I agree the June sales are due to MGS4, but the PS3 has been outselling the Xbox 360 in North America in 2008, except for a month where they were neck to neck.
Do you have a link to these numbers? Not disputing them, just very curious.
I'm not the original poster, but NPD Group keeps track of US console sales every month and Ars Technica reports on it almost every month. Here's the 2008 monthly numbers I culled from Ars's articles (I'm not immune to typos and calculating erros):
It's true that you can get laptops for under $1k, but it's quite a bit harder to find a 13.3" one like the MacBook for much less.
Dells and Sonys are both >$1k
Yes, the other brands have seemed to be reserving this "newish" form factor (compared to 12.1", 14.1", and 15.4") for their mid-to-high end notebooks. For a while, Apple seemed to be the only brand that offered this size for their low-end notebook (but not for their high-end until the MacBook Air). For example that $1000+ 13.3" Dell is the XPS series, which has some features and options that many 13.3" seekers don't want.
BTW, Dell does now offer a low-end 13.3" notebook: the Dell Vostro 1310. Starts at $750 (Conroe-based Celeron, Vista Home Basic, 1GB RAM, Combo Drive) with many optional upgrades. When shopping for Dell notebooks, don't forget their "business" sites.
I fully agree with the above above poster. Rate of failure seems higher to me too from personal experience. . And I trust that more than independent studies that are not done over long period of time.
Sorry, but Consumer Reports has a larger sample size tested over a longer period than you do I bet. They've been evaluating Apple systems alongside other vendors for a decade at least and Apple has consistently been at the top of the heap for low failure rates.
I'm not sure if you're referring to CR's Product Reliability Survey, but their most recent survey (June 2008 issue for computers bought between 2003 and 2007) had Apple's notebooks at the bottom (among major brands) for brand repair history (but only "meaningfully" worse than Lenovo and Compaq). Their results for percentage that "have ever been repaired or had a serious problem" (differences of less than three points are not meaningful):
So according to the most recent Consumer Reports Product Reliability Survey, for notebooks bought between 2003 and 2007, Apple (as a brand) is no better than any other big brand. I suspect there are significant differences in specific models (e.g. iBook vs. PowerBook, MacBook vs. MacBook Pro).
Not a 2.5" hard drive, which is the kind of hard drive the PS3 and Xbox 360 uses. Try finding a price for a 500GB 2.5" hard drive. (They've only recently been announced.)
and the 'upgrade' to a 120GB external drive costs $180, you know they're making a killing on capacity.
A quick Newegg check of 120GB 2.5" hard drives show prices starting at $60, so MS is "making a killing," but it's not nearly as bad as you imply with your comparisons to 3.5" desktop hard drives.
I'd be interested to see if the box has anything on it about the sort of tech support you can get. I kind of doubt ValuSoft is handling tech support for Ubuntu. That seems beyond their scope.
They (ValuSoft) are handling support and they are "trained and backed by the Canonical support guys" according to Canonical's Director of Corporate Services in Canonical's blog. It's only 60 days worth of installation and "getting started" support, but what should we expect for just $20?
From the blog: "The boxed set comes with an Ubuntu 8.04 CD, a Quick Start Guide and 60 days of support from the ValuSoft team, trained and backed by the Canonical support guys. The support covers installation and getting started using Ubuntu and is priced at $19.99."
What I think would be smart is if they added a really good printed manual and/or Ubuntu book with it. I read through the description and couldn't find anything about extra material, but again, I think what they are doing is ok, but for a non-expert, a really nice install guide / intro to Ubuntu would make it look more tempting than say, just downloading an.iso file and burning your own disks.
They (developer Canonical and distributor ValuSoft) are thinking like you.
According to a blog by Canonical's Director of Corporate Services, the "Best Buy version" includes "an Ubuntu 8.04 CD, a Quick Start Guide and 60 days of support from the ValuSoft team, trained and backed by the Canonical support guys. The support covers installation and getting started using Ubuntu and is priced at $19.99."
