. You just stick with the first OS that will let you browse the web while decoding MP3's without the MP3's skipping. (Hint: it is not Windows)

Gee THAT wasn't biased and flame bait!

[Cyclone66]

...Slashdot Bias 1, Journalistic Integrity 0!

Re:Gee THAT wasn't biased and flame bait!

[small_dick]

I'm not so sure. It's disappointing to see so many people complaining about "MS bashing". Personally, I think it's great!

1) Exercising free speech, just like when windows people bash "everything else".
2) MS is a convicted federal criminal organization.
3) If anyone else did the things Bill Gates ordered done, they would be in prison right now. (I'm talking about various broken contracts and license agreements with novell, ibm, stac, DOJ).

The MS situation reminds me of what I've read of the various gang leaders of the 1920's--vicious criminals, etc..but the general public held them in awe, primarily due to their power and wealth, but also for the flamboyance and rhetoric displayed the gang leaders in the face of an increasingingly prosecutorial environment.

Then, as now, the government was not held in particularly high esteem...high taxes, prohibition, corruption.

In times like this, criminals are often held up as "the good guys".

Re:The TiBook also lacks something...

[pauljlucas]

It's a cute machine, but I need at least a 2 button mouse to comfortably use the software I need.

It amazes me that people still bitch about only one mouse button. If you want more buttons, go buy a friggin' 2- or 3-button mouse and plug it in! Mac OS X supports it natively.

in other news... BMW makes a skateboard!

[SethJohnson]

Not to be outdone in whoring a corporate icon, BMW is marketing a skateboard.

This waste of engineering is a little different than the laptop in that it looks like it was actually designed by the car company, and not a family member.

Seth

Re: VERY BLATANTLY Misleading

[glenebob]

Yeah that's pretty bad. Would you buy a notebook because it said Porche on it? Would you buy a toaster because it said Lexus on it? Or a breakfast cereal because it said Sony on it? This is goofy on so many levels...

What's sad is that most of us would probly look more closely at this thing than some other brand, because it says Porche on it. OOooo Porche! It must be a really nice laptop! And fast too! But I'm holding out for the Ferrari.

And then, it makes front page on /dot. Ugh. I wonder if it would have made it if the Taco had actually looked at the company description. It's obviously not the same Porche that makes nice cars.

Yay for /dot, free advertisement for new companies with fancy names. Sad.

Ugh!!

One thing I dislike about the wide-format notebook

[vasqzr]

The keyboards. Instead of adding keys to widen the keyboard, you've got nearly an inch of plastic on both sides of the keys.

It makes the keyboard feel like it 'sinks in'. Very uncomfortable.

They should be spending more time making laptops thinner and lighter, and sticking with a 14.1 screen, and increasing battery life.

Just my 2 cents

Not even that great...

[Andy Dodd]

Although near the end of all these posts someone did a good side-by-side comparison of the two laptops - The gist of it was, if you're willing to deal with a slightly larger and heavier laptop (not much larger or heavier), the Best Buy laptop was more bang for the buck. ($100 less, more RAM, more HD space, faster CPU, etc.), it's not significantly improved enough to be notweorthy...

Has the same crap display as the TiBook. 1280 pixels horizontal is nothing special in a 15" laptop these days. Dell has been shipping 1600x1200 laptops for over a year now, and the new UltraSharp UXGA screens are REALLY beautiful. (After getting my Inspiron 8200, I would never want to go back to the standard UXGA screen in my dad's I8000) If they'd put in a display 1400 or 1600 pixels wide it would've been more newsworthy...

Re:Not even that great...

[Pii]

Actually, Dell's been shipping 1600x1200 Laptops for over two years now. I got mine back in October of 2000.

You're correct about one thing though... You can't go back to a laptop with a crappy screen once you've become accustomed to staring at these beauties.

I'm finally getting around to looking at LCDs for my desktop machines. I've got my eye on the Samsung Syncmaster 191t. I saw it while at Best Buy last weekend, and it was stunning. It's only 1280x1024, but the image quality doesn't lie. Maybe not as sharp as my laptop, but it's by far the best looking desktop LCD panel I've yet seen.

