Why buy a Macbook?

[cyberspyder]

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holy jesus 7H3L457H0P3 is dumb

You called?

 

[grokit]

 
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Strange that HP didn't take responsibility for the death of your laptop, since the it was caused by a common problem.
 
Edit: Whats even more strange is the the problem exists at all, the GeForce Go 6150 is an integrated GPU and uses very little power, so how can it produce so much heat ?:-|
It must have been an incompatibility between the BIOS fan controller and Windows 7.

Evidently a few REALLY persistent people with my model were able to convince HP to fix their computer or replace it, but it took real perseverance on their part, and from what I was reading HP was appeasing less and less of us as time marched on with this issue. As mine was already 2-3 years old, I decided not to hassle with it. But it was just a missing driver issue, and I did not discover or react quickly enough to the problem; I should have reverted back to Vista immediately.
 
Ironically, I am now stuck in the same boat; Vista sucks and I do like what Windows 7 brings to the table as an OS, particularly the fact that I would need it if I want to go from 4gb to 8gb of RAM, which I do. Evidently Vista will only recognize 3gb of RAM, while W7 will take advantage of all 8gb in this machine if I upgrade. The stuff that I do needs more RAM, but as HP canceled their Windows 7 upgrade program for this machine, I am afraid, very afraid!
 
I am not saying that Macs are headache free, they can definitely have their share of problems. But I have never had to search for a missing driver that may or may not exist, without which my machine will be irreversibly crippled. This is because M$ can't possibly take into account all of the hardware variations that people want to use on their OS IMHO, while Apple exercises complete control over compatibility with theirs.

 

[Adda]

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Ironically, I am now stuck in the same boat; Vista sucks and I do like what Windows 7 brings to the table as an OS, particularly the fact that I would need it if I want to go from 4gb to 8gb of RAM, which I do. Evidently Vista will only recognize 3gb of RAM, while W7 will take advantage of all 8gb in this machine if I upgrade. The stuff that I do needs more RAM, but as HP canceled their Windows 7 upgrade program for this machine, I am afraid, very afraid!

Memory support is directly related to the OS and CPU bit width.
32-bit OS'es support up to 3Gb of memory (Without PAE)  and 64-bit OS'es so much memory that you shouldn't worry about it, this is true for OSX as well.
So any computer capable of running a 64-bit OS will support a lot of memory, the only real limitation is how many memory sockets you have, and how big memory sticks your computer supports.
 
So if you install Windows XP x64, Vista x64 or Windows 7 x64 if you need more than 3GB of memory.
 
Do a google search and see if anyone has any experience with Windows 7 and your laptop and see what you can find.
 
I recently installed Windows 7 on a HP dv9000, it does not officially support Windows 7 either, but it ended up working just fine, it was quite a hassle though.
 
Edit: This is cool http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=81250 Windows 7 on a ThinkPad 600X, this laptop hit the market December 1999.

 

[maverickronin]

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Why would you avoid Atom like the plague?  They're good for super-mobile machines (IE: my netbook) since they're low cost, low power usage, and fairly good.  (1.6ghz dual core in a 10" laptop = awesome.)  And yes, the iPad would be a million times better if it wasn't ARM based.  An iPad at the same cost, running OSX Snow Leopard is a device I would buy.

Yeah seriously.  Apple blew it again with their shortsighted business strategies.  A nice looking tablet running OSX, and with a few more common sense features, like say built in usb ports would have been an excellent product, but what do they release instead?  A giant ipod.  I suppose it might be useful if your eyesight is going and you can't read the screen on a regular sized one, but that's about it.
 
Personally, I'm very anti-apple.  They do all the same crap that microsoft does but they get pass somehow.  I don't know if it's because they're not quite yet the monopoly they'd like to be, because everyone is too distracted by their pretty looking computers, or if its just the reality distortion field, but they get away with stuff that would have regulators from D.C. to Brussels whipped into a frenzy of fines and lawsuits if microsoft tried it.  I'd also like to say that I'm not pro-microsoft either.  I'm pro-getting-stuff-done, and windows has the best compatibility with just about everything.  It's not perfect, its not great, but its good enough.  Neither OSX nor linux, meet that standard for me.  There are plenty of people for whom those may be good enough.  Light web browsing and no gaming?  Mac may be for you then.  Serious content production and an even more serious budget? Mac may be for you then.  Windows PCs give the most versatility and the most bang for the buck.  I'll be using one until that changes.

