40k To Spend - Vaio Or Macbook?

[hughden]

It's a bit like the old Betamax v VHS argument. I'd say most of the posters to this thread are from the Betamax corner. Unless you have a specific business or application-based need for a Mac, stick with the mainstream and buy your Sony (or Acer or whatever else takes your fancy).

Alternatively, unless you have a specific business or application-based need for a PC, get a Mac.

[JuniorExPat]

I'm having similar deliberations to the OP, is there a one stop site that anyone knows of where I could list the software that I cannot live without from my WinXP laptop and see if it can all come with me to a new life with Macbook or Linux?

JxP

[nikster]

I'm having similar deliberations to the OP, is there a one stop site that anyone knows of where I could list the software that I cannot live without from my WinXP laptop and see if it can all come with me to a new life with Macbook or Linux?

JxP

Didn't find anything reasonable... maybe you can just post here which apps you want to take with you. There's replacements for most, in fact apps on the Mac tend to be better made, particularly shareware. There's lots of shareware I use on the Mac that I can't find a Windows equivalent to.

Some apps are Windows only of course, mainly business apps. Those tend to be not very well made, but sometimes it doesn't matter if it's what makes you money. That's why I had a windows machine for years. I am a Java developer and Java on Mac OS X used to be crap. Windows was 10x faster. So I stuck with Windows. But with the Intel Macs, Java became very fast on Mac and now I am on Mac.

You could consider running older Windows apps in a virtual machine on OS X. That's what I do when I occasionally test something out on IE or something like this. The "unity" mode of both Parallels and VMWare Fusion is seamless. Your Windows app just appears on the Mac desktop. The downside is that these do use CPU which makes battery life on laptops considerably worse. But in terms of application performance, you won't see much difference.

[nikster]

17 inches & 8 hours is tough to beat.

That's what she said!

[JuniorExPat]

I'm having similar deliberations to the OP, is there a one stop site that anyone knows of where I could list the software that I cannot live without from my WinXP laptop and see if it can all come with me to a new life with Macbook or Linux?

JxP

Didn't find anything reasonable... maybe you can just post here which apps you want to take with you. There's replacements for most, in fact apps on the Mac tend to be better made, particularly shareware . . .

This is the list that I believe I could not live without(!):

Flock

Firefox

Chrome

Thunderbird

Picasa

OpenOffice

Skype

Google AdWords Editor

TweetDeck

Softnik Good Keywords

IrfanView

Nvu

FileZilla

Adobe Reader

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe ImageReady

Having actually written out the list I'm left feeling that I need to take the bull by the horns, decide if it's going to be Mac or Linux and just go for it, maybe this would make for an interesting separate discussion, perhaps I should start a new thread . . .

What do you think?

JxP

OP:

Apologies for hijacking the thread!

[ihightower]

Just want some thoughts from TV laptop users. I want to buy a laptop for around 40,000 Baht and was looking at either a Sony Vaio or a Macbook. Which do you think is the better buy (or even other brands)???

Thanks in advance...

Never buy a Mac. They are costly and not worth the price.. apart from just a clean design.

With windows... it is convenient, cheap and free in most cases.

you should NOT be locked with the same vendor for both hardware and the OS.

[nikster]

This is the list that I believe I could not live without(!):

I think that's all on the Mac....

[x] Flock

[x] Firefox

[] Chrome - it's coming... meanwhile, Safari 4 has zoomed past chrome in speed tests...

[x] Thunderbird

[x] Picasa - I have too much stuff in iPhoto already but Picasa is definitely better, and now finally also on Mac.

[x] OpenOffice

[x] Skype

[x] Google AdWords Editor.

Softnik Good Keywords

[] IrfanView There are many image manager / utilities on the Mac, I don't know if they do the same things as IV. I checked IV only once after hearing much about it, and found it offering a strange soup of functions in a weird interface. Wasn't my thing. They say Xee is similar. Other stuff can be done with the Finder (coverflow), or with Preview or Quicklook (both come with OS X).

[x] Nvu though iWeb is probably better...(comes with OS X)

[x] FileZilla - CyberDuck. Much better than FileZilla I am saying that as a big fan of both, FileZilla is one of the first programs I install on any Windows machine.

[xx] Adobe Reader -> Built-in Preview does this, and much better and more lightweight than Adobe Reader

[x] Adobe Photoshop

[x] Adobe ImageReady - not sure on that, is that part of CS4? Generally all Adobe stuff is on Mac as well.

