My route to purchasing equipment is very different than yours. Seems to me that you were just trying to justify your purchase because the equivalent MBP will be cheaper. When I buy equipment I figure out what I want and what I need first, then go from there.
I knew what I wanted before deciding what to get.
Needs:
Something more stable than Windows.
Something that didn't treat me as though I was a criminal.
A large monitor/LCD.
At least 160GB HDD.
At least 2GB, preferably 4GB, RAM.
Core 2 Duo
802.11N.
No built in graphics.
Wants;
Large high res monitor.
Firewire 800.
Multi boot OSes.
Film scanner.
For the monitor, I've been looking at at least 23" monitors and have been looking at Viewsonic, for graphics. I plan on doing a lot of photography and web design as well as try out 3D graphics and some programming. The built in 17" LCD I'll have the various pallets docked on and use the large monitor for the main window. At the same tyme while I'm out in the field, once I get a DSLR, I can use the 17" LCD on the laptop for preliminary photography work using Firewire to connect the camera to the laptop. With a thumbnail program, which I want to work on programming, I can quickly browse through to see what photos are keepers and what gets tossed.
Even if money was no object, I hate carrying large screens. I have a great desktop that I use at my desk, so for me my laptop is all about portability.
Even when considering portability I still want a large screen. My MBP is less than 7 lbs and seeing as how I used to ride my bike with 50 lbs in my backpack and I've hiked and backpacked carrying up to 100 lbs I might as well hang it up if I can't carry a MBP. Almost a year before I got the MBP I saw a laptop in Best Buy with a 21" LCD and went agog at the sight, if Apple had a 21" MBP I would have gotten it instead of the 17" I did get. The one problem I have is protecting it, keeping it dry and not letting it banged around. Then again I have the same problem with my camera equipment, film, which is why I'd like a film scanner.
We all do our purchases in different ways and I'm happy for you that you found the Macbook Pro the better deal. Personally I'm very happy with my Vostro. It's fast, portable and works great in Linux.
When I ordered my MBP I had planned on dualbooting it with Ubuntu but once I actually had it in hand I reevaluating installing Ubuntu. As I couldn't see what capability Ubuntu would add I decided not to install it.
Oh, and by doing web design on a Mac I can test the design in *nix, OS X, and Windows in different browsers without having to have a separate PC for each.
On a MacBook, if you hold two fingers on the track pad and click, you get the equivalent of a right click.
Thanks, but I just tried it and it didn't work. With two fingers on the pad it did the same as nothing on the pad. Ah, tried again, this tyme applying more pressure and it worked. Even so I think I like holding down the command key more.
I'd rather hear some intelligent reasons why anyone would choose to use a Mac over other faster, cheaper, more stable systems.
More stable? What OS do you mean? It certainly can't be Windows. After using various versions of Windows for more than 10 years, when it came tyme for me to get a new laptop I got a MacBook Pro. I have owned PCs with Windows 95, NT4, and ME and I have used PCs with 2000 and XP. The very first tyme I use XP it froze while booting up. On a brand new Dell. The only Window I did not have trouble with the OS was NT4, which I still have.
Faster? My MacBook Pro can run circles around any and all of the computers I've owned or used. And cheaper? Before I bought my MBP I compared the cost to similarly configured laptops from Dell and HP. While the HP was similarly priced the Dell was $200 more.
However the above is only part of why I decided to switch to OS X from Windows. I switched for 2 reasons. First because I hate not being able to use my computer when I want to. With the exception of my NT4 PC I have had hardware problems as well as problems with Windows. Whereas Macs have lasted for several years without problems, every Windows PC I bought new except the NT4 PC had the hdd and the motherboard die within a year. I also had to reinstall Windows a bunch of tymes for them. Secondly I don't want to be treated like a criminal like Microsoft does. I don't want to have to Activate my OS or software. Nor do I want to have the OS or software spying on me. My Mac can also run more software than any other computer out there. If I wanted to, barf, I can run Windows and Windows software on it. I can, and do, run *nix software on it. And I can run Mac software on it.
