[Gossamer]

Originally Posted by Person Man

Hey Big Mac,

A THIRD Dell laptop has caught fire. Getting nervous now?

If I were you, I'd return the Dell laptop until they sort out the problems. First Japan, then the US, and now Singapore?

In the meantime, get a Sony, or HP or any brand but Dell until they answer for these incidents.

Uh-oh...three out of THOUSANDS sold! He is next, there's no doubt! No Mac user can talk about sorting out problems with the recent MB/MBP issues.

[Chuckit]

I don't see what your problem with the Dell Personal Heating Feature is, Person Man.

[Gossamer]

Originally Posted by Chuckit

I don't see what your problem with the Dell Personal Heating Feature is, Person Man.

I hear it reduces battery life.

[goMac]

Having actually owned a Dell laptop, I would never buy one again. Dell quality has gotten worse and worse, to the point where they don't even include OS restore CD's.

I'll buy another Dell when hell freezes over. Meantime I'll make a tidy profit fixing them.

[Person Man]

Originally Posted by Gossamer

Uh-oh...three out of THOUSANDS sold! He is next, there's no doubt! No Mac user can talk about sorting out problems with the recent MB/MBP issues.

I have yet to hear of ONE exploding MacBook/MacBook Pro even with the reports of overheating/swelling batteries.

I can overlook ONE isolated incident of anything, maybe a second, but a third coming so close to the other two. No way. Dell is OFF my list of PC manufacturers for a LONG time to come. My company (who has a Dell contract) is no longer going to be purchasing Dell laptops until they are assured this won't happen again. And they made the announcement after the third one came to light.

I'm not saying Apple is perfect, nor am I suggesting Big Mac get a Mac laptop. After three incidents so close to each other, I'd be wary of anyone. And yes, that goes for Apple, too.

So stop with the insinuating comments about "Mac users."

[His Dudeness]

Originally Posted by goMac

Having actually owned a Dell laptop, I would never buy one again. Dell quality has gotten worse and worse, to the point where they don't even include OS restore CD's.

I'll buy another Dell when hell freezes over. Meantime I'll make a tidy profit fixing them.

I just got a new Vaio for college. It didn't come with restore cd's either, so it's not just Dell.

[ghporter]

I have yet to see a "bad" Dell laptop, and I've seen hundreds. Literally. I've seen a few with a glitch or two-my son's new one had its tiny little wireless card crap out after about 15 minutes, but they sent a replacement the same day I reported it.

[goMac]

Originally Posted by ghporter

I have yet to see a "bad" Dell laptop, and I've seen hundreds. Literally. I've seen a few with a glitch or two-my son's new one had its tiny little wireless card crap out after about 15 minutes, but they sent a replacement the same day I reported it.

It's not that they blow up or something. It's just... gennerally it feels like no one at Dell cares about build quality. No restore CD's, crap software bundled, a case that was the same case they used 5 years ago, in breaky plastic, and a lower quality screen. My Dell's cd drive is so cheap it's started scraching disks that I put it. Really the only value I put in that laptop is the Windows license code attached to it.

[theolein]

I was in a very similar situation to Big Mac recently. I had gotten a bit pissed off at the massive price differences bewteen both Apple's MBP and MB and similar PC laptops. I found the HP nc8430, which has everything the MBP has (and a bigger drive), albeit without DVI out (I could not find ONE single PC laptop with DVI out) for 1000 Swiss Francs less, which almost blew my mind. The HP, which has a good reputation for quality, costing only 100 swiss Frances more than the MacBook.

I work with Windows all day at work, and although it sucks truly, I've gotten used to it. In fact, the reason why I didn't get a PC laptop in the end is because I'm buying a Mini, which is nice and cheap and offers all I need for a backup machine, and can run Windows, Linux and OSX.

I'll wait until next year to get a new laptop. If the price differences are still so big, I'll get a PC laptop.

[BRussell]

Hi theolein.

[Googer-Giger]

We all have to do crazy things, good luck.

[analogika]

Originally Posted by theolein

(I could not find ONE single PC laptop with DVI out)

Some Siemens-Nixdorf machines have them.

