Laptop Advice Needed
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Australia
Posts: 73
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
**Don't buy a frickin mac if you want your wireless broadband to work pain free.
TT
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: victoria
Age: 37
Posts: 87
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Relax Forkhead i was just taking the piss. Maybe i should start using the smiley things as i guess sarcasm is a bit difficult to detect in writing!. Don't tell me you carry a bloody printer around in that Bo aswell?
TwoTango - as i said "If you want it to work pain free", the data cards are generally fine with macs these days, but using your mobile as a modem is still a pain in the buttocks.
povopilot.
TwoTango - as i said "If you want it to work pain free", the data cards are generally fine with macs these days, but using your mobile as a modem is still a pain in the buttocks.
povopilot.
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: in the classroom of life
Age: 55
Posts: 6,864
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like
on
1 Post
I am seriously thinking of one of the eeePC thingo's for my next mobile aircraft PC.
We are bench testing one at work at the moment and if it survives 6 months in the hands of the operator (2 months so far) I would then recomend everyone buy one!
J
We are bench testing one at work at the moment and if it survives 6 months in the hands of the operator (2 months so far) I would then recomend everyone buy one!
J
Grandpa Aerotart
All those knocking Macs...I changed to a Powerbook G4 4+ years ago after using DOS based computers since PCs came on the market...long before windows when you had to actually be able to write in DOS to make the fecking thing work.
I will NEVER buy another windows/microsoft/IBM/whatever based computer again...PERIOD!!!!
Yes it was 4 or 5 times what you can get a compaq/dell etc for but you get what you pay for...and in my experience, and that of ALL my mates (except Forky and Jaba) that is utterly reliability and stability.
Trojans/viruses/anti virus software/blue screen of death?
A thing of the past. I left that aggravation behind when I bought the best computer I have owned in 20 years.
My last laptop was on life support by the time it was 4 years old. The G4 is still functioning as well as the first time I turned it on. The only thing I have been back to the Mac shop for in 4.5 years is a new battery.
There is a reason why people, like Journos, who require absolute reliability use apple.
Microsoft's market domination is a classic example of the market not always working the way it is supposed to in theory.
Microsoft Works - The 20th centuries greatest oxymoron.
I will NEVER buy another windows/microsoft/IBM/whatever based computer again...PERIOD!!!!
Yes it was 4 or 5 times what you can get a compaq/dell etc for but you get what you pay for...and in my experience, and that of ALL my mates (except Forky and Jaba) that is utterly reliability and stability.
Trojans/viruses/anti virus software/blue screen of death?
A thing of the past. I left that aggravation behind when I bought the best computer I have owned in 20 years.
My last laptop was on life support by the time it was 4 years old. The G4 is still functioning as well as the first time I turned it on. The only thing I have been back to the Mac shop for in 4.5 years is a new battery.
There is a reason why people, like Journos, who require absolute reliability use apple.
Microsoft's market domination is a classic example of the market not always working the way it is supposed to in theory.
Microsoft Works - The 20th centuries greatest oxymoron.
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Darwin, Australia
Age: 53
Posts: 424
Likes: 0
Received 4 Likes
on
3 Posts
FTDK,
I brought a $20 or $25 external aerial at (dare I confess) Tandy for the Next G USB dongle. With it plugged in the broadband operates reliably where the mobile (LG TU500 on Next G) really struggles to get a signal.
W.
I brought a $20 or $25 external aerial at (dare I confess) Tandy for the Next G USB dongle. With it plugged in the broadband operates reliably where the mobile (LG TU500 on Next G) really struggles to get a signal.
W.
macbook. Light portable and reliable.
One of the best features is the time machine backup system. I use a 250g 3" usb hard drive and everytime I plug my macbook into it at home it saves my entire drive completely automatically. Then you can travel back in time to your computer at a date in the past to recover stuff.
An if you really really need to run windows programs (like accessing our company server
) - you can install windows in a small partition and run windows in a window whilst using the mac osx! (you can also drag and drop items between the two).
And no viruses, it's stable etc etc....
One of the best features is the time machine backup system. I use a 250g 3" usb hard drive and everytime I plug my macbook into it at home it saves my entire drive completely automatically. Then you can travel back in time to your computer at a date in the past to recover stuff.
An if you really really need to run windows programs (like accessing our company server
) - you can install windows in a small partition and run windows in a window whilst using the mac osx! (you can also drag and drop items between the two).And no viruses, it's stable etc etc....
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: in the classroom of life
Age: 55
Posts: 6,864
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like
on
1 Post
Hey Chuck, yes we are a bit thick, and we do need telling twice.... 
I would go the Mac option except that all my software suites for work will not run on a MAC and thankfully not on Vista either.
My current Dell on XP is so far the most reliable I have had, the last Toshiba on XP was good too, however not having a serial port was a pain as some USB to serial converters are not good.
Hey Forkie, will all the Jepp stuff and the moving map stuff work on a Mac? If it did the next plane PC might go MAC. Problem is all the avionics software stuff is W2K/XP only.
