(yes, I actually still have this. Don't know why.)

OK, I don't have anything that old. But. I am purging. I will say, as I've been digging through old papers, I found the receipt for the Apple 5300c that I am getting ready to toss. Shocking! I paid $4,500 for it! Imagine what kind of laptop you could get for that much today! So ya, I think it's safe to say computer prices have come WAY down.

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Omnis, try searching for BootCamp1.4.dmg maybe one of the torrent places (or, god forbid, a traditional site) has an active copy for download.

Good call! I have downloaded it. Upon opening it, it promptly tells me "Boot Camp beta has expired. OK"

So I dial back the date on the clock to see if that trick works. It starts to! It installed the Boot Camp Ass't utility. But once I open that, it says something about my internal drive needs to be reformatted to one partion in Extended (Journaled)... which it already is.

:: head - desk ::

Not tonight.

Anyone have a clue, short of backing up everything and wiping the drive?

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Um-

If I were looking for a really cheap laptop to have in my house, go on-line and perhaps use word and excel occasionally, would this do? Could I possibly find one cheaper?

[link]

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It has Vista on it, so I think at only 2G of ram it will be really slow for you.

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Sophia, I bought almost the same thing back in December for $900, and I'm pretty happy with it, even with only 2GB RAM. The most graphics-intensive thing I do with it is play DVDs and streaming video MS Flight Simulator, and it works fine for that.

The major differences between my P205 and the one shown in that ad is that mine has the Intel processors and a web cam. The AMD version at the time was priced at about $750, so the price you are seeing now is 1/3 off for the refurb. and the march of time.

You can probably get more machine for the money if you settle for a 15" screen. I wanted the 17" screen because the 15" screen with the wide aspect ratio has no more vertical room than my old 14" Sony. One penalty to the larger size is the weight -- more than 7 lbs. One advantage -- I like the full size keyboard, with the separate number pad.

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Thank you. Really slow is sort of relative. I currently use my cell phone to access the internet at home!

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If I were looking for a really cheap laptop to have in my house, go on-line and perhaps use word and excel occasionally, would this do? Could I possibly find one cheaper?

Sophia, as I recall you work for a University. If so, make sure that you check on your school's deals with manufacturers. Often cheaper.

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Inside an FBI Computer Forensics Lab

The experts at the FBI's newly accredited Regional Computer Forensics Lab in San Diego have already helped solve murders, child porn cases and robberies. They're among the best in the nation at pulling evidence from hard drives, cellphones and memory cards.

There are now 14 such labs in the United States, with two more coming online this year. Last year, the FBI labs collectively performed more than 13,000 forensics examinations. The San Diego lab alone handled more than 1,000 requests from 40 law enforcement agencies in 2007, including 171 child pornography cases and 160 murder investigations.

...

Cellphones can be a treasure-trove of forensic evidence. In one case, a man was robbing a store when his cellphone rang. Captured by a security camera, and studied by the lab, the robber's unique ringtone eventually led to his conviction.

Heh. Also, duh.

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Thanks Rick. It looks like we get a substantial discount on Apple (which is what I want, but still Too Much Money), and a 12% discount on Dell, which actually doesn't help much-- although I could get a pink laptop!

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I need to retrieve it from San Diego but I still have a C/PM computer with an 8" floppy drive that is in a plywood case. It was still working last time I checked but that was quite a few years ago.

Ah, yes, the good old days.

Charles Babbage and I used to discuss number theory and chicks while filing the teeth on the gears of his Difference Engine. It was I that directed him towards the efficacy of steam as a motivator for his calculatory Devices, though he thought me mad. I finally convinced him after a particularly long discussion in a pub resulting in fisticuffs and my directing him to a chirurgeon for a cure for syphilis.

Little known fact about Babbage: SLUT!

It was this, rather than his much advertised Personality Difficulties (e.g. his propensity for accosting organ-grinders and beating them about the groin with a stout walking stick) that, I think, led to his failure to complete his Difference and Analytical Engines. The man, while indubitably a genius, could not Keep It In His Pants and would chase down and bugger anything with an appropriate orifice. This was kept out of the Papers, of course, in deference to his status as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics. Also, he had dirt on every publisher in London.

But I digress.

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