Re:Not even that great...

[Andy Dodd]

If you got yours back in Oct 2000, you don't know what you're missing. Back then, the standard UXGA was the only one available. (The USUXGA wasn't available in Aug 2001 either).

The UXGA screen is pretty nice. The UltraSharp UXGA is simply amazing.

Desktop LCDs are usually pretty decent, except for the (usually) lower resolutions. I have a 17" MAG LCD, while it only does 1280x1024, it makes up for it by having the brightest screen I've ever used (Brighter than even my old Trinitron-tube monitor) and wonderful viewing angle (Beats even the UltraSharp, which is quite difficult...)

Re:Not even that great...

[Pii]

Actually, I think I got hooked up just this past week.

I had a hinge problem on my Inspiron 5000e, and they ended up coming out for the service call with a completely new upper for my laptop, including a new LCD.

It's far brighter than what they replaced... I don't know that it's the UltraSharp. I only know that I can't find anything to complain about at all.

The panel is made by Toshiba (as was the old one). There are no dead pixels (there weren't any in the old one either).

Re:Not even that great...

[Aqua OS X]

Apple's notebook line is due for an update in a few weeks. They haven't been updated in quite some time.

Combine These

[waldoj]

A.P., you're right -- none of these features are unique to Apple's PowerBook, and many of them have been incorporated for good cause. The difference is that, unlike with any other laptop that I'm aware of, they're all in place on Porsche's system. It is this group of features that makes their system highly derivative of Apple's PowerBook.

Not that popular opinion is a substitute for sound logic, but I'll warrant that if Slashdot put up a poll, the majority of people would agree that the laptop that this system most strongly resembles is Apple's TiBook. The reason that this is notable, at least to me, is because I'd like to imagine that Porsche would be developing something more interesting than this. I don't imagine that Best Buy has the biggest budget out there allocated to laptop design, but surely somebody at Porsche was looking at this design before it went out the door and saying "heeeyyyy...this looks familiar..." The fact that it didn't happen makes me wonder if this was more or less intentional, or if Porsche is inclined to agree with you, and say that the design is somehow the only logical one available, in which case it's amazing that nobody thought of it before Apple. :)

-Waldo Jaquith

Problem with car company laptops

[Ilan Volow]

The value of the laptop goes down by 20% the second you drive it off the Best Buy lot.

Re:IDEO does most of apples Industrial Design

[aluminumcube]

This is blatently untrue.

I am an industrial designer who lives/works in the SF area, and Apple has their own, in house, very hardcore industrial design team and model shops. As a matter of fact, they are rather well known for being Steve Jobs' favorite Apple employees.

Like any good internal design team however, Apple does work with outside ID firms for new ideas, collaboration on projects and outsourcing of small projects. That being said however, every computer or significant piece of hardware is currently designed in house, exclusivly and with a great amount of security.

It isn't Porsche as in Porsche

[swordboy]

But Porche?

Make note that this Porsche has nothing to do with the Porsche auto manufacturer other than a family name.

Some advantages of the TiBook get overlooked.....

[jerkyjunkmail]

The thing I think most people over look with the TiBook(and other Apple hardware) are all the hardware tricks like:

1.) target disk mode(the ability to boot up in a external hard drive mode) and be directly attach to a another computer via firewire as an external hard drive. That's a much faster way to transfer GBs of files between computers than over a network.
2.) being able to directly hook up to another computer via ethernet with either a straight through OR cross-over cable
3.) somewhat hot-swappable batteries(you only have to put it to sleep and you have about 2-3 minutes to switch the batteries),
4.) better battery life than any Intel laptops I've dealt with
5.) the first laptops, even though the switches are still a little pricey but getting close to affordable by the every man, with gigabit ethernet stock.

I don't know of any Intel laptops capable of all(or even most) of those things.