No, with DVI-I. While it's bulkier (and more sturdy), thanks to carrying the VGA signal as well it doesn't have HDMI's (sometimes show-stopping) disadvantage of being unable to drive the still most common projectors with analog inputs.
I guess that's why every laptop I've seen with HDMI output also includes a VGA output. Since HDMI is so tiny, I guess HDMI+VGA doesn't take up that much more space than DVI-I. However, I don't know if a tiny netbook has the space or even needs HDMI in addition in VGA, so just DVI-I may be better. Any Blue-ray capable laptop should have HDMI+VGA instead of DVI-I, though.
A slate-type tablet Eee with a reasonable digitizer (256 levels of pressure would be plenty), the same thickness as a current Eee, a screen anywhere from 7" to 10" and a compact USB keyboard included would sell tons to budding artists.
Price it at perhaps $50-75 above the traditional form factor Eee with the same size screen, and it'll sell like the proverbial hot baked goods.
It's not a slate, it's not as cheap as you'd like (all tablets seem to have a pretty hefty price premium), and I think it barely qualifies as a "netbook" (2.5" HDD)... but have you heard about Gigabyte's new Atom-based convertible tablet netbook?
None of the news sites seem to have a firm U.S. price, but looks like it will be anywhere from $500-$700. From the articles:
8.9" LED-backlit touchscreen LCD with 1280x768 resolution
2.86 lbs
1.6GHz Atom CPU, up to 250GB 2.5" HDD, 1GB RAM
Linux and Windows models
1.3MP webcam, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, 3-in-1 card reader, ExpressCard slot, the other standard netbook ports...
I think the 1000 is a bit too big and the hdd is a backwards step. if you need more storage plug in an external drive mostly its not needed.
i wouldnt get a 1000 but the 900 series is tempting
As noted in the summary, the Eee PC 1000 has a "big" keyboard. For some users, the keyboard on the 900 series is just unusably small. The 1000's larger keyboard mostly solves this problem.
Also, not mentioned in the summary, the 1000 series does have and SSD option at 2.9 lbs.
I think Tech Report has a much better article describing the new Eee PCs:
That's just pitiful. IMO, even 12" screens ought to be higher-res than that nowadays (mine is 1400x1050).
Did you miss the part where that 17" LCD is a desktop LCD (which sits at least arms-length away for most users) and not a notebook LCD (which is attached to your keyboard)? Heck, to an iPod touch user (3.5", 480x320), your resolution is pitiful.
The 500+ figure includes each e-book as a separate "app", but still there's a pretty good showing with much more to come. A lot of it is free or very cheap.
It also includes the doubling up of the free apps -- poking around, it looks like almost half of them are "free" demos, and there's a second premium app you have to buy.
It also includes some pretty crappy apps that surprisingly made the launch day cut: "seven tip calculators, three flashlight applications, nine Bible-related entries, two Zen garden applications, five blackjack games, and almost 10 percent of the entries are ebooks. There is an application to simulate the playing of a tiny violin to console your friends, a Light Saber emulator, an application that gives you a cartoon eye, and two applications that simulate the look of a beer mug."
A $0.99 "flashlight" app that does nothing but turn the screen white seems like a dubious inclusion in the "500+" claim. Others include a $2.99 app called "Looky" that provides Google Suggest capability, which Google provides for free. My favorite is "Hold On!", which records how long you can hold your finger on an on-screen button (with "records").
As for the "doubling up of the free apps," I see more free "ad-supported" versions than "demos." Double-counting "demos" would be really obnoxious, but fully-functional ad-supported versions are less so, IMO. One nice-looking example for Flickr users: Exposure (free ad-supported, $9.99 w/o ads), a Flickr browser that has a "Near Me" feature which uses the iPhone's location capabilities (including 1st-gen iPhones) to browse photos near you.
