Apple or PC?

Apple notebooks are manufactured by the same people who make Wintel notebooks. Right here in Taiwan. :laughing:[/quote]
They sure weren’t designed by the same people… :wink:
As Jobs once pointed out, Apple notbooks’ bottom look better than most Wintel’s counterpart’s cover… How true.

[quote=“ax”]i check my IME preference, it doesn’t have check box for hanin.
could you leave a phone no. on private msg, I’ll call you tomorrow.[/quote]
This is an easy one. You need to update your OSX to 10.2.4 to get Hanin. Go to “System Preferences” under the Apple menu. In the new window, go to Software Update. The update is quite big, so you will need to let it download for a bit. After you install and restart, the Hanin option will be available in the “Preferences” under Traditional Chinese IME.

[quote=“scchu”]
They sure weren’t designed by the same people… :wink:
As Jobs once pointed out, Apple notbooks bottom looks better than most Wintel’s front… How true.[/quote]

From Quanta’s website:

quantatw.com/company/quanta/PRODUCTS.htm

Notebook PCs

We design and produce a wide range of notebook PCs, both in fully and partially assembled formats according to customer or, in certain circumstances, end-user specifications. We manufacture both IBM compatible and Apple Macintosh compatible notebook PCs. As we produce notebook PCs for a wide range of customers, our notebook PCs utilize a variety of central processing units (CPUs), including those manufactured by Intel, Motorola, Transmeta and AMD, with a full range of processor speeds.


But
this
is the ultimate notebook. Eat your hearts out! :laughing: :laughing:

[quote=“blueface666”][quote=“scchu”]
They sure weren’t designed by the same people… :wink:
As Jobs once pointed out, Apple notbooks bottom looks better than most Wintel’s front… How true.[/quote]

From Quanta’s website:

quantatw.com/company/quanta/PRODUCTS.htm

Notebook PCs

We design and produce a wide range of notebook PCs, both in fully and partially assembled formats according to customer or, in certain circumstances, end-user specifications. We manufacture both IBM compatible and Apple Macintosh compatible notebook PCs. As we produce notebook PCs for a wide range of customers, our notebook PCs utilize a variety of central processing units (CPUs), including those manufactured by Intel, Motorola, Transmeta and AMD, with a full range of processor speeds.[/quote]
Hah hah hah… quality and aethetics sure ain’t Apple… Cute!

I would vote for PC but not Windows. The hardware platform is IMHO cheaper, I can choose my OS and a wealth of accessories are available.
Like the idea of running Linux but haven’t installed it yet since I fear I will loose my XP partition which I need for work (using a laptop actually).

If this is a laptop we are talking about, then yes, installing Linux on the same HD as XP is not a good idea. You can, however, install XP on one HD and Linux on another in the case of desktop.

On the laptop, you can use either VirtualPC or VMware. They are emulators onto which you can install Linux and run fairly smoothly especially if you have lots of RAM and a powerful CPU.

I tried both dual booting and software emulation on my old Pentium 3 machine. And both worked flawlessly. Give it a shot.

Going to the Apple Center in the Eslite Bldg today. Any recommendations about who to talk to there, etc?

When are you going there ? I have to tell a company near there that I won’t want to work for them, but I’m too scared to…

So do you want me to protect you or something?

I had Hanin installed and work like charm…
is there anyway that I can type like in microsoft…i.e I don’t need to type the pinyin tone, but continue typing the pinyin spelling only?

Please guide scchu…

ax

[quote=“ax”]I had Hanin installed and work like charm…
is there anyway that I can type like in microsoft…i.e I don’t need to type the pinyin tone, but continue typing the pinyin spelling only?Please guide scchu…[/quote]

What is the difference between the ibook and the powerbook except a few things here and there and the price?
If I got the powerbook I’d pay almost double for the one with a superdrive.
If I have a usb port on the ibook, can’t i always buy a dvd burner later?
Please advise. I’m going crazy thinking about how much money I could save if I just get the little white one instead of that gorgeous titanium one.

[quote=“fredericka bimmel”]What is the difference between the ibook and the powerbook except a few things here and there and the price?
If I got the powerbook I’d pay almost double for the one with a superdrive.
If I have a usb port on the ibook, can’t I always buy a dvd burner later?
Please advise. I’m going crazy thinking about how much money I could save if I just get the little white one instead of that gorgeous titanium one.[/quote]
Excellent question. The biggest difference between iBook and PowerBook is actually the processor. PowerPC G3 for iBook; PowerPC G4 for PowerBook. And then the next biggest difference is actually the type of LCD used for the screen… obviously the more expensive type for the PowerBook series.

G3 processor is one processor-generation older than the G4 (as the name hints); Think of it as a Pentium 3 processor.

If you are a graphic artist, you should try to get the G4 for the power that it offers as well as the “better” quality LCD screen. As for the rest of the features, they are pretty much similar if not the same. I agree with you on the DVD-burner drive ALTHOUGH external drives are usually big as hell and require additional power adapter… etc. I am being picky here, but that’s the first thing that came to mind when I was making my decision too. The upside is, if something does happen to your internal drive, you have an external spare.

I always see the iBook as for “family” use, student use and casual web/word users. I think one will eventually notice the difference of speed when one tries to apply filters to a large file in photoshop. G4 processors come with a technology called “AltiVec” to allow faster processing of huge vector information, typically seen in graphics. Apple has always been proud of the G4 for that reason.

Ultimately, the question lies in what you are going to use it for. And I think it will help you decide which machine to pick.