As far as PC laptops go it looks pretty nice especially if it supports, Linux/FreeBSD/OpenBSD well but once you touch and feel it it could have a cheap feel like some PC laptops like Toshiba.

Re: crime for the poor?

[King_TJ]

Well, if you want to know what *I* think is more of a crime, it's probably the govt. organizations and charities that seem to believe a computer, high-speed internet access, and whatever else goes with it is a "basic life necessity". I'm stuck paying extra fees on every phone bill so Bell can hand out subsidized DSL lines to "the poor".

I have no qualm with providing easy and free access to the net from such places as public libraries. The poor should certainly have some way to type up and print out a resume, or conduct an online job search. (In fact, most states do give them this type of access at the unemployment offices.)

If you give someone a nice, relatively new, computer system of their own though - what kind of service are you doing them if they can't afford the software to go with it? I don't see why a poor person has to run Windows XP? Give them an older PC, "recycled" from someone else's pile of "useless old junk systems" and let them run an older version of Windows.

I bet they can do anything they need with Windows '95. If you feel even more willing to help, you could try setting them up with Linux and teaching them how it works -- but I bet you'd be wasting your time in many cases. They don't need a server-class OS. They just want to type some papers and use the interface they see when they go to work.

Re:What design?

[teamhasnoi]

It looks like a Dell. Just like a Dell.

It's not a sports car....

[Dracos]

...and yet it's not hideously ugly like the Cayenne.

Forget it

[uradu]

You're fighting Apple zealots. Besides, I don't see much resemblence to the TiBook, except maybe the recessed keyboard. The Porsche design is much more angular and has an entirely different color scheme and accents.

Flamebait...

[Ageless]

Quote: /Sadly, it runs windows so no one will actually want to use one for real work, but it looks pretty cool for minesweeper./

So, does he mean real work like running the vast majority of business in the world (like Windows does) or real work like making pretty pictures (like most Macs do) or is it real work like rendering the latest version of Titanic (like Linux does)?

Here's a fun activity! Tomorrow, take Windows away from the world. See how long it takes for everything to be running as smooth as it was yesterday including CEOs being able to access their email.
Now, the next day take OSX away and do the same test.
For the grand finale try Linux.

It's a simple matter of numbers. How many OSs do you need to reinstall?

The sad part is that this post will get marked as Flamebait. The article itself should have been.

Re:it's the geeky insecurity

[schulzdogg]

i've been a geek and around geeks for long enough to know that we can be terrible assholes, mostly due to our insecurities. often times it's confused with "elitism" or "zealotry" when all we're trying to do is build defensive barrriers against being judged.

this also manifests itself with a love for material objects, e.g. "Ah, I guess that the TiBook is no longer a status symbol ...". we swap confidence with materialism, hoping we'll be judged by what we own instead of who we are.

seriously, slashdot posters tend to be the most materialistic around. i'd point out examples, but they're easy to pick out; people mention what they bought, what they own, and often times including full part numbers.

Amen, If I had mod points I'd do that but since I don't maybe getting it up to +2 will help.

DWI while using laptop

[teamhasnoi]

Honest, Officer! I don't know how these beer cans got in here!

no bias

[man_ls]

Wow, this has to be the most unbiased comment ever submitted. I understand that the editors make an effort to clean them up, but I'm pretty sure that anti-MS bs in there was made up just to guarentee the story being posted.

I run a Windows web server, and support a mortgage broker running on a different Windows server. Properly configured, it can be (and is) as stable and secure as Linux.

The problem [b]always[/b] lies with the user, not with the operating system itself.

Re:Q: What's the problem with this picture?

[uradu]

> Microsoft Windows XP Professional Edition OEM Version $199.98

Not to mention that service packs are free, whereas someone going from Mac OS 10.whatever to 10.2 would have paid for it twice.

somethings missing...

[squarefish]

Where's the Hood Ornament?