It's amazing - the only thing that doesn't outright have a Mac version is IrfanView. I believe it can be replaced. Then there's stuff that's not available on Windows like MenuMeters, iPulse, iStat Pro, iMovie....

[JuniorExPat]

Thank you nikster, much appreciated.

There is still a great deal of internal debate to be had before I decide which OS to go for, I find it hard to filter out the strong emotions that many people seem to show when they preach the benefits of their preferred system!

Now if only I could run a Windows vs Linux vs Mac test without jeopardising my work and files and then return the two unwanted machines at the end of the test . . . it is quite a chunk of money as well as being an important tool, I really don't like to get these things wrong.

BTW, I have Photoshop and ImageReady as CS2 on my machine. Also, very interested by your comments on Picasa vs iPhoto.

Thanks again,

JxP

[commons]

Thank you nikster, much appreciated.

There is still a great deal of internal debate to be had before I decide which OS to go for, I find it hard to filter out the strong emotions that many people seem to show when they preach the benefits of their preferred system!

Now if only I could run a Windows vs Linux vs Mac test without jeopardising my work and files and then return the two unwanted machines at the end of the test . . . it is quite a chunk of money as well as being an important tool, I really don't like to get these things wrong.

BTW, I have Photoshop and ImageReady as CS2 on my machine. Also, very interested by your comments on Picasa vs iPhoto.

Thanks again,

JxP

in the end... i guess it really comes down to your personal choice na...

1) hardware. as others pointed out... most important, imho, are screen, keyboard, mouse for everyday functionality. the macpro got superb reviews for its screen. then there's the chassis: macpro has a fine one, so does hp. though i've to say the mac-build is excellent... personally i'd go for hp, ibm & lenovo. then there's optical drive. there's usb vs firewire --- firewire is faster. there's wifi & others pointed out you might have difficulties in thailand setting up wifi in some places (no-one will be able to help). last not least --- but imho most important is battery life: new macs come with estimated 7-8 hours. that tops everything.

-> so... if it's just hardware. & if money doesn't matter. i'd go for the mac.

i used macs a decade ago. due to pc-service & internet-business more & more i switched to pc. by now i own a asus f80q --- & it's fine for me. for a couple of other reasons...

*

2) operating system. imho osx is a great os. a really great os, no doubt. the last win os i was happy with was win2000 professional :-) i thought xp to be a joke. i appreciated some vista improvements --- yes, i know most ppl don't like it. now we've win7... --- i'm running it since months & i'd say win7 is: GREAT! it's the first time in decades i enjoy a ms os.

you can run win7 on a mac. you can run mac osx on pc. as others have said... that's only partially true. i for example tried many a times to set leopard up --- & failed. it comes down to hardware specs.

so -> if it's for choice of os... i'd say, go for the mac. why? mac osx is just fine. & it's easier to run a dual-boot on a macpro than, for example, on an asus f80q.

*

3) software. software is made to help us work, to get our tasks done, sometimes to enable us to express our creativity... & more & more, to share & connect with others. there's reason that software is leaked... people who use pirated software quite often are young & poor students... who lack the financial resources but develop technical skill & adaption to _CHOOSE_ a specific app. for most people... if you got used to _ONE APP_ of choice... you'll stick to it. for ever :-)

so in a way... pirated software is just some kind of extended guerrilla marketing.

having said that... for decades macs have been loved... not merely for their technical specs or their design features --- but simply for their _USABILITY_. many were the times i observed people who were unable frustrated even afraid of using a pc... when i put them in front of a mac... immediately they started to smile, to move around, to explore the possibilities that lie dormant in human-machine interaction.

mac apps come with a certain style. it's a lot easier to grasp their individual underlying functionality.

for most tasks today... it doesn't matter anymore... if you run a mac or a pc or a linux-box. mac-market is small if compared to pc-market... so there's less development. mai pan rai.

-> so... if it comes down to software. choice is up to you. i'd say it doesn't matter anymore. with virtualization tech present on macs... it matters even less.

