Re: Computer

In message <090320071232598716%nospam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, nospam
<nospam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes
In article <9GwCDAckfb8FFwYq@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Robert Sneddon
<fred@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

The last G4 laptop designs were running slower and slower with the new
iterations of OS/X but they were still burning people's laps and sucking
battery power like crazy

actually, the intel macbooks run noticably hotter and consume more
battery power than the powerbook g4s did. the win was that intel chips
ran cooler than the desktop g5 chip.

Apple had no way to put a G5 into a laptop and that was their only
option to keep up with the superior performance and lower power
consumption per CPU cycle of the Centrino Intel family. At the same
time, applications and OS/X were getting more CPU-intensive, demanding
more and more resources, in part to make the GUI prettier (Aqua, for
example -- the first versions were not hardware-accelerated, and when HW
acceleration did come in it cost battery life in laptops to add GPU
hardware that prevented the infamous spinning beachball from appearing).
Apple needed a roadmap for future laptop CPUs and the PowerPC makers
couldn't provide one. Intel on the other hand already had the Centrino
working and the dual-core designs were ready to roll off the production
lines.

Friends of
mine who buy Apple laptops as a spinal reflex are inured to the stream
of early failures and trips to the repair shop; one reason Apples cost
so much is that the warranty repair cost is front-loaded into the price.

nonsense. prices are similar for comparably configured hardware.

Apple and Apple retailers don't discount their hardware, a lot of
resellers of PC laptops do. Laptop pricing is market-driven, not based
on COM plus 5% or similar as for desktops. The glossy Viaos or the
ruggedised Panasonic Toughbooks cost a lot more than a cooking Lenovo or
Asus but they use the same parts and cost about the same to make -- the
key items cost-wise are the screens and the high-end CPUs. The rest is a
wash, pretty much. Nice design doesn't cost much when you're producing a
million units.

Price for a standard Macbook from a British High-Street retailer is UKP
749, with 1.83GHz CPU, 512Mb RAM, 60Gb HDD, DVD-ROM/CD-RW (it doesn't
write DVDs), 13.3" screen at 1280x800.

From a reliable UK on-line retailer, the Toshiba A120 T5600 with about
the same spec (excepting a 15" display at 1280x800, an 80Gb HDD and DVD
writing capability) costs UKP 634. If you're willing to go for a
second-string maker, they sell a similarly specced machine, the Acer
Aspire 3693 for as little as 490 quid (slower 1.66GHz CPU but a 120Gb
hard drive instead of 60Gb). Interestingly enough, the same retailer
also sells the Macbook described above for almost exactly the same as
the bricks-and-mortar price.

The one serious difference justifying the extra cost is that Apple
gives a two-year warranty out of the box whereas Toshiba only do a
one-year warranty.
--
To reply, my gmail address is nojay1 Robert Sneddon
.

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