Re:using Windows 'FOR REAL WORK'

[FyRE666]

As a previous poster stated, I also use windows mostly as a means to develop software on *nix servers. I spend much more time on my XP machine than on my Linux workstation sat next to it, but it's mostly due to the fact I need a lot of tools/apps that aren't available for Linux (yet). I usually have several PuTTy windows open, Web browsers pointing at pages on the servers, and smb shares open from the servers though.

I despise MS, but they're currently the only option that allows me to do everything without rebooting. (I also own a Mac with OS-X but I absolutely hate it, which is why I can't remember the last time I booted it up).

cross marketing

[SubtleNuance]

Porshe didnt "design" shit. They are allowing their BRAND and its mythos to be used in Marketing of a laptop.

Big whoop... would you buy something simply because it said "Porshe" on it? Its like those morons who put Nike stickers on the rear windows of their rice-rockets... its a fusion of brand-lifestyle-attitude that has been sold by marketroids to Consumers^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^HPeople.

Having said that - its a nice enough laptop.. but guaranteed to be $X overpriced to payfor the brand-licensing trash... Yawn.

Re:What's really sad...

[forkboy]

Still doesn't change the fact that given the CHOICE, most of us would toss windows in a heartbeat. If the rest of the world could decide on a universal standard for document formats, we wouldn't need to use MS Office. (Or pirate it) If enough game developers would take the leap and start making games with Linux binaries as well as Windows, we wouldn't need to pirate a copy of Windows to play.

You can call us hypocrites all you like, but the one of the reasons we resent Microsoft so much is that we're FORCED to use it to accomplish certain tasks. The "if you don't like it, don't eat" mentality isn't going to change our minds.

As far as "being productive" on a laptop goes, there are basically 2 types of people who NEED their laptops. Managers, executives, and other pointy-hair types who simply cannot make it through a night at home or on the road without checking email, and system administrators who need to be able to access their systems after getting paged at 3:00am. Speaking from the perspective of the second type, I can say that Linux was preferable for that usage. Thank god for a Linux Citrix client. As far as the former type, they're too stupid to use an OS that doesn't hold their hand anyway, and probably aren't the type that are bitching about lack of standards/applications in Linux.

Porsche does it again...

[dacarr]

A few years ago I saw a blurb for a coffee maker that Porsche designed. This reminded me of it.

But I mention this because according to the blurb, one of the features of this coffee maker was an "on switch".

Finally, Porsche allows me to power my coffee maker on, but how the hell am I to turn it off?!

Re:Herbie Hancock was at the roll out party for th

[macrom]

I think what you're referring to is Apple Masters, which I believe is a discontinued program. Any of the links (such as http://applemasters.apple.com/) now point to the homepage. The last Apple WWDC that I attended in 2000 had Herbie as a guest, along with Gregory Hines and Bryan Adams. Maybe now that the Masters program appears defunct, Mr. Hancock is no longer bound by any sort of obligation (real or implied) with Apple.

Re:If you don't compare it to the Apple PowerBook.

[sweetooth]

I'd still rather have the TiBook as well. For one while this rips off the form factor it doesn't rip off the style that the TiBook has. I want a laptop that is going to have gauranteed unix functionality either by the vendor supporting it directly or by finding a laptop that uses components that are already supported in Linux. Of course going with apple you don't have to worry about that in the first place. The next thing I want is a a good screen size without a huge increase in weight. This fits that about as well as the TiBook. I also like for my laptops to be somewhat visually appealing. I loved my VAIO and it's tiny form factor and the purpleish silverish magnesium casing. The TiBook is equally as pleasing to the eye in 90% of it's design. I don't much care for the coloring of the plastic peices where the vents and ports are, but whatever. The problem with this laptop is that the keyboard area appears black. That's too sharp of a contrast to the magnesium casing in my opinion and is visually unappealing. Of course the price is the other issue. This is priced below the equivalent TiBook and will steal sales based on that alone. Of course the TiBook appears to offer more configuration options though I'd guess you probably have to head to your local BestBuy to find out for sure on that note.

