Er, how exactly are you arguing that Quicktime X is better than Quicktime 7 Pro? Sure, some newer video types are supported, but it went from being a useful editor to being a dumbed-down player. Yuck.
Also, if you're stuck on marvellous AT&T, you won't get the update. In which case, you can debrand the phone and get the stock SE 2.1 firmware (can be done by oneself or can buy the service from DaVinci, Wotan, etc...)
Granted, it's inescapable to have all my devices' components China-free, but I can't help feeling smug about my Samsung phone (Korea), IBM laptop (USA), and HP calculator (USA).
A Pentium 4 Thinkpad? Does that mean it's one of those monster G or A series machines? I always loved those beasts.
As an addendum, older hardware is totally feasible--I'm using an IBM R51 (1.6GHz Pentium M, 1GB of RAM) just fine for Java work+basic office tasks/web browsing.
Funny, many of the posts here that point out the feasibility of older hardware seem to refer to Thinkpads--they're neither cheap nor pretty, but they're pretty awesome.
The huge stack on my 48G+is nice, but the calculator I go back to again and again is the single-line (!) display on my 15C. And I grew up with the TI-83+ et all, so it's not even a matter of what I saw first. There has never been a better scientific calculator than the beast that is the 15C. The batteries last for decades, the buttons are perfect, and they're damn hard to kill at that. Too bad the only Voyager still sold is the 12C...I know an awful lot of 40+ year olds who wish they still had/had another 15C.
Oh, and if you think the HP35 is a rip-off, try looking up what it costs to get a 15C today...
The one exception is the SE Xperia X10--it can be reflashed with a debranded firmware that allows sideloading, as well as ditching all ATT crapware...no hacks/terminal use required. Still, ATT doesn't exactly encourage this.
Yup, spot-on. OHMSS had the closest thing to an unmolested Fleming story, had a fantastic score, and happened to be one of the best Fleming original stories, at that. Unfortunately, it made no sense how Blofeld didn't recognize Bond, since the movie producers swapped the order of OHMSS and You Only Live Twice (nevermind trashing the original YOLT story). Originally, SPECTRE was part of a three-story arc (Thunderball-->OHMSS-->YOLT), but that disappeared due to From Russia With Love using SPECTRE as the villain instead of SMERSH (for political reasons, one assumes). That said, if you can accept the SMERSH/SPECTRE swap, FRWL is is a pretty good take on Fleming's idea of 007, too.
The new Casino Royale actually did a pretty good job, but the movie would have been far better if they'd kept Fleming's original ending (Vesper commits suicide in the middle of the night at a seaside hotel, leaving Bond a suicide note explaining her double-cross), rather than turning it into crazy action hysterics with sinking Venetian buildings/gunfights etc.
I'm still holding out for a proper Moonraker movie, though--using the book's plot--including the chapter-long side story where Bond and M play bridge (no joke!)
The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people, A TUMULTUOUS NOISE OF THE KINGDOMS OF NATIONS GATHERED TOGETHER! THE LORD OF RINGS, MUSTERETH THE RINGS, OF THE BATTLE! they come from a far country...from the end of heaven, EVEN THE RING! And the weapons of his indignation...TO DESTROY THE WHOLE LAND! Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces, and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb! Their eyes shall not spare hobbits! --with apologies to Isaiah and Randall Thompson.
Er. The T60p never had anything better than a 1600x1200 screen as stock (the 15" 4:3 Flexview). The QXGA screen you have was only ever available on the R50p.
That said, Thinkpads from a few years back (think 2005-2006ish) were top of class, no argument. Not so much with their current offerings.
Agreed. As the owner of several Apple laptops as well as Thinkpads, the Apple keyboards are middling at best. (Personally, I don't even like the flat-topped keys on any keyboard, preferring the concave keys on a "traditional" board...but that much is up for argument. Decent quality switches and overall rigidity really aren't.
The first-generation Macbook Pros were nothing special in terms of build quality, but up until now, the unibody machines had been rather good. If you're not paying for build quality, what ARE you getting (hardware-wise) for the extra money, given that most of Apple's components are industry standard now?