 

[tfarney]

Yeah, if they don't get over all those short-sighted business strategies, sooner or later they'll have a year in which they only get, you know 200% growth or something...

 
Tim

 

[tfarney]

 
 
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You're worthless in this conversation.  Go away unless you have anything constructive to add.  I apologize for making a grammatical error, since that seems to offend you so deeply.

 
Not offended in the slightest. Somewhat amused, but definitely not offended.
 
Tim

 

[maverickronin]

Quote:

Yeah, if they don't get over all those short-sighted business strategies, sooner or later they'll have a year in which they only get, you know 200% growth or something...

 
Tim

Umm....  That's exactly why it's shortsighted.  That's the very definition of shortsighted.  It's taking what seems like a big payoff now at the expense of long term growth and stability.
 
Their DRM and platform lock in will implode sooner or later.  It will have a good chance of taking the whole company with it.  If they happen to be really lucky, then they'll just slowly fade back into the same obscurity they enjoyed before the ipod, and I'll have been wrong.  I think it's more likely that they will collapse, go bankrupt, have everything including their name sold off, and become a zombie brand.  It's not certain, but betting on proprietary platfom lock in is almost always a loser.  The only exceptions I can think of are video game consoles.  Lets see apple sell ipads, ipods, and iphones at a loss and make it up with the software!

 

[tfarney]

Hybrys, I think I owe you an apology. I got the impression that you asked a seemingly open question about why people chose Macs, then immediately started to argue against and put down whatever answers they gave you. I thought I saw someone trying to draw opinions just so he could take shots at them. I just reviewed a bunch of posts in this thread and see that reaction/attitude was mostly other posters, not you. So I would like to retract apologize, and go back to my original answer. What makes a Mac so attractive to so many people is a couple of big things and a whole bunch of small ones that come as a result of an integration of hardware, software and operating system that can really only happen in a closed system like the one Apple has created.
 
Yep, their weakness is their greatest strength.
 
Being a power user, the ease of use and lack of maintenance won't mean much to you, and you're obviously much more comfortable with Windows. Given all of that, I think the only reason you'd have to choose a Mac would be that the industry you're going into is dominated by them. I wouldn't want to go into banking not knowing Windows, and I wouldn't want to go into design, animation, film or audio not knowing OSX. But if you're comfortable enough with it, a Hackintosh should be fine. And I don't think it would be a status problem. Anyone with half a brain would be impressed by your computing ability if you walked into a studio/classroom and booted up OSX on a Windows machine. Good luck.
 
Tim

 

[grokit]

 
Quote:

Memory support is directly related to the OS and CPU bit width 32-bit OS'es support up to 3Gb of memory (Without PAE)  and 64-bit OS'es so much memory that you shouldn't worry about it, this is true for OSX as well.
So any computer capable of running a 64-bit OS will support a lot of memory, the only real limitation is how many memory sockets you have, and how big memory sticks your computer supports.
 
So if you install Windows XP x64, Vista x64 or Windows 7 x64 if you need more than 3GB of memory.

Thanks, I forgot to mention the 32/64 bit thing, it's been a little while since I looked into it.
 
HP makes it pretty simple:

 
My Tx2 came with Vista 64-bit, so I am evidently all set for a RAM upgrade. The good thing is that the 2 x 4gb DDR2 chips I need have come down from $340 to $290 in the last week or two. Still pretty pricey, but moving in my direction at least. I will download the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor as I am interested in the Pro version; XP mode would be handy to have. I hope it's worth it, as my Tx2 seems like a dog at the moment. I do like W7 on my Mac Pro via Boot Camp partition, and would like to use the same OS on my laptop. How far behind a current generation i5 or i7 laptop processor is my AMD Turion X2 Ultra Dual-Core? It's rated at 2.2GHz and comes with a Radeon HD3200 Graphics card. I have a feeling that the RAM boost would be significant, but I'm not sure how good this processor really is.

