DH is suggesting a Dell Inspiron 1525. Not great everyday portability, but fine for going to conferences and vacations, and it's more the price I had in mind, especially given that Dell also gives a UW employee discount.
Wash: Well, I wash my hands of it. It's a hopeless case. I'll read a nice poem at the funeral. Something with imagery. Zoe: You could lock the door and keep the power-hungry maniac at bay. Wash: Oh, no, I'm starting to like this poetry idea now. Here lies my beloved Zoe, my autumn flower, somewhat less attractive now she's all corpsified and gross...
'Shindig'
Buffistechnology 3: "Press Some Buttons, See What Happens."
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Susan W. - Jul 24, 2008 1:59:10 pm PDT #7186 of 25501
Good Trouble and Righteous Fights
Atropa - Jul 24, 2008 1:59:20 pm PDT #7187 of 25501
The artist formerly associated with cupcakes.
My lust for the MacBook air is massive. Like mass of Jupiter massive.
Yeah, right there with you. I was *just* looking at the MacBook Air on the Apple site. Good lord, that's a pretty machine.
Susan W. - Jul 24, 2008 2:00:30 pm PDT #7188 of 25501
Good Trouble and Righteous Fights
The MacBook is $999 at academic pricing -- not to be confused with the MB Air
Yeah, it was the Air I was looking at and going, "OMG, not paying $2000+ for my web-and-Word machine!"
Pix - Jul 24, 2008 2:01:09 pm PDT #7189 of 25501
The status is NOT quo.
Susan, the regular Macbook starts at $1099 brand new, and there's a refurb on the site for $949 right now.
I'm more than a little biased myself, granted, but I just don't think you can beat Mac for reliability and ease of use. It weighs about 5 lbs., so no MacBook Air, but it's pretty great.
Susan W. - Jul 24, 2008 2:04:28 pm PDT #7190 of 25501
Good Trouble and Righteous Fights
Hmm...is there much of a learning curve for someone who hasn't used a Mac since 1995?
NoiseDesign - Jul 24, 2008 2:04:51 pm PDT #7191 of 25501
Our wings are not tired
I've had miserable luck with Dells and Gateways. Good luck Toshiba and Apple, moderate luck with eMachines.
Pix - Jul 24, 2008 2:05:28 pm PDT #7192 of 25501
The status is NOT quo.
A very quick one. When I switched back from PC to Mac three years ago, it took me about a week to get used to the new OS. I haven't looked back since.
NoiseDesign - Jul 24, 2008 2:07:11 pm PDT #7193 of 25501
Our wings are not tired
And if you need/want all current Macs can now run windows. I have both OSes installed on all of my machines. I need to upgrade at least one of them to Vista.
sarameg - Jul 24, 2008 2:08:06 pm PDT #7194 of 25501
I think if you find yourself wedded to a mac, the refurbs are a deal when available. This 15 inch macbook pro came in at $1500. They currently have the 13 inch macbooks under $1K.
That said, were I not, I'd probably could have gotten a comparable pc new for less. (Just guessing, because I didn't even look because I'm really not as comfortable on that platform.)
amych - Jul 24, 2008 2:11:56 pm PDT #7195 of 25501
Now let us crush something soft and watch it fountain blood. That is a girlish thing to want to do, yes?
The conventional wisdom on pricing is that Macs have a higher initial cost, but lower cost of ownership over time -- you can do more with what comes in the box, fewer repairs, longer life overall, etc. and so on. Mileage (and actual use patterns) may vary, of course.
(But I should also note that I really don't know PC pricing -- I do either Mac laptops or build-your-own-Frankenboxes with lots of baling twine and duct tape and Linux.)