Sure, but which A/V product? Grisoft's AVG, Comodo, Avast!, or ClamWin to name a few.
I'm really loving Comodo's firewall
For those of us using Win2K until it's pried out of our cold, dead CPUs, not a choice. Comodo BSODs on Win2K. In fact, after trying Comodo (and I couldn't find anything that said 2K was a bad idea), my system was so borked that I had to reinstall for the first time in 7 years.
Are you talking about Comodo AntiVirus or Comodo Firewall? (The GP mentioned both.) If you're talking about the firewall, then count me as another Windows 2000 user who's used it (version 2) without any problems for more than a year (switched from ZoneAlarm).
The last time I checked (Consumer Reports), the only thing Apple has over other vendors is better customer service: not technology.
What? Consumer Reports showed them as having a very significantly lower failure rate during the first year than any other vendor (as of early 2007). That was the last real study I saw them publish on the subject.
In Consumer Reports's most recent "Computers" cover story (Jun2008, Vol. 73 Issue 6, p22-27), Apple's laptops placed last (23%) in "brand repair history" among the eight major laptop brands in their Product Reliability Survey. Apple finished behind Lenovo (20%), Compaq (20%), Sony (21%), Toshiba (21%), Dell (22%), HP (22%), and Gateway (22%). The percentages represent computers bought between 2003 and 2007 "that have ever been repaired or had a serious problem."
CR says differences less than 3% are not meaningful for laptops, so only Lenovo and Compaq have "meaningfully lower" percentages than Apple. However, if you believe Consumer Reports, Apple laptops no longer has a reliability advantage (by their definition).
The newer non-Pro MacBooks are simple enough (as the other replier said), but the MacBook Pro still makes it puzzlingly difficult to replace the hard drive. iFixit's great guide shows how using a phillips screwdriver, a torx screwdriver, and a spudger to get at the hard drive by removing the battery, RAM shield, the entire upper case, and hard drive retaining bracket. I counted 21 phillips crews and 6 torx screws that need to be removed.
No. The code bases were to merge at Windows 2000 Professional. Windows 95/98/ME were based on DOS. Win2K was the merge point at server and 'desktop'.
Are you sure? I'm pretty sure "Windows 2000 Professional" was the successor to "Windows NT Workstation 4.0" with the word "workstation" being replaced by "professional." There was no "home" version of Windows 2000 (like "Windows XP Home").
Also, note that Windows 2000 was released (Feb 2000) before Windows Millennium was released (Sept 2000). Are you claiming Windows ME was released after the merge?
Recent "Home" or "desktop" versions of Windows: 95, 98, Millennium, XP Home, Vista Home
"Pro" or "workstation" versions: NT 4.0 Workstation, 2000 Professional, XP Professional, Vista Business
"Server" versions: NT 4.0 Server, 2000 Server, Server 2003, Server 2008
>> You'll also notice that trying to eat healthy (fresh food, etc) will push your food bill up sharply unless you are willing to eat nothing but oatmeal and beans. I call Whole Foods "Whole Paycheck".
.
> Oh, Whole Foods is steep, there is absolutely no question of that. It's not just that what you're buying is more expensive than regular stuff, it's also that you've gone to a rather expensive place to buy it...
.
Am I the only fool who shops at Whole Foods to save money? Sure, I don't buy expensive fresh produce there (which is generally higher-quality compared to your average supermarket), but their bulk food section (selection varies by location) and store brand products offer a lot of low-cost healthy food.
.
Bulk rolled oats are 69 cents per pound and cheaper than any packaged oats I've seen. 365 Organic whole wheat pasta is the cheapest I've tried that doesn't have the texture of cardboard. 18oz jars of 365 natural peanut butter for less than $2, 365 whole wheat flour, bulk beans, bulk cocoa powder, etc.
