Old laptop is old and creaky. Is this one worth pursuing?

[Tom-D]

Your post pretty well sums up what I've been told by others. " get off the computer and go to work"

FTFY.

 

[wabower]

FTFY.

Unfortunately, the computer is instrumental in my work, what little of it I can squeeze in between golf trips during the winter and mountain trips during the summer. The remainder of the computer use is primarily for tracking the mental giants in pilot forums.

 

[rpadula]

Hah... except for that's the Firewire port magnified...

The MagSafe is the one all the way to the left in that photo.

There was another image/text to go with that one discussing the firewire port which is why it was bubbled.

That's the Thunderbolt port in the bubble (hence the little lightning bolt). The FW800 port is obscured and would be between it and the Ethernet jack.

Jus' sayin'.

 

[jesse]

That's the Thunderbolt port in the bubble (hence the little lightning bolt). The FW800 port is obscured and would be between it and the Ethernet jack.

Jus' sayin'.

fair enough

 

[denverpilot]

That's the Thunderbolt port in the bubble (hence the little lightning bolt). The FW800 port is obscured and would be between it and the Ethernet jack.

Jus' sayin'.

Ha. Good double catch. I'm used to the old "big" FW ports.

Anyway... There was some commercial on TV tonight for a slick looking Dell. Stole pretty much all of the Apple laptop design it looked like.

If someone's into PeeCee, and doesn't have issues with Dell, it's probably worth checking out. "X"-some number model. I didn't care enough to memorize the arbitrary model number. "31" maybe?

I'm sure it's front and center on their website if it's on TV. Looked nice for a slim PeeCee.

 

[weilke]

Size and weight are important to me, and I would replace the Fujitsu Q2010 I've been using for a number of years with a similar product if I could find one.

I have a Fujitsu T5010 which was pricey when I bought it but holds up well in daily abuse. Bought a dell for 1/2 the price at the same time and it is coming apart at the hands of the missus seing not nearly as much use.

Lenovo used to be good when it was IBM, now they are down to Dell quality.

 

[denverpilot]

I still have a Toshiba Portege 3015 that still runs. It's utterly useless today with its awesome smoking fast Pentium MMX processor. But it was darn well built. It has an old copy of Debian Linux on it. Takes about five minutes to start X if you feel the need for a windowing environment. Haha.

Also have a "vintage" Panasonic Toughbook. It was the machine that ran the Flight Software Which Shall Not Be Named After They Attacked The World With Patent Troll Lawyers.

I keep having delusions that I'll get around to making that my radio-site laptop with all the programming kit for Motorola Quantar repeaters, an interface box for stuffing the modem into the S-Com 7K controllers, and a bag full of cables for programming all the various commercial two-way radios I touch for various reasons, and all the software loaded up and tested.

And all the software for programming my Ham Radio gear and a current copy of my favorite logging software and Ham Radio Deluxe on it...

But I never get around to making it "perfect". I usually slap something on it in a rush on my way out to program something and never clean it up.

I stuck the poor Portege in a cabinet in a datacenter once as an emergency webserver handing out static pages. Ha. It actually survived. PCMCIA to 10 MB Ethernet card hosting traffic. Hilarious.

 

[rpadula]

Oh and I missed Quicken in your list.

Intuit screwed over all Apple users by killing off their original Apple product by not ever rebuilding it so it didn't need Rosetta (the engine that allowed old OS9 applications to run under OSX) and their current OSX application is god-awful and has been for years.

Another showstopper. I finally eradicated Intuit from my life last year and will never send them another dime after being a loyal customer for over a decade. I had Quicken files back to 1991. They can pound sand forever for all I care.

Speak of the devil. They finally released Quicken 2007 yesterday!

http://www.macrumors.com/2012/03/08/intuit-releases-lion-compatible-quicken-2007-for-mac/

 

[Henning]

As mentioned before, they run Windows just fine... they're just Intel PCs with funky boot firmware.

??? I'm paying 3 times as much for a Windows machine then why? That's absurd, not for a power plug.

 

[denverpilot]

??? I'm paying 3 times as much for a Windows machine then why? That's absurd, not for a power plug.

I didn't say it wouldn't cost you. I said you could run whatever OS on their hardware that you want.

If you want their hardware and want to run Windows on it, you can.

Wayne's looking for a stylish Windows machine. Apple makes one.

It ain't cheap, but that wasn't the criteria listed.

 

[wabower]

After dealing with this POS Lenovo that a guy advised me to buy, I'm done with cheap.

I didn't say it wouldn't cost you. I said you could run whatever OS on their hardware that you want.

If you want their hardware and want to run Windows on it, you can.

Wayne's looking for a stylish Windows machine. Apple makes one.

It ain't cheap, but that wasn't the criteria listed.

 

[Henning]

I didn't say it wouldn't cost you. I said you could run whatever OS on their hardware that you want.

If you want their hardware and want to run Windows on it, you can.

Wayne's looking for a stylish Windows machine. Apple makes one.

It ain't cheap, but that wasn't the criteria listed.

Once Apple built their hardware like everyone else, why buy it if I'm not going to run their operating system? That's a double waste of money. Apple has to the end of the decade.

 

[wabower]

You've been bitching for 3 years about stuff that won't work. Why don't you buy stuff that does work?

Once Apple built their hardware like everyone else, why buy it if I'm not going to run their operating system? That's a double waste of money. Apple has to the end of the decade.

 

[Tom-D]

Same as always. The primary business use is concentrated in the word and excel reports and analyses that I produce for clients of the aviation acquisition practice. I also use reference materials, pricing services and subscription-based listing data bases that are web-based, and can be accessed from any computer. The appraisal software is also web-based. Quicken and a host of other personal and financial programs, portfolio management and other programs are are also installed on the machine. Aircraft Blue Book, Conklin & DeDecker and other some of the other aviation-specific programs are becoming available as web-based products rather than CD-based products, so I'm not sure how the selection of those products may be affected by the capabilties of the next machine.

Truth be told, I've never had an Apple device other than the phone and ipad, and would like to try one just to see if the ease of use (primarily all of the virus and other user-hostile issues of the PC machines will disappear as promised. I have an exchange server at the home office, and am told the Mac Book will interface nicely. It would probably be helpful if I had any idea what an exchange server does and why I have one, but that's another discussion.

I just converted to an iMac 27" running 10.7.3 and love it.

it took about 2 days playing with it to figure out the new system, transfere all 13,000 pictures from the old Windoz hard drive.

It does all the window's programs so that should not be a problem for you simply hook up a USB cable between your old computer and the new iMac and transfer every thing you like.

This computer is soooooooo much faster than my old Dell I can't believe it.

 

[Henning]

You've been bitching for 3 years about stuff that won't work. Why don't you buy stuff that does work?

My top end Sony works just fine at half the cost of a Mac and has outlasted the longest lived Macbook I've had which did the standard 2 years. I'm just still trying to figure out why I should again try a Mac product when all the prior espoused advantage to having a Mac is gone? So far no one has managed a good pitch yet to sell me, and I'm a sucker.

 

[wabower]

And my Sony turned into a Pumpkin, as did the Lenovo and a couple of Dells. No mas.

My top end Sony works just fine at half the cost of a Mac and has outlasted the longest lived Macbook I've had which did the standard 2 years. I'm just still trying to figure out why I should again try a Mac product when all the prior espoused advantage to having a Mac is gone? So far no one has managed a good pitch yet to sell me, and I'm a sucker.

 

[Henning]

And my Sony turned into a Pumpkin, as did the Lenovo and a couple of Dells. No mas.

It's all the same crap Wayne, I see crew all the time with broke down piece of crap Apples too. This Sony broke the same way every other laptop I had except one died, this one I was able to economically repair and recover. To me that is a huge plus in that manufacturers favor. To a guy like me who repairs stuff at the component level, that is a major financial benefit. This computer already has saved me $600 on historic computer replacement costs where as a similarly equipped Macbook would still be into me for $600 due to its double purchase price; and is gaining every day.

It's all junk, every last bit of it. I wish I could say 'No Mas' as well, but I can't. I've been carrying a laptop for multiple functions since my 486 Toshiba Satellite Pro with Win 3.11. They all make a year, most make 2, this is the only at over 3. I usually own/carry more than one and even 2 units at a time.

My method when I have to replace is to pick a top end unit with all the features, they always end up providing the best value in the light of future tech expansion. Until this last one 3 years ago it was a $2500 bill, this last time it was $1200. I strip all the crap off the drive, load on the software I need, the only antivirus I ever use is AVG free and I don't have any problems. I once ended up with something but Antimalwarebytes Free took care of it.

Outside of features, there is basically no difference between any of the brands besides warranty support.

 

[wabower]

You could be right, but at this point I'm like the tom-cat humping the skunk and have enjoyed about all of this stinking mess I can stand. Friends and kids (including a UT computer engineering grad) have moved to Mac and seem happy. I figure that if I get one, maybe I'll enjoy some of their good luck or my bad luck will rub off on them. A few hundred bucks difference in price is immaterial if I don't have to endure the ongoing error messages.

It's all the same crap Wayne, I see crew all the time with broke down piece of crap Apples too. This Sony broke the same way every other laptop I had except one died, this one I was able to economically repair and recover. To me that is a huge plus in that manufacturers favor. To a guy like me who repairs stuff at the component level, that is a major financial benefit. This computer already has saved me $600 on historic computer replacement costs where as a similarly equipped Macbook would still be into me for $600 due to its double purchase price; and is gaining every day.

It's all junk, every last bit of it. I wish I could say 'No Mas' as well, but I can't. I've been carrying a laptop for multiple functions since my 486 Toshiba Satellite Pro with Win 3.11. They all make a year, most make 2, this is the only at over 3. I usually own/carry more than one and even 2 units at a time.

My method when I have to replace is to pick a top end unit with all the features, they always end up providing the best value in the light of future tech expansion. Until this last one 3 years ago it was a $2500 bill, this last time it was $1200. I strip all the crap off the drive, load on the software I need, the only antivirus I ever use is AVG free and I don't have any problems. I once ended up with something but Antimalwarebytes Free took care of it.

Outside of features, there is basically no difference between any of the brands besides warranty support.

 

[Bob Noel]

My top end Sony works just fine at half the cost of a Mac and has outlasted the longest lived Macbook I've had which did the standard 2 years. I'm just still trying to figure out why I should again try a Mac product when all the prior espoused advantage to having a Mac is gone? So far no one has managed a good pitch yet to sell me, and I'm a sucker.

Jeez, you have had bad experiences with Apple hardware and you don't like Apple. Got it. So don't buy one.

Me, my Apple products have outlasted any of the windows-based Ka-rap out there. YMMV

 

[Henning]

You could be right, but at this point I'm like the tom-cat humping the skunk and have enjoyed about all of this stinking mess I can stand. Friends and kids (including a UT computer engineering grad) have moved to Mac and seem happy. I figure that if I get one, maybe I'll enjoy some of their good luck or my bad luck will rub off on them. A few hundred bucks difference in price is immaterial if I don't have to endure the ongoing error messages.

LOL, I though that at one time then realized the level of geekhood required to get to 'happiness' with a Mac and the main reason I didn't get an error on the Mac over something was because the Mac refused to support it LOL, same for Linux only worse. Somethings in life you just have to resign yourself to. Computer problems are one of them.

Now you understand my point, I'm not happy with any of it, computers are like politics, which one do I think is going to f- me less. As for software developers, lets not even start there, but from my perspective all the 'open source' hype means 'Doesn't work and has no support. If you're a geek with the tools you can fix it to do exactly what you want, all you have to do is write a few thousand lines of code."

As I said before, I'm a sucker and have drank the kool aid at least 7 times I can remember plus a few iPxx gifts I bought others. Every time I drank the kool aid and made the purchase I was disappointed with the functionality that I was denied because Apple didn't think I needed that so they won't allow it, FMD, I BOUGHT the computer/device, I own the damned thing, I don't care why they want to restrict my access to use my purchase as I feel appropriate, they suck for doing it and I get to vote against bad behavior with my wallet. But I'm a sucker and an optimist so every few years I try another Apple product to be once again disappointed that the reality didn't match the kool aid serving consensus. Sorry, I'm neither a simpleton or a geek, and that is the Apple market. I need something I can turn on, click around and make do what I want, not to search 2 hrs for a feature only to find it's not supported on Mac.

Personally I think you're a lot more like me as far as computer user level goes that your friends with great luck.

BTW, all the non geeks I know, even smart ones, have more frustrations with technical issues with their Mac than I do with a PC. Mac's aren't error proof, not by a long shot.