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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."
Thats what I want to know before I switch.
Ursula Andress, Catherine Deneuve, and Charo, twice...
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
There's no point in questioning authority if you aren't going to listen to the answers.
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?
Work for Change & GET PAID!
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.
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....
On the other side of the screen it all looked so easy.
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.
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!"
Operator, give me the number for 911!
That's like saying Moe was the smartest stooge...
Yet Another Web Site
Uh, doesn't Windows 2k get your screen all nasty when you open it? :-)
Another non-functioning site was "uncertainty.microsoft.com."
The purpose of that site was not known.
Both OSX and MacOS support full screen playback just fine on my TiBook. Troll.
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?
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
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
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.....
--- What?
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.
* We dance where angels fear to tread *
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.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
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.
Kinda makes we wanna go out and get one now... Naw, still drooling over Apple's TiBook.
I don't read ACs: If a post isn't worth so much as a nom de plume to its author then I wont bother either.
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.
Will I retire or break 10K?
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.
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!
Build your own website - full service homepage system your m
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.
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.
To a Lisp hacker, XML is S-expressions in drag.
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:
If I want to ultimate in sexy notebook computers, it better dress the part!WHERE IS THE PORSCHE SHIELD? I would love to have one of these with that famous shield emblazened on the top.
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'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...
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.
Lasers Controlled Games!
My car isn't a Porsche, but my computer is. Does this mean I will have hot chicks now?
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
Slashdot's first reaction to VMware
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.
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
...Slashdot Bias 1, Journalistic Integrity 0!
Seth
$5 / month hosted VPS on linux = awesome!
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...
/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.
/dot, free advertisement for new companies with fancy names. Sad.
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
Yay for
Ugh!!
The value of the laptop goes down by 20% the second you drive it off the Best Buy lot.
Ergonomica Auctorita Illico!
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.
--
What is pirate software? Software for inventory of stolen treasure?
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...)
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?