*

4) service & compatibility. here's the big "NONO" for macs in thailand. that's all. it's not easy to find good pc technicians. it's even worse for macs. that might sound neglectable as you'll buy a new mac (or a new pc) & it comes with warranty. yes, that's fine.

problems may arise in simple day-to-day activities if you're out of "big cities". & problems may arise after warranty will have expired.

for sure problems will arise if you experience compatibility issues --- though, i find, there are more & more "media savvy" young bright thais who might be able to help. if you're lucky to know them ;-)

***

all in all. as others have said before... most of todays machines are excessively over-powered. i work with computers since 25 years, with internet since 17. we could write texts in those days. we could manipulate pictures. we could send emails. 

later on... i have seen so many individual as well as sme system-situations... i wondered again & again, "what on earth are they going to do with that cpu, ram, disk - power? build a nuclear powered rocket?"

please... i don't wanna sound over-puristic. if people wanna go into video-editing on their notebook... i'd be the last one to stop them from complaining, "it's so slooooowwwwwww!!!"

i say that more to come back to my initial sentence: in the end it comes down to your personal choices. indeed... sometimes it helps to ponder buying a new machine... as it might help us to become a bit more clear... about our goals in life ;-) doesn't it :-)

*

whichever machine it'll be -

i hope you'll enjoy & will be able to share your talents with many na :-)

[Thanh-BKK]

Hmm.

That software (OS) comparing can be done on just one machine - a Mac that is. Because Intel-powered Macs run Windows without the slightest problem (no hacks needed) and Linux runs on anything that has some sort of CPU. Just setup a triple-boot so you can run either OS natively on the same machine, it beats any virtual machine etc.....

Kind regards.....

Thanh

[nikster]

JuniorExpat might want to check out return policies on the Apple online store thailand store.apple.com/th

If you buy in the USA, you can return any Mac bought at the Apple store for 15 or 30 days no questions asked, for a full refund, so that would be best for trying it out. Not at the Thai authorized dealers of course - but maybe the online store?

I don't think you'd want to run Windows full time on a Mac hardware - while possible, it would make much more sense to run windows on a windows machine, easier for drivers and so on, and there is lots of nice hardware out there (thinkpads!).

[Deksan]

Just want some thoughts from TV laptop users. I want to buy a laptop for around 40,000 Baht and was looking at either a Sony Vaio or a Macbook. Which do you think is the better buy (or even other brands)???

Thanks in advance...

Never buy a Mac. They are costly and not worth the price.. apart from just a clean design.

With windows... it is convenient, cheap and free in most cases.

you should NOT be locked with the same vendor for both hardware and the OS.

You arent locked to an OS if you buy a mac. You can still install linux or windows on the mac. By the way most ppl i know dont find windows convenient :/

[quiksilva]

Dont buy a brand buy the specifications. Mac Book and Vaio both look nice but for the sort of money you spend on either one of these items you can buy an HP, Toshiba, IBM Lenovo, ACER or many many more types of brands that will deliver better speed, more storage and better battery life than either one of these.

If you go for the Mac you will be unable to upgrade the hardware.

[namoo]

If you go for the Mac you will be unable to upgrade the hardware.

Who says?

Upgraded my macbook pro to 8gb memory. Dual intel 160gb SSD in Raid0.

My Mac Pro has 2 SSD's upgraded from 640gb hd, 2 velociraptors and upgraded to a GTX285 Nvidia graphics card and upgraded to 12gb memory.

The nonsense about MAC's cannot be updated is absolute crap.

If you look at the benchmarks for the Macbook Pro even running windows 7 / windows xp or vista it is always way up there with the best benchmarks for laptops.

better battery life

The Macbook pro batteries are the leading in the industry they are 7-8 hours - no other manufacturer is coming close.

deliver better speed

Macbook pro with 3.06ghz dual core processor and 9600GT graphics card, does not come much faster than that.

Mac Pro - Dual intel Xeon 2.93ghz 8 core processors and GTX285 graphics does not come much faster than that.

And I have not even mentioned the build quality. Take a look at the internals of the 2009 Mac Pro - designed to perfection and work inside without any screwdrivers etc when upgrading.

Edited July 1, 2009 by namoo

[nikster]

If you go for the Mac you will be unable to upgrade the hardware.

Who says?

Upgraded my macbook pro to 8gb memory. Dual intel 160gb SSD in Raid0.

Arrrghhhhhhh.... the envy is eating me!

How did you get dual SSDs in there? Replaced the optical?

[namoo]

If you go for the Mac you will be unable to upgrade the hardware.

Who says?

Upgraded my macbook pro to 8gb memory. Dual intel 160gb SSD in Raid0.

Arrrghhhhhhh.... the envy is eating me!

How did you get dual SSDs in there? Replaced the optical?

yeh replaced the opticlal with maxupgrades dot com kit. Works excellent. Was not using the optical drive on the road so thought what the heck. If I need to burn I just use the mac pro drive when I get home.