 

[Hybrys]

Quote:

Hybrys, I think I owe you an apology. I got the impression that you asked a seemingly open question about why people chose Macs, then immediately started to argue against and put down whatever answers they gave you. I thought I saw someone trying to draw opinions just so he could take shots at them. I just reviewed a bunch of posts in this thread and see that reaction/attitude was mostly other posters, not you. So I would like to retract apologize, and go back to my original answer. What makes a Mac so attractive to so many people is a couple of big things and a whole bunch of small ones that come as a result of an integration of hardware, software and operating system that can really only happen in a closed system like the one Apple has created.
 
Yep, their weakness is their greatest strength.
 
Being a power user, the ease of use and lack of maintenance won't mean much to you, and you're obviously much more comfortable with Windows. Given all of that, I think the only reason you'd have to choose a Mac would be that the industry you're going into is dominated by them. I wouldn't want to go into banking not knowing Windows, and I wouldn't want to go into design, animation, film or audio not knowing OSX. But if you're comfortable enough with it, a Hackintosh should be fine. And I don't think it would be a status problem. Anyone with half a brain would be impressed by your computing ability if you walked into a studio/classroom and booted up OSX on a Windows machine. Good luck.
 
Tim

If that's sincere, I'm truly touched. o.o  I think Hackintosh might be the way to go, as most have said.  Stick with my Win7, and get the extra bits for compatibility/knowledge from OSX.  The problem is finding the right laptops for that.  The G-Series ASUS machines can't support Quartz Extreme, because OSX doesn't support many Radeon graphics cards.  The best I can do is hope for an affordable 480M laptop (The only ones out right now are obscenely expensive) in the next two months, and THEN hope someone can hack the kext/v-id to make it look like a 330M, and get Quartz out of that.
 
Anyone happen to know of any soon to be released?  I'd like to avoid the Sager/Clevo lines, as they usually cost a tonne, and like to put desktops inside laptop-like units.
 
Quote:

 

Thanks, I forgot to mention the 32/64 bit thing, it's been a little while since I looked into it.
 
HP makes it pretty simple:

 
My Tx2 came with Vista 64-bit, so I am evidently all set for a RAM upgrade. The good thing is that the 2 x 4gb DDR2 chips I need have come down from $340 to $290 in the last week or two. Still pretty pricey, but moving in my direction at least. I will download the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor as I am interested in the Pro version; XP mode would be handy to have. I hope it's worth it, as my Tx2 seems like a dog at the moment. I do like W7 on my Mac Pro via Boot Camp partition, and would like to use the same OS on my laptop. How far behind a current generation i5 or i7 laptop processor is my AMD Turion X2 Ultra Dual-Core? It's rated at 2.2GHz and comes with a Radeon HD3200 Graphics card. I have a feeling that the RAM boost would be significant, but I'm not sure how good this processor really is.

Uhhh... The Turion X2 series is rather aged, I'm actually surprised yours is paired with a HD3200.  I don't think a RAM boost past 4GBs will show you much of an improvement at all; you'd probably bottleneck on the processor, if you're not already.

 

[12thgear]

 
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It seems to me that you have successfully countered your own argument. I find it interesting that even though Windows still enjoys over 80% of the mass market, A/V professionals have reversed the trend with Macs getting 70% of their professional market, after "carefully weighing pros and cons". Hmm, why could that be, TV commercials perhaps? I don't think so!
 

I wish you didn't quote me because now I can't go back to fix my stupid typos and sloppy editing. Thanks for nothing! 

 
Anyway, my point was meant to come across as pointing out that there are a majority of A/V professionals choosing Macs for legitimate reasons, but that there still exists a class of people in creative fields who buy a Mac more for its reputation in those fields. I wasn't making any sort of pointed attack against the Mac or its users. 

