You're buying a laptop with core2duo end of 2010?
You do that because you want it so much, not because you really think that's an above average deal, right?

That hole black friday thing is funny, didn't knew about it. Not buying pc parts end of Q1 is usually -EV.

2011 will bring so many new inventions at once, we haven't seen such extremes in the past decade so if your machine didn't blew up, wait.

I agree that that Alienware is so so due the the cpu. Try configuring one and you'll find that when you put a decent hard drive, and ram in it, the price quickly jumps and the initial wow of $399 is just as quickly gone.

I think I'd be considering an HP Envy 14 if someone put a gun to my head and wouldn't allow me to buy Apple

And ram prices in the news today....prices to keep falling throughout 1H 2011

http://www.cw.com.hk/content/dram-pr...hrough-1h-2011

Your common sense should do that, in form that you don't want to pay 30% extra for the hardware, just because the case around it looks good. (to be fair, the unibody case is awesome)

I tried to step over my shadow and get the new Macbook Air (just to install ubuntu on it) but as I realized that they are trying to sell me completely outdated hardware with ****** parts but an extraordinary case for an ridiculous prize, I couldn't anymore.


I don't know about the US, but Apples NAZI Eula and TOS is just not legal in the EU because software can't be bound to hardware (like IE or WMP to windows), so you can buy the full OS everywhere and install it on "every" pc if you're computer savvy and don't mind messing with some drivers and system files. But then again, why not get ubuntu with an aqua theme?

I'm obviously just frustrated because "hackintoshs" were a million times better than everything else that hit the market (omg system7 ) 10 years ago and macs were aimed for professional users, not like today that they are aimed at those who aren't able to use a pc because they either don't want to invest the time in it, or are just mentally challenged. Now, it's just an completely unsecure version of FreeBSD with UNIX03(rofl rofl lol lol) standards with a fancy aqua theme.

Aorn, OSX is the worst user OS of them all in terms of security, compatability, performance , but it's damn good looking, easy to use and pleasantly bug free.

Its good that max exists tho, imagine all those mac users having to deal with any other OS ...

To sum it up, Steve Jobs is an emacs user.

If anyone is wondering where the line is as far as Mac bashing goes, look a few feet behind the above post. You can hate the hardware, philosophy, groupthink, marketing, and OS but you can't hate on the people who buy them. Particularly the mod of the forum.

You act like I don't know anything about tech. For $599, the Alienware m11x isn't a bad deal for a netbook-sized computer. My main goal is to have a little more "omph!" than is afforded by other laptops in this size-class. This computer has an okay processor and a reasonable graphics card in a package that boasts a screen of just 11.6" and weighs a bit over 4 lbs in weight, not to mention somewhat over 7 hours of battery when using integrated graphics. The fact that this machine manually switches between integrated and dedicated graphics is a plus too because I can install a Linux OS for the times where I am on the road and need access to my standard development environment. The current i5 and i7 revisions don't offer this ability because of their use of Nvidia Optimus technology (it won't play well with Linux, and Nvidia has no current plans to rectify this), not to mention their currently being at least $350 more in price and up.

My goal is a balance between portability and utility. When I need power, I have my overclocked i7 920 (3.67 GHz) with dual GTX 260's (these will probably be upgraded this year as well) at home to do power-user stuff. This will be for non-home use though, a laptop with a VERY small footprint that allows itself to be taken virtually everywhere that my current (and old) 17" laptop refuses to go without draggin' me down. At the same time it is just powerful enough that if I need to do a little something more demanding, it doesn't totally suck, such as light gaming or programming work, not to mention being easily capable of handling pokering. I am starting to use CUDA too so being able to co-opt the graphics processor in this device is a plus too.

But yeah, as a balance between power and portability, this is about what I would order, especially at just $599.

The only upgrade I plan on for this Black Friday special is for 4GB of RAM, but I might not even do that if I check out prices online and I can get the RAM priced significantly better. For the hard-drive, I will handle the upgrade to a hybrid-drive myself not to near into the future, as those can be had for VERY reasonable prices these days.