I also use there optical bay convertor in the mac pro. I am very impressed with maxupgrades good support and well made products.

And of course owc (macsales dot com) for memory, hard drives and accessories. Always fast shipping to Thailand.

Edited July 1, 2009 by namoo

[jackdanielsesq]

There is zero argument from my side as I never owned either - used them, what a crock - but I have never in my

illustrious career come across any device so Rube Goldberg! Tivo?! Naw!!

There is absolutely nothing mainstream that any O/S cannot handle - do ya think they are all stupid?!

If its some really freaky s/w, go get yourself a Cray.

Judge - I rest my case! 17' and 8 hours. Mac it is.

BR>Jack

It's a bit like the old Betamax v VHS argument

[Thanh-BKK]

Ya

Gosh i love that Mac Pro..... not the laptop, the tower Someone tell me where i find a money tree..?

VHS vs. Betamax.... why does the really best one always get forgotten? Video 2000 anyone? I used it, people laughed at me when i when i bought the country-wide (!!) leftover stock of cassettes (120 odd cassettes at that time) from a certain bookstore chain...... they didn't laugh anymore when i turned the tape around to record another 8 hours (!) on the other side (!!) and had 16 hours on one cassette in LP mode, at better quality than VHS...... and the machine could be used to copy ANY VHS, regardless what kind of copy protection it had.... onto a V2000 tape and from there back to a VHS Yeah the machine was 15 years old or so and weighed 35 kilos, who cares? Unbreakable I used till i left the country to come to Thailand, i guess it's still in use today, 8 1/2 years later, as i left it with my friend.

There IS a computer equivalent... anyone heard of Sanchec's power machines back in the 90's? I guess not..... Unix-based OS (NOT Linux!) called S-IV, dual-processor 386's (!) and quad-processor 486's (!!) overclocked to 330 MHz with water cooling (!!!), embedded OS (on-chip, zero boot time). Went bankrupt over licensing issues when they brought Windows 95 embedded without asking Microsoft's permit I had one of the last ones, said 486x4-330, dual-boot Win95 and S-IV all on-chip and no less than six floppy drives in that big tower. I wish i had taken pictures back then (1997). Still have a list of S-IV commands somewhere.

Kind regards.....

Thanh

[nikster]

yeh replaced the opticlal with maxupgrades dot com kit. Works excellent. Was not using the optical drive on the road so thought what the heck. If I need to burn I just use the mac pro drive when I get home.

had good experiences with macsales as well.

Thinking about the maxupgrades kit - I never, ever use the optical in my MBP, so swapping it out is a no-brainer.

+ Optical conversion kit - $99

+ OCZ 60GB Agility 230MB/135MB read/write $172

+ 500GB 5400 2.5" HD ($99 though I have one lying around, so zero)

That would make for a system running at fast SSD speed with 560GB storage space for $272.

I'd put the system, the development environment, and all apps on the SSD, and all media (pictures, movies, music) on the slow large HD. Hmm.. who says Macs can't be upgraded

Does your RAID impact battery life? I'd imagine it would since the optical is usually turned off, and the HD in the RAID usually on....

Edited July 1, 2009 by nikster

[namoo]

Yeh it does effect battery life i would think i lose about 20-25 mins with dual ssd. 1 HD and 1 SSD probably lose 30mins or so. But to be honest I do not really notice as I am not a great battery user and tend to be on AC 90% of the time.

SSD and the 500gb is a great combination for a balance of speed and storage.

I went for speed with the Dual SSD's. If you can afford the 80gb Intel X25m or even the 64gb Intel E25M - they get great reviews. They have a better SSD controller that blows away the competition on Random Reads (The most active value in a OS). They also have a new better Algorithim for storage with the latest firmware that stops the slowdown over time that most SSD's suffer from.

Also the Firmware update on the intel drives can be done on a mac and you don't lose data when u do it.

Check out macrumors dot com forums (My favourite apple forums) for more ssd info.

Intel have new SSD's coming in 3-4 weeks with capacities rumored to be 320GB - which will result in price drops across the board on the intel and no doubt every manufacturer's pricing.

The X25M in Raid0 on my macbook pro gives a read of around 450MB/s and 145MB/s Write. Bliss.

Edited July 1, 2009 by namoo

[nikster]

Yeh it does effect battery life i would think i lose about 20-25 mins with dual ssd. 1 HD and 1 SSD probably lose 30mins or so. But to be honest I do not really notice as I am not a great battery user and tend to be on AC 90% of the time.