Or 4) Put it in the well designed, over engineered Yucca Mountain facility. This (Yucca Mountain and long-term nuclear waste storage) was also in the news recently. Ars Technica has a nice write-up for nerds that aren't nuclear scientists:
The whole (short) article is interesting, but I think these two paragraphs are important:
"Despite the uncertainties, the authors argue that there are very real reasons to start using Yucca Mountain: 60,000 metric tons of waste, currently stored in 72 sites, "many adjacent to metropolitan areas and all next to rivers, lakes, or the ocean." It's easy to default to inertia while waiting for greater certainty about Yucca Mountain or hoping something better comes along, but the authors argue that the current storage system creates far too much risk for this to be an acceptable path.
The paper argues that storage in the facilities at Yucca Mountain is not irreversible; if problems arise, the waste could be temporarily removed, or adjustments to the structural properties could be made. In fact, the authors argue, experience with pilot programs may be the best way to start reducing some of the outstanding uncertainties that are making the current debate so difficult. Without this knowledge, we may never be able to refine long-term models of waste storage."
TFA mentions defragging and checking the new hard disk for errors (good tips), but doesn't mention checking the new RAM with something like Memtest86 or other free memory testing utility. Ultimate Boot CD contains a few of them.
Flakey memory is a common undiagnosed cause of system instability (along with bad power supplies). Testing the memory should be the first task performed after buying it from a place with a good return policy.
I for one will not be downloading Firefox 3 until this record attempt is over. I think it's just plain silly.
Wow, modded troll for taking a stance against silliness? If Microsoft did this, everyone here would think this is a lame attempt at getting free advertising, which it is. Thankfully, you've been modded back up (for now). I think it's clear you're not panning the software, just this silly gimmick attempt to enter a book that has featured dubious records like "underwater pogo stick jumping" and "world's most downloaded person".
I'm an Opera man, but I'm looking forward to downloading Firefox 3 (maybe after 3.1). I'm all for getting the word out, but stop with the silly gimmicks.
They figure people want excessively high system requirements, "more secure" environments (which aren't really better security models, just annoying prompts often) and pretty graphics. Hell, I was happy with the graphics in Windows 2000, and in fact when I use XP I turn it back to Win2K themes always.
I have over 200 machines in my domain. I tend to replace one or two a month and they can pry my corporate copy of XP from my cold dead hands. For folks like me that don't necessarily have the latest and greatest hardware Vista isn't even an option (the majority are single-core P4's with less than 1GB RAM). For those that don't need the "pretty graphics" or have "P4's with less than 1GB RAM," why not just run Vista's "Basic" UI (similar to XP's UI) or "Classic" UI (similar to Windows 2000)? Since neither of these interfaces require Vista's new WDDM drivers, a DirectX 9 video card is not needed.
I'm not saying we should upgrade older PCs to Vista if we don't need to (I haven't), but if XP is no longer availabe, Vista shouldn't be too much of a resource hog if the unnecessary eye candy is turned off.
I think an example of a "non security hotfix" would be something like the Daylight Saving time fix for Windows 2000 (in "Extended Support" at the time), which was only provided for those that paid for extended hotfix support. I think an example of "design fixes and feature requests" would be a Service Pack.
So Windows XP should be secure and usable as long as software is written for it. Since so many people will continue to use Windows XP, this shouldn't be a problem.
Windows 2000 started its "Extended Support" phase 3 years ago and I'm starting to see a few new applications not support the OS (e.g. Foobar2000 0.9.5, Photoshop CS3, free Microsoft goodies). I think this will be less of a problem for Windows XP because XP is used by many more home users than Windows 2000 ever was.
black guy with...as your username implies...chinese eyes?
Weird.
<imaginary monologue>
"I'm a black guy with an Asian mother (from Thailand). I dominate the sport of golf. I wear red on Sundays and my competitors crap their pants when they see me. Since turning pro in 1996 at age 20, I've earned more than $81 million in golf earnings. I make $100 million per year in endorsements.