I dunno, I still think the TiBook is cooler, and being that my VAIO finally died I'm in the market for a laptop, the TiBook is my first choice but I just can't afford it right now. This is a good option, but I'd be willing to spend the few extra dollars for gauranteed unix app support and what I consider to be better overall style.

lol - what a dick

[AssFace]

Mac users are so embarrassing to have to listen to - or in this case read.

I agree, the Mac makes a pretty computer - but they are too slow for the stuff I do.
but to continually rip on Windows is just pathetic and makes one sound like a little jealous dork.

that said, the Porsche design just looks like some sort of retro concept circa 1970 or early 80s if they could go that thin.

my current laptop has a higher resolution, and that is what I want, so regardless of what OS is on it, I just care about have fast the thing is.

Portege

[evocate]

If you want sleek style and don't mind the Windows hardware then by all means get a Portege2K instead. Thinner, lighter and *much* nicer at which to look.

"Ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put."

Re:Mind numbing

[KH]

What I don't understand, after reading comments up to this, is that people don't seem to realize that AC who posted story is pretty much CmdrTaco himself.

I thought it was a common knowledge that he now has a TiBook and he is very happy with it---hence the status symbol bit, to the point of being childish.

All the windows bashing comes from his mouth and he is trying to be funny, thinking that everyone knows that he now has a TiBook.

Also, people seem to have missed that the Windows bashing doesn't have anything to do with Linux. He (an AC aka CmdrTaco) is lamenting that it does not run OS X, which he seems to have fallen in love.

As a side note, I realize time has changed in the past 5 years. No one really defended MS when I first came here. This place was Linux users' haven. I thought back then Windows people had a lot more places to hang around. /. is still a place where Rom and co. can post whatever stories they find interesting, according to their personal preferences. If you had the same preferences, this place was a nice place to hang around. This place was never a news site for me. No wonder I'm getting old.

woohoo

[WildBeast]

Now I can tell my friends that I have a porshe :)

Fujitsu p-2000

[asv108]

I currently own 2 laptops a 500mhz ti-Book and the Fujitsu p-2000, I actually prefer the p-2000. The main problem with the ti-book is it is too big. The size makes sense if its the only computer you own, but for people with a desktop and a laptop, it doesn't make much sense to go with such a large laptop. And as far as looks go, the p-2000 is just as good looking as the ti-book. Besides screen size, the p-2000 has every port and feature of the most recent high end Tibook, minus gig-e and of course the big advantage osx. But to pick up a tibook with a decent configuration, you will pay at least $3000+ while a fully loaded 3.5lb p-2000 will run you $1800. Luckily I got a free Tibook to play with from work.

Re:What's really sad...

[forkboy]

Right now Windows is (by far) the best OS for buisness and personal use there is

And by what basis do you make that statement? And what definition of "business use" do you want to use? Secretaries typing letters? Give em a Mac, they'll do less damage. OS for server iron? Most folks are pretty happy with Sun or IBM. Do you mean middle management that needs to be able to read documents, email memos, and play solitaire? Yeah, let's spend 100,000k+ on an exchange server and Win2k licenses for that. Good business practice there.

Linux isn't perfect, but at least its users can change anything they don't like about. Yes, it requires some degree of cluefulness to use it, but an easier-to-use Linux will be there eventually.

Re:Some advantages of the TiBook get overlooked...

[evilviper]

attach to a another computer via firewire as an external hard drive. That's a much faster way to transfer GBs of files between computers than over a network.

Firewire is BY FAR slower than 100BaseTx ethernet. Ethernet gets even more of a boost, since Apple includes Gigabit.

Re:using Windows 'FOR REAL WORK'

[ealar dlanvuli]

While I'm not going to bother digging up counters. I think I can negate your entire post by pointing out the majority of the financial district in NYC uses linux or another unix on the desktop.

I do believe linux can be, and is, used for productivity. I also concede that the average 17 year (or even 24 year) old linux supporter isn't interested in that so much. Then again how many 17 (or even 24) year old porche owners are interested in real driving?

Just thought I'd point out that the people who get off tweaking linux tend not to intersect the people who use thier linux boxes for work.