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rlane · Oct 30, 2003, 12:38 AM

We recently dumped our Apple systems to Dell Inspirons 5100s running XP Pro. What the "F" were we thinking? These Dells seem to be well made and have been trouble free - but XP doesn't compare to MAC OS in many categories. In honesty, I can't even see how they can rate XP in the same league as OSX. We've owned Macs since the GSII, performa, G3, G4, etc. We only switched due to a grant - so the Dells were free to us. For those of you thiking of switching - save yourselves the trouble and stick with the Mac - even if it cost you some money. ALL of our Macs were retired due to enhancements in processors, not because of any failures. In fact, they all still run. I know I sound like a Mac promo commercial, but I am in disbelief on how magaines tout XP so much.

waxcrash · Oct 30, 2003, 12:59 AM

Originally posted by rlane:
We recently dumped our Apple systems to Dell Inspirons 5100s running XP Pro. What the "F" were we thinking? These Dells seem to be well made and have been trouble free - but XP doesn't compare to MAC OS in many categories. In honesty, I can't even see how they can rate XP in the same league as OSX. We've owned Macs since the GSII, performa, G3, G4, etc. We only switched due to a grant - so the Dells were free to us. For those of you thiking of switching - save yourselves the trouble and stick with the Mac - even if it cost you some money. ALL of our Macs were retired due to enhancements in processors, not because of any failures. In fact, they all still run. I know I sound like a Mac promo commercial, but I am in disbelief on how magaines tout XP so much.

Corporate or education? You mention a grant - I suspect education.

AssassyN · Oct 30, 2003, 01:48 AM

Our school recently did the same exact thing (my previous high school, I mean, not my college). Now all the comps. are Dells, they jacked all the Macs.

However, the Macs they had were horribly old, I hated to use them personally. 233Mhz All In One G3's w/ 32MB of RAM...pathetic.

coolmacdude · Oct 30, 2003, 01:56 AM

Originally posted by rlane:
For those of you thiking of switching

I think that number would be fairly low on this forum.

nobitacu · Oct 30, 2003, 02:15 AM

Originally posted by coolmacdude:
I think that number would be fairly low on this forum.

Very very very low.

Ming

pb_soon · Oct 30, 2003, 02:45 AM

Originally posted by rlane:
We recently dumped our Apple systems to Dell Inspirons 5100s running XP Pro. What the "F" were we thinking? These Dells seem to be well made and have been trouble free - but XP doesn't compare to MAC OS in many categories. In honesty, I can't even see how they can rate XP in the same league as OSX. We've owned Macs since the GSII, performa, G3, G4, etc. We only switched due to a grant - so the Dells were free to us. For those of you thiking of switching - save yourselves the trouble and stick with the Mac - even if it cost you some money. ALL of our Macs were retired due to enhancements in processors, not because of any failures. In fact, they all still run. I know I sound like a Mac promo commercial, but I am in disbelief on how magaines tout XP so much.

You're not all lost yet ... dump XP and go with Linux! It's not OSX but then again, at least it's not XP

spatterson · Oct 30, 2003, 02:48 AM

Originally posted by nobitacu:
Very very very low.

Ming

True true!

Super Glitcher · Oct 30, 2003, 04:19 AM

Originally posted by nobitacu:
Very very very low.

Ming

LOL

damn.. that sucks. Time to start bringin in your own powerbook to work on. That's what I do...

The Placid Casual · Oct 30, 2003, 04:35 AM

(Kind of related, but I may vent my anger here rather than in real life...!)

My university dumped all their Macs a while back. The only place that still has them is the design department.

There are no open access Apple machines, only 1000's of Wintel (RM Nimbus) boxes running an old NT, ZenDesktop and such joys as Pegasus mail!

Yet despite the lack of decent machines, they have a super, super fast internet connection...

I take my Powerbook into my office to work on, but despite being allowed to as a Research Postgrad/lecturer, will they let me on the network with it? Um, No. The only reason they give is that I use a Mac, and one particular Law Deptartment System Admin who has to give authority, won't do so...

He is a real anal Windows Sys Admin that doesn't know his backside from his elbow, and won't have anything that even resembles Linux or Mac on his part of the network...

I have campaigned for months for network access with my Powerbook, and had a meeting with the head of IT for the whole Uni, and 3 of his assistants... Who all had the cheek to turn up with Powerbooks, and then connect them to the network!!

