PC or Apple?

[Darkwind]

I've been hemming and hawing for months about buying a new laptop. I've had nothing but PC's but also have iPhone and iPad. The PC I have now is a Toshiba Satellite P775-S7215, second Toshiba I've had and third in my family. I've liked them before but this thing has been nothing but one problem after another.

So which do you have and what do you like/not like about it?

If you were buying, what would you choose?

Also, where do you think the best buy is?

Last Apple I owned was a IIe or maybe it was a IIc Lord, that goes back a long way! All I remember about it was that after buying it, I found out I could not expand it with anything but a printer. I was not happy and never even looked at Apple again. Of course, surely things have changed with Apple, right?

Umm......Yeah....I think.....




But you know, trying to compare the two is nothing but apple's to pc's.....

 

[Iceweasel]

My favorite unix based shell is the mac. You should try it they've put a lot of effort into it. I'll give a couple of the new linux distros a try, but I spent 16years writing operating systems for a living so when I go to "use" one I like it to be clean, fully functional, and get the job done in a sparkly way that I'm familiar with. Sort of like a classic chevy. Yeah the new stuff may work, but why spend the time money and effort to switch to something completely different that just does not have the same snap or feel as you are used to.

I'm only familiar with the Debian based distros and all were similar. More like a Mac than Windows except better file management and programs are fast, fast to install, easier than Mac and much easier than Windows.

I read that the Google Android developers are using a modified version of Mint for development.

Debian stable (Wheezy) has been the most solid of all distros, Mac and Windows with the smallest overhead. But I couldn't use it unless I got my feet wet first in Ubuntu, Zorin and Mint.

 

[RKMBrown]

My favorite unix based shell is the mac. You should try it they've put a lot of effort into it. I'll give a couple of the new linux distros a try, but I spent 16years writing operating systems for a living so when I go to "use" one I like it to be clean, fully functional, and get the job done in a sparkly way that I'm familiar with. Sort of like a classic chevy. Yeah the new stuff may work, but why spend the time money and effort to switch to something completely different that just does not have the same snap or feel as you are used to.

I'm only familiar with the Debian based distros and all were similar. More like a Mac than Windows except better file management and programs are fast, fast to install, easier than Mac and much easier than Windows.

I read that the Google Android developers are using a modified version of Mint for development.

Debian stable (Wheezy) has been the most solid of all distros, Mac and Windows with the smallest overhead. But I couldn't use it unless I got my feet wet first in Ubuntu, Zorin and Mint.

ok... I suppose it might be time to give em a shot again. Last couple I tried was about 5y ago and they were just a mess. When I'm debugging O/Ses I like to get paid.

 

[Iceweasel]

ok... I suppose it might be time to give em a shot again. Last couple I tried was about 5y ago and they were just a mess. When I'm debugging O/Ses I like to get paid.

I started about three years ago and was up and running with the first install. You do not need to install at first, you can run in "live" mode. Burn the iso image to a cd or dvd and boot up on that. It will run slow but you can test it out. It's also possible with a memory stick but a bit different.

 

[Uncensored2008]

Yeah, the name of the virus protection is Clam AV........
Not everyone thinks or knows to install it from Software Center, it doesn't work automatically.

I love Android, I really do. But it has pushed Linux into the mainstream, and that means it's a target now. TONS of viruses targeting Linux these days. Not all the Android viruses will attack general Linux, but a good percentage will.

 

[Uncensored2008]

I started about three years ago and was up and running with the first install. You do not need to install at first, you can run in "live" mode. Burn the iso image to a cd or dvd and boot up on that. It will run slow but you can test it out. It's also possible with a memory stick but a bit different.

True, but you'll get an inferior experience. It will run slower and lack many drivers, such as display drivers (I'm talking to you, Mint) and sometimes critical system drivers. I generally recommend just installing. It doesn't take much disk space for Ubuntu or Mint.

 

[RKMBrown]

I started about three years ago and was up and running with the first install. You do not need to install at first, you can run in "live" mode. Burn the iso image to a cd or dvd and boot up on that. It will run slow but you can test it out. It's also possible with a memory stick but a bit different.

True, but you'll get an inferior experience. It will run slower and lack many drivers, such as display drivers (I'm talking to you, Mint) and sometimes critical system drivers. I generally recommend just installing. It doesn't take much disk space for Ubuntu or Mint.

Anyone recommend a good (and free) updated partion magic like tool to set up a boot partition for trying these new distros out?

 

[Uncensored2008]

I started about three years ago and was up and running with the first install. You do not need to install at first, you can run in "live" mode. Burn the iso image to a cd or dvd and boot up on that. It will run slow but you can test it out. It's also possible with a memory stick but a bit different.

True, but you'll get an inferior experience. It will run slower and lack many drivers, such as display drivers (I'm talking to you, Mint) and sometimes critical system drivers. I generally recommend just installing. It doesn't take much disk space for Ubuntu or Mint.

Anyone recommend a good (and free) updated partion magic like tool to set up a boot partition for trying these new distros out?

Honestly, Ubuntu does a great job on it's own, and sets up the multi-boot options for you.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WindowsDualBoot

 

[RKMBrown]

True, but you'll get an inferior experience. It will run slower and lack many drivers, such as display drivers (I'm talking to you, Mint) and sometimes critical system drivers. I generally recommend just installing. It doesn't take much disk space for Ubuntu or Mint.

