Why don't you learn something, like reading comprehension?
I was using the term "pro" for cards capable of doing 3D for quality and use pro 3D apps vs 3D for speed in games.
As part of comprehension, can you put out where I said anything about speed or gaming?
And I've already said in this thread that the cards usually could be upgraded to the "pro"/quatro version since it was the same GPUs but sold for different markets and that they was marked up in price a lot due to that. And that your laptop price comparison didn't made much sense because of that since the Quatro cards are overpriced.
You did say Bullshit, you didn't knew what I meant in the first place, the Macbook Pro DON'T have a Quadro card but it's still just fine for your purpose. As I posted people say the GeForce and Quatro cards are the same. They may be wrong but if so can you cite where they are not?
In any case it's useless discussing it with you since you will always be focused on your opinion/bias and want to interpret things in ways which suits you.
Yeah it's a waste of tyme discussing this with you, because of your bias not mine. I've provided links to back up what I say but all you do is talk without backing it up. If you can't use reason I see no reason to continue.
You're not locked into a single aftermarket vendor, no. But if you want a Mac, you're locked into buying that (both operating system and "base" computer) from Apple.
When I bought my HP, if I had wanted Linux I would have had to make a special order, directly from HP. So I bought an HP off the shelf, along with another graphics card and HDD to make it a dual head, dualboot system. Only afterwards did I find out it was not compatible with Linux. And HP was trumpeting about how Linux friendly they were.
I'd like to get CS4 but before I spend the money on it I want to try CinePaint first. Since I didn't get the Mac version, which requires X11 and isn't a native Mac port, to work I'm thinking of installing Ubuntu on my Mac so I can try it out. I'd also like a book on it but I haven't found one. Googling for tutorials doesn't produce any tutorials on using CinePaint, something like half of the webpages I visited were on GIMP.
I've got XP in a VirtualBox VM
If I install Ubuntu on my Mac it will be as a dualboot system. I'll then install VM software in both Leopard and Ubuntu so I can run one OS when I boot into the other. I know Parallels and VMWare can do this, but I don't know if VirtualBox can. I read it was planned but not ready yet.
As I do photography and graphics I need a pro card.
Bullshit, you didn't knew what I meant in the first place, the Macbook Pro DON'T have a Quadro card but it's still just fine for your purpose, nd so would a PC with a similar card.
This is Bullshit, photography does need a pro card. For print work at least. And my MBP has a GeForce 8600M GT which according to at least one person GeForce's and Quatro's are same card...just tailored to do different things..
for photography you don't want the sort of screen they have on a laptop..... not unless there are any laptops with PVA or sIPS panels out there...
That's why I'm looking for a big external monitor for editing. A laptop display can be used on site to browse photos and see which ones are good and which aren't. The graphics card in my MacBook Pro can drive a larger 1920 X 1200, or whatever, monitor. New MBPs can drive bigger, higher resolution monitors. As for panel techs, while M/PVAs may be good for games they aren't for photography or graphic design, though they are better than the TN panels laptops come with. Using an external monitor though the laptop display can be used to hold all the pallets and tools for when editing a photo on the external monitor. Oh, about S-IPS panels, H-IPS are better. If I could find a local store that carried one I'd like to look at the HP LP2475W which has an H-IPS panel. But it doesn't have an internal LUT, Look-up table. Otherwise you're looking at Eizo, LaCie, or NEC monitors which cost above $1000.
2009 here... reminding you that Apple runs x86 hardware from Intel and to look at the pricing on the mini.
Look at the price of the Mac Pro as compared to Dell, HP, and Levono.
Hate to break to you but Intel/nvidia/seagate/etc supply the same hardware to Apple, Dell, HP, and so on.
I already knew that. My 20 month old MBP's graphics is a GeForce 8600M GT. The DVD drive is a MatshitaDVD-R UJ-85J. I replaced the original Seagate HDD with another Seagate.
Besides. $100 for a *wired* keyboard and mouse and that's the *cheapest* option? Get real.