Vodafone sued T-Mobile/Apple (in Germany) over that and lost [During the lawsuit, they sold an unlocked iPhone for 999 Euros]. Orange (France) sells an unlocked iPhone for 749 Euros vs 399 locked. For Yankees who lack a sense of Euro-scale:
Here at Brazil the operators can't sell locked phones. It's the law... some laws here were made to actually protect the consumer.
Yes, that's right. IPhone will be sold unlocked here at Brazil.
Same rules in France, I seem to recall. At a HUGE price premium. The unlocked iPhone launched in France (late November) for €749 (about $1100 at the time). This price undercut Germany's unlocked price of €999 (about $1475).
I remember seeing a "trike" with two wheels in front and one behind. It was basically a motorcycle with a personal cabin that was AC cooled. Not bad looking.
I wouldn't mind driving one of those for my daily commute.
"But it can't go very fast. Or very far. And if you drive it, people will think you're gay."
The preceeding message was brought to you by the SUV Producers of America.
Personally, I admire the blue smart car that's often parked on a street I jog on. The litter bugger just looks solid and well-built (a member of the Mercedes-Benz Cars). I don't give a frick if morons will think I'm gay.
Slashdot Mirror
I agree the June sales are due to MGS4, but the PS3 has been outselling the Xbox 360 in North America in 2008, except for a month where they were neck to neck.
Do you have a link to these numbers? Not disputing them, just very curious.
I'm not the original poster, but NPD Group keeps track of US console sales every month and Ars Technica reports on it almost every month. Here's the 2008 monthly numbers I culled from Ars's articles (I'm not immune to typos and calculating erros):
PS3
Feb: 281,000
Mar: 257,000
Apr: 187,100
May: 208,700
Jun: 405,500
Approx Total: 1,608,300
XBox 360
Feb: 255,000
Mar: 262,000
Apr: 188,000
May: 187,600
Jun: 219,800
Approx Total: 1,342,400
Links to the Ars articles:
BTW, Microsoft killed Sony in December 2007 and for the entire year 2007:
It's true that you can get laptops for under $1k, but it's quite a bit harder to find a 13.3" one like the MacBook for much less.
Dells and Sonys are both >$1k
Yes, the other brands have seemed to be reserving this "newish" form factor (compared to 12.1", 14.1", and 15.4") for their mid-to-high end notebooks. For a while, Apple seemed to be the only brand that offered this size for their low-end notebook (but not for their high-end until the MacBook Air). For example that $1000+ 13.3" Dell is the XPS series, which has some features and options that many 13.3" seekers don't want.
BTW, Dell does now offer a low-end 13.3" notebook: the Dell Vostro 1310. Starts at $750 (Conroe-based Celeron, Vista Home Basic, 1GB RAM, Combo Drive) with many optional upgrades. When shopping for Dell notebooks, don't forget their "business" sites.
I fully agree with the above above poster. Rate of failure seems higher to me too from personal experience. . And I trust that more than independent studies that are not done over long period of time.
Sorry, but Consumer Reports has a larger sample size tested over a longer period than you do I bet. They've been evaluating Apple systems alongside other vendors for a decade at least and Apple has consistently been at the top of the heap for low failure rates.
I'm not sure if you're referring to CR's Product Reliability Survey, but their most recent survey (June 2008 issue for computers bought between 2003 and 2007) had Apple's notebooks at the bottom (among major brands) for brand repair history (but only "meaningfully" worse than Lenovo and Compaq). Their results for percentage that "have ever been repaired or had a serious problem" (differences of less than three points are not meaningful):
Lenovo (IBM): 20%
Compaq: 20%
Sony: 21%
Toshiba: 21%
Dell: 22%
HP: 22%
Gateway: 22%
Apple: 23%
So according to the most recent Consumer Reports Product Reliability Survey, for notebooks bought between 2003 and 2007, Apple (as a brand) is no better than any other big brand. I suspect there are significant differences in specific models (e.g. iBook vs. PowerBook, MacBook vs. MacBook Pro).
