Ipad 2 - 5 out of 5 ??

[Anonymous]

But still it's no patch on macs which boot up in 5-10 secs, or tablets which switch on instantly.

Instantly, O rly.

MS are lagging, but W7 is a nice OS. Isn't good for phones and tablets just yet, but it's a damn good OS. I guess it's whatever floats your boat, but Apple's vision is that you use their software, and their's alone. Apple's vision is that you don't replace hardware within their PC's ....take the latest iMac which makes it nigh on impossible to change the HDD, installing special firmware in the Apple branded HDD, causing your fan to freak out to full speed ifyou dare dig in and swap it.

Apple is a design company for non-technically minded folk, and at that they excel 🙂) ) , for anyone wth the slightest interest in tweaking, upgrading or getting more out of what they have...it's diabolical.
By the way, my W7 laptop is up and running in about 30 seconds to a minute from off, less than 30 from sleep, it's default, any less and I wouldn't have chance to make a cup of tea in a morning!

 

[Paul.]

The beauty of OS X is that it is as simple or as complicated as you want it to be. If you know a little bash for instance, you can make OS X do pretty much anything. If you think OS X is just for non techies, you haven't looked at it hard enough.

 

[Anonymous]

The beauty of OS X is that it is as simple or as complicated as you want it to be. If you know a little bash for instance, you can make OS X do pretty much anything. If you think OS X is just for non techies, you haven't looked at it hard enough.

Possibly not, but then it comes wrapped in nanny-state machines.

 

[bigboss]

I've always bought Windows PCs / laptops since 1995. They're obviously much more easier to use than a mac for me. But I've always had some issue or the other with them, so do my friends. Since 2005, this is my 3rd Sony Vaio laptop. A friend of mine has had 1 HP & 2 Sony Vaio laptops during the same time. They either broke down or got unbearably slow over time. Over the same amount of time, my wife has owned just 1 MacBook, & it's still going strong. It's still as fast as it was when bought new. 2 years ago, I upgraded its hard drive which was very easy (to mirror the old to the new drive).

My curent Sony Vaio never wakes up from sleep. This is a known issue. I've tried all suggestions available online but no joy.

Just check EBay. Macs have a much much stronger resale value than Windows counterparts.

Windows 7 is definitely better than older versions, but don't you think Microsoft has been slow in taking technology to the next level? This has been my main frustration.

The bottomline is, both mac & Windows have their flaws. It depends on which flaws you can live with. As my wife has a mac, it makes sense for me to buy a Windows.

A mac is definitely not for non-technically minded folk. Entire google as a company runs on mac. Their employees all get a MacBook pro. Yes, this will change in the future with Chrome OS & Chromebooks.

 

[Alec]

bigboss, Sony seems to be the common denominator?

And a machine running slowly is not really a reason to junk it.

 

[bigboss]

bigboss, Sony seems to be the common denominator?

And a machine running slowly is not really a reason to junk it.

My sister had a Dell. My friends have a Toshiba, HP, Acer & Asus. In my experience, Sony is the best of the lot, hardware wise. 3 HP laptops all had a problem with the charging pin. Toshiba's keyboard doesn't work properly after just 1 year & Dell's screen needed replacing just after the warranty expired. Acer has lots of problems. My friend's Asus hasn't had a problem so far in the past 18 months or so.

My first Sony became frustratingly slow (chips get outdated quickly). The speed did not improve despite wiping clean the hard drive & reinstalling the OS. So had to buy a new one.

 

[Alec]

Fair enough boss (hey, dya see what i, er...). G'night one 'n' all.

 

[bigboss]

Also, for me still the 4:3 screen feels wrong. All my other screens (PC, laptops, 2 TVs, PSP) are widescreen.

Each on his own I guess. Clearly, a 1.78 ratio (16:9) or higher would be ideal for watching movies. But movies probably aren’t the only thing you’re going to do with the device. A very wide screen turns into a very tall screen when you rotate it 90 degrees. The all-purpose nature of tablets is probably why Apple chose an old-school 1.33 (4:3) ratio for the iPad. I don’t get fixated on the 16:9 ratio just because High Definition TV uses that. A little letterboxing while watching a movie is a small price to pay for a much more generally usable device that can be viewed in any orientation. Your PC, TV, laptop or PSP doesn’t have to work on its side in portrait mode, but your tablet does.

 

[professorhat]

By the way, my W7 laptop is up and running in about 30 seconds to a minute from off, less than 30 from sleep, it's default, any less and I wouldn't have chance to make a cup of tea in a morning!

Surely the longer it took to boot, the more time you'd have to make tea?

 

[Paul.]

I take my tea pretty strong, it would take a recked machine to take as long to boot as my brews take to stew🙂

 

[AEJim]

Must admit I'll be gradually changing over to Apple products, I don't like some of the restrictions they impose but at least it helps them run smoothly.

Yesterday I had to go through my home and work PC's (and laptop) going through yet another big Windows update (what's that, the 10th this year?) - which then started another update after the slow and annoying reboot, requiring a second reboot... I opted to ignore it as I had plenty to do but of course every 10 minutes while mid-typing I'd be interrupted by a window insisting I restart. If there had been another option pop up to punch Bill Gates in the groin I would have hit that button repeatedly.