Apple's online store shows 3 Apple keyboards, a plain keyboard for $50, one with a numeric keypad for $50 and a wireless keyboard for $80. The cheapest keyboard is a Kensington keyboard for $40. The store also has two Apple mice, a wired one for $50 and a wireless one for $70. It also shows third mice for less. It even lists 3 Microsoft mice, one for $100. Personally I don't use a mouse, instead I use a Logitech trackball, for both my Linux PC and my Mac. So all I can think of the above statement of yours is it is FUD.
BTW, you know that GIMP's "niche printing issues" would almost never bother a photographer, right?
Other than GIMP not being capable of more than 8 bits per colour channel, I don't know or recall about GIMP's "niche printing issues".
I really want to try CinePaint but I haven't found an online tutorial on using it, even CinePaint's online tutorial does not say how to use it. And unlike GIMP for which there are books, including the one being reviewed here, I haven't been able to find one for CinePaint. If you search Amazon books you get some results for it but they are about Linux and only mention CinePaint. Bookpool shows none. Searching Google for cinepiant books shows books on GIMP but not CinePaint.
Well not just Apple all the point apply just as well to the premium Windows OEMs They are all charging extra for a brand name or the point of difference attached to the brand name.
Apple was singled out in the post I replied to, GP didn't say anything about any other computer maker.
Are you really spending almost $3000 on a laptop? You can get refurb (same warranty) Studio 17's for a bit over $600, and a new one with Blu-Ray and a 1920x1200 screen for about $1000.
And it comes with Windows right? No way.
If you can get one with Ubuntu, what is it's graphics? Is it good for graphics and photography? Can it display 2560 by 1600 pixels on an external monitor? What size and speed is the HDD? Is it at least 320 GB 7200 RPM? Does it have Firewire 800?
For design and photography I want the hardware to be good, high res display, large and fast HDD, Firewire 800. And no USB 2 doesn't cut it. I have two external HDDs, a 500 GB 7200 RPM USB2 and a 750 GB 7200 RPM Firewire 800, both Iomegas and the Firewire drive is so much faster than the USB 2 drive.
I've only seen Apple do this so good luck finding another system if you demand it, but it's an unintresting point and you can get PC laptops with other GPUs
More than likely they come with Windows though and unless or until Microsoft changes it's policy if I have a choice I will not get another Windows PC. I do not like being treated like a criminal!!!
Interesting. So you're an atheist where Poseidon is concerned, but an agnostic where Yahweh (or whomever) is concerned?
Yeap.
So is it fair to say that you're monotheistically agnostic, but polytheistic-ally atheistic?
Nope, I'm monotheistically and polytheistically agnostic. It's interesting you bring up polytheism, being agnostic myself I don't believe it but I had friends who are Wiccans or Pagans which are polytheistic
actually there is an objective-c compiler in the gnu compiler collection (gcc). And the openstep project uses objc for its applications and libraries. Openstep applications run on any Unix and in most cases these applications also compile on Mac OS X, because the API is compatible.
Okay, Objective-C does work with Linux as well as OS X. Can it be used for Windows though?
This issue went away in 10.0. The point of my post earlier was the person was saying XP was the equivalent of OS X 10.0, by the points I mentioned above, the stability, breakage in OS X 10.0 does not really compare well to XP at all.
I'm not sure if you mean 10.0 or XP was more stable but my point was that the first tyme I booted up XP it froze and I don't call that stable.
I'm not sure if it would be that difficult to read a document in the WordPerfect 5.1 format right now since the current version of WordPerfect and both OpenOffice.org and StarOffice will open the file.
It depends on whether the file format was proprietary, and MS's OOXML is proprietary. OO.org can open some MS file formats but it does not display them all correctly.
However I see where the problem may be, in your "default assumption".
It's a very sane and powerful default. Without it, grown adults would have to go around admitting that they're merely agnostic about leprechauns, Poseidon, and the tooth fairy - for not knowing how to prove their non-existence.
I believe leprechauns, Poseidon, and the tooth fairy don't exist. On the other hand I have no belief one way or the other about the existence of a deity. One, Atheism, says X does not exist and the other, Agnosticism, says Y may or may not exist.
What I find ironic is that I run into people who think Macs are only good for games.
That's a first for me.
I haven't heard it lately but I used to hear people say a Mac was only good for playing with. Perhaps Apple marketing has let people know Macs can do more.
What about the DXZone?
Nothing much different there unfortunately.