When I can get a 500GB drive for $69
Not a 2.5" hard drive, which is the kind of hard drive the PS3 and Xbox 360 uses. Try finding a price for a 500GB 2.5" hard drive. (They've only recently been announced.)
and the 'upgrade' to a 120GB external drive costs $180, you know they're making a killing on capacity.
A quick Newegg check of 120GB 2.5" hard drives show prices starting at $60, so MS is "making a killing," but it's not nearly as bad as you imply with your comparisons to 3.5" desktop hard drives.
I'd be interested to see if the box has anything on it about the sort of tech support you can get. I kind of doubt ValuSoft is handling tech support for Ubuntu. That seems beyond their scope.
They (ValuSoft) are handling support and they are "trained and backed by the Canonical support guys" according to Canonical's Director of Corporate Services in Canonical's blog. It's only 60 days worth of installation and "getting started" support, but what should we expect for just $20?
From the blog: "The boxed set comes with an Ubuntu 8.04 CD, a Quick Start Guide and 60 days of support from the ValuSoft team, trained and backed by the Canonical support guys. The support covers installation and getting started using Ubuntu and is priced at $19.99."
What I think would be smart is if they added a really good printed manual and/or Ubuntu book with it. I read through the description and couldn't find anything about extra material, but again, I think what they are doing is ok, but for a non-expert, a really nice install guide / intro to Ubuntu would make it look more tempting than say, just downloading an .iso file and burning your own disks.
They (developer Canonical and distributor ValuSoft) are thinking like you.
According to a blog by Canonical's Director of Corporate Services, the "Best Buy version" includes "an Ubuntu 8.04 CD, a Quick Start Guide and 60 days of support from the ValuSoft team, trained and backed by the Canonical support guys. The support covers installation and getting started using Ubuntu and is priced at $19.99."
Drop VGA output and replace with HDMI output
No, with DVI-I. While it's bulkier (and more sturdy), thanks to carrying the VGA signal as well it doesn't have HDMI's (sometimes show-stopping) disadvantage of being unable to drive the still most common projectors with analog inputs.
I guess that's why every laptop I've seen with HDMI output also includes a VGA output. Since HDMI is so tiny, I guess HDMI+VGA doesn't take up that much more space than DVI-I. However, I don't know if a tiny netbook has the space or even needs HDMI in addition in VGA, so just DVI-I may be better. Any Blue-ray capable laptop should have HDMI+VGA instead of DVI-I, though.
A slate-type tablet Eee with a reasonable digitizer (256 levels of pressure would be plenty), the same thickness as a current Eee, a screen anywhere from 7" to 10" and a compact USB keyboard included would sell tons to budding artists.
Price it at perhaps $50-75 above the traditional form factor Eee with the same size screen, and it'll sell like the proverbial hot baked goods.
It's not a slate, it's not as cheap as you'd like (all tablets seem to have a pretty hefty price premium), and I think it barely qualifies as a "netbook" (2.5" HDD)... but have you heard about Gigabyte's new Atom-based convertible tablet netbook?
None of the news sites seem to have a firm U.S. price, but looks like it will be anywhere from $500-$700. From the articles:
I think the 1000 is a bit too big and the hdd is a backwards step. if you need more storage plug in an external drive mostly its not needed.
i wouldnt get a 1000 but the 900 series is tempting
As noted in the summary, the Eee PC 1000 has a "big" keyboard. For some users, the keyboard on the 900 series is just unusably small. The 1000's larger keyboard mostly solves this problem.
Also, not mentioned in the summary, the 1000 series does have and SSD option at 2.9 lbs.
I think Tech Report has a much better article describing the new Eee PCs:
and poof, 1280x1024. :)
That's just pitiful. IMO, even 12" screens ought to be higher-res than that nowadays (mine is 1400x1050).
Did you miss the part where that 17" LCD is a desktop LCD (which sits at least arms-length away for most users) and not a notebook LCD (which is attached to your keyboard)? Heck, to an iPod touch user (3.5", 480x320), your resolution is pitiful.
The 500+ figure includes each e-book as a separate "app", but still there's a pretty good showing with much more to come. A lot of it is free or very cheap.
It also includes the doubling up of the free apps -- poking around, it looks like almost half of them are "free" demos, and there's a second premium app you have to buy.
It also includes some pretty crappy apps that surprisingly made the launch day cut: "seven tip calculators, three flashlight applications, nine Bible-related entries, two Zen garden applications, five blackjack games, and almost 10 percent of the entries are ebooks. There is an application to simulate the playing of a tiny violin to console your friends, a Light Saber emulator, an application that gives you a cartoon eye, and two applications that simulate the look of a beer mug."
A $0.99 "flashlight" app that does nothing but turn the screen white seems like a dubious inclusion in the "500+" claim. Others include a $2.99 app called "Looky" that provides Google Suggest capability, which Google provides for free. My favorite is "Hold On!", which records how long you can hold your finger on an on-screen button (with "records").
As for the "doubling up of the free apps," I see more free "ad-supported" versions than "demos." Double-counting "demos" would be really obnoxious, but fully-functional ad-supported versions are less so, IMO. One nice-looking example for Flickr users: Exposure (free ad-supported, $9.99 w/o ads), a Flickr browser that has a "Near Me" feature which uses the iPhone's location capabilities (including 1st-gen iPhones) to browse photos near you.
Sure, but which A/V product? Grisoft's AVG, Comodo, Avast!, or ClamWin to name a few.
I'm really loving Comodo's firewall
For those of us using Win2K until it's pried out of our cold, dead CPUs, not a choice. Comodo BSODs on Win2K. In fact, after trying Comodo (and I couldn't find anything that said 2K was a bad idea), my system was so borked that I had to reinstall for the first time in 7 years.
Are you talking about Comodo AntiVirus or Comodo Firewall? (The GP mentioned both.) If you're talking about the firewall, then count me as another Windows 2000 user who's used it (version 2) without any problems for more than a year (switched from ZoneAlarm).
The last time I checked (Consumer Reports), the only thing Apple has over other vendors is better customer service: not technology.
What? Consumer Reports showed them as having a very significantly lower failure rate during the first year than any other vendor (as of early 2007). That was the last real study I saw them publish on the subject.
In Consumer Reports's most recent "Computers" cover story (Jun2008, Vol. 73 Issue 6, p22-27), Apple's laptops placed last (23%) in "brand repair history" among the eight major laptop brands in their Product Reliability Survey. Apple finished behind Lenovo (20%), Compaq (20%), Sony (21%), Toshiba (21%), Dell (22%), HP (22%), and Gateway (22%). The percentages represent computers bought between 2003 and 2007 "that have ever been repaired or had a serious problem."
CR says differences less than 3% are not meaningful for laptops, so only Lenovo and Compaq have "meaningfully lower" percentages than Apple. However, if you believe Consumer Reports, Apple laptops no longer has a reliability advantage (by their definition).
The newer non-Pro MacBooks are simple enough (as the other replier said), but the MacBook Pro still makes it puzzlingly difficult to replace the hard drive. iFixit's great guide shows how using a phillips screwdriver, a torx screwdriver, and a spudger to get at the hard drive by removing the battery, RAM shield, the entire upper case, and hard drive retaining bracket. I counted 21 phillips crews and 6 torx screws that need to be removed.
No. The code bases were to merge at Windows 2000 Professional. Windows 95/98/ME were based on DOS. Win2K was the merge point at server and 'desktop'.
Are you sure? I'm pretty sure "Windows 2000 Professional" was the successor to "Windows NT Workstation 4.0" with the word "workstation" being replaced by "professional." There was no "home" version of Windows 2000 (like "Windows XP Home").
Also, note that Windows 2000 was released (Feb 2000) before Windows Millennium was released (Sept 2000). Are you claiming Windows ME was released after the merge?
None of this is that important anyway.
.
> Oh, Whole Foods is steep, there is absolutely no question of that. It's not just that what you're buying is more expensive than regular stuff, it's also that you've gone to a rather expensive place to buy it....
Am I the only fool who shops at Whole Foods to save money? Sure, I don't buy expensive fresh produce there (which is generally higher-quality compared to your average supermarket), but their bulk food section (selection varies by location) and store brand products offer a lot of low-cost healthy food.
.
Bulk rolled oats are 69 cents per pound and cheaper than any packaged oats I've seen. 365 Organic whole wheat pasta is the cheapest I've tried that doesn't have the texture of cardboard. 18oz jars of 365 natural peanut butter for less than $2, 365 whole wheat flour, bulk beans, bulk cocoa powder, etc.
- Trying to solve the long-term nuclear waste storage problem
The whole (short) article is interesting, but I think these two paragraphs are important:The paper argues that storage in the facilities at Yucca Mountain is not irreversible; if problems arise, the waste could be temporarily removed, or adjustments to the structural properties could be made. In fact, the authors argue, experience with pilot programs may be the best way to start reducing some of the outstanding uncertainties that are making the current debate so difficult. Without this knowledge, we may never be able to refine long-term models of waste storage."
Flakey memory is a common undiagnosed cause of system instability (along with bad power supplies). Testing the memory should be the first task performed after buying it from a place with a good return policy.
I'm an Opera man, but I'm looking forward to downloading Firefox 3 (maybe after 3.1). I'm all for getting the word out, but stop with the silly gimmicks.
I'm not saying we should upgrade older PCs to Vista if we don't need to (I haven't), but if XP is no longer availabe, Vista shouldn't be too much of a resource hog if the unnecessary eye candy is turned off.
I think an example of a "non security hotfix" would be something like the Daylight Saving time fix for Windows 2000 (in "Extended Support" at the time), which was only provided for those that paid for extended hotfix support. I think an example of "design fixes and feature requests" would be a Service Pack.
So Windows XP should be secure and usable as long as software is written for it. Since so many people will continue to use Windows XP, this shouldn't be a problem.
Windows 2000 started its "Extended Support" phase 3 years ago and I'm starting to see a few new applications not support the OS (e.g. Foobar2000 0.9.5, Photoshop CS3, free Microsoft goodies). I think this will be less of a problem for Windows XP because XP is used by many more home users than Windows 2000 ever was.
Weird.
<imaginary monologue>"I'm a black guy with an Asian mother (from Thailand). I dominate the sport of golf. I wear red on Sundays and my competitors crap their pants when they see me. Since turning pro in 1996 at age 20, I've earned more than $81 million in golf earnings. I make $100 million per year in endorsements.
I am Tiger Woods... and it's good to be weird."
</imaginary monologue>
- €999 ~ $1547
- €749 ~ $1160
- €399 ~ $618
http://finance.yahoo.com/currencyYes, that's right. IPhone will be sold unlocked here at Brazil.
Same rules in France, I seem to recall. At a HUGE price premium. The unlocked iPhone launched in France (late November) for €749 (about $1100 at the time). This price undercut Germany's unlocked price of €999 (about $1475).Unlocked French iPhones on sale for $1,106
I wouldn't mind driving one of those for my daily commute.
- "But it can't go very fast. Or very far. And if you drive it, people will think you're gay."
The preceeding message was brought to you by the SUV Producers of America.Personally, I admire the blue smart car that's often parked on a street I jog on. The litter bugger just looks solid and well-built (a member of the Mercedes-Benz Cars). I don't give a frick if morons will think I'm gay.