If you're willing to pay extra for the Apple experience or whatever, fine, that's cool. But let's not pretend Macs are at price parity when they're not. Nothing Apple sells is at price parity with comparable products from other vendors.
Before buying my MacBook Pro I compared it to similarly configured Dell and HP laptops. While the HP was similarly priced the Dell was about $200 more than the MBP. If I had bought the Dell I would have paid extra, money I could not afford.
I'm sorry, I need my right and middle button even when I'm not using an external mouse.
I had no problem opening this reply in a new tab to type it on my Macbook Pro. I simply held down the command key while clicking and the new tab opened right up. I can also open a new tab to type a reply by holding down the ctrl key while clicking then choosing "Open link in new tab".
What actually drove me nuts was the little things, like not having normal buttons for PgUp/PgDown, Delete etc.
Holding down the fn key while pressing the page down key pages the page I'm looking at down one and holding down the command key while pressing the page down takes the window down to the bottom of the last page.
I know there are shortcuts for that, but hey, I want to concentrate on what I'm doing and not on remembering wild combination for what should be single keys
I switched from Windows to OS X in August and within a few weeks I had no problems with the above.
And for drag and drop install/uninstall - ha! 99.9% of what I need is available from Apt
I can install software using the same methods software is install in Linux. MacPorts allows me to install RPMs and "Fink uses Debian tools like dpkg and apt-get to provide powerful binary package management."
Ah, yes. I had edited my post, and accidentally deleted that part. For a standalone editor I generally use Crimson Editor. Although its feature list is nominally similar, it just isn't as nice to use.
I liked Crimson Editor but I preferred TextPad, on Windows. On Linux I liked KATE and on Macs I like TextEdit. However I haven't done any coding on Linux or OS X yet.
I got my MacBook Pro a few months ago and before I ordered it I had planned on dualbooting with Ubuntu. However once I got it I thought more about installing Ubuntu, and after deciding Ubuntu doesn't offer me anything I could think of over OS X I decided not to install it. Download and install FOOS with apt-get or rmp? "Fink uses Debian tools like dpkg and apt-get to provide powerful binary package management." And MacPorts installs RPMs. I can install Linux and well as Mac software. Right now I see no reason to install any Linux distro on my MBP.
I don't know what a middle click, in X or elsewhere, is but my MacBook Pro has 3 clicks. A simple click is the left click, then by holding down the command key while clicking brings up one context menu and holding down the ctrl key while clicking brings up another context menu.
Is there a multi-button option for people with Apple laptops who want more than one button?
Yes there is. Macs can use two button mice with both buttons working. Macs actually have three buttons, indirectly. The regular click on the button is the left click, then you can also hold down the command key while clicking which brings up one context menu and holding down the ctrl key while clicking brings up a different context menu.
because a single button mouse in a major pain in the neither regions to use in X.
So my two button trackball won't work for me? When I moved from Windows to OS X when I got my MacBook Pro, I though having only one button instead of two would make it a hard move. So I got a two button trackball. However I found I actually have 3 buttons now. The regular click, the command click, and the ctrl click when using the trackpad. I even got to where I can do both the command click and ctrl click with one hand.
I bought a Dell Vostro 1400 with a Core 2 Duo, 2 gigs of ram, 14" 1440x900 gloss screen, 120gb HD, 2 Megapixel webcam, Bluetooth, 11g Wifi and DVD Burner for $650 last year.
I'm typing this on my new MacBook Pro. Before I ordered it I compared the price of a Dell laptop configured close to the MBP and the Dell was about $200 more than my MBP. But I didn't stop with Dell, I also tried an HP, which was the same price as the MBP. Of course I paid a lot more than $650, more than 3 tymes that. Then again instead of it having a 14" LCD, it's got one that's 17". While big enough for being portable, it's too small when working at my desk.
The answer to "Who Owns Your Social Data?" is in the question itself. It's like asking..."Who owns your shirt?" Of course me. I repeat...I own my property. Period.
Do you, or does the people represented by the data own the data? As TFA says "The problem is that while the profile data may be yours and yours alone, your address book contains the names and e-mail addresses of your friends, family and business contacts." Those people should be able to control that data. Unless I have the ok of whoever is represented by the data, I don't share it with others. Even my pocket address and phone book.
Having said that, as TFA doesn't male clear and I'm not a member of Facebook, or with the exceptions of/. and Yahoo!, any other social network I don't know if the data is shared or not. It just may be that the data is still private and he may of just been doing something like when cellphones became popular and people started entering contact info from the pocket books into their cellphones.
I know. I've done it and made that point above. But it costs time, CDs, and degrades the audio.
Personally I think digital music is a degradation from analogue anyway. Some have pointed out that qualitatively digital can be as good, or better, than analogue. However this is only true when a high bitrate, or whatever, is used to make the CDs. And how often do the studios use high quality measures when making CDs?
The 2 that I like are Gore and Paul, but neither will make it (gore for not running, and paul for No chance in hell unless huckabee blunders).
While Paul is the only Republican running I can support at all, I don't know of any Democrats I could support.
OTH, Paul WILL shrink the feds. He will pay attention to the budget, as well as the military. He is going to kill NASA (which I would rather not see), but within 2 years, the budget WILL be balanced. Likewise, the spending will flow to the military and taxes cut.
I support Ron Pual because he would pay attention to the budget and shrink the federal government. As for NASA, it has become too politicized I think. I support space exploration, and oceanography, but I think private interests can do more for aerospace than NASA does. I can see NASA supporting basic research though.
IOW, he is pure libertarian.
I learned about the Libertarian Party because of Ron Paul. Back in 1988 I was deputized to register people to vote. We received a list of all the recognized political parties in the state. Then the LP chose Ron Paul as the LP candidate for president. Not knowing anything about it I checked into it and liked what I saw. Before then I had voted for the Democrat candidates for president, but I switched. I voted for Ron Paul then.
I love it.I am just concerned about paying off the monster deficits.
What really gets me about the deficit is that it was presidents from the so called party of small government that created the biggest deficits and a president from the party of big government that almost eliminated the national deficit. Yes, Reagan and Bush Sr created what was up until then the US's largest deficit, then by the tyme he left office Clinton almost wiped out the deficit, I think there was actually a surplus when he left. Now under another Republican, Bush Jr, the US has a humongous deficit, the largest so far, again.
Then there are other benefits to the electric car too; the car becomes MUCH simpler. If we're going to make a switch, lets make a clean break that actually gives us a lot of net benefits, instead of trying to patch ICEs.
Oh, I'd rather go straight to electric vehicles, EVs, myself but we first need to make sure the electricity is there. Then again I'd rather go straight to fuel cell vehicles, as you say let's make a clean break.
Continuous states, ie all states in the US except Alaska and Hawaii. Add all of the other good sites in the US for wind farms and there may be enough for those two states as well, but really long powerlines would be needed. It looks as though Alaska has good wind potential as well though. And Hawaii has it's own potential source of energy, Geothermal. This one plant makes 25% of the electricity on the Big Island.
It's not the reprocessing that's the problem, it's the lack of economical breeders. More research into things like the IFR is most definitely called for.
Economics isn't the only problem, just ask Iran. And where are these breeders going to come from? In order to bring down the cost to something economical a lot more research is needed. Build one experimental plant, actually more like 10, which can cost 100s of millions of not billions, to see what works then build more with the improvements. Do this until finally a single set of blue prints can be used to produce nuclear power plant economically. I'd like to see how many banks would loan the money. While it could take many years the same amount of money spent on factories to make solar collectors and PVs and manufacturing facilities for wind generators can have them producing products within a short tyme, in months.
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Yeah but a middle click in X is GENIUS in its usefullness. Who can resist the middle click cut and paste???
Seeing as I don't know what a middle click is I don't use it. At least not that I know of.
FalconMy route to purchasing equipment is very different than yours. Seems to me that you were just trying to justify your purchase because the equivalent MBP will be cheaper. When I buy equipment I figure out what I want and what I need first, then go from there.
I knew what I wanted before deciding what to get.
Needs:
Wants;
For the monitor, I've been looking at at least 23" monitors and have been looking at Viewsonic, for graphics. I plan on doing a lot of photography and web design as well as try out 3D graphics and some programming. The built in 17" LCD I'll have the various pallets docked on and use the large monitor for the main window. At the same tyme while I'm out in the field, once I get a DSLR, I can use the 17" LCD on the laptop for preliminary photography work using Firewire to connect the camera to the laptop. With a thumbnail program, which I want to work on programming, I can quickly browse through to see what photos are keepers and what gets tossed.
Even if money was no object, I hate carrying large screens. I have a great desktop that I use at my desk, so for me my laptop is all about portability.
Even when considering portability I still want a large screen. My MBP is less than 7 lbs and seeing as how I used to ride my bike with 50 lbs in my backpack and I've hiked and backpacked carrying up to 100 lbs I might as well hang it up if I can't carry a MBP. Almost a year before I got the MBP I saw a laptop in Best Buy with a 21" LCD and went agog at the sight, if Apple had a 21" MBP I would have gotten it instead of the 17" I did get. The one problem I have is protecting it, keeping it dry and not letting it banged around. Then again I have the same problem with my camera equipment, film, which is why I'd like a film scanner.
We all do our purchases in different ways and I'm happy for you that you found the Macbook Pro the better deal. Personally I'm very happy with my Vostro. It's fast, portable and works great in Linux.
When I ordered my MBP I had planned on dualbooting it with Ubuntu but once I actually had it in hand I reevaluating installing Ubuntu. As I couldn't see what capability Ubuntu would add I decided not to install it.
Oh, and by doing web design on a Mac I can test the design in *nix, OS X, and Windows in different browsers without having to have a separate PC for each.
FalconThat is the reasonable X-Windows I was looking for. It is much better integrated now than it was.
Though I have it installed I haven't used it yet.
FalconOn a MacBook, if you hold two fingers on the track pad and click, you get the equivalent of a right click.
Thanks, but I just tried it and it didn't work. With two fingers on the pad it did the same as nothing on the pad. Ah, tried again, this tyme applying more pressure and it worked. Even so I think I like holding down the command key more.
FalconI'd rather hear some intelligent reasons why anyone would choose to use a Mac over other faster, cheaper, more stable systems.
More stable? What OS do you mean? It certainly can't be Windows. After using various versions of Windows for more than 10 years, when it came tyme for me to get a new laptop I got a MacBook Pro. I have owned PCs with Windows 95, NT4, and ME and I have used PCs with 2000 and XP. The very first tyme I use XP it froze while booting up. On a brand new Dell. The only Window I did not have trouble with the OS was NT4, which I still have.
Faster? My MacBook Pro can run circles around any and all of the computers I've owned or used. And cheaper? Before I bought my MBP I compared the cost to similarly configured laptops from Dell and HP. While the HP was similarly priced the Dell was $200 more.
However the above is only part of why I decided to switch to OS X from Windows. I switched for 2 reasons. First because I hate not being able to use my computer when I want to. With the exception of my NT4 PC I have had hardware problems as well as problems with Windows. Whereas Macs have lasted for several years without problems, every Windows PC I bought new except the NT4 PC had the hdd and the motherboard die within a year. I also had to reinstall Windows a bunch of tymes for them. Secondly I don't want to be treated like a criminal like Microsoft does. I don't want to have to Activate my OS or software. Nor do I want to have the OS or software spying on me. My Mac can also run more software than any other computer out there. If I wanted to, barf, I can run Windows and Windows software on it. I can, and do, run *nix software on it. And I can run Mac software on it.
FalconFink is hardly a replacement for apt-get, well at least if you want something to actually work.
What's the problem with it?
FalconIf you're willing to pay extra for the Apple experience or whatever, fine, that's cool. But let's not pretend Macs are at price parity when they're not. Nothing Apple sells is at price parity with comparable products from other vendors.
Before buying my MacBook Pro I compared it to similarly configured Dell and HP laptops. While the HP was similarly priced the Dell was about $200 more than the MBP. If I had bought the Dell I would have paid extra, money I could not afford.
FalconI'm sorry, I need my right and middle button even when I'm not using an external mouse.
I had no problem opening this reply in a new tab to type it on my Macbook Pro. I simply held down the command key while clicking and the new tab opened right up. I can also open a new tab to type a reply by holding down the ctrl key while clicking then choosing "Open link in new tab".
What actually drove me nuts was the little things, like not having normal buttons for PgUp/PgDown, Delete etc.
Holding down the fn key while pressing the page down key pages the page I'm looking at down one and holding down the command key while pressing the page down takes the window down to the bottom of the last page.
I know there are shortcuts for that, but hey, I want to concentrate on what I'm doing and not on remembering wild combination for what should be single keys
I switched from Windows to OS X in August and within a few weeks I had no problems with the above.
And for drag and drop install/uninstall - ha! 99.9% of what I need is available from Apt
I can install software using the same methods software is install in Linux. MacPorts allows me to install RPMs and "Fink uses Debian tools like dpkg and apt-get to provide powerful binary package management."
Ah, yes. I had edited my post, and accidentally deleted that part. For a standalone editor I generally use Crimson Editor. Although its feature list is nominally similar, it just isn't as nice to use.
I liked Crimson Editor but I preferred TextPad, on Windows. On Linux I liked KATE and on Macs I like TextEdit. However I haven't done any coding on Linux or OS X yet.
FalconI run Linux on my macbook.
I got my MacBook Pro a few months ago and before I ordered it I had planned on dualbooting with Ubuntu. However once I got it I thought more about installing Ubuntu, and after deciding Ubuntu doesn't offer me anything I could think of over OS X I decided not to install it. Download and install FOOS with apt-get or rmp? "Fink uses Debian tools like dpkg and apt-get to provide powerful binary package management." And MacPorts installs RPMs. I can install Linux and well as Mac software. Right now I see no reason to install any Linux distro on my MBP.
Middle click is quite important in X.
I don't know what a middle click, in X or elsewhere, is but my MacBook Pro has 3 clicks. A simple click is the left click, then by holding down the command key while clicking brings up one context menu and holding down the ctrl key while clicking brings up another context menu.
FalconActually if OS X actually had a reasonable X Windows it would be a good replacement for every desktop in the office I work at.
I don't know what you mean by "reasonable X Windows" but OS X does have X11
FalconIs there a multi-button option for people with Apple laptops who want more than one button?
Yes there is. Macs can use two button mice with both buttons working. Macs actually have three buttons, indirectly. The regular click on the button is the left click, then you can also hold down the command key while clicking which brings up one context menu and holding down the ctrl key while clicking brings up a different context menu.
FalconHonestly, Apple is stupid for even pretending that a single-button trackpad/mouse is ok.
I'm using one now and I have no problem. And I used Windows for more than 10 years, and the occasional Linux distro, before switching.
Falconbecause a single button mouse in a major pain in the neither regions to use in X.
So my two button trackball won't work for me? When I moved from Windows to OS X when I got my MacBook Pro, I though having only one button instead of two would make it a hard move. So I got a two button trackball. However I found I actually have 3 buttons now. The regular click, the command click, and the ctrl click when using the trackpad. I even got to where I can do both the command click and ctrl click with one hand.
FalconI bought a Dell Vostro 1400 with a Core 2 Duo, 2 gigs of ram, 14" 1440x900 gloss screen, 120gb HD, 2 Megapixel webcam, Bluetooth, 11g Wifi and DVD Burner for $650 last year.
I'm typing this on my new MacBook Pro. Before I ordered it I compared the price of a Dell laptop configured close to the MBP and the Dell was about $200 more than my MBP. But I didn't stop with Dell, I also tried an HP, which was the same price as the MBP. Of course I paid a lot more than $650, more than 3 tymes that. Then again instead of it having a 14" LCD, it's got one that's 17". While big enough for being portable, it's too small when working at my desk.
FalconIf you mean apt-get, Macs do have it. Not only does Macs have Debian tools like dpkg and apt-get but it also has Redhat's RPMs.
FalconThe answer to "Who Owns Your Social Data?" is in the question itself. It's like asking..."Who owns your shirt?" Of course me. I repeat...I own my property. Period.