SSD and the 500gb is a great combination for a balance of speed and storage.

I went for speed with the Dual SSD's. If you can afford the 80gb Intel X25m or even the 64gb Intel E25M - they get great reviews. They have a better SSD controller that blows away the competition on Random Reads (The most active value in a OS). They also have a new better Algorithim for storage with the latest firmware that stops the slowdown over time that most SSD's suffer from.

Also the Firmware update on the intel drives can be done on a mac and you don't lose data when u do it.

Check out macrumors dot com forums (My favourite apple forums) for more ssd info.

Intel have new SSD's coming in 3-4 weeks with capacities rumored to be 320GB - which will result in price drops across the board on the intel and no doubt every manufacturer's pricing.

The X25M in Raid0 on my macbook pro gives a read of around 450MB/s and 145MB/s Write. Bliss.

Hmm.. these posts should go in a new Mac Xtreme Modding thread

Main reason I would not go for the RAID is that random read performance isn't going to be any better in a RAID than with a single SSD. Or is it? In hard drives, the main factor is access time, the time until the drive finds the data. So if you have two in parallel, the access time remains the same, and random read remains the same. In SSDs though the access time is close to 0 so I am not sure what a RAID would do. I imagine that whatever overhead there is in the RAID controller itself will wipe out any gains from reading the data in parallel - because the data is so small.

You have a good point though that I need to pick the SSD on random read performance, not on absolute transfer speed. Not gonna do it if it costs me $1,500 but for $300 or so it's quite interesting

[namoo]

Yeh it does effect battery life i would think i lose about 20-25 mins with dual ssd. 1 HD and 1 SSD probably lose 30mins or so. But to be honest I do not really notice as I am not a great battery user and tend to be on AC 90% of the time.

SSD and the 500gb is a great combination for a balance of speed and storage.

I went for speed with the Dual SSD's. If you can afford the 80gb Intel X25m or even the 64gb Intel E25M - they get great reviews. They have a better SSD controller that blows away the competition on Random Reads (The most active value in a OS). They also have a new better Algorithim for storage with the latest firmware that stops the slowdown over time that most SSD's suffer from.

Also the Firmware update on the intel drives can be done on a mac and you don't lose data when u do it.

Check out macrumors dot com forums (My favourite apple forums) for more ssd info.

Intel have new SSD's coming in 3-4 weeks with capacities rumored to be 320GB - which will result in price drops across the board on the intel and no doubt every manufacturer's pricing.

The X25M in Raid0 on my macbook pro gives a read of around 450MB/s and 145MB/s Write. Bliss.

Hmm.. these posts should go in a new Mac Xtreme Modding thread

Main reason I would not go for the RAID is that random read performance isn't going to be any better in a RAID than with a single SSD. Or is it? In hard drives, the main factor is access time, the time until the drive finds the data. So if you have two in parallel, the access time remains the same, and random read remains the same. In SSDs though the access time is close to 0 so I am not sure what a RAID would do. I imagine that whatever overhead there is in the RAID controller itself will wipe out any gains from reading the data in parallel - because the data is so small.

You have a good point though that I need to pick the SSD on random read performance, not on absolute transfer speed. Not gonna do it if it costs me $1,500 but for $300 or so it's quite interesting

80gb X25m will set you back about $300 US from OWC or about $600 for the 160gb.

Going on Xbench results the random read result is definitely almost double the non RAID result - Dont ask me why

[rijb]

Open Office for Mac will solve all your MS Office problems and its FREE

Checkout NeoOffice. http://www.neooffice.org/neojava/en/index.php

[nikster]

80gb X25m will set you back about $300 US from OWC or about $600 for the 160gb.

Going on Xbench results the random read result is definitely almost double the non RAID result - Dont ask me why

Yah.. this seems to verify that: They tested single SSD, 2xRAID 0 and even 3*RAID 0. The 2x RAID0 is 50% faster than a single SSD: http://www.barefeats.com/hard118.html

Vertex seems to be a bit better than the Intel X-25...

[losworld]

Dell is hel_l and Sony is phony. Most of their products are substandard builds. Ask yourself do you want a computer for two years of five years. I've had two dells fall apart. I'm currently on a macbook pro and although not perfect it is the closest I've found.

Get the mac and don't look back.

You'll thank me for that recommendation in a few years.

The macs also have much better resale value.

good luck

[Plus]

The OP asked for a 40k notebook.

