I think, specifically, it was PC users that wanted Apple to offer cheaper hardware.
"Only on slashdot do I honestly think we'll see people buying $1000 worth of Apple Intel hardware for $2000, and put XP on it."
Apple has healthy profit margins on hardware, but not 100%. Let's keep the drama-queening to a minimum here. I have found it very difficult to spec-out and price one of Dell's better laptops or one of Powernotebook.com's better offerings without bumping into the $2,000 range to get everything I want.
"Other than that, what is the point of running XP on a Mac/Intel box? To be cool?"
To have a unified machine that will work in the office (lots of Windows-specific apps) or home (OS X all the way). This is something that I think lots of businesspeople will find appealing. One of my co-workers, who is just a regular computer user, loves this idea. If he didn't have to make a laptop purchase in 2005 for tax deduction purposes, he would have waited until Feb. '06 for this machine.
Apple has a lot of potential here to turn the MacBook into the must-have business laptop.
"You know the anthropic universe principle? That the universe seems fine tuned for life?"
That reminds me of another Slashdotter's signature. Maybe we only think it's fine-tuned for life, because if it wasn't, we wouldn't be in the first place and able to observe it.
I also use a Happy Hacking Keyboard Lite 2. I do have a need for a numeric keypad for work purposes (punching numbers into spreadsheets). I purchased an IBM-branded USB numeric keypad for 20 or 30 dollars. It's really thin and I simply plug it into one of the USB ports on the keyboard. I've got my mouse plugged into the second USB port on the keyboard, so there is only one USB cable actually going into my laptop. Having the numeric keypad separate from the keyboard gives you lots of flexibilit in positioning. I prefer a sort of rightward-sweeping arc that starts with my keyboard in front of me, then the numpad up and out about 6 inches, and then the mouse.
It's a play on the "Mini Me" character from Austin Powers. Here is the marketing mind trick: Apple has a system called the Mac Mini already that you know about. Now, you'll hear about the "Mobile Me." In your head the two ideas will mix together and you'll think "hehe, that reminds me of Mini Me from Austin Powers! Those Apple guys are pretty cool." You'll then get a warm fuzzy feeling about Apple because their product names make you think of characters in popular fiction. Pure...fscking...genius.
"One question I have yet to see answered here is - why downgrade from Mac OS X to Wintendo?"
I'll respond to the troll...some of us grown-ups also need to use Windows for our *jobs*. Although the need for Windows is on the decline since we have Office for OS X and lots of web-enabled apps, there are just some programs that will never get ported to OS X. I don't have time to play ego games of which OS is better (obviously OS X though); all I need to concern myself with is which tools will let me do what I need.
Once someone can confirm that XP works just fine on a Macbook along with OS X, I'm going straight to apple.com and buying one, fully tricked out. I need to use Windows for my work, period. This machine is the holy grail that will let me have one machine for home and office. Right now I'm using a Dell laptop at work and my iBook G4 at home. I could use my Dell laptop at home, but quite frankly I prefer OS X and the iBook frazzles me less at the end of the day.
Someone would be bound to complain about it even if it was an option that you had to turn on. The article submission would have read something to the effect of "Nifty hidden feature in iTunes has a nasty secret." You can't please everybody.
"SPAM = USPS advertising that clutters up your mailbox."
Bad analogy. Advertising received via the postal service is paid for by the advertisers. I have to pay for the receipt and storage of spam. On a much more tangible parallel, I also have to pay for paper and toner costs for junk faxes.
"I want to run my business utilizing every right I was born with -- including speech. If you don't want my e-mails, you can run a white list and bounce everything not in it. Problem solved, by the free market."
Do it on your own dime...my bandwidth and server space cost me money. Funny how you're all for the "free market" until one of its finer points inconveniences you.
Ironically, Snapple gunks up their beverages with high fructose corn syrup, which is among the worst stuff on Earth you can put in your body. Thanks corn council!
Perhaps a nice and simple heroin habit to ween her off the game? Then perhaps another transition to Starcraft, then alcohol and eventually she'll just play the occasional game of Tetris like a normal girlfriend.
"put it this way: a laptop forces your body to conform to its design. a desktop is forced to conform to your body's design."
Not necessarily true. I make my laptop suit my needs. My coworkers are stuck with bulky desktop systems that I find very constrictive.
When I was shopping around for a laptop for work, I went about it with the view that I'm going to buy the best quality LCD monitor I could afford, with some computing bits hanging off the end. I ended up getting a Dell system with the Ultrasharp display; its' pretty much like looking at a piece of paper.
As for positioning flexibility? I can reposition the screen any way I want because I also purchased a separate Happy Hacking Lite 2 usb keyboard and an IBM usb numerical keypad, as well as a comfortable mouse.
I tried it and had a gripe, so I stopped using it.
on
Yahoo Launches Dashboard
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· Score: 2, Informative
I'm conditioned to hit Windows-D to drop back to my desktop when I need to get back to my desktop. Unfortunately, this simple and practical key combination also hides the widgets from my view, making them much less useful.
Stewie Griffin doesn't need a translator...
on
Yahoo IM Translator
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· Score: 1
That's about the same size as the power supply for the dual 17" LCDs on our Bloomberg terminal, which is fine, since it never gets moved. In the context of a console, however, that would pretty much preclude me from taking an Xbox 360 to a friend's house or even to another room if someone is using the HDTV for something else.
Slashdot Mirror
That is one of Michael Bloomberg's "things" to do at meetings.
"For years Mac users wanted cheaper hardware"
I think, specifically, it was PC users that wanted Apple to offer cheaper hardware.
"Only on slashdot do I honestly think we'll see people buying $1000 worth of Apple Intel hardware for $2000, and put XP on it."
