I have found Gateways customer support to be Horrendous. When I had a Dell many years ago....i found that their techs were great.....guess a change in times.
I have a Dell 350 Workstation and a Dell 8600 laptop with docking station. Both have been very good machines. The Dell 350 did have a design flaw that Dell fixed. The fan was underpowered and caused the CPU to overheat and shut down. They sent me a new fan and a better heat sink overnight. The 8600 laptop needed more USB ports and support but that is a feature problem and not a system issue. I've been watching Compaq laptops lately.
Over the past 10 years, any HP or Compaq desktop/laptop I have had or used.....has been nothing but a let-down. Maybe they just dont' like me.
They sucked for the longest time but I've been seeing newer models in the last 18 months the SAP and other consultants have been using and they have been quite pleased with them. Of course the IBM consultants use IBM.
imacs id be carefull in upgrading with that one pretty much is settled from the start. The Mac Books same case try to start out with the max config you think you'll need in the future. The only one thats totally open are the Intel Towers 2 clicks and the whole machine is wide open and everything is easy accesible tight on cash but still wanna do OSX then Mac Mini is the answer. http://www.apple.com/macmini/ and if you have the cash super power horse . You can expand it yourself This mac is build like a tank wont break down the most basic config is already sickening fast but if you need to go Bollocks Fast its so easy to access and upgrade it yourself. http://www.apple.com/macpro/expansion.html
Now it's almost one year later and I'm hooked: I ordered a 24" 2,8GHZ iMac yesterday. Figured I'd buy it as long as I can still take advantage of the student discount It's expensive, yeah, but hey, a 24" TFT with a good panel (no TN sh*t) alone would set me back 700-800$ so it's not that more expensive than a PC. I have to admit one thing, though: The main OS will be Linux (Ubuntu 8.10 when it comes out at the end of october) for the simple reason that I've turned into a Linux-addict during the last year and I don't want to lose some beloved applications as I would when switching completely to OSX. I will use the OSX for image and video editing as well as for gaming, though Can't wait for it to get here :happy108
Congratulations Welldone your Life has just been enrichned ! way to Go ! smart choice then again I wouldnt expect anything less from a real Connaisseur I tried a keygenerator on XP to open up a movie file! yes got the right numbers to unrar the movie yep Sir also came with it free goodies to Fuck up my XP system thanks. Lucky its in m Virtual world of Parallels so I can simply Delete and reinstall it without any big consequences. Already have Ubuntu 8.10 going to install that in Parallels some nifty programs for it indeed ! the fun part of it all is that is some anti virus killer installed itself HARD into my system desktop so that it supposedly cleans the virus and scans it and when you want to remove the virus or malware it goes to a website where you enter your creditcard nr so you buy the software. Nice man... way to go.
Get the best of both worlds. Buy a Macbook pro and run windows on it. Lots of people her at work do that and it works great. Tim
Thanks Rene! Oh, and you're right: Windows really works best if run inside a sealed virtual environment. I'll never let that monster onto my machine "for real" again That "Virus scanner" looks cool, too. I once had to rid a friends computer of a similar pest as it was generating lots and lots of false positives. But well, what do you expect people to do when they surf the web and find a "free antivirus program" to download. Of course they install it without even thinking twice about it... @Tim: "The best of both worlds". That's exactly what I was talking about when I said I was gonna install OSX and Linux :rofl
Here is the real poop on Macs. The new Macs have a dual boot capacity due to the Intel chip. You like windows, run it and OSX on the same box. Everything that a PC can do a Mac can do. Remember that the new OSX is linux based and is open source. Don't like something, get a compiler and write your own. Lets say that you use OSX 70% of the time but there is that game that is not available on a Mac, reboot to Winblows and play it. Don't want to reboot, Mac has desktop emulators that are stable enough to run windows xp and possibly vista. Mac is the best choice. Had mine for 5 years and I am just now having to upgrade the HD.
Dual boot capacity is not something that has been introduced with the intel-macs. You could install other (PPC)-operating systems before that. But you're right about that: The x86-architecture and bootcamp made the installation of Windows easier. If you should happen to need it. Just to point out two factual errors that one reads about very often: 1) OSX is _NOT_ open source, it's a commercial, closed-source project. 2) OSX is _NOT_ linux based. It's a UNIX-derivate just like the modern-day Linux is. Speaking figuratively: Linux is not the parent of OSX, they are - if you want to put it that way - brother and sister with (nearly) the same parents.
To disagree. The new OSX has "bootcamp" which is a dual boot system. As for opensource. Yes you can hack the kernal and yes you can write your own programs. It takes alot of knowledge but it can and is done by hackers. There is a program that I have on mine that is free so that I can run Open office. This program allows for a more user friendly programming system. This is so you can more easily write your own programs.
I didn't say anything contradicting your note on bootcamp And while kernel hacking can be done and is done, the source code of OSX is not freely and officially available for download by apple, so OSX is not open source. You can run open source programs on it, but that has nothing to do with the os itself.
Not to contradict anything, but NOTHING apple has ever put out has been open source. They dont want anybody messing with anything of theirs. They dont want users to have any choices but those set by them. Sure, there are hackers doing it but who cares, good luck writing sweet code if you dont know how. And even better, after spending 3k on a laptop from them and hacking it, they'll sue you for everything your worth and enjoy the hell out of it. Same thing with Iphones, Ipods, etc. I dont like macs. I dont think theyre worth a damn unless your doing video/music editing. And the only reason theyre good at that is the user friendly interface and the raw power from hardware adapted from PCs. There isnt much to upgrade. Better stock up on memory because the entire user interface is visual and takes up plenty of power. Macs are now the prefered choice of hackers. If you know how to use a PC and dont surf porn and sketchy websites all day you wont have problems with viruses. I advocate PCs. Build your own tower or buy one from a reputable company, or buy a laptop. You can buy any product from any manufacturer for PCs. Most things mac are still made by apple only and cost a premium. Nothing will ever get me to switch for a mac. Isiac, with the things your doing, a nice laptop/desktop would suit your perfectly. It'll be a real shame when the new call of duty doesnt work on that Mac your thinking about.