I suppose this is a good reminder that regardless of the brand, most electronics are coming out of the same crappy Chinese factories.
Ah. The adapters aren't too pricey (~20USD if I recall correctly) Again, the main constraint is if you've stuck with a machine that only takes 1.8" drives (X4x)--in that case you're stuck buying one of relatively few, low-capacity, high-cost SSDs. That said, I can understand why you would want a newer machine for other reasons, just thought I'd point out that you could do the SSD if it were the main sticking point:)
Which Thinkpad do you have that won't take an SSD? Any T/R/X60 or higher has SATA support, and I know you can go back as far as a T/R/X40 and use one with an inexpensive adapter (To be fair an X40 can only take a specialized 1.8" drive, but if you're complaining about the size of your current machine, it's probably not an X40...)
In short, no. Their business-class machines (T, X, W (replaced TxxP series) are still far better than your average consumer-grade machine, but they're not as far ahead of the pack as they used to be. The plastics aren't as good, and they're clearly being built more to a price than a purpose. With that said, I'd still buy a T-series before virtually anything else out there today; they're still quite solid/good, and remain one of the few truly user-serviceable/fixable machines on the market. Look out for the "SL" series etc; they're cheap disposable consumer-grade machines with a Thinkpad badge. The X100 is also questionable.
The last of the fantastic machines were the T60 and the X61--the T61 was arguably as good as the T61, but most were saddled with the defective Nvidia 8-series GPUs (not a Lenovo design fault, but they still end up as lemons). The X61 is really just an X60 with Core2Duo support and a higher RAM ceiling. My father's X61 has been bulletproof.
I personally love my T60p, and plan to keep it until it fails catastrophically. It's the last of the super-solid T-series (see note on T61 above). Any T60 can have a Core2Duo dropped in if it didn't ship with one, and they're the first T-series with SATA hard drive support, the magnesium skeleton, etc. A loaded T60(p) will have 64-bit support, Wireless-N, and decent graphics (options ranged from a GMA950 (slow but power-efficient/cool) to a FireGL V5250 (same hardware as an X1700). The icing on the cake is that they're nearly the last ones available with 4:3 aspect ration screens--getting 1400x1050 in a 14" screen is lovely, and some of the 15" models even had IPS screens.
Long story short: current "real" Thinkpads (T,X,W) are not as good as they used to be, but still better than 90%+ of what else is on the market. The last fantastic Thinkpads were from 2006/2007; one in nice shape/bought refurbished will last like your older machine, more or less.
I went through essentially the same process this year; all you need to do is sell your overpriced/overvalued Apple hardware and use that money for a (maybe slightly used) Thinkpad, preferably a T-series. Heck, I made a profit switching from a Macbook Pro to a Thinkpad, and ended up with faster, newer, more capable hardware. (high-end Thinkpads are fantastic on their own merits, but stand out for being some of the most Linux-friendly laptops around...of course, if you just need a desktop, the job's even easier).
It was a fantastic game, yes. Not sure it was so successful, though--I remember seeing literally dozens of copies in the bargain bin at Office Depot back in the 90s (anecdotal evidence, yes). Also, FWIW, it was one of the last games to use the original Doom engine.
A good place for streaming classical commercial-free is "theclassicalstation.org"
It's an ad-free station run out of North Carolina...if you can get past their occasional telethons, they're fantastic. They even have Ogg streams!
Oops. That should have been "If only the acting persona of Dalton...."
This would have given the truest representation of a Fleming book come to life. While Connery in his prime (FRWL through Thunderball) is far more fun, Dalton really was the best personality match for the original book character.
Dalton is unquestionably the best actor to ever play 007, so this shouldn't really be a surprise. With that said, the presence of Connery in From Russia With Love is unbeatable. A pity that he looked bored and a bit paunchy by the time he got to You Only Live Twice (then again, with that horrid ignoring/butchering of a perfectly good novel, how could you really blame the boredom?)
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Er, how exactly are you arguing that Quicktime X is better than Quicktime 7 Pro? Sure, some newer video types are supported, but it went from being a useful editor to being a dumbed-down player. Yuck.
