NetRyder said:
The only difference is the outside of the package. Apple products come in boxes with fancy designs. The packaging inside is no different. My dad's Inspiron 700m came in a plain brown box, but the packaging inside would easily allow it to handle any falls/drops. My question is - after you receive the product, open the box and start using it, how often do you look at the box again, if ever? My packaging boxes are sitting folded up in the garage.
Actually, i look at it quite a lot, as i use it to travel with the thing. It is a sturdy box that can be thrown around by airport, and it fits neatly unto my suitcase and fills up space i don't use so everything is packed tighter, which helps my stuff stick in place instead of moving around and causing a mess.
Other than that i have off coure have a targus bag.
netryder said:
Me. I'll refuse to buy it not because it's an Apple, but because I know that by buying it, I'm only letting Apple get away with overcharging its customers. I'd rather give my support to a company that makes technology affordable for everyone, while at the same time, giving me a display that beats the Apple display when it comes to real, tangible specs.
Only reason they make it affordable is because their qaulity control is less. Ill get to that.
netryder said:
I'm not denying that aesthetics are important. Heck, if I were spending over $1K on something, I'd be more than happy to pay a little more for a product that looks better. The difference here is that the premium is not small. It's just unreasonable to any rationally thinking human being. If you saw the thread I posted earlier, you could buy two 2005FPW's, which also happen to offer better display quality (better contrast ratio, brightness, response time...things that actually matter), for the same price as a 20" ACD.
Depends on what you are using the screen for for that to matter. Better response time would mean you want to use it for gaming, and personally, i don't need a very bright screen. But that is a personal one.
If what you want to do is game, and have a good response rate, and would like your screen to light up the room as well as act as a screen, then sure the Dell would be a good choice.
netryder said:
You have to compare notebooks in the same class, X. The Dell your dad has is a few years old, and pretty much every notebook at the time was ugly. The black Powerbook G3 was nothing special to look at either, if you remember.
You say the iBook is not clunky and huge. What are you comparing it to? Desktop-replacement class x86-counterparts? Look at the Inspiron 700m - it's actually smaller and lighter than the iBook. Look at some of the Sony VAIOs - they're amazingly thin and light.
No, the dell my dad had was newer than my iBook. He got one of the smaller ones, not desktop replacement ones. He had it for less then 4 months. He travels many times a year, and it is not all to uncommon for him to have to get replacement hardware because it could not handle it. But this laptop had not been abused particularly, and one day it gave up. He got a new compaq, which is still working at the moment.
I was comparing the iBook to the Dells. Although i do agree the sony vaio is thin and light, and would probably beat out my iBook in the size and weight, the price on the smallest one which is the one i would want is $2,000. The cheapest is a hefty 8.1 Lbs and costs $1,494 (
http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INT...page=static/notebook_comparison/index&nonav=1). Also note, that recently a lot of the new laptops coming out look quite a bit like the macs, with their keyboard placement. Ever since the iBook came out, manufacturers are moving their keyboards further to the back to give a space for you to rest your palms while typing. This is especially visible in the vaio in my opinion. (But opinions are like *******s, everyone has one
)
Because of my prior experience with Dell hardware, even if they would have given the thing for free, i would not use it.
What i have seen from apple and not that much from companies that price their hardware cheaply is quality control. Apple's products work so well because they seem to check that every part works perfectly before it gets put into the computer/laptop. Sony does the same thing, but they have a less than perfect record with me when it comes to their desktop machines, but i would full well give them a chance for a notebook, as long as it can run linux. I might pay a bit more for the quality control, but i know i am getting quality. Qaulity control costs money, and since that can't come out of the companyes pocket, it has to come from elsewhere. The consumer.
netryder said:
One isolated case doesn't really say much. I have seen those age-old black Dell and IBM notebooks running even today. A few of my friends still use them - they're PIII machines that are at least 3-4 years old. How old is that TiBook?
TiBook: 2001 (
http://www.lowendmac.com/time/all.shtml). I have personally seen old IBM laptops as they are more sturdy than a rock, but have not seen any Dells. Could be because it seems everyone has new ones. Or could be because noone i know has one. Or it could be my own ignorance.
That being said, Apple II still works. I know a lot of intel hardware that still works, same with AMD. What i pointing out is that a dell that is approx 4 months old died, when an TiBook that took more of a beating is still running smoothly. I guess you can call it an isolated incident. Will wait and see.
netryder said:
You forget a very important point - I already mentioned it above. They might do the same thing, but the facts are in the specs - this particular Dell does it better (not saying all Dells are better). Maybe the Dell loses in the "looks" department, but there is a limit to paying a premium for looks - $500+ just for that is not a small amount.
So you would go for an couch that has a horrible brown color, and looks bad, but is new instead of going for a nice couch with a more sensible black color, which is priced higher?
To some aesthetics is more important than price. But it all depends on what you are going to do with the end product. If you are gonna use the couch to party with, and it will have stuff spilled all over it, and others i would agree the brown couch would be the best bang for the buck, but if you want a good looking long lasting couch, you pay a price. (Bad analogy, make sure to rip it apart
)