[Big Mac]

Originally Posted by Person Man

I have yet to hear of ONE exploding MacBook/MacBook Pro even with the reports of overheating/swelling batteries.

Perhaps not swelling batteries, but iMacs had swelling capacitors. Battery issues are worse because they're more combustible, sure, but battery issues are rare. You've disqualified Dell because of three apparently catastrophic failures, and that's out of how many Dells? Have you ever heard of the Blackbird PB battery failures?

I'm typing this on my Inspiron, btw. It's a very nice machine - I am very pleased thus far. Incidentally, I was puzzled by the lack of restore discs because the quickstart sheet refers to them, so I contacted support and was given confirmation that I'll be receiving them. (I thought they weren't included because I ordered from the outlet store, but from what others have said it seems that's not case.) I don't see any build quality problems with the unit - it seems solidly constructed with a nice keyboard. It almost looks like a bulky PowerBook. It's very quiet, and the unobtrusive fan only came on once since I have been using it. The trackpad buttons are a little spongy, but that's not a big problem - at least they're far better than the buttons on the Compaq I was using temporarily, and I have a USB travel mouse to use anyway. The screen is very nice, IMO. And even XP isn't a total train wreck - OS X is clearly superior, but XP is bearable. There wasn't as much useless software installed as one would have imagined, and I easily disabled the most annoying software. I'll have a more detailed post about my experience in a few days, after my first week with the machine.

[Person Man]

Originally Posted by Big Mac

Perhaps not swelling batteries, but iMacs had swelling capacitors.

Nobody ever died from a swelling or exploding capacitor. And the swelling/bursting capacitors weren't just limited to Apple. They were industry wide and the result of botched industrial espionage. Everyone seems to "conveniently" ignore that fact when discussing Apple's problems with them.

Battery issues are worse because they're more combustible, sure, but battery issues are rare. You've disqualified Dell because of three apparently catastrophic failures, and that's out of how many Dells?

I've disqualified Dell laptops. For a while. I wouldn't buy a Dell laptop anyway. I used to recommend them to friends. I won't now. For a while. I'll still buy (or recommend) Dell desktops, though.

'm typing this on my Inspiron, btw. It's a very nice machine - I am very pleased thus far. Incidentally, I was puzzled by the lack of restore discs because the quickstart sheet refers to them, so I contacted support and was given confirmation that I'll be receiving them. (I thought they weren't included because I ordered from the outlet store, but from what others have said it seems that's not case.)

It didn't come with the restore discs? That's lame. I wouldn't be able to use the machine until the restore discs came, because I follow these recommendations about setting up a Windows XP system for the first time.

And even XP isn't a total train wreck - OS X is clearly superior, but XP is bearable.

Yes. XP is bearable. That's one reason I'll be getting a Mac mini to replace the Dell I'm using at work. The IT guy doesn't care what we hook up to the network, as long as it doesn't screw up his network.

And I'll turn my Dell desktop into a home theatre PC, to run my Greek (region 2) DVDs on, because my set-top DVD player sucks at PAL to NTSC conversion.

[His Dudeness]

Don't do it, man! For God's sake! That Mac will bring down the domain faster than you can think!!!!

[Person Man]

Originally Posted by His Dudeness

Don't do it, man! For God's sake! That Mac will bring down the domain faster than you can think!!!!

Fortunately, our IT guy isn't a dumbass about that sort of thing.

Unfortunately, it'll probably run Windows about 75% of the time. But I can use Parallels for that.

[goMac]

Originally Posted by Person Man

Unfortunately, it'll probably run Windows about 75% of the time. But I can use Parallels for that.

: prays for Mac VMWare announcement at WWDC :

I'm sorry, but anyone who's used VMWare knows Parallels is complete garbage. VMWare can even do 3D acceleration in the VM.

[Person Man]

Originally Posted by goMac

: prays for Mac VMWare announcement at WWDC :

I'm sorry, but anyone who's used VMWare knows Parallels is complete garbage. VMWare can even do 3D acceleration in the VM.