Sorry.
There are always those who swear by a particular platform, I will say the log book software available for Macs is pretty good... (But I use a spreadsheet anyway). When it comes to the other amateur radio applications -- not so great.
I agree some swear by different platforms. I get riled and carried away myself when I hear or read people say they need Windows because they have to be able to run MS Office or something else not realizing Office is available for OS X and there are other apps that can do the same for both Linux and OS X. But I try to keep in mnd a person should get a platform based on what they need to do and not on specific software.
I wanted to get my license myself but I had a hard tyme with Morse Code.
Fortunately, the morsecode requirement has been recently dropped in the UK and USA.
I heard Morse Code was dropped but I couldn't confirm it. Was the requirement that you design and build your own transceiver dropped too? Though it's been many years and my memory is bad I'm pretty sure I can relearn the electronics.
Because I plan to do graphics and photography I'd prefer a larger display and higher resolution. Now if a larger and higher res screen isn't needed or wanted then there's no use getting them.
a 200 GB, 7200 RPM hard-drive
I replaced the 160 GB, 7200 RPM hard drive with a 320 GB 27200 RPM drive, which was the biggest I could find for the MBP. When I got it 160 GB was the biggest HDD that was 7200 RPM.
and Vista Bussiness (I use Windows for games
I neither play games nor want MS Windows.
At the time, a MacBook Pro with a similar configuration had a cost of 2500 euros. Now, this was in Spain, I have heard that in USA macs are cheaper.
I don't know about prices in Spain and you may be right that Macs are more expensive there.
PS: about having a big screen and HDD... I have it plugged to an external 22" display and a 500 GB eSATA drive. Plenty of space.
I've been looking for a larger external monitor, I'd prefer at least a 24". Unfortunately I haven't found anyplace around where I live that carries good ones. A lot of people order or say to order online but I want to look and test before I buy and I want someplace local I can take it to if I have a problem. As for storage, I have two external drive. I have a 500GB USB 2 and a 750 GB Firewire 800 drive. However I got a laptop because I want to be able to take it with me and even if I have a USB or Firewire powered HDD the batteries would not last long. I love hiking and got a second battery but still that's not much power to last while hiking. Maybe I could carry more batteries but I've rather carry more camera equipment. I want to shoot both digital and film.
The first tyme I booted up a PC with XP it froze while booting, And it was installed on a brand new PC.
A single failed boot up is not really enough to determine if it's unstable. I will say that on 10.0, I had system crashes at random intervals, across a few systems - I could never figure out what caused that, but it went away in 10.2.
True but a frozen first boot is not good. While I've consistently had problems with Windows PCs, both hardware and OS, I've not had much trouble with Macs. I've bought two used Macs, the first lasted 8 years and the second 7 years without problems. At the tyme I couldn't afford a new computer. I've also bought 4 new PCs, three of which the hard disk and motherboard had to be replaced in the first year.
Finder kept crashing on me while doing basic file operations
I've had trouble occasionally with Finder but nothing like the routine problems I had with Windows Explorer. In the 20 months I've had my Mac I have not had to reinstall the OS once, yet I had to do that with my Windows PCs.
Finger kept reporting files on SMB shares were 1MB in size.
Finder locks folders on SMB shares and does not release the locks when closed.
I admit I haven't used either Finger or SMB so can't say there isn't a problem with them.
Webdav couldn't even use digest on OS X, worked fine in XP.
Same here.
A few times after system crashes, the system wouldn't boot because system files had some how got corrupted.
I've had a few system crashes but using Disk Utilities to repair the disk or Permissions fixed them. At no tyme would the OS not boot up.
iDisk would get hopeless stuck on mounting.
I don't use iDisk. Actually I don't know what it is, is it part of.mac or Mobile Me? Now both of my Iomega external hard disk drives, one using USB 2 and the other Firewire 800, work fine. Of course Firewire 800 is much faster, and it pisses me off that Apple deicided to drop Firewire.
The DRM has mostly been removed, although they charge you something like $0.30/song to remove the DRM from old purchases.
The DRM isn't lockin but even if it was it's easy to remove. iTunes can burn songs, even iTunes store bought music, to CD and it not have any DRM. iTunes can then read and rip CDs and add music to your library.
when I bought a new computer (a mac book pro), and installed iTunes on it
Ah, now I know you're talking BS. Macs come with iTunes installed.
first, 'upgrade' was referring to using drivers that reenable the disabled features of the pro card's drivers.
If a pro card is installed but features are disabled that's stupid, and I don't want to be a customer of said business. All this does is increase the cost.
secondly, unless your photography somehow involves high end opengl 3d acceleration needs, then i think you have been misled about what the 'pro' card gives you
Fact is is that while online graphics may not need much it's totally different for print. High res and deep colour depths are important for some things. If you're getting married and higher a photographer you want your photos to be as good as they can be. The same if you're an ad or commercial photographer or a fine art photographer. Pro photographers can go through tyme, hassle, and money to make sure what they see on their monitor matches what they print. An Eizo monitor, even a 24" can cost thousands of dollars. NEC and LaCie are just as expensive. Monitors with an S-IPS/H-IPS type panel can be quite expensive, but of you make your living in photography or other graphics arts you need such a monitor. Once you have a good monitor you then have to use a colorimeter like an Eye-one or Huey to calibrate the monitor. If you're also doing the printing yourself and not having a pro lab do it you also have to calibrate the printer. Going through all this you don't want a cheap graphics card driving your monitor.
The quadro card is still a useless overpriced GPU for the pro market, you pay for being able to use it with higher quality but often it's possible to use a consumer card and "upgrade" it to a pro card.
I have never seen a laptop, Windows or Mac, the user can upgrade the graphics card on.
Nvidia do this because they can, but one is retarded if one get a pro card if one don't need it.
As I do photography and graphics I need a pro card. I actually searched for an Expresscard/34 card that had a higher resolution and could drive a bigger monitor.
Oh the horrors of having multiple hundreds of models and configurations to choose from!
The hard part, not really hard unless you miss some but tyme consuming, is looking in a bunch of places to find the right one. If all the laptops were in one place and were easy to compare it wouldn't be a problem.
Back when you bought yours the Air didn't existed, it was released around that time frame thought, maybe 15 months ago or something like that.
The Air was released a few months later, so it was even easier to compare Mac laptop models.
you have to get the Macbook Pro to get decent graphics but whatever mac you get the low-end model will always be crippled and the one "you want" is probably the mid model but it will cost at a much higher price decreasing the value even more (and forcing you to get options you don't need or want.)
No, I wanted the top of the line, I got it for graphics and development. And if I had gotten a laptop other than a Mac I would have had to get something I didn't want Windows. I don't like it when a company treats me like a criminal. The only other option was a laptop with Linux preinstalled, however I know of no place locally I could take it if I have a problem with it. I'm also not a Linux guru and wouldn't know how to install something like Photoshop.
I don't see how you can see choice as a problem, the more alternatives to higher chance you find something which suits you at a decent cost.
I love choices, what I don't like is having to jump all over the place to compare models.
Let me guess that you've put a lot of optionals into that one? Look at base systems, and Dell isn't the only PC manufacture out there, also if you look at Dell only buy something with a price cut / value add-on.
Before I got my MacBook Pro I checked out several difference laptops from different companies, not just Dell.
" Studio XPS 16
As the name implies the Studio XPS 16 has a 16" display, I wanted as big a display as I could get. I've only ever seen one laptop with a bigger display that 17", a 21" laptop with Windows preinstalled, but like I said above I hate being treated like a criminal when I patronize a business. And that's what Microsoft does.
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition SP1, 64-bit
Edge-to-Edge FullHD Widescreen 16.0 inch RGBLED LCD (1920x1080) W/2.0 MP
Slashdot Mirror
Why don't you learn something, like reading comprehension?
I was using the term "pro" for cards capable of doing 3D for quality and use pro 3D apps vs 3D for speed in games.
As part of comprehension, can you put out where I said anything about speed or gaming?
And I've already said in this thread that the cards usually could be upgraded to the "pro"/quatro version since it was the same GPUs but sold for different markets and that they was marked up in price a lot due to that. And that your laptop price comparison didn't made much sense because of that since the Quatro cards are overpriced.