MacbookPro - 13'' screen, 2.2GH processor, 2GB ram, 160GB hard disk - 46k.

Vaio - 14'' screen 2.4Gh processor, 3GB ram, 320 GB hard disk - 39k.

There's cheaper MacBook, for 37k, but with specs even lower.

>>>

And you will never hear reasonable explanation why Apple has a tiny market share, only pages of sales pitches about why it's the best in the world.

I guess suckers will have to find out themselves why nobody else buys Apple.

>>>

BMW has something like 0.6% market share in Thailand, it's mostly for vanity pruposes, as most of their sales come from low spec versions to mia nois and gay executives. Apple at least doesn't offer "asian" specs here, yet...

[JuniorExPat]

in the end... i guess it really comes down to your personal choice na...

i say that more to come back to my initial sentence: in the end it comes down to your personal choices. indeed... sometimes it helps to ponder buying a new machine... as it might help us to become a bit more clear... about our goals in life ;-) doesn't it :-)

*

whichever machine it'll be -

i hope you'll enjoy & will be able to share your talents with many na :-)

Thank you for taking time to write such a comprehensive post, some excellent points.

I do admit to be tempted by the look and feel of the Macbooks, I'm not sure that the extra expense can be justified simply by the fact that it is a sexy looking machine though!

I am thoroughly fed up with the way Windows machines start off so slick when they are fresh and new and then quite quickly get all clogged up taking painfully long to switch between windows/apps and of course offering up those lovely "not responding" messages and blue screens. If moving to Mac gets rid of those headaches then it may be worth the premium but, and this is a big but, I really want to know that if there is a WiFi signal available I can pick it up and use it . . . I don't understand why Macs may have a problem with WiFi on the move but you are not the first to mention it to me and that could kill any plans for me to move to the Mac.

I started out on a ZX80 (!!) and I did use an Apple IIe at one point and then later on a different Apple desktop machine, I do have a yearning to get back to Mac . . . but I have to be able to justify the cost to myself if nobody else!

Your points about service and compatibility are well made and I think this might be the deal-breaker - I use computers in the same way as I use cars, I have to have a competent mechanic available for anything more complicated than filling up with petrol, putting air in the tyres or water under the bonnet! Consequently I drive a Toyota, I guess this means I am probably destined to remain in the world of IBM/Windows, if I do then I will take the opportunity to turn this beaten up old laptop into a Linux machine and learn more about that OS whilst keeping my day to day work on a new machine.

Why do today that which you can procrastinate over tomorrow . . . ?! ;-)

JxP

[namoo]

Vertex seems to be a bit better than the Intel X-25...

Looks that way on those results. However depends what site you look at. Most seem to favour the intel. And the non slowdown algorithim and flashable on mac without data loss is a big plus for the intel in my opinon.

OCZ to upgrade it you have to install in a PC. (Bootcamp does not work) and it destroys the data requiring a restore.

Edited July 2, 2009 by namoo

[JuniorExPat]

Hmm.

That software (OS) comparing can be done on just one machine - a Mac that is. Because Intel-powered Macs run Windows without the slightest problem (no hacks needed) and Linux runs on anything that has some sort of CPU. Just setup a triple-boot so you can run either OS natively on the same machine, it beats any virtual machine etc.....

Kind regards.....

Thanh

Hmm . . . I'd have to buy a Mac first though! But I do get what you're saying, thanks for pointing it out. However, if I'm going to pay those prices for a Mac I think I'd feel a bit daft running Windows or Linux as the OS although I can see that there would be times when it may be required.

Thanks, Thanh,

JxP

[pagallim]

You will certainly look cool with a Mac, but it's a major loss of face if, for example, you can't connect to a wifi spot and assistants can't help you as they all been trained to connect from WinXP and you have to click on different buttons on a Mac, or when you try to buy an aircard for Edge/Gprs or, god help, 3G, and shop assistants have no clue how to set it up on Apple, or a banking site that tells you to install IE5 to use it, or a popular game like talesrunner that works only with Internet Explorer, too.

Yeah, there's this neighbour kid with all those online games that won't work on anything by Windows. Sure, they are stupid Thai games by stupid Thai developers, but tell this to your own kid when he wants to play, too.

Do you actually use any Macs? Wifi with Macs couldn't be easier, whether you're using an iMac or an iPod touch. Dear oh dear, Macs are geared toward wifi, whether you're buying a basic MacBook or a MacBook Air. All you have to do is click on the 'Airport' icon at the top, and you get the options for which wifi provider you want to log onto.