I went to the Dean's office. He had unplugged the PC in his office, put it on the floor, and was instead using a Pismo...

Still no go.

I have been told that without the authority of this one ****ing Windows guy, there is no hope...

MusicalTone · Oct 30, 2003, 04:59 AM

Placid, you are half way there with the PB by the looks of it - what smart lecturers you have using PBs - the rest is just a matter of power politics that you as a student have an unfair disadvantage. In my days it was access to the better books. Today it is access to the network.

Waveman · Oct 30, 2003, 08:35 AM

Originally posted by The Placid Casual:

I went to the Dean's office. He had unplugged the PC in his office, put it on the floor, and was instead using a Pismo...

Still no go.

Why can't you do what the Dean did?

When I got my first cable modem a few years ago, my cable ISP said that they didn't support Macs. Period. So I had them come out and hook up an old PC I had lying around. As soon as they left, I connected my Mac.

voyageur · Oct 30, 2003, 09:05 AM

Originally posted by The Placid Casual:
I have been told that without the authority of this one ****ing Windows guy, there is no hope...

Placid, you're at a university? Wow, and I thought all the computer mafioso types were in the corporate world! At our university we can use whatever we want...total anarchy reigns. I think there would be a revolt if only one operating system were imposed on everyone.

Good luck.

elvis2000 · Oct 30, 2003, 09:07 AM

Originally posted by AssassyN:
Our school recently did the same exact thing (my previous high school, I mean, not my college). Now all the comps. are Dells, they jacked all the Macs.

However, the Macs they had were horribly old, I hated to use them personally. 233Mhz All In One G3's w/ 32MB of RAM...pathetic.

The original iMac!

CobraNT · Oct 30, 2003, 09:47 AM

Placid,
Umm....your a law student right? Perhaps they are trying to further your education by putting up these walls. Send them a nice 'lawyer' type letter explaining that it is discrimenation to not allow you to attach your PB to the network. If that doesn't work SUE THEM like a good lawyer would!

Yose · Oct 30, 2003, 10:04 AM

Bootup with Virtual Windows and just start using the network; leave it running in the background whenever Joe Jackass comes around.

cambro · Oct 30, 2003, 10:06 AM

Originally posted by CobraNT:
Placid,
Umm....your a law student right? Perhaps they are trying to further your education by putting up these walls. Send them a nice 'lawyer' type letter explaining that it is discrimenation to not allow you to attach your PB to the network. If that doesn't work SUE THEM like a good lawyer would!

No kidding...surely "because we don't like them" is NOT A LEGAL excuse, given everything else that isn't legal.

This sounds like a rediculous situation. I would seriously consider legal action just for the hell of it, if you are up to the BS. You can site tons of literature on the overal security of OS X over Windows, making it clear that there is no valid justification for the discrimination....

AssassyN · Oct 30, 2003, 10:28 AM

Originally posted by elvis2000:
The original iMac!

Hah!!! We weren't nearlyyyy that lucky! I'm talkin' beige All In Ones that you can get from MegaMacs.com now for like $30...and that's a rip!

The Placid Casual · Oct 30, 2003, 11:57 AM

Cheers for input all!! I am seriously thinking about taking up some of the suggestions... especially the VPC option, and suing them!!

Why can't you do what the Dean did?

When I got my first cable modem a few years ago, my cable ISP said that they didn't support Macs. Period. So I had them come out and hook up an old PC I had lying around. As soon as they left, I connected my Mac.

They refuse to give me a network login that will work from the PB! They will give me a Windows only one...

Placid, you're at a university? Wow, and I thought all the computer mafioso types were in the corporate world! At our university we can use whatever we want...total anarchy reigns. I think there would be a revolt if only one operating system were imposed on everyone.
Good luck.

I honestly think the IT guy would expire if any kind of OS freedom were introduced... He won;t even let Windows XP machines on yet as he thinks it is the work of the devil!! (Then again, he may be right

)

Placid, Umm....your a law student right? Perhaps they are trying to further your education by putting up these walls. Send them a nice 'lawyer' type letter explaining that it is discrimenation to not allow you to attach your PB to the network. If that doesn't work SUE THEM like a good lawyer would!