Do you, or does the people represented by the data own the data? As TFA says "The problem is that while the profile data may be yours and yours alone, your address book contains the names and e-mail addresses of your friends, family and business contacts." Those people should be able to control that data. Unless I have the ok of whoever is represented by the data, I don't share it with others. Even my pocket address and phone book.
Having said that, as TFA doesn't male clear and I'm not a member of Facebook, or with the exceptions of /. and Yahoo!, any other social network I don't know if the data is shared or not. It just may be that the data is still private and he may of just been doing something like when cellphones became popular and people started entering contact info from the pocket books into their cellphones.
FalconI know. I've done it and made that point above. But it costs time, CDs, and degrades the audio.
Personally I think digital music is a degradation from analogue anyway. Some have pointed out that qualitatively digital can be as good, or better, than analogue. However this is only true when a high bitrate, or whatever, is used to make the CDs. And how often do the studios use high quality measures when making CDs?
Falcon"Continuous states, ie all states in the US except Alaska and Hawaii."
I think that the word for which you are looking is "contiguous".
Both continuous and contiguous work.
FalconYou do have a choice not to buy an iPod, however, you can't use AAC format files on some other players, so you can't put music from iTunes on them.
If a player can use music from a CD then the player can play music from iTunes seeing as how it allows you to burn music bought from iTunes to CDs.
FalconThe 2 that I like are Gore and Paul, but neither will make it (gore for not running, and paul for No chance in hell unless huckabee blunders).
While Paul is the only Republican running I can support at all, I don't know of any Democrats I could support.
OTH, Paul WILL shrink the feds. He will pay attention to the budget, as well as the military. He is going to kill NASA (which I would rather not see), but within 2 years, the budget WILL be balanced. Likewise, the spending will flow to the military and taxes cut.
I support Ron Pual because he would pay attention to the budget and shrink the federal government. As for NASA, it has become too politicized I think. I support space exploration, and oceanography, but I think private interests can do more for aerospace than NASA does. I can see NASA supporting basic research though.
IOW, he is pure libertarian.
I learned about the Libertarian Party because of Ron Paul. Back in 1988 I was deputized to register people to vote. We received a list of all the recognized political parties in the state. Then the LP chose Ron Paul as the LP candidate for president. Not knowing anything about it I checked into it and liked what I saw. Before then I had voted for the Democrat candidates for president, but I switched. I voted for Ron Paul then.
I love it.I am just concerned about paying off the monster deficits.
What really gets me about the deficit is that it was presidents from the so called party of small government that created the biggest deficits and a president from the party of big government that almost eliminated the national deficit. Yes, Reagan and Bush Sr created what was up until then the US's largest deficit, then by the tyme he left office Clinton almost wiped out the deficit, I think there was actually a surplus when he left. Now under another Republican, Bush Jr, the US has a humongous deficit, the largest so far, again.
FalconThen there are other benefits to the electric car too; the car becomes MUCH simpler. If we're going to make a switch, lets make a clean break that actually gives us a lot of net benefits, instead of trying to patch ICEs.
Oh, I'd rather go straight to electric vehicles, EVs, myself but we first need to make sure the electricity is there. Then again I'd rather go straight to fuel cell vehicles, as you say let's make a clean break.
FalconContinuous states, ie all states in the US except Alaska and Hawaii. Add all of the other good sites in the US for wind farms and there may be enough for those two states as well, but really long powerlines would be needed. It looks as though Alaska has good wind potential as well though. And Hawaii has it's own potential source of energy, Geothermal. This one plant makes 25% of the electricity on the Big Island.
FalconIt's not the reprocessing that's the problem, it's the lack of economical breeders. More research into things like the IFR is most definitely called for.
Economics isn't the only problem, just ask Iran. And where are these breeders going to come from? In order to bring down the cost to something economical a lot more research is needed. Build one experimental plant, actually more like 10, which can cost 100s of millions of not billions, to see what works then build more with the improvements. Do this until finally a single set of blue prints can be used to produce nuclear power plant economically. I'd like to see how many banks would loan the money. While it could take many years the same amount of money spent on factories to make solar collectors and PVs and manufacturing facilities for wind generators can have them producing products within a short tyme, in months.
Falcon