Have you ever seen a pimped out car? I'm guessing not. Pimped cars are rarely very fast, or very pratical machines. I'm guessing that his pimped out computer is likely painted some gaudy color, has a bunch of those lights in and around it, several harddrives to hold all the por--I mean media files, and probably has shag carpeting glued to atleast one of the sides. What games it can play is irrelevant.
You're not allowed to "get by", you're given the minimum requirements (which are the recommended requirements for software like AutoCAD) and told to head to financial aid if you can't afford it. No cutting edge computer means no degree.
I don't get this attitude. So long as you get the work in, what do they care if it was done on a top of the line machine, or a school lab computer, or some old clunker? Sure, I can see them making recommendations, but otherwise it just seems like a ploy to make students spend even more money they don't have.
If you are so concerned about graphics and video capability, then I would be pretty leary of this $899 iMac, with its weak integrated graphics and lack of a DVD burner (and no cheap and easy way to upgrade either one too), to say nothing of the small screen. And you better hope that your school's video conferencing software supports OSX.
Don't forget that if you are at university for 4 years, thats 8 semesters, thats 16 trips to and from school. Carrying a tower, display, speakers and power supplies 16X!...or a 2" thin iMac?
With the Dell coming in at half the cost of the iMac, the obvious solution is to buy two of them, and leave one at home:)
I guess you mean linux, because all other OSes are going to cost you quite a bit of money. Unless you're a thief.
I don't see how it would cost any money or involve something illegal unless you wanted to use OS/2 Warp or something. If you want to use XP, just use the license that came with the machine. Pretty much every other OS (Linux, BSD, Solaris, FreeDos...) would cost nothing.
While I don't think it's misleading, atleast it's better than the first Mac Mini's, where you pretty much had to have a USB hub if you wanted to hook any USB device up to it after you had the mouse/keyboard connected.
Besides, who needs a bunch of USB ports in a typical educational environment? An extra one for USB memory sticks is probably all you need.
The really sad thing is that even on the $300 Dell, adding a DVD burner is a quick and easy upgrade for $40 or so. Not so on the $900 iMac. And as you also mention, it would be nice to have a headless version, as most schools I know already have piles of working 17" CRTs that they don't know what to do with (that is, unless they were suckered into buying Apple's previous all-in-one options).
I would disagree. Most important thing, if you ask me, would be to get a dual core 64bit chip. As for memory, just make sure you have an extra slot (or two) open. A couple of years down the road when you start hurting for more ram, that memory upgrade will be an easy thing to install, and will probably be pretty cheap to boot. Upgrading your processor is a lot harder, if not impossible depending on the laptop.
Ebay...Ebay...I can only *dream* of the *luxury* of getting my machines on Ebay... I have to get all my computers from dumpster diving.
What's so bad about that? People are throwing out high end P3 and lower end P4 systems now, along with 17" flat CRT monitors. Pretty much all the computer you would need right now, so long as you don't game.
That is, unless you want a quality laptop with MacOS X.
That is, if you can afford it, which is the whole point of this discussion. I know when I went to college, I didn't have the money laying around to buy Apple kit. PCs are just plain cheaper, especially in the used market.
The question is: why don't computer manufacturers make these cheap computers?
They tried with things like WebTV and various internet/email appliances. The problem is that they are too limited, usually tied to some monthly service, and don't reach the economies of scale that Dell does, so they don't end up being that much cheaper after all.
With that said, other devices that perform computer functions "good enough" (such as PDAs) may step in as a cheap computer.
It seems to me that that sort of argument undervalues your time, your data, and a comfortable state of mind.
Either that, or said user is clueful enough that they don't have a problem Windows free from malware with a minimum amount of time spent. Or they run Linux.
You think the banks pay for this kind of fraund? Hell no. They just pass it back onto the merchants, who end up most of the time stuck without the item(s) and without the cash they should of gotten for it. Sure, the large corporations just brush it off, but it can sting pretty hard for the little guy.
How else to you explain the occasional case of wealthy people who can't resist stealing small items from shops, even though they could easily have afforded to pay for them?
Easy. It's the thrill of taking something you shouldn't, and getting away with it. To simply buy the item would be boring.
It's too bad I find windows so damn annoying, or else I'd be able to leave Apple behind and not look back. Right now I can't figure out what I want to do.
If cell phones are such a menace, why aren't more people dying in auto accidents?
Do you think it might have to do with the fact that the typical car in 2004 has airbags and is likely to have ABS brakes, while the typical car in 1994 would have neither?
If only a Wintel BIOS-based PC could look as good.
