[unclejr]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wodgy /img/forum/go_quote.gif The GMA X3100 is pretty good... in general I think the integrated/dedicated graphics distinction is becoming artificial. It makes more sense to look at performance. Even the lowly GMA 950 is much faster than dedicated graphics cards from 2-3 years ago. And the major advantage with these integrated chipsets is longer battery life, which Apple builds upon by using the battery-efficient Seagate Momentus series hard drives. Especially for students who plan to take notes on their laptops, don't discount the importance of good battery life, because you can't depend on being plugged in everywhere.

If only they'd release that ultra portable. Sigh.

 

[kugino]

Quote:

Originally Posted by unclejr /img/forum/go_quote.gif If only they'd release that ultra portable. Sigh.

yeah...if they do announce one at MWSF i'm all in. i don't need an optical drive...want thin and light and long battery life.

 

[450]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wodgy /img/forum/go_quote.gif The GMA X3100 is pretty good... in general I think the integrated/dedicated graphics distinction is becoming artificial. It makes more sense to look at performance. Even the lowly GMA 950 is much faster than dedicated graphics cards from 2-3 years ago. And the major advantage with these integrated chipsets is longer battery life, which Apple builds upon by using the battery-efficient Seagate Momentus series hard drives. Especially for students who plan to take notes on their laptops, don't discount the importance of good battery life, because you can't depend on being plugged in everywhere.

Crap! I just realized I'm using my Vostro for college.

The Vostro has a battery life of 3 hours with the 6 cell. I think I'm gonna have to get the 9 cell plus aditional 9 cell in the optical bay.

EDIT: How much better is Leopard than Ubuntu/Windows? I've only spent about 10 minutes with it...

 

[Wodgy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 450 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Crap! I just realized I'm using my Vostro for college. The Vostro has a battery life of 3 hours with the 6 cell. I think I'm gonna have to get the 9 cell plus aditional 9 cell in the optical bay. EDIT: How much better is Leopard than Ubuntu/Windows? I've only spent about 10 minutes with it...

Maybe you'll find you don't want to use your laptop for taking notes? Then battery life isn't as big a deal. Though if you start having to buy a bunch of extra stuff (2GB RAM, a bigger battery, etc.), the Vostro probably isn't such a good deal any longer. Note that the stock Macbook battery with Santa Rosa is now spec'ed at 6 hours, which is good.

I'd get accused of being a fanboy if I answered your question about the degree to which Leopard is better. Just read any of the Leopard/Vista comparison reviews online and draw your own conclusions. I will say though that I don't use OS X because I'm some kind of Apple admirer (see my comments on Safari earlier in this thread for evidence of that); it's because it is genuinely a more carefully crafted system. Despite the folksy ads, there is some pretty compelling and powerful stuff underneath the hood, from a real UNIX, and all the tools that go along with that, to LLVM and dtrace. And you get it all... there aren't multiple versions of the OS that leave you missing features like Shadow Copies if you haven't spent enough, and there is no registration. In my view, the only compelling reason to run Vista is games, and if you're using a laptop, really, an XBox 360 makes a lot more sense. As for Ubuntu, it depends what you like. I won't knock it. There are people who love hacking away on stuff, and they love the "free software" philosophy. And you can make it do some nifty visual things. But in terms of fit and polish, it's years behind either Vista or OS X. Also, the software just isn't there. There are dozens of media players and window managers for Linux, but try to find an outliner or similar productivity tools.

 

[450]

Awww... Darn it Wodgy.

I use my 360 for gaming and was gonna use the laptop just for writing papers but after some serious reading I have slapped myself at least 7 times now.

I feel like a bad person returning stuff though. I only return stuff unles it doesn't work. My first return in a long time.

I really thing you're right and the Macbook/OS X 10.5 for me is far superior.

Plus keynote seems to be better than powerpoint.

Augh. I was looking forward to my first laptop too!

Oh well, live and learn.

EDIT: How should I return the computer?! Also should I just sell it on craigslist or something given the fact I got it on sale? Same laptop is now $200 more.

 

[Wodgy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 450 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Awww... Darn it Wodgy.

Don't blame me!

Seriously, though... I'd feel bad if you made purchasing/computer decisions based just on things from posters on headphone forums. The computer you have is good, and I just saw in the other thread that you'll be running XP, which should help your battery life a little. Also, it looks like your Vostro has a bigger screen (though it's probably heavier too). Anyway, I'd strongly encourage you to read actual reviews, not just listen to people like me.

Quote:

Plus keynote seems to be better than powerpoint.

That is true. I don't think you'll find anyone on either side of the fence who disagrees, except for people who love long, tightly-packed slides of bulleted lists. Keynote is designed to discourage that kind of presentation. See Tufte's book "The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint" for a discussion of why they designed Keynote this way.

Quote:

EDIT: How should I return the computer?! Also should I just sell it on craigslist or something given the fact I got it on sale? Same laptop is now $200 more.

Reselling Windows machines can be difficult. It's like buying a used car and then driving it off the lot, then trying to sell it... it immediately drops in price. (In some ways Macs are safer here too, because they hold their value; compare the prices of three year old Macs on eBay with three year old Dells.) Really, if it isn't easy to just return to Dell, I would keep it. It's not that bad, and XP is still a workhorse.