I'm actually a lawyer already, just gone back to Uni to do a Masters and some lecturing at the same time... A harsh letter is currently written, but I am debating sending it in...!

Bootup with Virtual Windows and just start using the network; leave it running in the background whenever Joe Jackass comes around.

Te only problem i have with this is that the network won't recognise a Windows machine unless it is using the Law School 'Desktop Image'... They have me all ways!

This sounds like a rediculous situation. I would seriously consider legal action just for the hell of it, if you are up to the BS. You can site tons of literature on the overal security of OS X over Windows, making it clear that there is no valid justification for the discrimination....

The annoying thing is that everyone knows that Macs are superior security and virus wise, which are the main concerns... it is just Mr Windows that is standing in the way.

I am wondering if assassination is a valid solution...

Cheers again,

Peace,

TPC

xylon · Oct 30, 2003, 12:11 PM

Placid, maybe I missed something, but why is this guy so adamant about keeping Macs off of "his" network? Security is a non-issue. Is there some logical answer to this guys illogical actions that I breezed past?

The Placid Casual · Oct 30, 2003, 12:23 PM

Originally posted by xylon:
Placid, maybe I missed something, but why is this guy so adamant about keeping Macs off of "his" network? Security is a non-issue. Is there some logical answer to this guys illogical actions that I breezed past?

No, there is no logical reason at all for his actions... He just doesn't like other machines, or seemingly any OS that is not Windows NT!

(Although I think Macs are a particular hatred for him...)

I have permission from the Uni central IT dept, an open access ethernet point to connect to... everything is set up. It just needs him to sign the paper and sort out a login in... and he won't.

LfGrdMike · Oct 30, 2003, 12:35 PM

I would find the bitch and vent out all my feelings until he signed the damn thing. Make a scene if you have too.

IT administrators who only use windows OS don't know **** these days. The only word they can say is microsoft. If its not MS frontpage, or MS word they have a cow. In my programming logic class the instructor almost crapped hi spants when i told him I use OmniGraffle and Inspiration for my flowcharting. He is like what no visio. Then he goes i bet you dont even have office. I go umm Ya i do. I show him and he is like Flabbergasted. Then when i tole him i thought Omnigraffle was better i think he almost passed out. Funny MS can't make office work on their own OS isn't it.

Tis how much it sucks

I can get on my network thank god. Had to vent at the admin once to get the numbers i needed. So he gave them to me.

janmc · Oct 30, 2003, 12:41 PM

maybe make friends with the computer guy for the design department, or the architecture department. i'm sure he might be able to do something from his end, and will probably be a mac fan. in my final year in college the computer network guy set up my ibook so that i could log onto the network and print my drawings straight from my laptop. i could also use the internet and use limewire with a superfast connection... but that's a different story! in our college there were different networks for different faculties, so if it's the same there you could possibly use another department network until you find a way to force the IT guy to do things your way!

NeXTLoop · Oct 30, 2003, 12:43 PM

One of the other guys on this forum had a great signature.....

"The difference between genius and stupidity, is that genius has it's limits."

Unfortunately, this definitely seems to be one of those situations. This guys stupidity seems endless. I'd go with the legal options that have already been suggested. Big universities and corporations have been sued for less when it comes to discrimination.... and have lost.

s0litude · Oct 30, 2003, 01:31 PM

umm, so where'd all those macs go? I mean... are they going on sale or something???

fraeone · Oct 30, 2003, 03:49 PM

Luckily my College just installed 802.11b so network access isn't a problem with any platform. But the computer lab has a sign up that they want to 'inspect' all laptop users computers because of all of the Windows worms. Yeaaah right. I wouldn't let those labrats touch my Dell, and I'm certainly not letting them inspect my forthcoming Powerbook.

stevesnj · Oct 30, 2003, 04:52 PM

I teach computer science and would love to get a few of those Macs....are they in storage? Can you donate them to my school? please post back as this may be a write off for your school if you are willing to donate a few...i want to teach my kids Mac but am not permitted to buy any. Thanks

Steve

SSharon · Oct 30, 2003, 05:16 PM

So how about people specify what university they are at, maybe there is a pattern.

I'm at the University of Maryland, College Park.