You did say Bullshit, you didn't knew what I meant in the first place, the Macbook Pro DON'T have a Quadro card but it's still just fine for your purpose. As I posted people say the GeForce and Quatro cards are the same. They may be wrong but if so can you cite where they are not?
In any case it's useless discussing it with you since you will always be focused on your opinion/bias and want to interpret things in ways which suits you.
Yeah it's a waste of tyme discussing this with you, because of your bias not mine. I've provided links to back up what I say but all you do is talk without backing it up. If you can't use reason I see no reason to continue.
Falcon
You're not locked into a single aftermarket vendor, no. But if you want a Mac, you're locked into buying that (both operating system and "base" computer) from Apple.
When I bought my HP, if I had wanted Linux I would have had to make a special order, directly from HP. So I bought an HP off the shelf, along with another graphics card and HDD to make it a dual head, dualboot system. Only afterwards did I find out it was not compatible with Linux. And HP was trumpeting about how Linux friendly they were.
I can and may install Ubuntu on my Mac as well.
Falcon
I've got CS4 running in WINE
I'd like to get CS4 but before I spend the money on it I want to try CinePaint first. Since I didn't get the Mac version, which requires X11 and isn't a native Mac port, to work I'm thinking of installing Ubuntu on my Mac so I can try it out. I'd also like a book on it but I haven't found one. Googling for tutorials doesn't produce any tutorials on using CinePaint, something like half of the webpages I visited were on GIMP.
I've got XP in a VirtualBox VM
If I install Ubuntu on my Mac it will be as a dualboot system. I'll then install VM software in both Leopard and Ubuntu so I can run one OS when I boot into the other. I know Parallels and VMWare can do this, but I don't know if VirtualBox can. I read it was planned but not ready yet.
Falcon
As I do photography and graphics I need a pro card.
Bullshit, you didn't knew what I meant in the first place, the Macbook Pro DON'T have a Quadro card but it's still just fine for your purpose, nd so would a PC with a similar card.
This is Bullshit, photography does need a pro card. For print work at least. And my MBP has a GeForce 8600M GT which according to at least one person GeForce's and Quatro's are same card...just tailored to do different things..
Falcon
for photography you don't want the sort of screen they have on a laptop..... not unless there are any laptops with PVA or sIPS panels out there...
That's why I'm looking for a big external monitor for editing. A laptop display can be used on site to browse photos and see which ones are good and which aren't. The graphics card in my MacBook Pro can drive a larger 1920 X 1200, or whatever, monitor. New MBPs can drive bigger, higher resolution monitors. As for panel techs, while M/PVAs may be good for games they aren't for photography or graphic design, though they are better than the TN panels laptops come with. Using an external monitor though the laptop display can be used to hold all the pallets and tools for when editing a photo on the external monitor. Oh, about S-IPS panels, H-IPS are better. If I could find a local store that carried one I'd like to look at the HP LP2475W which has an H-IPS panel. But it doesn't have an internal LUT, Look-up table. Otherwise you're looking at Eizo, LaCie, or NEC monitors which cost above $1000.
Falcon
2009 here ... reminding you that Apple runs x86 hardware from Intel and to look at the pricing on the mini.
Look at the price of the Mac Pro as compared to Dell, HP, and Levono.
Hate to break to you but Intel/nvidia/seagate/etc supply the same hardware to Apple, Dell, HP, and so on.
I already knew that. My 20 month old MBP's graphics is a GeForce 8600M GT. The DVD drive is a MatshitaDVD-R UJ-85J. I replaced the original Seagate HDD with another Seagate.
Besides. $100 for a *wired* keyboard and mouse and that's the *cheapest* option? Get real.
Apple's online store shows 3 Apple keyboards, a plain keyboard for $50, one with a numeric keypad for $50 and a wireless keyboard for $80. The cheapest keyboard is a Kensington keyboard for $40. The store also has two Apple mice, a wired one for $50 and a wireless one for $70. It also shows third mice for less. It even lists 3 Microsoft mice, one for $100. Personally I don't use a mouse, instead I use a Logitech trackball, for both my Linux PC and my Mac. So all I can think of the above statement of yours is it is FUD.
Falcon
BTW, you know that GIMP's "niche printing issues" would almost never bother a photographer, right?
