AppleCare is REALLY expensive, though. :/
One other advantage; If I get the Macbook Pro, I get a free iPod Touch 8gig. So I can sell it on Ebay to make up for some of the money I'm spending.
AppleCare is REALLY expensive, though. :/
One other advantage; If I get the Macbook Pro, I get a free iPod Touch 8gig. So I can sell it on Ebay to make up for some of the money I'm spending.
Nchewbacca, you are correct. Applecare is rather pricy. But when you consider Apple's "complimentary" warranty support is only 90 days for phone support and 1 year for hardware related issues, you are really taking a risk not topurchase Applecare if you buy a MacBook Pro. Laptops in general, and Apple Laptops in particular do not break cheaply.
That's one of the things I really like about System 76. Their warranty and support policies are great. One year is included in the purchase price of your computer, and for the Pangolin a three year extended Warranty is $199.00 US. The equivalent AppleCare warranty is $249 for the 13 inch Macs, and $349 for the 15 and 17 inch Macs.
Joe
Strictly as a System76 Customer (Which I was before I was hired), I would recommend a Lemur. I know, it isn't as powerful as the Pangolin or macbook, and it has no optical drive. But, if you upgrade to 4 GB of RAM, and purchase the external optical drive, your total purchase price excluding tax and shipping would be a hair over one grand ($1004 to be exact). So, comparing that to the specs for WoW, you could run that reasonably, and it is a hundred bucks cheaper. Plus, you get the Ultra Stylish UltraThin Form Factor. I can personally vouch for the styling on that laptop; I think it would make a macbook blush.
On top of that, the Lemur gets about 4 hours of battery life. Not quite the MacBook's 8-10, but much higher than our other systems.
So, I want to stress that I don't want to pressure you as an employee. But, as a very satisfied customer ONLY, I would go with System76
Interesting point. Does the Lemur have the same processor as the Macbook Pro? I'm pretty sure that they're both Core 2 Duos, but I'm not very educated in the field of processors. And that CD drive that's missing is a shame, but then again, I almost never use CDs unless I'm at home.
The biggest difference is that none of the Macbook Pro processors are ULV. Lemur maxes out at 1.3 Ghz per core, Macbook Pro 13" low end is 2.4 Ghz. If you do tasks that are remotely CPU intensive, then you will want the Macbook Pro.
Also, if you intend to play WoW, the GPU in the Lemur will not do well for you. The NVidia 320M will run WoW adequately.
I understand about the battery life, its part of the reason I have a Mac.
System76: Seriously, give me a Linux laptop with a solid GPU and a long battery life. I will buy it.
Yeah, I'd gladly sacrifice a few inches of screen space for a better default battery. Perhaps they could start with screen size options, in a similar fashion to the Macbook Pro? For instance
13-inch Bonobo Performance
5 hour battery
15-inch Bonobo Performance
4.5 hour battery
17-inch Bonobo Performance
3.5 hour battery
Or something along those lines. Because, to tell you the truth, I don't need that large a screen on a laptop. Battery life is more important to me than having a huge screen, because I can always hook it up to an external monitor... at least with Macs. Please tell me that option is available for Ubuntu.
I just wanted to chime in here real quick about the macbooks. If you are acustomed to the standardization of a two button mouse, I can assure you that you will become frustrated when working with the macbookpro (be it in Ubuntu or that other OS). When I do technical support on the apple laptops, I always carry with me a USB mouse to keep the level of frustration at a minimum. Outside of the apple laptops being nothing more than the trend setting style we once knew as Starbucks, there isn't much to the laptops that is really innovative. Trendy, has a name, comes with an operating system.
I'll leave it at that. Take my thoughts with a block of saltlick though... I won't even purchase an ipod I hate apple so much.
The other thing with system76 is the support. With a mac, if there is a hardware problem you can take it to an apple store or a certified apple support center. With system76, if there is a hardware problem, you will most likely have to send it back to Colorado.
I haven't had any problems with the trackpad on my Macbook Pro. I just went into System Preferences and enabled the two finger tap for right-click context menu. Much better than Control-click. [quote] AppleCare isn't cheap, either, though. A 13" Macbook Pro AppleCare plan is US$250. If you add up all the costs of these service plans for all the electronics you have, might as well pay yourself that money and get a replacement if and when something does break. Less red tape. No money flushed down the toilet.
Incidentally, my out-of-warranty Macbook Pro recently had its graphics card fail after two and a half years, and Apple fixed it for free, because it was a known issue with the card:I've generally found that if your electronics device (TV, smartphone, computer, monitor) lasts the warranty, it'll probably last for years afterwards. Not always, of course, but usually faulty electronics show their faults early on.Originally Posted by emphasis mine
I recently bought a Pangolin after seriously considering a MacBook Pro. . . for a couple of years. What made me choose the Pangolin in the end?
1. I've been supporting a Mac in our family for several years, and also have a Dell Mini 9 Hackintosh, so I know and like the OS. I have to admit it's very smooth and rarely exhibits any problems (in fact, after trying XP and the original Ubuntu on the Dell, I have to say that OS X is the fastest, smoothest OS that machine has ever seen). But I found that I chafed under the closed system a little, while I really enjoyed the older Thinkpads and Dells I ran Linux on (finally standardizing on Ubuntu, though I still fiddle with Mint and PCLinuxOS). Linux is just more fun, the support forums make solving problems interesting, and the latest iterations of Ubuntu have been world-class operating systems. In the end, I think I just didn't want to live in the "walled garden" (Apple's or Microsoft's) even though it can be nice in there if you're prepared to follow their program.
2. Battery life didn't matter for my use - and I admit it's a weak spot for the System76 lineup. I did think about it, but the lure of the overall System76 mojo just overcame that objection. Not sure what I'd have done if long battery life was a big factor, as I needed the Pangolin's power so I don't think the longer-lasting models would have floated my boat. Maybe I'd have acquired a couple of extra batteries, which with economy measures implemented, might give you six hours. . . I admit that's a hard one.
Bottom line, if you can finesse the battery issue in any way, I'd recommend the Pangolin - if you need power - or the Lemur, if you need longer battery life and it's powerful enough for you. One thing to bear in mind is that Ubuntu, particularly 10.04, runs faster on similar equipment than most Windows versions so you will be able to get good performance with more efficient hardware using it.
When will they come out with those fuel cells they were touting a couple of years ago - you just pour in a little after-shave or vodka or something and get hours of power?! (With a Mac it would have to be single-malt!)
Good luck, hope you can see your way clear to getting the Lemur and becoming a long-term member of these forums!
System76 Ratel, Ubuntu 16.04; Thinkpad T420, UbuntuMATE 16.04; MacBook dual-booting UbuntuMATE 16.04; various other laptops/desktops with Ubuntu, Mint & Puppy. . . Long Live Linux!
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