From: Nicholas Van Weerdenburg Date: 2005-10-06T01:32:02+09:00 Subject: Re: OFF Topics :: PC-laptop or Powerbook On 10/5/05, Gavin Sinclair wrote: > > Damphyr wrote: > > > I've been working exclusively with laptops for the past 6 years and all > > of them were windows boxes. I love the Powerbook and if you can get away > > from the window world I would say go for it. Much less administration to > > worry about, a lot less re-formatting, less viruses, less threats and > > more stability. > > All of the above are Windows problems and not laptop problems. I've had > > to work with all the Dells from C800 to D840. Amazing resolutions but > > some flaky memory chips and hard disks meant we had the Dell guy once a > > month in the office. [snip rest] > > I've had a Dell Inspiron 8000, running Windows, for 5 years now. > Hardly a single problem. No Dell guy from the office, ever. No > viruses, reformatting (except to change from Win2K to WinXP), or > threats. Instability, yes -- a graphics driver conflict that annoyed > me for a while, but nothing compared to my experiences with Linux > graphics problems. > > Perhaps I'm just lucky, but I think people should take more > responsibility for their systems and not blame a certain commercial OS > for _everything_! > > Don't get me wrong; I'm no one-eyed Windows fan. I dig Linux and drool > over every OSX-based product I see. But I like to see things kept in > perspective. > > Cheers, > Gavin > > > 4 dell laptops, used continuously over 8 years. One flaky hard-drive after 2 years of constant travel and use with a M50. Currently have a Dell Precision M60, and it's a beautiful machine. I think one of the issues is annectodal evidence is inaccurate in this case, and mostly for deployment patterns. People using Dell laptops often do in a corporate setting, and have many more opportunities for failure in the installed base. Powerbooks are often in smaller offices or personal machines. I had this insight earlier this year when I was bitching how computers were getting more unreliable. Then I realized I have 6 computers in my home. So whereas I had an issue with 1 computer every six years, and though that was great, I might now have 1 issue a year, and think everything has gone to hell. Purely perception. Still want a powerbook, of course. I have my Cube for my home machine, but it's starting to get a bit slow. May try a processor upgrade- saw a benchmark that put it slightly faster then the mini's with the upgrade. Of course, that would quash justification for a powerbook. Nick -- Nicholas Van Weerdenburg