Apple : nice hardware (really)

Apple really does make pretty good laptops, but there are a couple of things I don't like:

The weight is rather high. I've got a 4.0lb thinkpad 570e, which I absolutely love. It's not the absolute lightest notebook out there, but it's pretty good compared to most. The apple is pretty much middle of the pack.

It's size. The titanium is getting a bit too big to fit in a backpack easily. The wide screen is really nice, but it's more a desktop replacement than a portable computer. I bike everywhere since I don't have a car. I don't think I'd want to haul around one of these. (We've got one at work, so I do have some experience using the Tibooks).

The touchpad. The touchpad itself is fairly decent on these things. A lot better than my old Vaio's anyway. I can't stand having one mouse button though. It's a travesty. Of course you can always plug in a mouse if you want, but that's not going to work when trying to take notes in class. (we've got lecture hall seats with itty bitty little fold-out desk things). Apple is just being stuborn these days. Between the second mouse button and the scrollwheel, PCs really have an advantage.

Otherwise, the Apple laptops are outstanding. Amazing battery life, nice LCD screens, and reasonably quick. Now only if they were a bit cheaper. :)

Nite_Hawk
 
Nite_Hawk said:
The weight is rather high. I've got a 4.0lb thinkpad 570e, which I absolutely love. It's not the absolute lightest notebook out there, but it's pretty good compared to most

It's size. The titanium is getting a bit too big to fit in a backpack easily.

Apple is just being stuborn these days. Between the second mouse button and the scrollwheel, PCs really have an advantage.

Otherwise, the Apple laptops are outstanding. Amazing battery life, nice LCD screens, and reasonably quick. Now only if they were a bit cheaper. :)
Click to expand...

This summer my partner got herself an iBook because she preferred it to the PowerBook. Physically smaller, rugged(!), excellent battery life. (Going full bore, the 750fx consumes 3,6 Watts.) Plus, even though the titanium is very good looking, she couldn't really identify with that "executive" look.

The xBooks don't come with a mouse, so you are free to get a mouse with any number of buttons and scrollwheels your preference dictates. It just isn't an issue.

The cheapest iBook goes for $999. I'd recommend the middle one though for three hundred more, where the Radeon 7500 has more memory, the CPU is faster, the stock harddrive bigger, and has a combined DVD/CD-RW unit. Add a 512MB SO-DIMM, and you are set with an extremely likeable companion. The small iBook is the best liked machine in Apples line-up. Look around, people are _really_ satisfied. (Incidentally, the 17"-inch iMac outsells the rest of the iMacs combined, but for a portable, petite is what you want.)

Entropy
 
entropy:

The mouse issue is still there for me, specifically because I almost never use an external mouse with my laptop. I'm often times using it in class where there is no surface to use an external mouse on. I take notes, and (though sometimes not the best idea) work on homework in class.

The ibooks are nice. My friend has one, and it seems to work out well for him. Still, they are somewhat heavier than the ultralights. (I think they are between 5 and 6 pounds?) and somewhat thicker as well. I also am not so much a fan of the 12" screens. They are ok, (especially in that the Imac's is a very nice screen), but that's one of the main reasons I bought my IBM. It's still extremely light and thin, but has a 13.3" screen. It's really a lot nicer to work on. The price is pretty decent on them though. I bought my laptop off ebay and got an amazing price on it. (~$900 last winter), but for a new laptop the ibook is pretty good.

Nite_Hawk
 
archie4oz said:
Option-click is essentially your 'right-click'...


In the end, the new TiBooks are pretty damn nice...
Click to expand...
Well sure, but the point remains - if apple KNOWS you have to have a "right click" and assigns a keyboard +mouseclick to it, why dont they just put the second damn button there?
 
Actually, my bad... Right-click is ctrl-click, option-click is a whole other slew of options (no pun intended).

Well sure, but the point remains - if apple KNOWS you have to have a "right click" and assigns a keyboard +mouseclick to it, why dont they just put the second damn button there?
Click to expand...

Well largely because it's simply easier for a n00b to understand. Most of us tend to congregate around relatively adept computer users (and/or are fairly adept ourselves), but it's rather surprising how many people get confused with left-click/click and right-click.

Also it makes more sense to keep the pointer device as strictly a point and click paradigm, as it allows simpler expansion for mouse-click derived functions. This is especially important in the case of MacOS X as not only does it have to deal with ports of Windows apps that are designed around right-click context functionality, but also Unix apps that often revolve around 3-button mice. It's a lot easier to simply add another key modifier to your workflow when you're used to them, than to add it when you're not (I've seen this first hand with users of Maya accross IRIX/Linux, Windows and MacOS X)...
 
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