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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."
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.
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.
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?
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!
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.
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.
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...
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
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
No, that's Porsche. Porche will save Christmas.
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.
Constitutional rights may be respected, repealed, or modified; but they must never be ignored.
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
Bash, Bash, Bash? Don't you mean cmd.exe, cmd.exe, cmd.exe?
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.
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 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
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.
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!