Anyone recommend a good (and free) updated partion magic like tool to set up a boot partition for trying these new distros out?

Honestly, Ubuntu does a great job on it's own, and sets up the multi-boot options for you.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WindowsDualBoot

heh... instruction one: back up everything in case we screw up something

 

[Uncensored2008]

Anyone recommend a good (and free) updated partion magic like tool to set up a boot partition for trying these new distros out?

Honestly, Ubuntu does a great job on it's own, and sets up the multi-boot options for you.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WindowsDualBoot

heh... instruction one: back up everything in case we screw up something

Absolutely!

Same step one Partition Magic had, back in the day... Messing with partitions is a lot safer than it used to be, but a power spike or the dog stepping on the surge protector switch could have devastating repercussions.

 

[Iceweasel]

Anyone recommend a good (and free) updated partion magic like tool to set up a boot partition for trying these new distros out?

As mentioned Ubuntu or any Debian based distro I've tried does this either automatically or you can manage the partitions during install. You can still manage partitions afterwards though with gnome Disk Manager or GParted. There are more but those seem to be the top ones. They both have their strong points so I use both.

 

[RKMBrown]

Anyone recommend a good (and free) updated partion magic like tool to set up a boot partition for trying these new distros out?

As mentioned Ubuntu or any Debian based distro I've tried does this either automatically or you can manage the partitions during install. You can still manage partitions afterwards though with gnome Disk Manager or GParted. There are more but those seem to be the top ones. They both have their strong points so I use both.

Hmm... ... maybe I'll just build a new box picking out stuff known to be well supported. My external backup drive stopped working... I probably need to get that going first. Been to lazy with keeping my lab up to date lately. Such a user these days ;-)

 

[HenryBHough]

Since I already have backup drives for all three computers I feel somewhat secure. If one of them (the backups) fails then I'll think hard about spending the same money I'd spend for a new one on a year or so of online backup. Backing up locally is great if your computer crashes and burns but totally useless if the entire house or office burns, destroying computer and backup.

Of course at the time I bought the backup drives online backup services were very limited and a lot more expensive - else I might have just done it that way from the start.

 

[RKMBrown]

Since I already have backup drives for all three computers I feel somewhat secure. If one of them (the backups) fails then I'll think hard about spending the same money I'd spend for a new one on a year or so of online backup. Backing up locally is great if your computer crashes and burns but totally useless if the entire house or office burns, destroying computer and backup.

Of course at the time I bought the backup drives online backup services were very limited and a lot more expensive - else I might have just done it that way from the start.

Yeah I've been gradually putting the important data up on the net, but there's just no privacy at all to that, so I'm thinking about going all private now.

 

[HenryBHough]

Yeah I've been gradually putting the important data up on the net, but there's just no privacy at all to that, so I'm thinking about going all private now.

About the only way to do that is to reserve one computer for personal stuff and keep it from ever connecting to the internet by any means. That might include housing it in a Farraday cage (copper lined, grounded room)! Oh, then check every person entering the room to be sure they have no portable media with them. Buy lotsa latex gloves for the essential cavity searches - those thumb drives can be hidden in the damndest places.

 

[RKMBrown]

Yeah I've been gradually putting the important data up on the net, but there's just no privacy at all to that, so I'm thinking about going all private now.

About the only way to do that is to reserve one computer for personal stuff and keep it from ever connecting to the internet by any means. That might include housing it in a Farraday cage (copper lined, grounded room)! Oh, then check every person entering the room to be sure they have no portable media with them. Buy lotsa latex gloves for the essential cavity searches - those thumb drives can be hidden in the damndest places.

Hmm..

 

[Iceweasel]

I put all of my saved data on a separate partition just for storage. I also copy it to a thumb drive and a usb drive. I have used numerous Linux distros and always have access to the storage drive, after mounting it manually. You can mount/unmount with a mouse click.

 

[RKMBrown]

I put all of my saved data on a separate partition just for storage. I also copy it to a thumb drive and a usb drive. I have used numerous Linux distros and always have access to the storage drive, after mounting it manually. You can mount/unmount with a mouse click.

Yup.. all the really important stuff is backed up on encrypted thumb drives. But the photos and videos.. are to big. Wish I could trust apple's cloud or google drive to be kept from our government's grubby fingers. It just feels dirty knowing they are going through your things.

 

[Synthaholic]

I put all of my saved data on a separate partition just for storage. I also copy it to a thumb drive and a usb drive. I have used numerous Linux distros and always have access to the storage drive, after mounting it manually. You can mount/unmount with a mouse click.

Yup.. all the really important stuff is backed up on encrypted thumb drives. But the photos and videos.. are to big. Wish I could trust apple's cloud or google drive to be kept from our government's grubby fingers. It just feels dirty knowing they are going through your things.

^^^ Delusional.

 

[RKMBrown]

I put all of my saved data on a separate partition just for storage. I also copy it to a thumb drive and a usb drive. I have used numerous Linux distros and always have access to the storage drive, after mounting it manually. You can mount/unmount with a mouse click.

Yup.. all the really important stuff is backed up on encrypted thumb drives. But the photos and videos.. are to big. Wish I could trust apple's cloud or google drive to be kept from our government's grubby fingers. It just feels dirty knowing they are going through your things.

^^^ Delusional.

lol you thinking your electronic data is private.. yeah that's delusional.