I actually MOSTLY agree with your sentiment, but there are other dynamics at work here too. I know numerous people who simply strongly prefer OSX and Macs are thus mostly the only game in town (my wife, for example, leans pretty far OSX, though will use Windows because I can provide her necessary tech support). Moreover, while the Thinkpad you pointed out does have solid specs, it is still more expensive considerably sans a web-special, and it runs off integrated graphics. This is probably fine, but if someone wanted a more balanced machine, the dedicated graphics offered via the Mac might be more enticing. It won't make you capable of playing Crisis, but it would work for numerous games I still enjoy such as FEAR or Unreal Tournament III, among other things.

Agree to disagree I suppose as a general rule (though, as I pointed out, I mostly agree), particularly since I really am not interested in invoking mod wrath because I am really just trying to civilly discuss the issue (that and I DON'T agree with the insults strewn throughout the above).

PLUS, the Thinkpad is like 40% heavier or more!!!

Last one is a joke, as 40% more than virtually nothing is still almost nothing.

If you need a better GPU, get one. Those are pc's, you can do that with them.

The point is that you would have the choice. I don't play 3d shooters on 11" screens, so I don't see why I should pay more and have substantially less battery life for a discrete GPU. I rather have an fingerprint scan than a 3D GPU.
But that's all personal preferences, and to ideally fit them in the pc world is quite easy compared to macs that don't allow you that level of customization.

The web special is available all year long without interruption afaik, as it's just a rebate for ordering online and it doesn't matter which hardware you chose, as long you click on web special. Pretty weird. But some probably pay the full price for the same device.

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And about the above post, I didn't mean to implicate in any way that you don't know what you're doing, as your posting in general proves otherwise obviously, I was just asking for honesty.

I remember when Alienware was not owned by DELL and it was every nerds wet dream. I went to their page to customize a 15k$ system just to realize I can't afford it in any way.
I then got an Alienware keyboard instead and felt pretty balla.

So, it might be that you just said "**** it, I want an Alienware so bad and it won't ever become cheaper than the 599$, so I give a damn if I could find something that gives me 5% more performance for the same price".

That's your good right to do, and I suspect many MAC users doing the same. The Aqua theme looks pretty neat and the laptop itself looks and feels pretty awesome.
On the other side, from an strict financial viewpoint, you're way better of getting an PC and installing OSX on it.

I own Apple and MS stocks fwiw, way more apple tho

Actually, I would probably NEVER buy an Alienware if I was looking for performance dollars. Even for gamers, laptops from guys like Asus (their Republic Of Gamers line, or ROG) smack the crap out of Alienware in terms of performance value. I am more concerned with my own utility value here though. I am essentially looking for balance, something small with great battery that could also be co-opted for some light gaming and work when necessary, something that could effectively supplement my desktop setup from home.

I even might have wanted the i5/i7 variants too, but the inability to install Linux dropped those completely from consideration. I really want this computer not strictly for it's performance value, but because it is a good fit for my rather unique set of requirements and desires.

I hope you revisit this quote in a couple of years when you realize every laptop manufacturer will follow Apple's lead in terms of footprint, battery and size. These are laptops and mobility is #1. They aren't simply slapping the fastest Intel cpu in a behemoth of a laptop (like Dell/Alienware does), they are actually using creativity, design and technological excellence (battery life anyone?) to create products for a specific purpose. Honestly, list me ONE design breakthrough that ANY other laptop manufacturer has had in the past 5 years.

Apple: weight, embedded iSight camera, trackpad, sensitive backlit keyboard/screen brightness, magsafe. (notice NOTHING is about the fancy case here)

Trust me (I do it daily), lugging around a 5lb laptop that can't work away from a plug for more than 1hour sucks ass and the ability to be unplugged for +7hrs is truly mobile and don't you forget who it was who made it possible. I would never buy a PowerMac desktop (pretty much for the reasons you state), but I only ever referred to the MB|P line of products.

