Job's throwing his toys out of his pram?

[LosOjos]

Maybe the teachers didn't know how to use them? I know the 11" Macbook Air is double price of a netbook, but I'd personally pay £800 for the entry level one for the design and long-life of the product not falling apart after a year! It fits a market for people who don't need the extra optical drives and want extra portability. That and the iPad wipe out any need for a windows netbook straight away.

 

If you have ~£1,500 burning a hole in your pocket yeah... Or you could get a high end Linux/Windows based netbook and Android tablet PC for about £500, I know which I'd choose

[Duane_Dibbley]

I just wrote 4 lengthy paragraphs on why I hate Apple...then deleted it all. Instead I'm just going to write what summarises my hatred the most...

 

"Macs are better for design"

 

Magical

[aerospacemango]

The age old (well, the computer-age old) argument resurfaces again!

 

Mac or PC?

 

Some will love the Mac, others will love the PC......And arguments will always rage!

 

Myself? I prefer anything that's NOT Apple, mainly because I don't like the stranglehold they put on their customers.

 

I could build a PC for half the price that Dell quotes, AND it would be more reliable too! Mind you, I'm still waiting for someone to come on and say how secure Apple stuff is!!!

[Arthur]

Over priced and underpowered toy aimed at people who are blinded by the Apple badge.

I agree about the original MacBook Air. The abysmally slow 1.8" HDD and 2GB RAM limit really let it down, especially considering how much it cost. The new model is much better though (the SSD definitely helps). A lot of people get blinded by the Sony badge for some bizarre reason. You can easily spend £1,300+ on a G Series VAIO (for example) and end up with a laptop which performs similarly or worse.

 

We have 2 at school in a safe because they were not up to what the users wanted.

Surely if they had done some research beforehand, they would have known these wouldn't have been suitable for their needs? The MacBook Air is classed as an ultra-portable laptop so you have to expect some kind of compromise when it comes to speed vs size/weight. The type of people the MacBook Air is aimed at most likely won't be using it as their only computer, so the lower performance doesn't matter as much.

 

Mac or PC?

Why not both? I just use which ever is best for the job in hand. Windows, Mac OS X and Linux all have advantages and disadvantages. Liking/disliking Steve Jobs, Steve Ballmer or Linus Torvalds isn't important enough for me to completely stop using a particular OS or device.

 

I could build a PC for half the price that Dell quotes, AND it would be more reliable too!

That's very hard to do with laptops though. I also like building my own PCs, but saving money is not always the reason I do this. If I had to buy a Dell computer for home use, I would avoid the various Inspiron models altogether and buy a Latitude or OptiPlex instead.

Edited October 21, 2010 by Arthur

[Duane_Dibbley]

That's very hard to do with laptops though. I also like building my own PCs, but saving money is not always the reason I do this. If I had to buy a Dell computer for home use, I would avoid the various Inspiron models altogether and buy a Latitude or OptiPlex instead.

 

Right now i'd buy an Acer. They've really stepped up their game design wise with some high quality finishes, plus great battery life, performance and overall value. You know with Acer that you aren't paying for the name...

[sidewinder]

^ hmm Acer and high quality finish are 2 things that I never thought I'd hear together

to be fair though I havent used anything from them in a couple of years

[Duane_Dibbley]

^ hmm Acer and high quality finish are 2 things that I never thought I'd hear together

to be fair though I havent used anything from them in a couple of years

 

I used to thinkthe same but their new models are really nice...

 

We bought 15 of these - Acer Aspire Timeline 3810TZ review | Laptops | Reviews | PC Pro - at the end of last year for the kids to use. Nice and slim, 9 hour battery life, lovely metal finish. The rest of the range are the same but more powerful, I think the timeline X series are their newest.

 

edit: we got the 4GB version

Edited October 22, 2010 by Duane_Dibbley

[Sean-OC04]

I just wrote 4 lengthy paragraphs on why I hate Apple...then deleted it all. Instead I'm just going to write what summarises my hatred the most...

 

"Macs are better for design"

 

Magical

 

I'm glad that you have realised why they are better then......

[Sean-OC04]

Over priced and underpowered toy aimed at people who are blinded by the apple badge. Wouldn't give it houseroom. We have 2 at school in a safe because they were not up to what the users wanted.

 

Clearly whichever Apple reseller you went to for these, (please don't tell me you just bought them straight off the Apple web site) didn't do his job properly and sold you the wrong product.

 

OR

 

All well and good buying some great new Apple kit....anyone bother with some training as well????

[localzuk]

Over priced and underpowered toy aimed at people who are blinded by the apple badge. Wouldn't give it houseroom. We have 2 at school in a safe because they were not up to what the users wanted.

 

Don't blame the machines. Blame the people who bought them. If they were bought without properly understanding that they are ultraportable, and therefore not general purpose machines, then the purchaser is at fault.

 

Also, why are they sat in a safe? Why did they not simply get sold? They hold their value just fine.

 

Your argument could be changed into 'we bought a couple of mini coopers, but they couldn't fit the grand pianoes we needed to move around in the boot. They're useless! Don't buy minis!'...