 

[grokit]

 
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Uhhh... The Turion X2 series is rather aged, I'm actually surprised yours is paired with a HD3200.  I don't think a RAM boost past 4GBs will show you much of an improvement at all; you'd probably bottleneck on the processor, if you're not already.

 
Cr@p, that's what I was afraid of. The current model dropped the dvd drive and a few other things, but comes with an Intel Core2 Duo SU7300, running at 1.30GHz; how much better is that?

 

[TLY]

I also agree with a post made earlier. Very good resale value if you keep it in good condition. I had a white Macbook bought in mid 2007 and recently sold it a few months ago for $750 on eBay. I paid about $1000 for it.

 

[7H3L457H0P3]

 
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holy jesus 7H3L457H0P3 is dumb

 
Someone took the flamebait. LOL. Really I thought we were all above name calling.
 
Just to update my status regarding a PC Mini Mod I took a few hours off and ran through a few renders. I'm on my 5th version right now, which I will refer to as PC Mini Mark V or Mark V for short.
 
Anyway if anyone is interested my current though process is to use a pico-itx adapter to the 24 pin on a mini-itx motherboard. This will be powered using a laptop adapter. I'm starting with 150w but I can increase my power input if necessary. I plan on using a core i3 530 and disabling the Intel IGP. Instead I will be using a low profile GPU that lacks any power pins. I've considered the ATI 4650, 5570, and NVIDIA 9600 gt and gt 240. I believe my best bet would be the galaxy 9600 gt LP (Low Profile Low Power). Benchmarks here for anyone interested (http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=709). The gt 240 is slightly better but more expensive and I would have to take a saw to it to reduce the height. Not a problem, but unnecessary. I will be using a notebook hard drive (2.5'' form factor) at 7200 rpm. The capacity will be at least 250 GB but I could go for 500 GB for a little extra. As far as RAM I'll be using 2 x 1 GB DDR3 1333 240 pin sticks. The ODD will be a slot loading DVD burner.
 
Yes I realize I am cutting alot of corners as far as GPU/RAM/HDD etc but the point is cheap but still more powerful. As far as the chassis goes I could try to get a used Mac Mini, but where would be the fun in that. Besides the older Mac Mini's had poorer build quality than the recent model so I'll just fabricate my own. I'm thinking carbon fiber at 1/8'' thickness.
 
Yes I know that the new mac mini just came out, but it doesn't even have a dedicated GPU; the gt 320m is integrated. If I really wanted to prove my point I could use a MXM III card if I wanted something with a nice kick, but honestly the only thing the new one has in its advantage is a nicer case, which is not justified for the price its being charged at. $700 are you serious. $1000 ROFL. I could put two hard drives in my build along with 4 or 8 GB of RAM just to prove the point, but realistically you don't need that much. As is, pending any further modification, my build will be under $550 for all the hardware and will make the Mac Mini look like a calculator. The chassis will take a little more doing. Carbon fiber isn't cheap and I haven't decided on how I'm going to modify the outside. I'll calculate the surface area and figure out the cost and whether I will use another metal or use a strong metal and cover it in a thin layer of carbon fiber.
 
As far as the OS. I will be dual booting Windows (most likely Windows 7) and Kubuntu. I might give OS X a try driver pending just to prove my point. Anyway if anyone is interested I will be working on this mod later on this week. I will try to get some pics's of my final render when I finish. I'll also post a build log in the next few months whenever I get around to building it; or whatever other mod catches my attention. 
 
 
7H3 L457 HOP3

 

[tfarney]

 
 
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If that's sincere, I'm truly touched. o.o  I think Hackintosh might be the way to go, as most have said.

 
 
It was sincere. Personally, even if I could run OSX hassle-free on a Windows laptop, I'd be tempted to pay the Apple premium for the screen, the touchpad, the rigidity of the case and the hard drive that locks the instant it detects motion, but I suspect all of the above, with the exception of the touchpad, is available elsewhere. The question, of course, would be is it available in a hardware set that OSX will support and will it really be much cheaper than just buying a Mac. I don't know that answer, but I'm sure you can find it.
 
Is there a list of all OSX compatible machines somewhere? 
 
P