Thanks for that info, scchu. I gave you guanxi for clarifying that!
:smiley:
So, basically, we pay almost double to have the 15", G4 processor and the superdrive, here in Taiwan. The 12" ibook with combo drive really is half the price!
I was wondering how much more I’d get, but mainly, how much longer the notebook’s life would be by getting the top of the line, and trying to justify to myself why I’m spending over 100+k rather than 50+k for a laptop that I need only as a sort of portable home office/workstation/entertainment system for at least the next three years. I don’t know if I will be doing any graphics, but it’s always a plus when you buy a digital camcorder to be able to edit movies pretty easily, isn’t it?

This is a stupid question, but the superdrive burns dvds, right? But can’t the combo drive burn a copy of a dvd onto a cd? That’s good enough, I think. Why do you wish you’d got the superdrive instead? Can’t you just buy a peripheral dvd burner and save money?

Also, if compared to a notebook PC, which one comes closest in terms of reliability and features, to the G4 powerbook? Would you know that? You’re my guru! :sunglasses:

Thanks!

I think it’s the same for the U.S… :frowning:

Life span wise, Apple machines are known to last through operating system upgrades for at least the length of your intended ownership (3 years, you said). The bit I am not sure about, though, is the G3 processor, which IMO isn’t as quite as powerful as the G4. PowerPC G4 was one of the biggest reasons to pick the PowerBook (on top of the screen size, screen quality and weight).

Another major reason (just after the CPU) was PowerBook’s ability to “extend” the screen by simply adding a monitor to the video-out port. The iBook, however, only does screen “mirroring” (what you see on your iBook screen is the same as what the external monitor shows, instead of actually adding screen real estate like the PowerBooks).

DVDs require a special format to store the video images (for stuff like menues… etc). Though you can’t burn a DVD on a combo-drive, you can burn VCDs with special software (i.e. Roxio Toast). I wish I got a super-drive because I wanted the convenience of being able to burn CDs and DVDs from the same drive so that I can send home made DVDs to my family. And incidently, external DVDs aren’t any cheap either. Apple’s internal, slot-load DVD drive is a better option. But as I mentioned, it has its downsides.

I bought a PowerBook precisely because I was sick of having to support another Windows machine at home (though I tried to look for Windows XP-only machines, which is by far the most stable Windows). I was pretty close to getting an Acer (specifically the 360 and 650 series, which are Pentium 3 and Pentium 4, in that order). These machines have the closest specs I was looking for.

As for a video editing, you need a sizable hard drive, powerful processor and a lot of memory. On top of the above, don’t forget a Firewire port since it is the standard for camcorders (as opposed to USB ports).

All power big and small

This article from The Age sings the praises of Apple and the PowerBooks. It calls the 12" version the “Mini-Me” and the 17" version “Big Al” (Al being for the aluminium case).

Good one, wix. Here’s more:
12" PB: pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,885898,00.asp
15" PB: pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,801664,00.asp
17" PB: pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1001553,00.asp

And coming from PC Magazine, which traditionally covers/favors Wintel computers, they are quite some complements.

The “only” minor issue with the 12" PowerBook I have is its lack of PCMCIA card slot. But then again, with almost everything there is you need onboard, I can’t see a reason to need one; I haven’t had to use mine on my 15" PowerBook as of yet…

schhu,

Isthere anyway one can build their own mac machine and buy them as parts, as it does with wintel boxes? I can just drop by at guanghua, buy the pieces and get them assembled overnight. If mac machine can be build overnight, I’ll probably build one for myself too. OSX is to cool to be true…

ax

[quote=“ax”]schhu,
Isthere anyway one can build their own mac machine and buy them as parts, as it does with wintel boxes? I can just drop by at guanghua, buy the pieces and get them assembled overnight. If mac machine can be build overnight, I’ll probably build one for myself too. OSX is to cool to be true…[/quote]
Unfortunately, no. Macintosh computers are made with Apple-certified motherboards. You can’t just get one of those suckers off of the street. However, you can salvagage parts, especially the motherboard, from older Macs. The only issue with that is Apple builds its CPUs on the motherboard, so you can’t “upgrade” the CPU per se. The ONLY way to remedy that is to get “upgrade cards” with CPUs built on the cards; and you’d slide those upgrade cards in one of the available PCI slots. Here’s more info.

In the United States, someone is trying to make a business out of doing something similar. Read this article at Wired.

With that said, the only major differences Macs have today is mainly the motherboard and the CPU (and the modem port, sort of, to be precise). The rest of the components are actually standard PC-compatible parts. But you do need to read up on which brands/models fit “better” with your specific type of Mac. For example, certain hard drives show compatibility problems under certain models of PowerMac… But this is a norm in the world of computer upgrades anyway (just because all parts are supposedly compatible with each other doesn’t mean they will all play nice together; trust me on this one… I have lost a lot of hair and sleep over something as simple as this).

All in all, upgrading a Mac is quite easy. And since almost everything is built-in (Firewire, USB, phone jack, audio… etc), the only things you’d ever add are probably additional hard drives and CD/DVD/CDRW drives (or if you are still a legacy SCSI user, a SCSI card too).

Technically, OSX is based on BSD Unix. And an Apple flavored of BSD Unix (Darwin, as it is called) has been ported to x86 processors. You can technically own a “version” of OSX on an Intel box, however, you’d lose the wonderful Aqua interface that runs on top of PowerPC chips.

It’s great to have one so knowledgable about Macs on here.
Thanks for the info, scchu.

One more question:
If I get the 15" powerbook with superdrive for 109k in Taiwan (about $300 USD MORE here after conversion than the online prices of $2799 or so),

I AM getting a much more powerful and hardy notebook than if I get the 14" ibook for around 60k?

It’s two months extra rent, the way I see it, if I spend 40k more, to get the primo one. But I do like the aluminum case much more than the prissy plastic white one!!!

:unamused: