Laptops: Mac and Windows

[Anex]

Where this leaves Apple is quite interesting. They have inevitably lost much of their hardware edge, all they can really offer here is better aesthetic design and badge status.

Tony.

I think if you buy at the right time, i.e. the beginning of the product life cycle, they offer VFM you can't get anywhere else. Towards the end I think they push their luck not dropping the prices down but I guess thats just the way they are. I did look long and hard but couldn't find anyone offering even close to the apple spec for the same money. Well apart from the shoddy mbp screen anyway. :/

 

[Rodrigo de Sá]

I no longer completely understand what is being said (I'm not complaining, in fact I expected it to happen) but I want to thank all that addressed my initial question. I will keep reading it even if I understand little. I really am a computer nerd.

After all that has been said and done, I would go for a Mac, but I am curious about the mention of not meddling with Windows - not updating service patches (?). Will this make my computer more stable?

 

[TonyL]

After all that has been said and done, I would go for a Mac, but I am curious about the mention of not meddling with Windows - not updating service patches (?). Will this make my computer more stable?

If you connect your computer to the internet it would be exceptionally unwise not to apply service patches. Any Microsoft operating system is a prime target for hackers, virus writers and other malcontents. To their credit Microsoft do react pretty fast and close whatever door they stupidly left open in the first place and release the fix as a patch. I highly recommend leaving Windows update turned on.

I also recommend not using any Microsoft email or web browsing software – stick with the third party stuff like Firefox, Thunderbird etc as neither are targets for virus writers. Most of the world's viruses are spread by Microsoft's Outlook email system. This is a good enough reason to avoid using the product.

Tony.

 

[I-S]

I never suggested not updating windows... that would be foolish. Just that it's not that difficult to now and then go into control panel and run windows update yourself. Autoupdate requires three additional running processes which are unnecessary in day-to-day use.

I agree with Tony on avoiding IE and outlook. Eudora and Thunderbird are good alternative email packages, and Firefox is THE alternative browser.

For security, I would go with the Grisoft internet security suite... it's not as annoying nor resource-hungry as mcaffee or the dreaded norton, and updates virus and spyware definitions every day (rather than every week, which is likely to be too late). Even more of a novelty, you can TURN IT OFF (something norton in particular should wake up to).

 

[Dev]

I agree that security updates are essential but at times my PC was screwed up by the updates themselves. The only incident I can remeber is that the TV viewing through my ATI All in Wonder (or a similarly stupid sounding name) graphics card stopped working after such an upgrade.

 

[Rodrigo de Sá]

Ok, point taken. Thank you all - really great help. Seasons greetings.

 

[garyi]

The only thing that has gone seriously wrong on my mac is XP and auto updates. Matthew from PInk Fish set me straight but basically XP was unusable for a few weeks until I got it sorted.