Other than GIMP not being capable of more than 8 bits per colour channel, I don't know or recall about GIMP's "niche printing issues".
I really want to try CinePaint but I haven't found an online tutorial on using it, even CinePaint's online tutorial does not say how to use it. And unlike GIMP for which there are books, including the one being reviewed here, I haven't been able to find one for CinePaint. If you search Amazon books you get some results for it but they are about Linux and only mention CinePaint. Bookpool shows none. Searching Google for cinepiant books shows books on GIMP but not CinePaint.
Falcon
Well not just Apple all the point apply just as well to the premium Windows OEMs They are all charging extra for a brand name or the point of difference attached to the brand name.
Apple was singled out in the post I replied to, GP didn't say anything about any other computer maker.
Falcon
Are you really spending almost $3000 on a laptop? You can get refurb (same warranty) Studio 17's for a bit over $600, and a new one with Blu-Ray and a 1920x1200 screen for about $1000.
And it comes with Windows right? No way.
If you can get one with Ubuntu, what is it's graphics? Is it good for graphics and photography? Can it display 2560 by 1600 pixels on an external monitor? What size and speed is the HDD? Is it at least 320 GB 7200 RPM? Does it have Firewire 800?
For design and photography I want the hardware to be good, high res display, large and fast HDD, Firewire 800. And no USB 2 doesn't cut it. I have two external HDDs, a 500 GB 7200 RPM USB2 and a 750 GB 7200 RPM Firewire 800, both Iomegas and the Firewire drive is so much faster than the USB 2 drive.
Falcon
I've only seen Apple do this so good luck finding another system if you demand it, but it's an unintresting point and you can get PC laptops with other GPUs
More than likely they come with Windows though and unless or until Microsoft changes it's policy if I have a choice I will not get another Windows PC. I do not like being treated like a criminal!!!
Falcon
Interesting. So you're an atheist where Poseidon is concerned, but an agnostic where Yahweh (or whomever) is concerned?
Yeap.
So is it fair to say that you're monotheistically agnostic, but polytheistic-ally atheistic?
Nope, I'm monotheistically and polytheistically agnostic. It's interesting you bring up polytheism, being agnostic myself I don't believe it but I had friends who are Wiccans or Pagans which are polytheistic
.
Falcon
actually there is an objective-c compiler in the gnu compiler collection (gcc). And the openstep project uses objc for its applications and libraries. Openstep applications run on any Unix and in most cases these applications also compile on Mac OS X, because the API is compatible.
Okay, Objective-C does work with Linux as well as OS X. Can it be used for Windows though?
Falcon
Was the requirement that you design and build your own transceiver dropped too?
Actually, that's to do with building some kind of device, you can't build a transceiver, because you're not licensed to use it, so you can't test it
A friend of mine and I built one, well not really a transceiver but a receiver, we left out the transmitter.
With what seems like everything else, I wonder if shortwave radios are also moving to digital broadcasting.
Falcon
This issue went away in 10.0. The point of my post earlier was the person was saying XP was the equivalent of OS X 10.0, by the points I mentioned above, the stability, breakage in OS X 10.0 does not really compare well to XP at all.
I'm not sure if you mean 10.0 or XP was more stable but my point was that the first tyme I booted up XP it froze and I don't call that stable.
Falcon
I'm not sure if it would be that difficult to read a document in the WordPerfect 5.1 format right now since the current version of WordPerfect and both OpenOffice.org and StarOffice will open the file.
It depends on whether the file format was proprietary, and MS's OOXML is proprietary. OO.org can open some MS file formats but it does not display them all correctly.
Falcon
However I see where the problem may be, in your "default assumption".
It's a very sane and powerful default. Without it, grown adults would have to go around admitting that they're merely agnostic about leprechauns, Poseidon, and the tooth fairy - for not knowing how to prove their non-existence.
I believe leprechauns, Poseidon, and the tooth fairy don't exist. On the other hand I have no belief one way or the other about the existence of a deity. One, Atheism, says X does not exist and the other, Agnosticism, says Y may or may not exist.
Falcon
What I find ironic is that I run into people who think Macs are only good for games.
That's a first for me.
I haven't heard it lately but I used to hear people say a Mac was only good for playing with. Perhaps Apple marketing has let people know Macs can do more.
