I think this essentially sums up your misguided view of these things. You're used to seeing everything as a turd. When you see something nice, you automatically assume that it's just a fancified turd. What you don't understand is that Apple has no tolerance for turds, the turds don't get a security pass to get into the campus in the first place.
Not that you'd understand - you probably think that a riced-up Honda Civic is the equivalent of a fine automobile.
No, my idea of a fine automobile is a Lamborghini Countach or a Corvette Stingray. A riced-up Honda Civic is the bastardization of an otherwise decent, affordable vehicle.
I'm pretty sure they came out after the SNES. I remember we bought one because our old boxy NES was already having issues (my Dad used to joke that the family TV had been used for Nintendo more than it had for actual TV, heh.) I still have it for nostalgia, but the toploader is still working perfectly!::knock on wood::
Not every time. Once you get pissed off because someone beat you to choosing Oddjob, and in your Soda-fueled rage you kick the SNES into the TV, it no longer worked, and you had to reseat the cartridges a lot.
That didn't happen to all you guys?
Not with an SNES. With an N64, sure...but not an SNES:-0)
We had a rule, though...you could pick Oddjob if you wanted, but whatever your kill count was at the end of the round, we got to punch you that many times.
Having an electrical engineer for a step dad, I always used super-pure isopropyl alcohol. Nowadays, for the odd N64 cart that needs cleaning, I generally use this stuff. It's not the same brand as I used back in the day, but::shrug:: it works just as well. When I pick up an old cart at a flea market or garage sale, I put a small bit of that on a Q-Tip and vigorously rub the contacts on the cart.
The first Q-tip usually has at least one end that looks completely black. It's crazy how much gunk can get caked onto the contacts.
We encouter this problem a lot. The majority of the Netflix we get (6 at a time, represent!) are either historical documentaries narrated by people with British accents, silent movies, or anime. I'd say roughly one out of every six discs we receive need to be given a ride in the Skip Dr. I can understand the anime and documentaries being scratched, since they are likely also gotten by people with kids...but the silent movies?!?!?! Who the fuck enjoys silent movies, but treats the medium they are contained on like crap?::fist shake::
Seems the NES was the only system with this problem though (no doubt due to their goofy front-load spring-loaded design). SNES, Genesis, N64, etc worked every time you tossed a cartridge in.
As I recall, the top-loading NES didn't have a problem either.
As a side note, my experience with Toshiba's Satellite laptops is that they are hardly the best at anything, they are typical "consumer" laptops (slightly heavier than they need to be, slightly bulkier than they need to be, poorly supported hardware (on both Linux and Windows) and so on). There's a reason that laptop is cheap...
::shrug:: it fits her needs perfectly. As a teacher, her requirements are fairly simple (full size keyboard, decent size screen, must have a full-size number pad, and be able to play the occasional game), and that particular one matched every one of her needs. Coming from a Thinkpad circa 2003, it was a night and day difference for her.
But you care about something besides functionality. Because functionally, an Apple device can do anything you want it to.
Not true. An iPhone, for example, cannot run non-approved apps unless you hack it. I don't want to have to hack my phone just so I can run programs that the manufacturer deems unfit. Hence, I'll go with an Android or even a Windows Mobile 6 phone.
The fact that you refuse to use it anyway means there's something else you care about too, and that's understandable.
As far as devices like Macs and Macbooks, I just think they are overpriced for what you get. They are very well designed, they work great, and they are built with high quality materials...but I feel they are overpriced for what you get.::shrug:: just my opinion. I never felt the need to spend more money on something shiny. I'd rather spend that extra money on better performance.
Obligatory car analogy:
Rather than spend $200 on some high-quality racing stripes to make my car look flashy, I would prefer to spend that $200 on better brake pads, or better sway bars.
But you should not mislead others into thinking a given device cannot do something just because you don't like Apple.
Telling people they can't run a non-Apple approved program on their iPad or iPhone without hacking the device isn't misleading...it's the truth.
Maybe not in line with their products, but certainly in line with other products. Here is the laptop I bought my fiancee. Perfect for browsing the Internet, watching videos/movies, doing work, and can even play Civ IV with all of the settings turned up to max.
