New Toshiba Satellite - Core 2 Duo - 4GB - 500 GB Disk

[fos]

I just purchased this Toshiba for the extra USB port. All in all it seems satisfactory. Other than the port, the Dell Inspiron is a better computer. Both have extended life batteries that last about 4 hours in actual use, the same ram and speed.

The new Toshiba has Windows 7. I don't see much difference over Vista. This computer has Home Premium 64 installed. If anything it is slower. It shows the desktop quickly but takes quite a while to actually start doing anything.

Two proprietary applications that I must have for school will not work. I hope they have an upgrade for Win 7. If not, this thing is going back to Best Buy.

It also has a fingerprint scanner. What a waste. Even though I disabled the web security feature, it still wouldn't let me log into websites that needed a password. The only thing that solved the problem was to uninstall the Toshiba Fingerprint Utility software.

The front left edge of the case where it is put together is rough. It is irratating the heck out of my wrist. I think I have some emory cloth in the garage. :(

My iPhone is much more user friendly. Maybe I should have paid the cadillac price for an Apple laptop. No, I would still have the proprietary software problem. Maybe next year if I can get a new job.

Firefox will not run. I haven't figured that out yet

And they say MS is more user friendly than LInux?

There is a pretty good chance it is going back to Best Buy. I would have to eat the 10% restocking fee.

Jeff

[Leon]

Thanks for the report.
The price of a laptop these days is getting closer to that of a cup of Starbuck's coffee, and so is functionality.

Can you access the BIOS setup? From what I've been reading it is almost impossible anymore for a humble commoner to reset the BIOS.

[danieldk]

I'd say, bring it back and get a MacBook :). All of them have excellent battery life (normally >= 6 hours), all new models are unibody (either plastic or aluminium), usually have glass displays, multitouch trackpads, etc.

It's proprietary, but still UNIX. The basic operating system is open source (Darwin), and you can install virtually every open source software package via MacPorts.

Oh, and the warranty is pretty good. I can bring my MacBook/Mac Mini to any Apple repair center in the world, and it will be fixed.

[fos]

Unfortunately, I'm stuck with three proprietary, Windows only software packages. The Macs are definitely better, I looked at them but they won't run the software I have to run.

Maybe when I graduate in May I will be lucky enough to find a better job.

Jeff,

Still fighting the SLOW Toshiba that doesn't have anything on it beyond M$ Office, Adobe Creative Suite, and Symantec antivirus.

Win 7 Home Premium 64 stinks!!!!! (Think more severe expletives here as desired.)

[danieldk]

I use VMWare Fusion for seamless integration of Windows with OS X. They provide very good educational discounts, which made it an attractive option as well. Of course, there's also the free VirtualBox.

MacBooks can be a lot cheaper when new models are introduced. E.g. I bought the aluminium MacBook that is nearly the same as the current MacBook Pro's for 1000 Euros, but I have seen it on offer for 900 Euros (about 300 Euros cheaper than the MacBook Pro). The white MacBook is also available at a discount sometimes. I saw that the MacBook white is $899 with an educational discount (638 Euros), which in Europe would be very cheap for a premium laptop (LED backlit display, multi-touch mouse, etc). Of course, as every US company, they apply the usual conversion rate for Europe ($1 == 1 Euro), meaning that we pay $1270 for the same machine ;).

I'll end my sales pitch now :). With a lower budget I'd pick up a cheap Thinkpad, and run Linux with VMWare Player.

With respect to Windows 7: it is not much more than Vista SP2, and if you want features you'd need the Ultimate edition anyway.

[fos]

I priced Macs this afternoon. The one that would fill my needs would cost $1200. I used it briefly at the store. The quality is much better than the Toshiba. The touchpad is actually functional. The university provides MS Office and VMWare. The only software I would have to purchase would be Adobe Creative Suite.

I'm going to make a decision this evening. If money were not an issue, it would be an easy decision to make.

Thanks

PS. I have the Toshiba running, even with Firefox. It is still slow with poor construction quality.