Agree with Chuckles though..... its been one big marketing con that unfortunately some of us can not escape even when we want to!
J
I would go the Mac option except that all my software suites for work will not run on a MAC and thankfully not on Vista either.
My current Dell on XP is so far the most reliable I have had, the last Toshiba on XP was good too, however not having a serial port was a pain as some USB to serial converters are not good.
Hey Forkie, will all the Jepp stuff and the moving map stuff work on a Mac? If it did the next plane PC might go MAC. Problem is all the avionics software stuff is W2K/XP only.
Agree with Chuckles though..... its been one big marketing con that unfortunately some of us can not escape even when we want to!
J
Chimbu, we must be opposites. I have a lot of experience with Apple computers, but will never buy an Apple.
Pick an Apple machine and I've chances are I've had to work with it. Off the top of my head in the order I remember them: LCIIs, LC630s, Color Classics, IIvx, Peforma 5200s, Power 7220s, G3 iMacs, Newtons, PowerBook 100 and 1400 series, the Clamshell iBooks (mmmm, fungus!!), the second gen white G3 iBooks and the earlier G4s. Used everything from System 6 to OS X.
If you are unfamiliar with the short comings of Apple's computer products, do a search on "G4 logic board problems" for something you could relate with. I also take it you never used Mac OS 8.5? No Blue Screen of Death, but this (and similar error messages, shutDownAlert, etc) were enough to do my head in:
I don't recall that kind of error though, I think it is a bogus! (but thankfully I had almost forgotten about those sort of things!!) If you were lucky and the cursor responded you could click restart. If not, you’d have to pull the plug on the bloody thing.
I’ll leave it there for now (until I bite again…I seem to take the freakin’ bait every time), but I will say I’m no Microsoft fan boy either. There are some things I like about Apple products, and there were many great games I came across for Apples. However, there is nothing an Apple can do that a Windows machine can’t for a poofteenth of the price. The last time I had a BSOD was around 5 years ago and I traced that to a crappy power supply unit. That particular machine was upgraded until replaced as my primary system by this one I’m sitting at now about 7 months ago, but is still running fine! My first Windows 95 (with Microsoft Plus!) machine is still running fine despite the best efforts of my relative's children who use it as a "play" computer. The only things ever to be fiddled with was a new CD-ROM drive when the first one died, and the RAM upgraded.
Really, both Operating Systems are about as reliable and stable as each other, I've found, but the fact that so many more people own Windows machines, you’re more likely to hear about Windows woes, rather than Mac Os ones.
I'm positive others on here would have more experience than me with Macs, or IBM 100% compatibles and come to a different conclusion, Chimbu you'd be one of them, but for sheer compatibility with the programs that a pilot would use and the places a pilot may find themselves in I strongly believe you cannot go past a sub $1k Windows machine.
Pick an Apple machine and I've chances are I've had to work with it. Off the top of my head in the order I remember them: LCIIs, LC630s, Color Classics, IIvx, Peforma 5200s, Power 7220s, G3 iMacs, Newtons, PowerBook 100 and 1400 series, the Clamshell iBooks (mmmm, fungus!!), the second gen white G3 iBooks and the earlier G4s. Used everything from System 6 to OS X.
If you are unfamiliar with the short comings of Apple's computer products, do a search on "G4 logic board problems" for something you could relate with. I also take it you never used Mac OS 8.5? No Blue Screen of Death, but this (and similar error messages, shutDownAlert, etc) were enough to do my head in:
I don't recall that kind of error though, I think it is a bogus! (but thankfully I had almost forgotten about those sort of things!!) If you were lucky and the cursor responded you could click restart. If not, you’d have to pull the plug on the bloody thing.
I’ll leave it there for now (until I bite again…I seem to take the freakin’ bait every time), but I will say I’m no Microsoft fan boy either. There are some things I like about Apple products, and there were many great games I came across for Apples. However, there is nothing an Apple can do that a Windows machine can’t for a poofteenth of the price. The last time I had a BSOD was around 5 years ago and I traced that to a crappy power supply unit. That particular machine was upgraded until replaced as my primary system by this one I’m sitting at now about 7 months ago, but is still running fine! My first Windows 95 (with Microsoft Plus!
) machine is still running fine despite the best efforts of my relative's children who use it as a "play" computer. The only things ever to be fiddled with was a new CD-ROM drive when the first one died, and the RAM upgraded.Really, both Operating Systems are about as reliable and stable as each other, I've found, but the fact that so many more people own Windows machines, you’re more likely to hear about Windows woes, rather than Mac Os ones.
I'm positive others on here would have more experience than me with Macs, or IBM 100% compatibles
and come to a different conclusion, Chimbu you'd be one of them, but for sheer compatibility with the programs that a pilot would use and the places a pilot may find themselves in I strongly believe you cannot go past a sub $1k Windows machine.
Last edited by Led Zep; 26th Sep 2008 at 10:57.