Apple has healthy profit margins on hardware, but not 100%. Let's keep the drama-queening to a minimum here. I have found it very difficult to spec-out and price one of Dell's better laptops or one of Powernotebook.com's better offerings without bumping into the $2,000 range to get everything I want.
"Other than that, what is the point of running XP on a Mac/Intel box? To be cool?"
To have a unified machine that will work in the office (lots of Windows-specific apps) or home (OS X all the way). This is something that I think lots of businesspeople will find appealing. One of my co-workers, who is just a regular computer user, loves this idea. If he didn't have to make a laptop purchase in 2005 for tax deduction purposes, he would have waited until Feb. '06 for this machine.
Apple has a lot of potential here to turn the MacBook into the must-have business laptop.
"You know the anthropic universe principle? That the universe seems fine tuned for life?"
That reminds me of another Slashdotter's signature. Maybe we only think it's fine-tuned for life, because if it wasn't, we wouldn't be in the first place and able to observe it.
I also use a Happy Hacking Keyboard Lite 2. I do have a need for a numeric keypad for work purposes (punching numbers into spreadsheets). I purchased an IBM-branded USB numeric keypad for 20 or 30 dollars. It's really thin and I simply plug it into one of the USB ports on the keyboard. I've got my mouse plugged into the second USB port on the keyboard, so there is only one USB cable actually going into my laptop. Having the numeric keypad separate from the keyboard gives you lots of flexibilit in positioning. I prefer a sort of rightward-sweeping arc that starts with my keyboard in front of me, then the numpad up and out about 6 inches, and then the mouse.
No, they can't. Not that it matters to me as radio sucks anymore.
"So you wouldn't call Elvis Presley a musician?"
Of course not. Elvis was a singer.
It's a play on the "Mini Me" character from Austin Powers. Here is the marketing mind trick: Apple has a system called the Mac Mini already that you know about. Now, you'll hear about the "Mobile Me." In your head the two ideas will mix together and you'll think "hehe, that reminds me of Mini Me from Austin Powers! Those Apple guys are pretty cool." You'll then get a warm fuzzy feeling about Apple because their product names make you think of characters in popular fiction. Pure...fscking...genius.
Argh, beat me to the punch! Someone please mod this guy as either funny or insightful.
I'd say that Turing bot in your example mimmicks AOL's marketing department perfectly. Deploy!
Quite frankly, it would take an act of genocide on the scale of billions. If you're not ready for that, you're just blowing smoke.
"One question I have yet to see answered here is - why downgrade from Mac OS X to Wintendo?"
I'll respond to the troll...some of us grown-ups also need to use Windows for our *jobs*. Although the need for Windows is on the decline since we have Office for OS X and lots of web-enabled apps, there are just some programs that will never get ported to OS X. I don't have time to play ego games of which OS is better (obviously OS X though); all I need to concern myself with is which tools will let me do what I need.
Once someone can confirm that XP works just fine on a Macbook along with OS X, I'm going straight to apple.com and buying one, fully tricked out. I need to use Windows for my work, period. This machine is the holy grail that will let me have one machine for home and office. Right now I'm using a Dell laptop at work and my iBook G4 at home. I could use my Dell laptop at home, but quite frankly I prefer OS X and the iBook frazzles me less at the end of the day.
Someone would be bound to complain about it even if it was an option that you had to turn on. The article submission would have read something to the effect of "Nifty hidden feature in iTunes has a nasty secret." You can't please everybody.
"SPAM = USPS advertising that clutters up your mailbox."
Bad analogy. Advertising received via the postal service is paid for by the advertisers. I have to pay for the receipt and storage of spam. On a much more tangible parallel, I also have to pay for paper and toner costs for junk faxes.
"I want to run my business utilizing every right I was born with -- including speech. If you don't want my e-mails, you can run a white list and bounce everything not in it. Problem solved, by the free market."
Do it on your own dime...my bandwidth and server space cost me money. Funny how you're all for the "free market" until one of its finer points inconveniences you.
Ironically, Snapple gunks up their beverages with high fructose corn syrup, which is among the worst stuff on Earth you can put in your body. Thanks corn council!
Perhaps a nice and simple heroin habit to ween her off the game? Then perhaps another transition to Starcraft, then alcohol and eventually she'll just play the occasional game of Tetris like a normal girlfriend.
"put it this way: a laptop forces your body to conform to its design. a desktop is forced to conform to your body's design."
Not necessarily true. I make my laptop suit my needs. My coworkers are stuck with bulky desktop systems that I find very constrictive.
When I was shopping around for a laptop for work, I went about it with the view that I'm going to buy the best quality LCD monitor I could afford, with some computing bits hanging off the end. I ended up getting a Dell system with the Ultrasharp display; its' pretty much like looking at a piece of paper.
As for positioning flexibility? I can reposition the screen any way I want because I also purchased a separate Happy Hacking Lite 2 usb keyboard and an IBM usb numerical keypad, as well as a comfortable mouse.
I don't know much about astronomy, but putting it even on *that* scale makes me say, "wow, that is really, really close!"
A man with a letter "H" on his forehead was seen walking away.
Cmdrtaco & Drew Curtis should be on death row!
I'm conditioned to hit Windows-D to drop back to my desktop when I need to get back to my desktop. Unfortunately, this simple and practical key combination also hides the widgets from my view, making them much less useful.
Because a bullet sounds the same in any language!
"Don't get me started on Fox's cancellatino policies."
Tell me about it, I thought "House of Buggin'" was great, too!
That's about the same size as the power supply for the dual 17" LCDs on our Bloomberg terminal, which is fine, since it never gets moved. In the context of a console, however, that would pretty much preclude me from taking an Xbox 360 to a friend's house or even to another room if someone is using the HDTV for something else.