Have you booted any OEM computer in the last few years? They pretty much now all have splash screens that cover up the old messages the BIOS used to throw out. If you enable quick boot, on many of them it goes by so fast that by the time the monitor powers on you are already at the Windows XP logo.
Yes, I do. CRTs are still 1/3 the price of LCDs and I don't know of anybody that has ever seen a dead pixel willing to invest so much money in an LCD monitor.
1/3 the price? Try free. I pretty much can't give away 15-17" CRTs nowadays, unless they are flat screen Trinitrons. It seems that everyone wants LCDs nowadays - and the few holdouts I know with CRTs just don't want to spend the cash for a LCD (especially when I more than happy to let them take a 17" CRT off my hands), or use one as a dual head for graphics work.
Though I agree, dead pixels are annoying, as well as LCDs with a lousy VGA connection.
Which would only result in the spammers finding some way around the countermeasures. It would end up being a never ending war between the people running the search engine, and the people trying to game the search engine.
That said, I think we're going to see a turn around with the generation in college right now, less divorces, less stupidity because it seems that more and more young people are sick and tied of the bullshit.
As someone who recently graduated from college, you've got to be joking. This generation mostly takes after the generations before it. Lots of whining, avoids taking responsibility for anything, obsessed with material goods, likes getting drunk and having a good time, views college as just another step to landing a job rather than a place to learn, isn't concerned with many issues in the world today, and doesn't take marriage or relationships seriously at all. The generation after is looking to be worse, as the constant connectivity seems to have created a generation of people who can't think for themselves. Both in the sense that they can't seem to make even a trivial decision without surveying atleast half a dozen friends, and in the sense that they seem to rely on the computer and the internet for things like spelling and general knowledge, rather than learning it for themselves. Atleast I remember back when cellphones and internet connectivity weren't commonplace.
The DIY PC crowd equilivent to "Don't buy Apple first gen hardware" is something like "Don't buy cheap power supplies". I'm sure most of us can point to some example of a $5 "350W" power supply that has been running solid for years - but that doesn't stop us from telling people not to use them.
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Have you ever seen a pimped out car? I'm guessing not. Pimped cars are rarely very fast, or very pratical machines. I'm guessing that his pimped out computer is likely painted some gaudy color, has a bunch of those lights in and around it, several harddrives to hold all the por--I mean media files, and probably has shag carpeting glued to atleast one of the sides. What games it can play is irrelevant.
You're not allowed to "get by", you're given the minimum requirements (which are the recommended requirements for software like AutoCAD) and told to head to financial aid if you can't afford it. No cutting edge computer means no degree.
I don't get this attitude. So long as you get the work in, what do they care if it was done on a top of the line machine, or a school lab computer, or some old clunker? Sure, I can see them making recommendations, but otherwise it just seems like a ploy to make students spend even more money they don't have.
If you are so concerned about graphics and video capability, then I would be pretty leary of this $899 iMac, with its weak integrated graphics and lack of a DVD burner (and no cheap and easy way to upgrade either one too), to say nothing of the small screen. And you better hope that your school's video conferencing software supports OSX.
Don't forget that if you are at university for 4 years, thats 8 semesters, thats 16 trips to and from school. ...or a 2" thin iMac?
:)
Carrying a tower, display, speakers and power supplies 16X!
With the Dell coming in at half the cost of the iMac, the obvious solution is to buy two of them, and leave one at home
I guess you mean linux, because all other OSes are going to cost you quite a bit of money. Unless you're a thief.
I don't see how it would cost any money or involve something illegal unless you wanted to use OS/2 Warp or something. If you want to use XP, just use the license that came with the machine. Pretty much every other OS (Linux, BSD, Solaris, FreeDos...) would cost nothing.
While I don't think it's misleading, atleast it's better than the first Mac Mini's, where you pretty much had to have a USB hub if you wanted to hook any USB device up to it after you had the mouse/keyboard connected.
Besides, who needs a bunch of USB ports in a typical educational environment? An extra one for USB memory sticks is probably all you need.
The really sad thing is that even on the $300 Dell, adding a DVD burner is a quick and easy upgrade for $40 or so. Not so on the $900 iMac. And as you also mention, it would be nice to have a headless version, as most schools I know already have piles of working 17" CRTs that they don't know what to do with (that is, unless they were suckered into buying Apple's previous all-in-one options).
I would disagree. Most important thing, if you ask me, would be to get a dual core 64bit chip. As for memory, just make sure you have an extra slot (or two) open. A couple of years down the road when you start hurting for more ram, that memory upgrade will be an easy thing to install, and will probably be pretty cheap to boot. Upgrading your processor is a lot harder, if not impossible depending on the laptop.