Also, if you're stuck on marvellous AT&T, you won't get the update. In which case, you can debrand the phone and get the stock SE 2.1 firmware (can be done by oneself or can buy the service from DaVinci, Wotan, etc...)
Not any longer, no. But up through the R52/T43 Thinkpads, there was limited US production.
Granted, it's inescapable to have all my devices' components China-free, but I can't help feeling smug about my Samsung phone (Korea), IBM laptop (USA), and HP calculator (USA).
A Pentium 4 Thinkpad? Does that mean it's one of those monster G or A series machines? I always loved those beasts. As an addendum, older hardware is totally feasible--I'm using an IBM R51 (1.6GHz Pentium M, 1GB of RAM) just fine for Java work+basic office tasks/web browsing. Funny, many of the posts here that point out the feasibility of older hardware seem to refer to Thinkpads--they're neither cheap nor pretty, but they're pretty awesome.
While I agree with your premise, 4*(0)==0...
The huge stack on my 48G+is nice, but the calculator I go back to again and again is the single-line (!) display on my 15C. And I grew up with the TI-83+ et all, so it's not even a matter of what I saw first. There has never been a better scientific calculator than the beast that is the 15C. The batteries last for decades, the buttons are perfect, and they're damn hard to kill at that. Too bad the only Voyager still sold is the 12C...I know an awful lot of 40+ year olds who wish they still had/had another 15C. Oh, and if you think the HP35 is a rip-off, try looking up what it costs to get a 15C today...
The one exception is the SE Xperia X10--it can be reflashed with a debranded firmware that allows sideloading, as well as ditching all ATT crapware...no hacks/terminal use required. Still, ATT doesn't exactly encourage this.
Yup, spot-on. OHMSS had the closest thing to an unmolested Fleming story, had a fantastic score, and happened to be one of the best Fleming original stories, at that. Unfortunately, it made no sense how Blofeld didn't recognize Bond, since the movie producers swapped the order of OHMSS and You Only Live Twice (nevermind trashing the original YOLT story). Originally, SPECTRE was part of a three-story arc (Thunderball-->OHMSS-->YOLT), but that disappeared due to From Russia With Love using SPECTRE as the villain instead of SMERSH (for political reasons, one assumes). That said, if you can accept the SMERSH/SPECTRE swap, FRWL is is a pretty good take on Fleming's idea of 007, too. The new Casino Royale actually did a pretty good job, but the movie would have been far better if they'd kept Fleming's original ending (Vesper commits suicide in the middle of the night at a seaside hotel, leaving Bond a suicide note explaining her double-cross), rather than turning it into crazy action hysterics with sinking Venetian buildings/gunfights etc. I'm still holding out for a proper Moonraker movie, though--using the book's plot--including the chapter-long side story where Bond and M play bridge (no joke!)
The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people, A TUMULTUOUS NOISE OF THE KINGDOMS OF NATIONS GATHERED TOGETHER! THE LORD OF RINGS, MUSTERETH THE RINGS, OF THE BATTLE! they come from a far country...from the end of heaven, EVEN THE RING! And the weapons of his indignation...TO DESTROY THE WHOLE LAND! Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces, and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb! Their eyes shall not spare hobbits! --with apologies to Isaiah and Randall Thompson.
Same story for me with the Sony "NGP"--I think Neo Geo Pocket, and then wonder why Sony's making an SNK product....
(Top of class with regard to screen quality, that is.)
Er. The T60p never had anything better than a 1600x1200 screen as stock (the 15" 4:3 Flexview). The QXGA screen you have was only ever available on the R50p. That said, Thinkpads from a few years back (think 2005-2006ish) were top of class, no argument. Not so much with their current offerings.
Agreed. As the owner of several Apple laptops as well as Thinkpads, the Apple keyboards are middling at best. (Personally, I don't even like the flat-topped keys on any keyboard, preferring the concave keys on a "traditional" board...but that much is up for argument. Decent quality switches and overall rigidity really aren't.
Was I the only one geeky enough to be pleased at the sight of KDE 3.x on "Zuckerberg's" laptops in the movie?