If they can release a version of VMWare that is as cheap as Parallels, then I'll use it. But medical lab data lookup does NOT need 3D acceleration.

[Tomchu]

Originally Posted by goMac

VMWare can even do 3D acceleration in the VM.

Since when?

[goMac]

Originally Posted by Person Man

If they can release a version of VMWare that is as cheap as Parallels, then I'll use it. But medical lab data lookup does NOT need 3D acceleration.

Actually, all an organization needs to do is buy one copy of VMWare to create the virtual machine. Then everyone can run it with the free VMWare player.

If you play around a bit you can create new Virtual Machines with VMWare player:
http://software.newsforge.com/articl.../05/16/1940214

[goMac]

Originally Posted by Tomchu

Since when?

Since the last release. There is a switch you have to throw in the configuration file.

http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=84344

In 5.5 they worked more on 3D accleration. Should be fully enabled for end users by 6, I'd assume.

Also I like VMWare because it can use physical drives instead of images. You can point VMWare to an actual drive or partition where you have the OS installed and it will run it from there. This would play nice with Boot Camp. On my PC I use this to run my actual Linux install on my second hard drive in a VM when I don't feel like rebooting.

[Person Man]

Originally Posted by goMac

Actually, all an organization needs to do is buy one copy of VMWare to create the virtual machine. Then everyone can run it with the free VMWare player.

Let me rephrase it.

If VMWare comes out with something like Parallels Desktop, where you don't have to buy a special "Server" version of the software that costs no more than $100, and that lets you create new virtual machines for no more than $100 (like Parallels), then I buy it.

I'd NEVER get my organization to buy the full VMWare.

Yes, I can jump through all the hoops outlined at the site you pointed us to and get around not having VMWare, but I'd rather do it more easily.

For what I would use it for, VMWare is overkill. Parallels will do just fine, thanks.

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by goMac

Actually, all an organization needs to do is buy one copy of VMWare to create the virtual machine. Then everyone can run it with the free VMWare player.

If you're only using one workstation, VMWare is overkill.

[CRASH HARDDRIVE]

Originally Posted by Y3a

Serious Graphics on a laptop??? LOL With how much RAM??? LOL

Umm... 2GB of Dual Channel DDR2 (At least on the E1505 I priced at around $1310)

What's wrong with that for "serious graphics"? Or is anything less than 4GB passe these days?

[goMac]

Originally Posted by Person Man

Let me rephrase it.

If VMWare comes out with something like Parallels Desktop, where you don't have to buy a special "Server" version of the software that costs no more than $100, and that lets you create new virtual machines for no more than $100 (like Parallels), then I buy it.

I'd NEVER get my organization to buy the full VMWare.

Yes, I can jump through all the hoops outlined at the site you pointed us to and get around not having VMWare, but I'd rather do it more easily.

For what I would use it for, VMWare is overkill. Parallels will do just fine, thanks.

Ok. If you don't want all that functionality, VMWare Server is free. Free VMWare Server, vs. a not free Parallels, seems like an easy choice to me. VMWare workstation is not free, simply because it has a lot of the extra stuff that I mentioned that you don't seem to want.

Honestly, Paraells is crap. The software is a limited shabby PC port. It's absurd they charge $80 for it. Not to mention the hardware support is flaky, at best. At least VMWare can support multiple cores and won't lock up the rest of the machine while it's in use. The only reason the Mac community thinks it's the best thing since sliced bread is the Mac community has never really had experience with virtualization software. Parallels is to VMWare what Guest PC is to Virtual PC.

[Chuckit]

Guest PC managed to get a working product to market centuries before Virtual PC?

[goMac]

Originally Posted by Chuckit

Guest PC managed to get a working product to market centuries before Virtual PC?

Guest PC iirc managed to get a working OS X port before VPC. Didn't make them the better product.

[Chuckit]

Works > doesn't work IMO.

[goMac]

Originally Posted by Chuckit

Works > doesn't work IMO.

Sure, it works. But this company was a no-name even on the Windows side because their product was so bad.

[Chuckit]

Eh, it works fine for me.