We used to have 40/40/20 Mac/PC/Unix in our computer labs but they are changing things now. They got rid of all but a few of the unix things and put in more PC's. They did this b/c no one used the Macs (B&W G3's with OS9) while everyone used the PC's (new dells every 2 years with flat panels). Now they got smart and bought a truckload of dual G5's and 20" ACD so they will see whose using what once they install those. They do have a large part of the campus on 802.11b and no mac issue there. Finally, they are selling Panther for 10 dollars a disk.

How does this compare with everyone else?

xylon · 06:11 PM

Originally posted by fraeone:
Luckily my College just installed 802.11b so network access isn't a problem with any platform. But the computer lab has a sign up that they want to 'inspect' all laptop users computers because of all of the Windows worms. Yeaaah right. I wouldn't let those labrats touch my Dell, and I'm certainly not letting them inspect my forthcoming Powerbook.

I'm in the same boat here (well actually one foot, the other is in the ethernet boat) so I don't have to worry about OS issues. My school is actually really good about supporting multiple platforms, so it's really no problem.

I love going to my schools computer security website and seeing all the blaring warnings to download patches to their Windows machine. A little slice of digital heaven.

I have permission from the Uni central IT dept, an open access ethernet point to connect to... everything is set up. It just needs him to sign the paper and sort out a login in... and he won't.

What an ass. May his Windows machines crash!

Thorin · Oct 30, 2003, 05:32 PM

I'm at Coventry University in the UK. My housemate's just bought a 12" rev b powerbook and a 20GB 3g ipod, and I have the same on order (we're both switchers, although I've been using a 1st gen 5 gig ipod). The University run NT4, but are rolling out Win2k across campus. Their servers are all Red Hat Linux, and a large number of the PCs dual boot into linux as well. So far as I'm aware, there are no open access Macs on campus, although I'm a comp sci student, so don't know about art and design and engineering. The guy who does the Student's Union publicity has a G4 tower, and there are several G4 towers in the University's main Creative Design studio as well.

The library have recently started running a wireless network (b standard), but you need to insert a wireless PCMCIA card supplied by Computer Services, and install software (winblows only) also supplied by them. They won't allow us access to the wireless network just by adding our MAC addresses to the approved list! So no access with Macs (in fact, when my housemate was asked by a member of help desk staff what operating system he was running, and he said Mac OS X, he was answered with "what's one of those?" - great!)

SplijinX · Oct 30, 2003, 09:22 PM

Not only do we have the supercomputer here at VT, but we have a sizable computer lab called the Math Emporium filled with macs (mostly 15" iMacs). It wasn't the greatest place to be since several math courses are taught on these machines, but it is a pretty impressive setup and is open 24/7 with some exeptions on holidays.

The virtual tour is kinda old, but you can get an idea of the size of this monster. There're probably around 500 computers there:
http://www.emporium.vt.edu/emporium/...itorsMain.html

Hrm...site seems kinda crappy, but if anyone is interested in pictures, I'll go over and take a couple shots.

fudo · 09:46 PM

I read the topic and I thought some one had posted flame bait judging by the number of views.

Dell are offering some very big discounts to the education sector at the moment, in fact in the UK Dell has a bigger hold over the sector any way. I think even when I was still at school they where phasing out Macs for PCs what a mistake.

My university when I joined was predominantly Novell campus wide, and I know why since I did a stint working on the support desk. The computer science department was at the time hard core Apple fans, but made the simple realisation in order to get more kit for their money, and deal with increasing class sizes you pretty much have to go to PCs. So Linux/NT dual machine where chosen, however some staff and researchers did stuck with Mac. Don't know what the story is these days, though I guess most of the support staff are Linux heads, though I figure they secretly lust after Mac OS X.

fudo

webcookie · Oct 30, 2003, 09:51 PM

My old high school has one PC lab.. in the basement, and you have to go through the drafting room to get to it; it's like they are hiding the fact that they even have PC's. The 3rd floor of the library has an iMac lab (the old blueberry variety) and the graphics and art classes have G5's and new iMac's, I believe. I'll be going back to visit within the week, so I'll be able to scope it out. I can't imagine them switching to PC's.

coolmacdude · Oct 30, 2003, 10:01 PM

Originally posted by SplijinX:
Not only do we have the supercomputer here at VT, but we have a sizable computer lab called the Math Emporium filled with macs (mostly 15" iMacs).

