The iPod is like 18 months old. I'm a little puzzled as to why we haven't seen more devices based on the 1.8" drive (which are now down to about $99 retail for the 5 gig model, so why does an iPod still cost $299?).
In short, there isn't any competition, and I'm wondering why. Did Apple have some exclusive agreement that says no one else can use the drives? If typical price/performance curve for the PC industry had followed, I should be able to buy an iPod 'clone' for $150 (half the price of the Mac version) by now. Unless something fishy is going on...
Pay $15/month for unlimited 'local' calls on a normal phone and be done with it.
Where do you live? Here a Verizon landline costs $26 a month, just to have local calling. Consider that for $32 you can get a cell phone with 300 minutes, free nights, and free long distance, and you can understand why Americans hate landlines.
At the moment, telemarketers don't (can't?) call my cellular phone. I imagine they know which are cell phone number by the 3 digit prefix. This seems to work fine.
If, as stated in the article, number portability goes through and landline numbers can be moved to mobile phones and vice versa, what will stop the telemarketers from calling my cell phone?
I don't believe there is any money to be made from hardware sales. The profit margin is too small.
Apple Computer has the highest margins in the computer industry by far - much higher than Dell, Gateway, etc. who are selling their machines with very little markup.
Keep in mind that the only reason Apple prices remain high is that MAC USERS CONTINUE TO PAY THEM.
Apple could lower their prices quite a bit and stay profitable, but they obviously have decided that they can make more money charging a few people a lot of money than by charging many people a smaller amount of money. Personally, I disagree.
Someone PLEASE answer something for me. This guy has gone to all the trouble of fabricating his own custom cases, right? So why in the name of all that is holy would he stick a G4 motherboard with slots into a case the does not accomodate slots?!?!
This is the dumbest thing I've ever seen! The primary knock against cheap Macs like the iMac and eMac are that they can't be expanded. This guy has the solution sitting in his lap grrr.....!
Share stuff from room to room? Done. Share stuff from PVR to computer? Done. Share stuff with anyone else who can play.mpg files? Done. Why should I have to build my own PVR and hassle with interfacing it with Guide software, when SonicBlue's ReplayTV has been able to do these things since the 4000 series? Some people just like to do things the hard way, I suppose...
Monthly fee for as long as I want to use the device? Done.
Look into MAS if the currently 'common' interfaces don't work, I think you'll like it (MAS should become more common as time passes and it replaces the other sound servers).
LOL, I think that's sort of the point - the end user shouldn't have to think about interfaces, sound servers, and replacing one with the other!
Yep, you'll probably get slammed with "-1" for saying it, but you're absolutely right.
Having so much effort wasted on many different distributions is stupid. Can you imagine what type of improvements could have been made to Linux in general with the programming time invested in maintaining many different distributions?
I mean absolutely no offense to the developers working on College Linux. But would you trade College Linux for a working way to change resolution on the fly, reliable working sound interfaces, simple dual monitor setup, and other enhancements that users have come to expect from other operating systems? I would.
He did gripe about the speed of his iBook. My guess is if he had a faster tower, he'd have griped about the price.
Fact is, the Wintel notebooks that are available for less than the iBook don't lag. The iBook does.
Personally, I love OS X, but I don't see how anyone could use it on a daily basis. It's just too damn unresponsive!!!
No, I'm not kidding and this isn't a troll. I was just at the Apple store. The top of the line G4 towers they have on display there STILL feel slow, even the fastest ones with the latest 10.2 software.
EVERY browser runs slower on OS X than on Windows, so it doesn't really matter whether it was IE or not.
Note that I'm not saying "Macs suck" or "OS X sucks". But for every browser I've tried, the Windows version runs is faster than the Mac version. In some cases, lots faster. That includes IE, Mozilla, Opera, and Netscape.
As usual, Linux / Open source presents a simple and obvious solution. Linux, frankly, is so user hostile that no college student could ever use it to pirate music.
First the college student would have to get the video card and mouse working properly (no trivial task). Then, use a floppy disk to get the ethernet card drivers installed. If they managed to get past that step, they would still have to compile the P2P software. (As we know, almost nothing that you download every successfully compiles). Linux software is rarely (ever?) distributed in a user-friendly precompiled format, so the student can't go that route either.
After a while, the student will just give up and go back to smoking grass or whatever it is that college students do these days.
All in all, it's a virtual impossibility that anyone using Linux could figure out how to swap files, therefore, making all university students install Linux is the answer.
The iBook is still slow, even with 512 MB of RAM installed. Hell, for that matter, even the demo G4 towers at the Apple Store lag! Presumably Apple has their fastest, most impressive hardware on display, which is pretty depressing... sorry but OS X is STILL slow enough to drive me crazy.
Personal experience? Seriously, go back and read what I wrote. I said that a 700mhz PC runs browser, office suites, Photoshop, etc. faster than any of today's Macs, and yes, my experience bears that out.
Hell, I was just at the Apple Store a few days ago. The web browsers lag on their demo machines, which are presumably the best Apple has to offer at the moment.
That doesn't mean I'm saying that Macs are useless or dumb. But yes, I am disappointed with their speed. My 2 year old Wintels don't lag, and it frustrates me that new Macs do.
Regardless of whether it's even possible to add certain devices via FireWire, I think it's a dumb idea for the following reasons:
1. Almost every expansion device will be made in PCMCIA form factor. That can't be said for FireWire. When was the last time you saw a Firewire Ethernet card?