The man can't be perfect


I didn't bother to address the rest of your biased post as I don't intend on getting into another Apple bashing war here

I hardly ever use a laptop away unplugged from the electricity, so i don't understand the need for good battery life. I guess if you work in some sort of mobile job (eg, sales rep on the road) it could be useful.

Before stating the bolded you probably should have just visited the link he posted of his own evaluation of the situation. He was doing an apples to apples comparison insofar as mobility and utility were concerned (unless someone MUST have OSX of course). The Thinkpad he linked had a stronger processor, was just as light, and had a battery that lasts basically double as long, and that was including 8GB of RAM, better screen resolution, an SSD, et cetera. Its only weakness is the use of integrated graphics really, but the dedicated graphics used in the Apple are exactly cutting edge anyhow. Further, there are plenty of similar computers from the likes of Alienware/Dell/HP that kinda smack down the Apple in terms of exactly those factors you mention as being important, i.e. mobility, battery life, AND power.

Now I actually like the Air, and if you MUST have OSX, and if you really want just the LIGHTEST footprint, grabbing something like an 11" Air might be okay, though I wouldn't personally want to add a ton of upgrade options lest the price shoot to infinity. Moreover, I know a ton of users personally that simply fail at computers, and the ease of use of Macs really works well for them. For people like wellju and myself, they probably don't offer much utility that we can't have for much cheaper elsewhere.

I used to feel this way, but I started need to have my research work with me all the time and found that lugging my 17" laptop around was a huge pain in the ass. Moreover, there were plenty of times where I was waiting around killing time doing things like waiting in line at the movies on opening night of some film, on the bus, or during a break period at a school I work at, where I needed to do work and keeping a handle on my huge laptop sucked because of the weight of my laptop and because of the battery draining itself in 1.5 hours or so where I didn't have access to a plug. In many of my capacities, I am on the move, thus not having a highly mobile platform to work off of makes my life difficult.

i have a htc desire phone w/ android for those sorts of situations.

obv. not for work stuff though

If anyone fancies helping GrannyMae with a tablet (not that kind) question, there's a thread in the Zoo.

That jumps up to $700 pretty fast. Be a damn sweet netbook though.

I actually managed to stack another $50 coupon on top of that, so it offset an upgrade or so that I did.

Does anyone in here have any experience "rooting" a phone? Should I do it? Getting a new android phone tomorrow, and a lot of the tweaks and stuff I found while reading beforehand in forums say you need a rooted phone. Also, I assume that rooting = hacking to get around restrictions put into the phone by Sprint/Verizon/etc correct?

There is a huge thread in OOT about android phones and their abuse.

Can I use a 6th generation Ipod nano in an Iphone docking station/speaker system?

my 60 year old neighbor asked me about buying computers. obv she barely knows how to use computer and she is legally blind (no clue what this means, but that's what she told me) (she wants it to use the internet, she called it an online library) . I told her to get some $400-$500 complete package from bestbuy /w windows 7 since it would easiest for her. She already scouted at best buy she told me, and the guy told her to get a touchscreen computer and I told her not to. She asked me if she should get a bigger monitor because of her eyesight, and i said it doesn't matter at all, she could just to increase the text size and windows 7 has good accessibility options i'm sure, although I never used it. I told her i would hook up her comp and get it all situated for her, prolly put on firefox /w extensions to block ads and that's about it and maybe some free antivirus i dunno. if anyone has tips to make it easier for her, I would appreciate it, maybe malware bytes but I get a feeling she will only turn it on (the computer) once every 3 months or something. thanks for any tips

Consider getting her a high visibility keyboard for the partially sighted. It's something you may not have thought of but really important for users like your neighbor.

This bit worries me! If she's going to learn how to use a computer online, the basics should include the fact that an AV product has to run. I would think MS Security Essentials might be more user-friendly than the other freebies but others will have more experience of it than I do.

There are probably some helpful Firefox extensions for her. I would think Web of Trust or something similar might be useful. It's worth you searching for more. I had a quick look and found this, which looks promising.