That's awesome. I'm at GT and while we certainly don't have anything remotely as cool as the supercomputer, we do have some nice Mac labs. Our CS dept has one in an isolated room with about 20 dual 800 quicksilvers. It is rarely used at night so I usually have it all to myself. Speaking of which, I noticed that my SETI scores have recently gone up significantly.

rlane · Oct 30, 2003, 10:51 PM

I wish this were for educational purposes - we publish information which is why this is such a difficult transformation. Don't worry - someone is getting punched in the mouth for this.....but really, you'd think that we would be happy to get free equipment...and my post summarizes how dis-satisfied we are.

romeosc · Oct 30, 2003, 11:54 PM

Most Network administrators remember Mac using appletalk which caused a network to be very "noisy", since It would constantly send id "I AM HERE!" all the time. But no longer.... but the bad taste is still there.... a little knowledge is a very dangerous thing!

Gir · Oct 31, 2003, 12:03 AM

Funny you mention that. The Network Admin at my college is ordering a 15" PB in a couple months. I don't know what made her change her mind, but now there will be three mac users at my school (which is dominated by dells....) .

coolmacdude · Oct 31, 2003, 12:39 AM

Originally posted by romeosc:
Most Network administrators remember Mac using appletalk which caused a network to be very "noisy", since It would constantly send id "I AM HERE!" all the time. But no longer.... but the bad taste is still there.... a little knowledge is a very dangerous thing!

Rendezvous kind of does the same thing. Oh well.

h00ligan · Oct 31, 2003, 12:44 AM

They refuse to give me a network login that will work from the PB! They will give me a Windows only one...[/B]

if you run os x and the microsoft uam, there is really no way for them to stop you. The uam is availablke for free at microsoft.com

the only thing i can think is that they are all running roaming profiles, but i think the uam would just allow you access to that folder natively anyway.

give it a shot, but as i think of it.. there isnt really a way to STOP a mac with the uam on it from connecting.

maybe i'm wrong

spatterson · Oct 31, 2003, 12:59 AM

I'm sitting here typing on my friends Inspiron 5100 and well this thing is a POS. Not only does it weigh about 8 pounds this thing is huge and ungodly ugly. Its amenities include a personal heater on the back of the unit. I suggest placing this notebook in your bathroom during your morning rush so you can be all warm and cozy. This thing also works as a paperweight. Ok anyways enough sarcasm. I just wanted to share my thought on this particular Dell Laptop.

alphamatrix · Oct 31, 2003, 01:26 AM

Originally posted by AssassyN:
Our school recently did the same exact thing (my previous high school, I mean, not my college). Now all the comps. are Dells, they jacked all the Macs.

However, the Macs they had were horribly old, I hated to use them personally. 233Mhz All In One G3's w/ 32MB of RAM...pathetic.

Same thing happened to my school, but we were using the old 75Mhz 5000 Series AIOs.

St.John · Oct 31, 2003, 06:09 AM

Originally posted by Thorin:
I'm at Coventry University in the UK. My housemate's just bought a 12" rev b powerbook and a 20GB 3g ipod, and I have the same on order (we're both switchers, although I've been using a 1st gen 5 gig ipod). The University run NT4, but are rolling out Win2k across campus. Their servers are all Red Hat Linux, and a large number of the PCs dual boot into linux as well. So far as I'm aware, there are no open access Macs on campus, although I'm a comp sci student, so don't know about art and design and engineering. The guy who does the Student's Union publicity has a G4 tower, and there are several G4 towers in the University's main Creative Design studio as well.

The library have recently started running a wireless network (b standard), but you need to insert a wireless PCMCIA card supplied by Computer Services, and install software (winblows only) also supplied by them. They won't allow us access to the wireless network just by adding our MAC addresses to the approved list! So no access with Macs (in fact, when my housemate was asked by a member of help desk staff what operating system he was running, and he said Mac OS X, he was answered with "what's one of those?" - great!)

Hi Thorin! I'm over at Warwick, and happily awaiting my new 12" rev. B. A lot of the lecturers here seem to have PowerBooks, and as far as I know there's no problem using Uni network facilities, either LAN or wireless.

Thorin · Oct 31, 2003, 08:46 AM

Originally posted by St.John:
Hi Thorin! I'm over at Warwick, and happily awaiting my new 12" rev. B. A lot of the lecturers here seem to have PowerBooks, and as far as I know there's no problem using Uni network facilities, either LAN or wireless.