What about the DXZone?
Nothing much different there unfortunately.
Sorry.
There are always those who swear by a particular platform, I will say the log book software available for Macs is pretty good... (But I use a spreadsheet anyway). When it comes to the other amateur radio applications -- not so great.
I agree some swear by different platforms. I get riled and carried away myself when I hear or read people say they need Windows because they have to be able to run MS Office or something else not realizing Office is available for OS X and there are other apps that can do the same for both Linux and OS X. But I try to keep in mnd a person should get a platform based on what they need to do and not on specific software.
I wanted to get my license myself but I had a hard tyme with Morse Code.
Fortunately, the morsecode requirement has been recently dropped in the UK and USA.
I heard Morse Code was dropped but I couldn't confirm it. Was the requirement that you design and build your own transceiver dropped too? Though it's been many years and my memory is bad I'm pretty sure I can relearn the electronics.
Falcon
with a Core 2 Duo T9400
Is it 2.53GHz? The MBP comes with a 2.66GHz cpu.
15" matte 1440x900 display
Because I plan to do graphics and photography I'd prefer a larger display and higher resolution. Now if a larger and higher res screen isn't needed or wanted then there's no use getting them.
a 200 GB, 7200 RPM hard-drive
I replaced the 160 GB, 7200 RPM hard drive with a 320 GB 27200 RPM drive, which was the biggest I could find for the MBP. When I got it 160 GB was the biggest HDD that was 7200 RPM.
and Vista Bussiness (I use Windows for games
I neither play games nor want MS Windows.
At the time, a MacBook Pro with a similar configuration had a cost of 2500 euros. Now, this was in Spain, I have heard that in USA macs are cheaper.
I don't know about prices in Spain and you may be right that Macs are more expensive there.
PS: about having a big screen and HDD... I have it plugged to an external 22" display and a 500 GB eSATA drive. Plenty of space.
I've been looking for a larger external monitor, I'd prefer at least a 24". Unfortunately I haven't found anyplace around where I live that carries good ones. A lot of people order or say to order online but I want to look and test before I buy and I want someplace local I can take it to if I have a problem. As for storage, I have two external drive. I have a 500GB USB 2 and a 750 GB Firewire 800 drive. However I got a laptop because I want to be able to take it with me and even if I have a USB or Firewire powered HDD the batteries would not last long. I love hiking and got a second battery but still that's not much power to last while hiking. Maybe I could carry more batteries but I've rather carry more camera equipment. I want to shoot both digital and film.
Falcon
The first tyme I booted up a PC with XP it froze while booting, And it was installed on a brand new PC.
A single failed boot up is not really enough to determine if it's unstable. I will say that on 10.0, I had system crashes at random intervals, across a few systems - I could never figure out what caused that, but it went away in 10.2.
True but a frozen first boot is not good. While I've consistently had problems with Windows PCs, both hardware and OS, I've not had much trouble with Macs. I've bought two used Macs, the first lasted 8 years and the second 7 years without problems. At the tyme I couldn't afford a new computer. I've also bought 4 new PCs, three of which the hard disk and motherboard had to be replaced in the first year.
Finder kept crashing on me while doing basic file operations
I've had trouble occasionally with Finder but nothing like the routine problems I had with Windows Explorer. In the 20 months I've had my Mac I have not had to reinstall the OS once, yet I had to do that with my Windows PCs.
Finger kept reporting files on SMB shares were 1MB in size.
Finder locks folders on SMB shares and does not release the locks when closed.
I admit I haven't used either Finger or SMB so can't say there isn't a problem with them.
Webdav couldn't even use digest on OS X, worked fine in XP.
Same here.
A few times after system crashes, the system wouldn't boot because system files had some how got corrupted.
I've had a few system crashes but using Disk Utilities to repair the disk or Permissions fixed them. At no tyme would the OS not boot up.
iDisk would get hopeless stuck on mounting.
I don't use iDisk. Actually I don't know what it is, is it part of .mac or Mobile Me? Now both of my Iomega external hard disk drives, one using USB 2 and the other Firewire 800, work fine. Of course Firewire 800 is much faster, and it pisses me off that Apple deicided to drop Firewire.