The first-generation Macbook Pros were nothing special in terms of build quality, but up until now, the unibody machines had been rather good. If you're not paying for build quality, what ARE you getting (hardware-wise) for the extra money, given that most of Apple's components are industry standard now? I suppose this is a good reminder that regardless of the brand, most electronics are coming out of the same crappy Chinese factories.
Ah. The adapters aren't too pricey (~20USD if I recall correctly) Again, the main constraint is if you've stuck with a machine that only takes 1.8" drives (X4x)--in that case you're stuck buying one of relatively few, low-capacity, high-cost SSDs. That said, I can understand why you would want a newer machine for other reasons, just thought I'd point out that you could do the SSD if it were the main sticking point :)
Which Thinkpad do you have that won't take an SSD? Any T/R/X60 or higher has SATA support, and I know you can go back as far as a T/R/X40 and use one with an inexpensive adapter (To be fair an X40 can only take a specialized 1.8" drive, but if you're complaining about the size of your current machine, it's probably not an X40...)
In short, no. Their business-class machines (T, X, W (replaced TxxP series) are still far better than your average consumer-grade machine, but they're not as far ahead of the pack as they used to be. The plastics aren't as good, and they're clearly being built more to a price than a purpose. With that said, I'd still buy a T-series before virtually anything else out there today; they're still quite solid/good, and remain one of the few truly user-serviceable/fixable machines on the market. Look out for the "SL" series etc; they're cheap disposable consumer-grade machines with a Thinkpad badge. The X100 is also questionable. The last of the fantastic machines were the T60 and the X61--the T61 was arguably as good as the T61, but most were saddled with the defective Nvidia 8-series GPUs (not a Lenovo design fault, but they still end up as lemons). The X61 is really just an X60 with Core2Duo support and a higher RAM ceiling. My father's X61 has been bulletproof. I personally love my T60p, and plan to keep it until it fails catastrophically. It's the last of the super-solid T-series (see note on T61 above). Any T60 can have a Core2Duo dropped in if it didn't ship with one, and they're the first T-series with SATA hard drive support, the magnesium skeleton, etc. A loaded T60(p) will have 64-bit support, Wireless-N, and decent graphics (options ranged from a GMA950 (slow but power-efficient/cool) to a FireGL V5250 (same hardware as an X1700). The icing on the cake is that they're nearly the last ones available with 4:3 aspect ration screens--getting 1400x1050 in a 14" screen is lovely, and some of the 15" models even had IPS screens. Long story short: current "real" Thinkpads (T,X,W) are not as good as they used to be, but still better than 90%+ of what else is on the market. The last fantastic Thinkpads were from 2006/2007; one in nice shape/bought refurbished will last like your older machine, more or less.
My preference is in italiano: "chiocciola"--snail. It's rather fun to get to refer to your email address as "sysiphus snail wind.it" (etc)
I went through essentially the same process this year; all you need to do is sell your overpriced/overvalued Apple hardware and use that money for a (maybe slightly used) Thinkpad, preferably a T-series. Heck, I made a profit switching from a Macbook Pro to a Thinkpad, and ended up with faster, newer, more capable hardware. (high-end Thinkpads are fantastic on their own merits, but stand out for being some of the most Linux-friendly laptops around...of course, if you just need a desktop, the job's even easier).
It was a fantastic game, yes. Not sure it was so successful, though--I remember seeing literally dozens of copies in the bargain bin at Office Depot back in the 90s (anecdotal evidence, yes). Also, FWIW, it was one of the last games to use the original Doom engine.
A good place for streaming classical commercial-free is "theclassicalstation.org" It's an ad-free station run out of North Carolina...if you can get past their occasional telethons, they're fantastic. They even have Ogg streams!
Oops. That should have been "If only the acting persona of Dalton...." This would have given the truest representation of a Fleming book come to life. While Connery in his prime (FRWL through Thunderball) is far more fun, Dalton really was the best personality match for the original book character.
Dalton is unquestionably the best actor to ever play 007, so this shouldn't really be a surprise. With that said, the presence of Connery in From Russia With Love is unbeatable. A pity that he looked bored and a bit paunchy by the time he got to You Only Live Twice (then again, with that horrid ignoring/butchering of a perfectly good novel, how could you really blame the boredom?)