2. Who wants a bunch of dumb FireWire dongles and cords hanging off my laptop when I could have a nice, sleek PCMCIA card? I bought my laptop because I wanted a portable, all in one solution.
3. Eventually there will be faster devices that are too slow to work over FireWire - count on it. PCMCIA is basically the equivalent of a PCI slot.
Just because it's possible to conceivably expand the Powerbook via Firewire doesn't make it the best, or even a good way. PCMCIA was designed for a good reason and serves that purpose well - why not use it?
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I was considering switching to Dish to take advantage of their no-extra-charge PVR service. How's it working out?
Do I even need to say anything?
In short, there isn't any competition, and I'm wondering why. Did Apple have some exclusive agreement that says no one else can use the drives? If typical price/performance curve for the PC industry had followed, I should be able to buy an iPod 'clone' for $150 (half the price of the Mac version) by now. Unless something fishy is going on...
Where do you live? Here a Verizon landline costs $26 a month, just to have local calling. Consider that for $32 you can get a cell phone with 300 minutes, free nights, and free long distance, and you can understand why Americans hate landlines.
If, as stated in the article, number portability goes through and landline numbers can be moved to mobile phones and vice versa, what will stop the telemarketers from calling my cell phone?
Because that would grow marketshare, and Apple has proven time and time again that they aren't interested in doing that.
Apple Computer has the highest margins in the computer industry by far - much higher than Dell, Gateway, etc. who are selling their machines with very little markup.
Keep in mind that the only reason Apple prices remain high is that MAC USERS CONTINUE TO PAY THEM.
Apple could lower their prices quite a bit and stay profitable, but they obviously have decided that they can make more money charging a few people a lot of money than by charging many people a smaller amount of money. Personally, I disagree.
This is the dumbest thing I've ever seen! The primary knock against cheap Macs like the iMac and eMac are that they can't be expanded. This guy has the solution sitting in his lap grrr.....!
And Apple won't be able to "break" it in a future rev. without also breaking it for "real" G4 owners.
Monthly fee for as long as I want to use the device? Done.
LOL, I think that's sort of the point - the end user shouldn't have to think about interfaces, sound servers, and replacing one with the other!
Having so much effort wasted on many different distributions is stupid. Can you imagine what type of improvements could have been made to Linux in general with the programming time invested in maintaining many different distributions?
I mean absolutely no offense to the developers working on College Linux. But would you trade College Linux for a working way to change resolution on the fly, reliable working sound interfaces, simple dual monitor setup, and other enhancements that users have come to expect from other operating systems? I would.
Even today's low end $699 Celeron laptops don't lag. The iBook lags, even when loaded with RAM.
Macs are fucking slow, especially the web browsers. Patrick is telling the truth. So get over it.
Fact is, the Wintel notebooks that are available for less than the iBook don't lag. The iBook does.
Personally, I love OS X, but I don't see how anyone could use it on a daily basis. It's just too damn unresponsive!!!
No, I'm not kidding and this isn't a troll. I was just at the Apple store. The top of the line G4 towers they have on display there STILL feel slow, even the fastest ones with the latest 10.2 software.
Note that I'm not saying "Macs suck" or "OS X sucks". But for every browser I've tried, the Windows version runs is faster than the Mac version. In some cases, lots faster. That includes IE, Mozilla, Opera, and Netscape.
What kind of battery life are you getting on the 7135? Any better than a Treo?
Handspring Treo?
First the college student would have to get the video card and mouse working properly (no trivial task). Then, use a floppy disk to get the ethernet card drivers installed. If they managed to get past that step, they would still have to compile the P2P software. (As we know, almost nothing that you download every successfully compiles). Linux software is rarely (ever?) distributed in a user-friendly precompiled format, so the student can't go that route either.
After a while, the student will just give up and go back to smoking grass or whatever it is that college students do these days.
All in all, it's a virtual impossibility that anyone using Linux could figure out how to swap files, therefore, making all university students install Linux is the answer.
Sorry, I mean 512 extra, which would total 640.
The iBook is still slow, even with 512 MB of RAM installed. Hell, for that matter, even the demo G4 towers at the Apple Store lag! Presumably Apple has their fastest, most impressive hardware on display, which is pretty depressing... sorry but OS X is STILL slow enough to drive me crazy.
Definitely check out the HP Omnibook 5x0 series. Great, lightweight machine. Can't help you with the Windows license issue though.
Personal experience? Seriously, go back and read what I wrote. I said that a 700mhz PC runs browser, office suites, Photoshop, etc. faster than any of today's Macs, and yes, my experience bears that out.
Hell, I was just at the Apple Store a few days ago. The web browsers lag on their demo machines, which are presumably the best Apple has to offer at the moment.
That doesn't mean I'm saying that Macs are useless or dumb. But yes, I am disappointed with their speed. My 2 year old Wintels don't lag, and it frustrates me that new Macs do.
1. Almost every expansion device will be made in PCMCIA form factor. That can't be said for FireWire. When was the last time you saw a Firewire Ethernet card?
2. Who wants a bunch of dumb FireWire dongles and cords hanging off my laptop when I could have a nice, sleek PCMCIA card? I bought my laptop because I wanted a portable, all in one solution.
3. Eventually there will be faster devices that are too slow to work over FireWire - count on it. PCMCIA is basically the equivalent of a PCI slot.
Just because it's possible to conceivably expand the Powerbook via Firewire doesn't make it the best, or even a good way. PCMCIA was designed for a good reason and serves that purpose well - why not use it?
Sorry but USB is way too slow for the kind of devices that you could add via PCMCIA.