Falcon
Someone who does not believe in god is an athiest.
No, an atheist is someone who denies a god exists. There is a big difference between denying a god exists and not believing one does.
Falcon
The DRM has mostly been removed, although they charge you something like $0.30/song to remove the DRM from old purchases.
The DRM isn't lockin but even if it was it's easy to remove. iTunes can burn songs, even iTunes store bought music, to CD and it not have any DRM. iTunes can then read and rip CDs and add music to your library.
when I bought a new computer (a mac book pro), and installed iTunes on it
Ah, now I know you're talking BS. Macs come with iTunes installed.
Falcon
first, 'upgrade' was referring to using drivers that reenable the disabled features of the pro card's drivers.
If a pro card is installed but features are disabled that's stupid, and I don't want to be a customer of said business. All this does is increase the cost.
secondly, unless your photography somehow involves high end opengl 3d acceleration needs, then i think you have been misled about what the 'pro' card gives you
Fact is is that while online graphics may not need much it's totally different for print. High res and deep colour depths are important for some things. If you're getting married and higher a photographer you want your photos to be as good as they can be. The same if you're an ad or commercial photographer or a fine art photographer. Pro photographers can go through tyme, hassle, and money to make sure what they see on their monitor matches what they print. An Eizo monitor, even a 24" can cost thousands of dollars. NEC and LaCie are just as expensive. Monitors with an S-IPS/H-IPS type panel can be quite expensive, but of you make your living in photography or other graphics arts you need such a monitor. Once you have a good monitor you then have to use a colorimeter like an Eye-one or Huey to calibrate the monitor. If you're also doing the printing yourself and not having a pro lab do it you also have to calibrate the printer. Going through all this you don't want a cheap graphics card driving your monitor.
Falcon
At least MS issues patches when they fix it
What is Patch Tuesday then?
Falcon
The quadro card is still a useless overpriced GPU for the pro market, you pay for being able to use it with higher quality but often it's possible to use a consumer card and "upgrade" it to a pro card.
I have never seen a laptop, Windows or Mac, the user can upgrade the graphics card on.
Nvidia do this because they can, but one is retarded if one get a pro card if one don't need it.
As I do photography and graphics I need a pro card. I actually searched for an Expresscard/34 card that had a higher resolution and could drive a bigger monitor.
Falcon
Oh the horrors of having multiple hundreds of models and configurations to choose from!
The hard part, not really hard unless you miss some but tyme consuming, is looking in a bunch of places to find the right one. If all the laptops were in one place and were easy to compare it wouldn't be a problem.
Back when you bought yours the Air didn't existed, it was released around that time frame thought, maybe 15 months ago or something like that.
The Air was released a few months later, so it was even easier to compare Mac laptop models.
you have to get the Macbook Pro to get decent graphics but whatever mac you get the low-end model will always be crippled and the one "you want" is probably the mid model but it will cost at a much higher price decreasing the value even more (and forcing you to get options you don't need or want.)
No, I wanted the top of the line, I got it for graphics and development. And if I had gotten a laptop other than a Mac I would have had to get something I didn't want Windows. I don't like it when a company treats me like a criminal. The only other option was a laptop with Linux preinstalled, however I know of no place locally I could take it if I have a problem with it. I'm also not a Linux guru and wouldn't know how to install something like Photoshop.
I don't see how you can see choice as a problem, the more alternatives to higher chance you find something which suits you at a decent cost.
I love choices, what I don't like is having to jump all over the place to compare models.
Let me guess that you've put a lot of optionals into that one? Look at base systems, and Dell isn't the only PC manufacture out there, also if you look at Dell only buy something with a price cut / value add-on.
Before I got my MacBook Pro I checked out several difference laptops from different companies, not just Dell.
" Studio XPS 16
As the name implies the Studio XPS 16 has a 16" display, I wanted as big a display as I could get. I've only ever seen one laptop with a bigger display that 17", a 21" laptop with Windows preinstalled, but like I said above I hate being treated like a criminal when I patronize a business. And that's what Microsoft does.
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition SP1, 64-bit
Edge-to-Edge FullHD Widescreen 16.0 inch RGBLED LCD (1920x1080) W/2.0 MP
See above.
Falcon