Ebay...Ebay...I can only *dream* of the *luxury* of getting my machines on Ebay... I have to get all my computers from dumpster diving.
What's so bad about that? People are throwing out high end P3 and lower end P4 systems now, along with 17" flat CRT monitors. Pretty much all the computer you would need right now, so long as you don't game.
That is, unless you want a quality laptop with MacOS X.
That is, if you can afford it, which is the whole point of this discussion. I know when I went to college, I didn't have the money laying around to buy Apple kit. PCs are just plain cheaper, especially in the used market.
17" LCD is equivalent to 19" CRT. that's quite large in my opinion.
Not really. It's a 17" Wide screen, which means it's not even as nice as a good 17" CRT which can be driven at 1280x1024 resolution.
The question is: why don't computer manufacturers make these cheap computers?
They tried with things like WebTV and various internet/email appliances. The problem is that they are too limited, usually tied to some monthly service, and don't reach the economies of scale that Dell does, so they don't end up being that much cheaper after all.
With that said, other devices that perform computer functions "good enough" (such as PDAs) may step in as a cheap computer.
It seems to me that that sort of argument undervalues your time, your data, and a comfortable state of mind.
Either that, or said user is clueful enough that they don't have a problem Windows free from malware with a minimum amount of time spent. Or they run Linux.
You think the banks pay for this kind of fraund? Hell no. They just pass it back onto the merchants, who end up most of the time stuck without the item(s) and without the cash they should of gotten for it. Sure, the large corporations just brush it off, but it can sting pretty hard for the little guy.
How else to you explain the occasional case of wealthy people who can't resist stealing small items from shops, even though they could easily have afforded to pay for them?
Easy. It's the thrill of taking something you shouldn't, and getting away with it. To simply buy the item would be boring.
It's too bad I find windows so damn annoying, or else I'd be able to leave Apple behind and not look back. Right now I can't figure out what I want to do.
You could always switch to Ubuntu.
If cell phones are such a menace, why aren't more people dying in auto accidents?
Do you think it might have to do with the fact that the typical car in 2004 has airbags and is likely to have ABS brakes, while the typical car in 1994 would have neither?
Maybe they pay lower insurance because they are more price sensitive?
If only a Wintel BIOS-based PC could look as good.
Have you booted any OEM computer in the last few years? They pretty much now all have splash screens that cover up the old messages the BIOS used to throw out. If you enable quick boot, on many of them it goes by so fast that by the time the monitor powers on you are already at the Windows XP logo.
Yes, I do. CRTs are still 1/3 the price of LCDs and I don't know of anybody that has ever seen a dead pixel willing to invest so much money in an LCD monitor.
1/3 the price? Try free. I pretty much can't give away 15-17" CRTs nowadays, unless they are flat screen Trinitrons. It seems that everyone wants LCDs nowadays - and the few holdouts I know with CRTs just don't want to spend the cash for a LCD (especially when I more than happy to let them take a 17" CRT off my hands), or use one as a dual head for graphics work.
Though I agree, dead pixels are annoying, as well as LCDs with a lousy VGA connection.
You know, I think he meant a Pentium 0.49999999756463...
Which would only result in the spammers finding some way around the countermeasures. It would end up being a never ending war between the people running the search engine, and the people trying to game the search engine.
Have you ever tried to take apart an eMac (or any of the CRT iMacs for that matter)?
That said, I think we're going to see a turn around with the generation in college right now, less divorces, less stupidity because it seems that more and more young people are sick and tied of the bullshit.
As someone who recently graduated from college, you've got to be joking. This generation mostly takes after the generations before it. Lots of whining, avoids taking responsibility for anything, obsessed with material goods, likes getting drunk and having a good time, views college as just another step to landing a job rather than a place to learn, isn't concerned with many issues in the world today, and doesn't take marriage or relationships seriously at all. The generation after is looking to be worse, as the constant connectivity seems to have created a generation of people who can't think for themselves. Both in the sense that they can't seem to make even a trivial decision without surveying atleast half a dozen friends, and in the sense that they seem to rely on the computer and the internet for things like spelling and general knowledge, rather than learning it for themselves. Atleast I remember back when cellphones and internet connectivity weren't commonplace.
The DIY PC crowd equilivent to "Don't buy Apple first gen hardware" is something like "Don't buy cheap power supplies". I'm sure most of us can point to some example of a $5 "350W" power supply that has been running solid for years - but that doesn't stop us from telling people not to use them.