 

[450]

I'm quite convinced a Macbook is better. But after I sent you a PM I looked at something.

My Vostro was only $640 shipped (had more money but this had everythign I needed on it). A Macbook is 1100! It doesn't even have a DVDRW, which is effectively $200 extra. The way I see it I could just buy a Mac Mini with a combo drive and keep the Vostro.

Still less than $1300 and I get two computers! Although before I'd be allwed to do that my dad would probably get me a Macbook Pro (his first choice - but my mom stopped talking to me for a while after he suggested that

).

Oh well. I'll figure it out with my 'rents.

Sorry for the hijack I'm done!

 

[Zanth]

Since this seems to be the de facto mac thread of late, I hope this request goes along with the Leopard theme.

I'm looking for a real file browser, the finder is horribly inept for my needs.

In linux I use gnome_somethingorother that has two panes. In windows I use what I consider to be the ultimate GPSoft's Directory Opus. It does everything I want and more. I haven't found anything in linux (gnome or kde) that competes well but the double panes at least it is functional.

I've tried a few for Mac but nothing seems to offer everything I want.

Does anyone use something spectacular for Mac?

Disk Order seems to be the best one thus far that I have tried.

 

[defsquad]

Zanth, I would 100% recommend Path Finder as an "alternative" to the default Finder. www.cocoatech.com should get you the information you need on Path Finder. I bought it the first day I read a review on it and have been completely happy. Right now it has some annoying little quirks in Leopard which Cocoatech has been really good about catching and fixing, they are releasing new builds about once every other week to paid license holders.

Even with the current Leopard related bugs/quirks it is 110% better than Apple's Finder. I run both side by side (and there were "hacks" for Tiger to pretty much never have to see Finder again), but for Leopard I think those hacks don't quite work right.

Anyway, for $50 bucks it is a steal.

 

[Zanth]

I had pathfinder installed for a demo trial. It was single pane only. Can it be configured to run double pane? Double pane is an absolute must for me. Funny, I want pathfinder info with disk order dual panes

Gnome Commander (what I use in linux) can run on Mac but I want something fluid with aqua.

 

[Wodgy]

I really dislike Path Finder. It's the sort of app that packs in the features at the expense of usability and it drives me bonkers. But you might like it if you're coming from the Linux world.

The dual-pane Finder replacement I'd recommend is Forklift:
http://www.binarynights.com/

I kind of like the regular Finder though, and in my opinion all the Leopard Finder changes are very positive. In the Ars Technica review, the reviewer goes on and on about wishing for a pure spatial metaphor, but it's obvious they're moving away from spatial browsing, and that's positive in my view.

 

[senny-ftw]

Quote:

The dual-pane Finder replacement I'd recommend is Forklift: http://www.binarynights.com

Interesting - looks good, and much better than Path Finder.

Quote:

I kind of like the regular Finder though

Same here, especially with the new Preview feature in Leopard. Cover flow in Finder doesn't impress me on its own but when Preview is added to the mix, viewing folders with PDFs, documents and pictures becomes a whole new experience. My main issues with Finder are:

- Lack of address bar; I'd like to see where I am in the filesystem
- I'd like a 'Parent Folder' button. I just had a look for a shortcut and apparently it's Option-Command-Uparrow - but who would know?

In short, I like the standard Finder, but it's easy to see why people criticise it.

 

[Wodgy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by senny-ftw /img/forum/go_quote.gif My main issues with Finder are: - Lack of address bar; I'd like to see where I am in the filesystem - I'd like a 'Parent Folder' button. I just had a look for a shortcut and apparently it's Option-Command-Uparrow - but who would know?

Just FYI, in Leopard, you can turn on a breadcrumbs ("address") bar. Look for it in the menus. This shows you where you are, and once you have it on, you can jump to the parent folder by double-clicking on it.

In Tiger and Leopard, you can also add a "parents" button to the toolbar (right click, choose customize toolbar).

BTW, another related tip: in any window that has a proxy icon displayed in the title bar, you can see the path of the file you're looking at by control-clicking on the proxy icon. This includes Finder windows.

 

[AuroraProject]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 450 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm quite convinced a Macbook is better. But after I sent you a PM I looked at something. My Vostro was only $640 shipped (had more money but this had everythign I needed on it). A Macbook is 1100! It doesn't even have a DVDRW, which is effectively $200 extra. The way I see it I could just buy a Mac Mini with a combo drive and keep the Vostro. Still less than $1300 and I get two computers! Although before I'd be allwed to do that my dad would probably get me a Macbook Pro (his first choice - but my mom stopped talking to me for a while after he suggested that ). Oh well. I'll figure it out with my 'rents. Sorry for the hijack I'm done!

Since you're a student you can buy via the Apple Educational store and get a MacBook with the dual layer Superdrive for $1199.

 

[Zanth]

I have forklift installed, so far so good! Still not a Directory Opus replacement (or real competitor) but not shabby either. I'll get a feel for it over the next two weeks and if it makes me happy, I'll buy it out before the trial runs out.