Our engineer suggested I turn off updates but then you're bugged by warnings and red X's in your toolbars telling you how at risk from evil terrorists you constantly are. I really do hate windows. The PC is supposed to be a tool to use as you need it, not to be constantly trying to grab your attention and interfere with what you're doing.

I'll be getting an iPad at some point to largely replace the laptop and my next home computer will be an iMac, Apple are smug but at least they make solid, working product which will rarely cause annoyance - I will gladly pay the extra just for that.

 

[The_Lhc]

Yesterday I had to go through my home and work PC's (and laptop) going through yet another big Windows update (what's that, the 10th this year?) - which then started another update after the slow and annoying reboot, requiring a second reboot... I opted to ignore it as I had plenty to do but of course every 10 minutes while mid-typing I'd be interrupted by a window insisting I restart. If there had been another option pop up to punch Bill Gates in the groin I would have hit that button repeatedly.

You can change the option on that, up to 4 hours I think, that's what I do.

 

[AEJim]

Yesterday I had to go through my home and work PC's (and laptop) going through yet another big Windows update (what's that, the 10th this year?) - which then started another update after the slow and annoying reboot, requiring a second reboot... I opted to ignore it as I had plenty to do but of course every 10 minutes while mid-typing I'd be interrupted by a window insisting I restart. If there had been another option pop up to punch Bill Gates in the groin I would have hit that button repeatedly.

You can change the option on that, up to 4 hours I think, that's what I do.

Unfortunately not on the work PC as it's XP, the Vista home PC is flakey on options but the Windows 7 laptop is mildly less annoying (and as you said has slightly faster start-up - still required two restarts to install all these updates - most likely security updates for IE which I don't use knowing Microsoft...) 🙂

*Edit - Mods, is the system you use also by Microsoft as the need to verify every post is a little tedious too 😉)

 

[Ravey Gravey Davy]

*Edit - Mods, is the system you use also by Microsoft as the need to verify every post is a little tedious too 😉)

Speak nicely to Mr Duncan and he might remove it-

 

[Alec]

I dislike that with Win7it takes longer at shutdown and startup when there's an update.

My Win7 PC booted in around 30 seconds to day.

 

[The_Lhc]

I dislike that with Win7it takes longer at shutdown and startup when there's an update.

Vista was the same though I think.

 

[Anonymous]

By the way, my W7 laptop is up and running in about 30 seconds to a minute from off, less than 30 from sleep, it's default, any less and I wouldn't have chance to make a cup of tea in a morning!

Surely the longer it took to boot, the more time you'd have to make tea?

My point entirely 🙂

 

[Alec]

I dislike that with Win7it takes longer at shutdown and startup when there's an update.

Vista was the same though I think.

Ahhh. I bypased that one.

 

[Dave_]

Haven't any of you tried Linux?

All the reliabilty of OSX with none of the restrictions, as easy to use as Windows(Distro dependent), with none of the flakiness/bloat, it's free/ and open source and you don't even need to install it to try it.

 

[Paul.]

respect linux, but its not for me. My mac is a tool, I switch it on, it works, I switch it off. Don't want to hunt for distros, don't want faff, just need Aperture, Final Cut and Photoshop to work flawlessly with no maintenance. For my needs, a Mac cant be beaten.

I think the fundamental problem with these mac vs everyone else discussions, is that the very thing mac users love is what the windows and linux chaps hate. The restrictions you decry, to me, mean stability. I understand you enjoy fettling your machines, but I just want to pick it up, like a hammer, and metaphorically smash in nails from 9 til 5, and do the same tomorrow with no maintenance in between.

I understand the argument that iOS is restricted, but how so is OSX restricted? If I wanted to, I can triple boot my machine with OSX, 7 and linux. If I was so inclined, I can install linux apps within OSX with fink or something of the sort. I installed OSX on a Dell laptop, and it was no harder than working with linux. Just had to add a few vendor IDs to a few Kext files and bam, my un supported hardwear was supported. My Mac hating Dad had a great time trying to remember all sorts of Unix bash stuff to help me out from his days as a Unix network manager, OSX is a pretty face over a very powerful body. And you can skin OSX, you can modify fonts and every tiny part of the OS, you just have to know a little Bash and how to use the Terminal.

If you want to try it, you don't even need to install it either 🙂 You can make a bootable hackintosh install that runs from a USB drive or a DVD.

I hope this doesn't come across as some kind of contest, and I don't expect to be able to 'turn you', just curious. And bored whilst waiting for the Drobo to do its thing.

 

[Andrew Everard]

Speak nicely to Mr Duncan and he might remove it-

Mr Everard has done so. BTW, how far off-topic is this thread now?

 

[Alec]

Speak nicely to Mr Duncan and he might remove it-

Mr Everard has done so. BTW, how far off-topic is this thread now?

We should devise some way of measuring that.

 

[John Duncan]

Speak nicely to Mr Duncan and he might remove it-

Mr Everard has done so. BTW, how far off-topic is this thread now?

We should devise some way of measuring that.

And an ABX blind test.

 

[Alec]

Speak nicely to Mr Duncan and he might remove it-

Mr Everard has done so. BTW, how far off-topic is this thread now?

We should devise some way of measuring that.

And an ABX blind test.

To compare/establish what?

 

[chebby]

To compare/establish what?

To measure how far off-topic this thread is. (As you said earlier.)