Yet is only $30 more than the base iPad price. Now, I recognize that the iPad and this laptop serve entirely different needs...but the difference is still only $30, and that's assuming you go with the base iPad. Why pay $499 for an iPad that is limited in use when you can pay $529 and get that laptop? Is a shiny picture-book esque interface really worth paying full price for a half-function "appliance"?
Use emulators. I admit there's a few titles that don't work so if you want to play one of those games this isn't a complete solution for you. But it lets you use the best possible controller (i.e. the controller of your choice can be made to work) and you can get a decent scaling algorithm (say, 2xSuperSai) which will smooth out graphics to look even better than the original. And if the scaling makes the graphics look funky, you can pick another algorithm.
Thank you for the suggestions, but there is no need...we still have our 24" CRT with all of our older consoles hooked up to it:-)
You can buy the very highest quality keyboards with a PS/2 connector. My friends wank about them on facebook occasionally.
Really?::shrug:: Guess its been a while since I checked, lol
Virtually all PC motherboards still have PATA, at least one channel for two devices, for backwards compatibility, because that is what the PC is all about. And hell, if you have PCI, you can get ISA for an exorbitant price. So it all goes back to the beginning in a very real way.
You opinion and your definition of "less", those buying the iPad clearly disagree but then I suspect they don't use the same metric as you do. Most likely they consider the user interface to be a big "more" even though you probably dismiss it as "less tactile feedback than a nomad, lame" (to steal a quote from Cmdrtaco).
My opinion of "less" is being told what I can or can't install on a device that is just as powerful and expensive as a full blown computer, yet is marketed as a "premium Internet appliance" in an attempt to justify the cost.
Oh bullshit. You clearly don't know what's important in consumer devices (hint: it's something Apple products always have).
I know exactly what's important in consumer devices: above all, it has to look good. Apple does a great job with that.
iPods have always been more locked and proprietary than their competitors, lacked basic features like FM transmitters, and were much more expensive to boot. And yet iPods outsell all of their competition combined 2 to 1.
Yup. And people also vote against their interests each election, sue companies when coffee is too hot, and get mad at you when they drive in your blind spot when you try to move over on the highway.
You can sit there and think everyone else is stupid but you, but that's not the case.
Stupid? No, they're not stupid, just ignorant. There is a difference.
Some people, most people, will pay more for a better UI.
Polish a turd...
You think all those soccer moms, grandparents and executives are Apple fanboys? They're not - they're just paying for a product that they see as better than the competition.
That's not a difference between flat and CRT; that's a difference between low and high resolution. Classic console emulators look fine on a 256x192 pixel screen of a DS. But classic consoles would also look like behind on a CRT that upscales to 1080p-class resolution, such as a PC with a TV-in card and a 1600x1200 pixel CRT computer monitor.
I'm not a moron, you know. I'm aware of the difference that resolution makes. Unless you can find me a LCD/Plasma TV that has a standard def native resolution, my one criticism of flatscreens still stands.
The last time I bought a bargain-basement PC keyboard at Office Depot, it was PS/2, probably because a USB keyboard controller is slightly more expensive than a keyboard controller for the (public domain) PS/2 interface.
Sorry, should have been more specific...you can't buy quality, mid-to-upper-range keyboards with a PS/2 connector...although many of them still come with a USB-to-PS/2 adapter, strangely enough
Part of that is because 1. people are upgrading from computers with parallel ATA drives and want to connect their old drives to transfer data without having to buy an external USB enclosure
Exactly. And people still want to be able to view sites and play games that are Flash based while the makers of those sites and games switch over to HTML5.
and 2. the first PC SSDs were pin adapters from CompactFlash to parallel ATA. CF hasn't switched to SATA yet.
I think your first point covered the real reason...this second one, valid though it may be, seems like it would be a rather trivial reason for motherboard manufacturers to retain a legacy interface.
Flatscreens and CRTs aren't the best example because a flatscreen is a clear and easy to see upgrade from CRTs in almost every respect (don't bother pointing out your personal gripe against flatscreens)
Fair enough. For the record, my only personal gripe against flatscreens is that my legacy consoles look like crusted ass on them. Other than that, I love my flatscreen:-)
A better example would be HD broadcast TV, do you really think everyone would have just aggreed to change over if the guberment didn't force it?
I think people slowly would have, yes. It wouldn't happen as quickly as it did of course, but it would have happend.
As another poster further down pointed out, you can still readily buy motherboards that have PS/2 ports on them, but you can't really buy PS/2 keyboards or mice anymore. Nearly every modern motherboard also still has at least one IDE connector on it, despite the fact that a completely SATA-based system has been possible for a couple years now.
Or, you could just be patient and wait for a good one. Or, you could take that $500+ and buy a laptop. People can like the interface, they can like Apple, whatever...it doesn't change the fact they are defending their choice to pay more for less.
Really? That's funny, I seem to recall CRT televisions and flatscreen televisions being sold simultaneously. Good luck finding a CRT at a major or even semi-major retailer.
I understand that Flash is on its way out, but it is still widely used. Why doesn't the iPad support future AND current technologies (HTML5 and Flash).
Don't give me mouseover as an answer, either. There are ways around that.
Hey, don't get me wrong...I feel that Arizona as a State has a right to make any kind of law regarding immigration it wants. It's not my place nor anyone else who doesn't live there to tell you folks how to handle your problems.
It just means Arizona won't be getting any of tourist dollars, that's all.
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I think this essentially sums up your misguided view of these things. You're used to seeing everything as a turd. When you see something nice, you automatically assume that it's just a fancified turd. What you don't understand is that Apple has no tolerance for turds, the turds don't get a security pass to get into the campus in the first place.
You sure about that?
Not that you'd understand - you probably think that a riced-up Honda Civic is the equivalent of a fine automobile.
No, my idea of a fine automobile is a Lamborghini Countach or a Corvette Stingray. A riced-up Honda Civic is the bastardization of an otherwise decent, affordable vehicle.
I'm pretty sure they came out after the SNES. I remember we bought one because our old boxy NES was already having issues (my Dad used to joke that the family TV had been used for Nintendo more than it had for actual TV, heh.) I still have it for nostalgia, but the toploader is still working perfectly! ::knock on wood::
The only way to clean your Atari 2600 cartridges is to blow in them. Wiping is for butts.
Your mom likes blowing
The correct response was "Your mom likes blowing in butts". But, alas poor Yorick...
Not every time. Once you get pissed off because someone beat you to choosing Oddjob, and in your Soda-fueled rage you kick the SNES into the TV, it no longer worked, and you had to reseat the cartridges a lot.
That didn't happen to all you guys?
Not with an SNES. With an N64, sure...but not an SNES :-0)
We had a rule, though...you could pick Oddjob if you wanted, but whatever your kill count was at the end of the round, we got to punch you that many times.
Having an electrical engineer for a step dad, I always used super-pure isopropyl alcohol. Nowadays, for the odd N64 cart that needs cleaning, I generally use this stuff. It's not the same brand as I used back in the day, but ::shrug:: it works just as well. When I pick up an old cart at a flea market or garage sale, I put a small bit of that on a Q-Tip and vigorously rub the contacts on the cart.
The first Q-tip usually has at least one end that looks completely black. It's crazy how much gunk can get caked onto the contacts.
We encouter this problem a lot. The majority of the Netflix we get (6 at a time, represent!) are either historical documentaries narrated by people with British accents, silent movies, or anime. I'd say roughly one out of every six discs we receive need to be given a ride in the Skip Dr. I can understand the anime and documentaries being scratched, since they are likely also gotten by people with kids...but the silent movies?!?!?! Who the fuck enjoys silent movies, but treats the medium they are contained on like crap? ::fist shake::
Seems the NES was the only system with this problem though (no doubt due to their goofy front-load spring-loaded design). SNES, Genesis, N64, etc worked every time you tossed a cartridge in.
As I recall, the top-loading NES didn't have a problem either.
That being said, you could get an Alienware M11x for the price of the fully loaded iPad.
As a side note, my experience with Toshiba's Satellite laptops is that they are hardly the best at anything, they are typical "consumer" laptops (slightly heavier than they need to be, slightly bulkier than they need to be, poorly supported hardware (on both Linux and Windows) and so on). There's a reason that laptop is cheap...
::shrug:: it fits her needs perfectly. As a teacher, her requirements are fairly simple (full size keyboard, decent size screen, must have a full-size number pad, and be able to play the occasional game), and that particular one matched every one of her needs. Coming from a Thinkpad circa 2003, it was a night and day difference for her.
But you care about something besides functionality. Because functionally, an Apple device can do anything you want it to.
Not true. An iPhone, for example, cannot run non-approved apps unless you hack it. I don't want to have to hack my phone just so I can run programs that the manufacturer deems unfit. Hence, I'll go with an Android or even a Windows Mobile 6 phone.
The fact that you refuse to use it anyway means there's something else you care about too, and that's understandable.
As far as devices like Macs and Macbooks, I just think they are overpriced for what you get. They are very well designed, they work great, and they are built with high quality materials...but I feel they are overpriced for what you get. ::shrug:: just my opinion. I never felt the need to spend more money on something shiny. I'd rather spend that extra money on better performance.
Obligatory car analogy:
Rather than spend $200 on some high-quality racing stripes to make my car look flashy, I would prefer to spend that $200 on better brake pads, or better sway bars.
But you should not mislead others into thinking a given device cannot do something just because you don't like Apple.
Telling people they can't run a non-Apple approved program on their iPad or iPhone without hacking the device isn't misleading...it's the truth.
if in fact you cared about functionality at all, instead of just trying to come up with ideas why you will not use an Apple device.
I do care about functionality...which is why I will not purchase an Apple device.
Maybe not in line with their products, but certainly in line with other products. Here is the laptop I bought my fiancee. Perfect for browsing the Internet, watching videos/movies, doing work, and can even play Civ IV with all of the settings turned up to max.
Yet is only $30 more than the base iPad price. Now, I recognize that the iPad and this laptop serve entirely different needs...but the difference is still only $30, and that's assuming you go with the base iPad. Why pay $499 for an iPad that is limited in use when you can pay $529 and get that laptop? Is a shiny picture-book esque interface really worth paying full price for a half-function "appliance"?
Then the iPhone/iPad do not meet your definition, since you can jailbreak them.
So I have to hack the device I pay for just so I can get it to do what other devices that cost the same can do. Great.
Did you notice the "appliance" part? That's what it is, it's an appliance, it's not meant to be used in the same way as a full-fledged desktop.
Then why is it priced like one?
Another flamebait iPad post! Another chance for me to say iPads are a waste of money!
"Su-su-suck it, bitch!" -Jimmy
Use emulators. I admit there's a few titles that don't work so if you want to play one of those games this isn't a complete solution for you. But it lets you use the best possible controller (i.e. the controller of your choice can be made to work) and you can get a decent scaling algorithm (say, 2xSuperSai) which will smooth out graphics to look even better than the original. And if the scaling makes the graphics look funky, you can pick another algorithm.
Thank you for the suggestions, but there is no need...we still have our 24" CRT with all of our older consoles hooked up to it:-)
You can buy the very highest quality keyboards with a PS/2 connector. My friends wank about them on facebook occasionally.
Really? ::shrug:: Guess its been a while since I checked, lol
Virtually all PC motherboards still have PATA, at least one channel for two devices, for backwards compatibility, because that is what the PC is all about. And hell, if you have PCI, you can get ISA for an exorbitant price. So it all goes back to the beginning in a very real way.
::gasp:: time to break out my Sound Blaster AWE64 Gold!!!
You opinion and your definition of "less", those buying the iPad clearly disagree but then I suspect they don't use the same metric as you do. Most likely they consider the user interface to be a big "more" even though you probably dismiss it as "less tactile feedback than a nomad, lame" (to steal a quote from Cmdrtaco).
My opinion of "less" is being told what I can or can't install on a device that is just as powerful and expensive as a full blown computer, yet is marketed as a "premium Internet appliance" in an attempt to justify the cost.
Oh bullshit. You clearly don't know what's important in consumer devices (hint: it's something Apple products always have).
I know exactly what's important in consumer devices: above all, it has to look good. Apple does a great job with that.
iPods have always been more locked and proprietary than their competitors, lacked basic features like FM transmitters, and were much more expensive to boot. And yet iPods outsell all of their competition combined 2 to 1.
Yup. And people also vote against their interests each election, sue companies when coffee is too hot, and get mad at you when they drive in your blind spot when you try to move over on the highway.
You can sit there and think everyone else is stupid but you, but that's not the case.
Stupid? No, they're not stupid, just ignorant. There is a difference.
Some people, most people, will pay more for a better UI.
Polish a turd...
You think all those soccer moms, grandparents and executives are Apple fanboys? They're not - they're just paying for a product that they see as better than the competition.
And that is entirely their choice.
That's not a difference between flat and CRT; that's a difference between low and high resolution. Classic console emulators look fine on a 256x192 pixel screen of a DS. But classic consoles would also look like behind on a CRT that upscales to 1080p-class resolution, such as a PC with a TV-in card and a 1600x1200 pixel CRT computer monitor.
I'm not a moron, you know. I'm aware of the difference that resolution makes. Unless you can find me a LCD/Plasma TV that has a standard def native resolution, my one criticism of flatscreens still stands.
The last time I bought a bargain-basement PC keyboard at Office Depot, it was PS/2, probably because a USB keyboard controller is slightly more expensive than a keyboard controller for the (public domain) PS/2 interface.
Sorry, should have been more specific...you can't buy quality, mid-to-upper-range keyboards with a PS/2 connector...although many of them still come with a USB-to-PS/2 adapter, strangely enough
Part of that is because 1. people are upgrading from computers with parallel ATA drives and want to connect their old drives to transfer data without having to buy an external USB enclosure
Exactly. And people still want to be able to view sites and play games that are Flash based while the makers of those sites and games switch over to HTML5.
and 2. the first PC SSDs were pin adapters from CompactFlash to parallel ATA. CF hasn't switched to SATA yet.
I think your first point covered the real reason...this second one, valid though it may be, seems like it would be a rather trivial reason for motherboard manufacturers to retain a legacy interface.
Flatscreens and CRTs aren't the best example because a flatscreen is a clear and easy to see upgrade from CRTs in almost every respect (don't bother pointing out your personal gripe against flatscreens)
Fair enough. For the record, my only personal gripe against flatscreens is that my legacy consoles look like crusted ass on them. Other than that, I love my flatscreen :-)
A better example would be HD broadcast TV, do you really think everyone would have just aggreed to change over if the guberment didn't force it?
I think people slowly would have, yes. It wouldn't happen as quickly as it did of course, but it would have happend.
As another poster further down pointed out, you can still readily buy motherboards that have PS/2 ports on them, but you can't really buy PS/2 keyboards or mice anymore. Nearly every modern motherboard also still has at least one IDE connector on it, despite the fact that a completely SATA-based system has been possible for a couple years now.
Or, you could just be patient and wait for a good one. Or, you could take that $500+ and buy a laptop. People can like the interface, they can like Apple, whatever...it doesn't change the fact they are defending their choice to pay more for less.
Just my opinion, of course.
Really? That's funny, I seem to recall CRT televisions and flatscreen televisions being sold simultaneously. Good luck finding a CRT at a major or even semi-major retailer.
Yes, and those same people are also quite content with spending $500+ on a purposely crippled device.
I understand that Flash is on its way out, but it is still widely used. Why doesn't the iPad support future AND current technologies (HTML5 and Flash).
Don't give me mouseover as an answer, either. There are ways around that.
Hey, don't get me wrong...I feel that Arizona as a State has a right to make any kind of law regarding immigration it wants. It's not my place nor anyone else who doesn't live there to tell you folks how to handle your problems.
It just means Arizona won't be getting any of tourist dollars, that's all.