A Carafe of Ubuntu
But you will have to add the price of a Windows license to the MacBook as wellOriginally Posted by Mikeb85
I hadn't seen all their options until just now. Just took a look, it'll be $1700 for the options I want, plus a Windows license (which I will need - I'll run it in VM though).
Tea Glorious Tea!
A Mac is better than a thinkpad, but not that good for the price. I say go with the mac, not the thinkpad.
CrunchBang Linux
Plz no tpe lik dis or no anser!!
The search tool can be found in the upper right corner of your screen, please use it to your advantage, especially before asking questions.
Iced Blended Vanilla Crème Ubuntu
Not quite true on the RAM part unfortunately. Regular Macbook Pro can be upgraded from 4GB to 8GB (16GB actually, but Apple claims only 8GB). The newest with the retina display has RAM that is soldered in and cannot be upgraded as you can in the standard Macbook Pro. So, you either get the machine with the amount of RAM you will need in the future or you settle for the standard amount of RAM throughout its life.
Bonus with a Mac...look at used Mac prices. You can probably get much over half what you paid for it several years from now. Can't do that with any brand of PC I know of.
I have a regular Macbook Pro and love it. YMMV, but they really are solid machines.
First Cup of Ubuntu
Isn't the Mac a glossy screen? That's a killer in my experience, especially in lecture halls and spaces like that with lots of point lights that reflect int eh screen.
I really dislike the glued-shut aspect of the Mac. I've had enough batteries, memory units and drives die on me over the years that I do want to be able to replace stuff if I need to. Also, the Thinkpad keyboards have a well-deserved reputation for being the best you can get.
In the end, I just ordered a T430, with (probably) a bit higher specs than you; 16Gb, 2Gb NVIDIA graphics, an SSD and a second internal HD (for live backups and data storage) that I can swap for a second battery when traveling. Ended up a bit beyond your budget.
I used to bring and use my laptop everywhere, and on travel especially. But lately I mostly use the laptop on a desk, and it stays in the bag during travel so extreme portability is no longer as important to me. I have my phone and budget tablet for cafe surfing and travel use after all.
The screen is 900 pixels high which is lower than I'd like. On the other hand, 1800 pixels is too much - you pay for it with lower battery life and worse graphics performance. Either is workable, but one is on the low end, the other on the high. The perfect balance for a screen with this size and distance is about 1100-1200 pixels, but nobody seems interested in making those <rant>Why does everything have to be either budget or mine-is-bigger-than-yours posturing?</rant>
(edited for clarity)
Last edited by JanneM; June 15th, 2012 at 01:30 AM. Reason: Edit for clarity
Staff Emeritus
The Thinkpads are somewhat dated in design but they are robust and reliable. I have purchased many hundreds of these over the years and have had a very little failure rate.
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Frothy Coffee!
that's why you had to purchase hundreds of them
but seriously: i'd go with apple- good design, Unix operating system- but with long battery life etc.
Staff Emeritus
I purchased hundreds for the large Enterprise I worked for.that's why you had to purchase hundreds of them
but seriously: i'd go with apple- good design, Unix operating system- but with long battery life etc.
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Just Give Me the Beans!
To put it in the same kind of self-centered terms I often see used here and in real life... "Why would I have to do that? I don't give a crap about Windows?"But you will have to add the price of a Windows license to the MacBook as well
Wait... you worked for Jim Kirk? (Can I have your autograph?)
Staff Emeritus
Strangely the CEO my direct report name was Jim
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A Carafe of Ubuntu
What's wrong with having a Linux laptop and an iMac for the desktop?
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