Gah! I can't even post on a powerbook forum without having some sod from Warwick rubbing my nose in their superior campus!

That sounds like quite a nice set up you've got there. Doesn't surprise me to be honest, it couldn't get much worse than the setup here. Computer Services are a waste of space! My housemate and I are keeping up our campaign to get them to let us register our MAC addresses on the wireless network.

How long have you been waiting for your Rev B? I ordered mine on the 18th, it's shipped from Taiwan now, and some of it has arrived in Luxembourg. I'm hoping it'll turn up on either Monday or Tuesday. My housemate's is great. He's playing dungeon siege on it at the moment.

mbryda · Oct 31, 2003, 10:16 AM

Originally posted by rlane:
We recently dumped our Apple systems to Dell Inspirons 5100s running XP Pro. What the "F" were we thinking? These Dells seem to be well made and have been trouble free - but XP doesn't compare to MAC OS in many categories.

Just wait a year or so - Dell is not a quality computer. All they make is a great POS...

Moose · Oct 31, 2003, 10:46 AM

Originally posted by cambro:
No kidding...surely "because we don't like them" is NOT A LEGAL excuse, given everything else that isn't legal.

This sounds like a rediculous situation. I would seriously consider legal action just for the hell of it, if you are up to the BS. You can site tons of literature on the overal security of OS X over Windows, making it clear that there is no valid justification for the discrimination....

The administrator has the authority to do what he's doing until his manager tells him he doesn't.

Any sort of lawsuit forcing an administrator to accept a particular platform on his network would get dismissed faster than you can say "tort reform."

St.John · Oct 31, 2003, 12:21 PM

Originally posted by Thorin:
Gah! I can't even post on a powerbook forum without having some sod from Warwick rubbing my nose in their superior campus!

That sounds like quite a nice set up you've got there. Doesn't surprise me to be honest, it couldn't get much worse than the setup here. Computer Services are a waste of space! My housemate and I are keeping up our campaign to get them to let us register our MAC addresses on the wireless network.

How long have you been waiting for your Rev B? I ordered mine on the 18th, it's shipped from Taiwan now, and some of it has arrived in Luxembourg. I'm hoping it'll turn up on either Monday or Tuesday. My housemate's is great. He's playing dungeon siege on it at the moment.

Campus? It's shite pal. I'd far rather be in Coventry proper. Imagine about 15000 people using a few bars - then try to imagine everybody going to one of the Union nights. Queues up the arse!

Ordered the powerbook over the phone on the 16th - they say it'll arrive "early to mid next week", so I'm expecting sometime in January to be honest. I gave them explicit instructions as to my address for billing - we have an internal mail system and a postcode is not enough. Sure enough, about a week later they phoned to tell me that the details were "incomplete" to bill to my bank account. After much irritation, I got them to take the correct address. Muppets.

On the plus side, I have a 12" rev. b, bluetooth keyboard and mouse, Tucano second skin folder and a Griffin iCurve stand on it's way. I've already received the 512Mb memory module from Crucial, and a copy of Aliens vs. Predator 2 will arrive as soon as this bloody mail strike is over!

Thorin · Oct 31, 2003, 02:12 PM

Originally posted by St.John:
Campus? It's shite pal. I'd far rather be in Coventry proper. Imagine about 15000 people using a few bars - then try to imagine everybody going to one of the Union nights. Queues up the arse!

Lol - fair play then. I'm not so fussed about union queues this year - being a part time officer on the exec now, I can queue jump to my hearts content!

Ordered the powerbook over the phone on the 16th - they say it'll arrive "early to mid next week", so I'm expecting sometime in January to be honest. I gave them explicit instructions as to my address for billing - we have an internal mail system and a postcode is not enough. Sure enough, about a week later they phoned to tell me that the details were "incomplete" to bill to my bank account. After much irritation, I got them to take the correct address. Muppets.

They always seem to find something to slow it up. Mine was "being reviewed" for days on end, and then it took so long to build, that if they'd sent it in pieces to me, I'd have been able to build it myself faster!

On the plus side, I have a 12" rev. b, bluetooth keyboard and mouse, Tucano second skin folder and a Griffin iCurve stand on it's way. I've already received the 512Mb memory module from Crucial, and a copy of Aliens vs. Predator 2 will arrive as soon as this bloody mail strike is over!