[danieldk]

I priced Macs this afternoon. The one that would fill my needs would cost $1200. I used it briefly at the store. The quality is much better than the Toshiba. The touchpad is actually functional. The university provides MS Office and VMWare. The only software I would have to purchase would be Adobe Creative Suite.

I'm going to make a decision this evening. If money were not an issue, it would be an easy decision to make.


Do take into account the prices for extending support to three years (AppleCare), normally it's just one year...

With such a big investment, you may not be happy with one year of warranty.

[fos]

I purchased the Macbook Pro with 160 gb drive and 2 gb ram. I expect I will improve both with time. I didn't buy any extras. Hopefully I will not need the extended warranty.

I'm still learning the interface. This is my first mac.

Jeff

[danieldk]

I purchased the Macbook Pro with 160 gb drive and 2 gb ram. I expect I will improve both with time. I didn't buy any extras. Hopefully I will not need the extended warranty.

I'm still learning the interface. This is my first mac.


Congrats! :) Maybe I should post a HOWTO sometime ;). You will love MacPorts.

I have moved from Linux to OS X pretty much everywhere:

- Aluminium MacBook (Home + Work)
- Mac Mini, overspec-ed with 4GB RAM (Work)
- Mac Mini, 2GB RAM 320GB harddisk (Home)
- Apple TV (which is practically an 1GHz OS X 10.4 machine)
- iPhone (special mobile version of OS X)

I can still do all the nice UNIX stuff, but sound/video/etc works all the time. Most of my direct family has also migrated, my brother uses Macs at work and home, and my dad also switched half a year ago at home.

Time to open a new thread? Or even subforum? ;)

[fos]

A new category on the forum sounds like a great idea. I have several comments regarding the new laptop. Basically, the hardware quality is the best I have ever had. Prior to this laptop, the IBM Thinkpad TP 760 CD I purchased back in the 90s was the benchmark. It is now this MacBook Pro 13.

I downloaded the Snow Leopard Missing Manual for my Kindle. That should help my learning curve.

I have yet to configure my Brother HL-2170-W wireless printer. It is a CUPS issue that I need to work on.

I'll post additional comments in the new Apple category...

Jeff

[danieldk]

A new category on the forum sounds like a great idea. I have several comments regarding the new laptop. Basically, the hardware quality is the best I have ever had.

Indeed, it's rock solid. Even the unboxing is always a pleasure :).

I have yet to configure my Brother HL-2170-W wireless printer. It is a CUPS issue that I need to work on.

Does the printer support Bonjour? At work I see all tens of network printers automatically via Bonjour.

[fos]

// Does printer support Bonjour?

I don't know, I will certainly take a look.

Thanks for the tip.

Jeff

[jml]

Welcome to the dark side, Jeff. :-)

I have used both Linux and OSX for years. I still love playing with my Linux boxes, and will continue to do so. But, while I have been able to virtually eliminate Windows from my home, I still go back to my Mac laptop when there is something that I need to do quickly without a lot of fiddling. Some things are just a lot harder on a Linux box, like managing songs on an iPod and connecting to iTunes.

I would be interested on your thoughts, even a review, of your 13 inch MacBook Pro. I have been eying one of those myself, as my 12 inch PowerBook is getting a little long in the tooth. Plus the 40 Gig HDD is looking smaller and smaller every day.

The other thing I like about the new MacBooks is the fact that they are now Intel based making running/installing Linux on them a bit easier. although I have never tried to do it.

Joe

[danieldk]

The other thing I like about the new MacBooks is the fact that they are now Intel based making running/installing Linux on them a bit easier. although I have never tried to do it.


I have installed Linux on my previous Core 2 Duo MacBook (White), and it is not really worth the effort. Energy consumption is lower on OS X, and it is painful (as usual) to get suspend/hibernate, wireless, and sound working.

Using Linux on VMWare (or VirtualBox) is much easier. It is a standardized platform, and you can install the VMWare drivers to get good integration. I also like it that you can take snapshots or suspend Linux VMs.

[jml]

Good points, Daniel. Good thing I never actually tried to make it work.

Joe