Ivan Krstic' critique of the One Laptop Per Child Project has made its ripples around the pond of the intertubes. Apart from the obvious part where it criticises a major project from an insider's point of view, it also had a few other remarks that caught people's attention - most notably the admission that despite his ability to do Linux kernel hacking, his main development laptop is a Macintosh running Mac OS X.
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Member since:2006-09-19
For anyone working 8 or 16 hours a day on a computer, little day to day comfort details can mean a lot. I don't really care if my computer could have been 500$ cheaper. I have been using my MacBookPro for the last two years and I am fairly sastisfied with it. Hardware-software integration brings a certain peace of mind over time which is pretty cool. It didn't burn, so I guess I was lucky. In the meantime my colleague with his Dell cries every day because Vista laptop changes his external display resolution everytime he connects it in the morning and my Kubuntu colleague never complains because he has got used to the idea that his computer is meant for programming (but still goes to the demo XP computer in the backroom to do tasks that would take him hours of configuration to do his box).
BTW, I don't see where you go the 90 days guarantee. That's the phone support. The standard guarantee is one year (three if you pay for the rather expensive AppleCare).
Umm, "fairly satisfied", doesn't sound too reassuring for the most expensive laptop on the market (in non gaming category).
Care to back up your claim about the Kumbuntu guy with some details? Or are you just making stuff up from what you red on the net?
Ok, the 90 days I meant the support, not the actual hardware warranty.
Member since:2005-08-31
What is expensive? The cost or the value?
The Value of the MBA is far better. You can't even build a PC with comparable specs.
how much for a hp or Dell with:
- 5 hours battery life (with basic battery please, not the bulky monster handle you have to pay more)
- Led display with 2mpx camera
- keep below the 5.5 lbs
- Efficient built-in mouse support multitouch
- less than 1" thick
- Option for NON-glossy crap
I've just build a Dell XPS, similar to my MBP, which cost 2150$ CAD. Dell (with that ridiculous bulky battery for half the time) 2108$ CAD.
I include Win Ultimate to make less limitation against OSX. (but still ..)
My laptop works longer on one charge*, weight less, thinner, got a real touchpad mouse, better overall design, aluminum instead of crappy hard chemical.
Plus I have a full BSD subsystem and full IDE combine with the most enjoyable+productive interface.
In the end, the Dell looks very expensive for what it has to offer.
* At school, 2 users in class had Mac. In the same class, only two user didn't plug their laptop or use an external mouse, I always fun to see. That's problem the time you laugh at them!
Edited 2008-05-26 21:36 UTC
Member since:2005-07-06
I couldn't agree more with that. I'm not even sure technically comparable boxes from other venders are cheeper than Apple ones. So the price certainly isn't a reason to stay away from MacOS-X, and the Apple product are very nice and well designed. The fact that I spent my first years of personal computing makes me tempted to buy a Macbook air every time I see one.
Still, I don't. The reason for this is that I don't get the same proffesional attitude towards me as a customer from Apple as I get from IBM, Sun, or HP when something goes wrong.
I use my computer for a living, and I need to be sure that I can get good support even on the rainy day when something bad happens to it. Apple repairs takes for ever and it is often hard to get them to lend you some replacement equippment during the repair time.
Another problem is that they don't support their products for very long. This is mostly a problem on the server side where I have been abandoned by Apple a few times too many. E.g. A/UX was replaced by AIX with no resonable upgrade path, then AIX was replaced by nothing, agin with no upgrade path. On modern MacOS-X serveer, upgrades often break things that wasn't/couldnt be configured from the GUI. Major Software components are switched without much warning between different versions of MacOS-X server.
On the client side, Apple usually only have the latest version of Java on the latest version of their OS and sometimes it takes for ever before it bomes available. When Apple finally have Java version X, the rest of the world is talking about the new features that soon will be available in version X+1. This is fine if you are a user, but as a developer you develop the next generation of software, then you need the latest and greatest as soon as possible.
The locking of iphones on upgrade theing a while ago was another example of Apple not putting their customers first.
All of this, wouldn't be so bad if it was isolated events, but Apple seem to make it the standard behaviour in business.
So, I will probably stay on Thinkpad, and Linux for considerable time. If you buy a computer with Linux in mind most things just work just like they do on the Mac. Most people that have problem with Linux are people that try convert their their cheep old windows PC with hardware without proper Linux driver support.
The GUI of modern Gnome is very usable, so I don't feel that I miss much if I go the Linux/Gnome/Lenovo way. I'm a bit worried about Lenovo though, as I havn't had any chance to test their support (touch wood), but at least Linux gives me the very latest Java. On e.g Fedora, I can even choose between java 6 and a pre release of Java 7.
Member since:2006-07-25
thats strange as ive always had nothing butgood service when ive dealt with a broken mac. Not something that happens often, but a family member had problems with a macbook pro and it was picked up and fixed very quickly. Dell also offers the same quaility service (this is without apple care) The only manufacturer who ive had problems with is acer, and it's not so much a problem it's just they have been rather slow.
Member since:
2005-08-29
Good thing the majority of people are smart. That's why we never have idiots getting elected. By your standards the infinitesimal market share of linux on the desktop would make it terrible.
For anyone working 8 or 16 hours a day on a computer, little day to day comfort details can mean a lot. I don't really care if my computer could have been 500$ cheaper. I have been using my MacBookPro for the last two years and I am fairly sastisfied with it. Hardware-software integration brings a certain peace of mind over time which is pretty cool. It didn't burn, so I guess I was lucky. In the meantime my colleague with his Dell cries every day because Vista laptop changes his external display resolution everytime he connects it in the morning and my Kubuntu colleague never complains because he has got used to the idea that his computer is meant for programming (but still goes to the demo XP computer in the backroom to do tasks that would take him hours of configuration to do his box).
BTW, I don't see where you go the 90 days guarantee. That's the phone support. The standard guarantee is one year (three if you pay for the rather expensive AppleCare).