I've ordered the 12" rev b, and a tucano 2nd skin folder, along with a 20gig ipod. I've also ordered a sport suite convertible case for the ipod from marware. Unfortunately I was stupid and ordered my powerbook with 512Mb as a BTO option. For a few quid more than I paid for the extra 256Mb as a BTO option, I could have bought 512Mb from crucial - ah well, you live and learn!

sheer · Oct 31, 2003, 02:57 PM

Originally posted by rlane:
We recently dumped our Apple systems to Dell Inspirons 5100s running XP Pro. What the "F" were we thinking? These Dells seem to be well made and have been trouble free - but XP doesn't compare to MAC OS in many categories. In honesty, I can't even see how they can rate XP in the same league as OSX. We've owned Macs since the GSII, performa, G3, G4, etc. We only switched due to a grant - so the Dells were free to us. For those of you thiking of switching - save yourselves the trouble and stick with the Mac - even if it cost you some money. ALL of our Macs were retired due to enhancements in processors, not because of any failures. In fact, they all still run. I know I sound like a Mac promo commercial, but I am in disbelief on how magaines tout XP so much.

The compamny I work for is slowly doing the same thing. They don't get grants, but Dells work out significantly cheaper, which I can understand as they're packed full of cheap components. Even us graphic designers are gonna get dual Xeons (woop-de-whoosh). Our IT guru won't even consider moving to X to see how that works. 9.2.2 + G4 466 is the end of the road for us. P4s/Xeons + 2k Pro are the way to go apparently :/
Nevermind the fact all the outsourced printers we use are mac-based and now all our systems tech staff are PC ppl, none of them can fix a Mac when there is a problem, we have to do that ourselves, something I find quite laughable.

Scooterboy · Oct 31, 2003, 04:33 PM

It seems the UK and Ireland are especially anti-Mac. I brought my iBook with me to the Republic of Ireland (where Apple has a presence in de People's Republic of Cork!) and all (except one) IT people I met either gave me a "what de hell is that toy?" or gave a snort of derision about Macs and how they can't network, how there's no software like MS Office for them, how they're only for graphics, or how they can't do anything. Talk about ignorant. Even Eircom said my iBook wasn't compatible with their Internet service. It was.

xylon · Oct 31, 2003, 05:15 PM

Originally posted by sheer:
The compamny I work for is slowly doing the same thing. They don't get grants, but Dells work out significantly cheaper, which I can understand as they're packed full of cheap components. Even us graphic designers are gonna get dual Xeons (woop-de-whoosh). Our IT guru won't even consider moving to X to see how that works. 9.2.2 + G4 466 is the end of the road for us. P4s/Xeons + 2k Pro are the way to go apparently :/
Nevermind the fact all the outsourced printers we use are mac-based and now all our systems tech staff are PC ppl, none of them can fix a Mac when there is a problem, we have to do that ourselves, something I find quite laughable.

I can't understand why anyone would want to do grahpic design on anything but a Mac. I work as technical help at my University's Media Relations center and we only work on Macs. While there will always be problems, I've found that they're minimal and often related to user error. Macs are the standard for graphical design and the fact that your IT head doesn't realize this is quite appalling. I'd definitely put all my weight behind a motion to get Macs, or even to have a few test machines running OS X before you commit yourselves to P4's.

Originally posted by SplijinX:
Not only do we have the supercomputer here at VT, but we have a sizable computer lab called the Math Emporium filled with macs (mostly 15" iMacs). It wasn't the greatest place to be since several math courses are taught on these machines, but it is a pretty impressive setup and is open 24/7 with some exeptions on holidays.

We've got the same! Apple donated about 100 (I think) new iMacs last year for one of our aging computing centers. So sweet. I used to give tours around campus and I'd always take my groups to that center and talk about computing on campus. Hehehe, I should just be a sales rep already.

klinux · Oct 31, 2003, 06:21 PM

Originally posted by rlane:
For those of you thiking of switching - save yourselves the trouble and stick with the Mac - even if it cost you some money.

Sure, easy for you to say but you are not the one who has to do the budgeting.

Hey, I am not bashing Apple but if someone comes to me with free computing power, I am not going to turn it down.