[CALUG] Macbook -- Off Linux Topic

Mon Sep 11 13:32:56 CDT 2006

All,
Awesome feed back. Thanks. From what I hear, buying a MacBook is also a
mixed bag like buying a Windows/Intel Laptop but more favourable. I see more
complaints towards heat on MacBook Pros than Macbooks.

I am not a gamer, I want to be mobile and be able to log on to my Office and
have xterm/ssh access. Macbook seems to be thinner than most Windows/Intel
laptops I have seen. The thin ones, categorised as ultra-portables are too
expensive (2000+) Reading the reviews online, I can live with an average of
4 hours of battery life, not that I will be on a laptop for that long,
unless traveling.

The reason, why I want to get a Mac is that, I am tired of patching windows
or trying to install Linux on a Laptop, which was certified and designed for
Windows. So, with Mac, I get best of both the worlds, Windows free and the
OS is Unix, I can not ask for more. One other compelling reason is the
iLife, which has all the things I would use on a day to day basis.

This will be my first Mac, (last time I used a Mac for work was in 1998), so
I will have a lot to learn about using it. Now that you all have helped me
make up mind, the only question that remains is, when I will end up buying
it.

Thanks for all your feed back. One other resource I used was PC World. I
have attached the pages which talks about user review and ratings on both
desktop and laptops. There too Apple ranks the best.

-GGR

-- 

Rajiv G Gunja
System Analyst / Engg
SUN / AIX / HPUX / Linux Admin
IM: AOL / Yahoo / MSN : ggvrsn
Skype: rajiv_gunja

On 9/11/06, John Clemens <john at deater.net> wrote:
>
>
> I'll just share my experience: it may help you, it may not.
>
> For my old job that I just left, I just purchased a compaq v3000z
> dual-core turion X2 laptop.. it's pretty good with linux and workes very
> well.  It does get warm, sometimes very warm when playing a game of civ4
> or so, but generally it's pretty pleasant. I think the thing that
> generates
> the most heat in it is the chipset, it has an nforce 6100 in it. I used to
> complain about the temperature, as my last notebook was an ibook g3 900
> which never gets hot.
>
> I just started a new job, and they gave a macbook pro.  Seeing as how the
> MBP has a core duo, I had assumed it would be much cooler than my compaq.
> Boy was I wrong.  This thing gets obnoxiously hot if you use it on
> anything other than a perfectly flat surface, and even then the case gets
> uncomfortably warm.  I can -not- use it on my lap for any mroe than 5
> minutes or so.  I think the MBP case makes a big difference here.  Note
> that as the developer of powernowd, I do know for a fact that the cpu is
> downclocked when idle.  I've even used linux-phc to undervolt the core-duo
> by .2v at all speed stages, and the thing is STILL hot.  (I also use
> aticonfig to downclock the video card and video ram, again only a small
> affect)...
>
> Putting Linux on it is also a lot harder than it should be, because of the
> EFI mac firmware. Both laptops suffer from proprietary video drivers (the
> regular macbook will not have this problem).  the sound on the MBP 15"
> doesn't work unless you use headphones (again, not a problem on regular
> MB), the touchpads on both laptops are a little oversensative for my
> tastes, but they're ok.  Remember, these are all Linux issues on the MBP,
> obviously OSX runs fine (although the temp is still high).
>
> Overall though, even though you can tell the MBP is a higher quality
> construction, I'm having a much better experience with the compaq.  If
> you're going to be running linux, I'd recommend saving some money and
> getting something like the compaq (or vendor of choice).  Mine was <$1000,
> and i got 64-bits to boot.  I don't mind jumping through a few hoops, but
> man, the heat on the MBP is just a dealbreaker for me, I'm glad I didn't
> spend my money on this thing.
>
> This all goes out the window if you want OSX, then you have no choice..
>
> HTH,
> john.c
>
> On Sun, 10 Sep 2006, John Szakmeister wrote:
>
> >
> > On Sep 9, 2006, at 9:39 PM, Rajiv Gunja wrote:
> >
> >> Anyone has experience with the latest Macbooks? I am planning to
> >> buy it and
> >> there has been a mixed bag of reviews on the Internet.
> >> Some say they get too hot, other say, not much. Is it worth the
> >> money and
> >> will it last at least 3 years?
> >>
> >> My last laptop (Compaq) last me 1.5 years and it had a problem with
> >> the
> >> motherboard and I had not taken the extended warranty.
> >>
> >> That too is an other question: Has anyone taken the extended
> >> warranty and
> >> has it come in handy?
> >
> > I can't say anything about the MacBook Pro in particular (other than
> > I've seen some rather poor reviews because of heat issues).  I can
> > say that my extended warranty for my current laptop has come in
> > handy, and it has for at least 4 other people I know (multiple times
> > at that).  My advice: get the extended warranty.
> >
> >> Thoughts and advise are most welcome.
> >
> > HTH!
> >
> > -John
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> > Email postings to: lug at calug.com
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>
> --
> John Clemens                      http://www.deater.net/john
> john at deater.net      "I Hate Quotes" -- Samuel L. Clemens
>
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