(2007-11-26) Time For Cheap Laptop

My IBook is 3yrs old. Do I feel like spending $2k+ for a (lower-end) Power Book?

  • how about if it's ultra-portable and $1500?

    • Dec27: ooh looks like will be out sooner than I expected.

    • hmm, I wonder if a machine that cheap will be any faster than what I have?

    • hmm, what if I have a lite Lap Top, but a MacMini for a Home Server?

    • they'll supposedly announce a 3G IPhone for 3Q2008 delivery, but most people wouldn't be able to take advantage of that anyway...

    • Jan update: it's the MacBookAir: super-thin

Or maybe do I try one of these low-end Cheap Laptop-s that have hit the marketplace ($300-500)? I don't call these SuperCheap Laptop-s for arbitrary reasons.

If it's going to be a lower-end machine, will I be happier going with LinuxOS instead of MsWindows? Or will hardware issues drive me nuts?

Or do I try to run MacOs X on an Intel machine?

And will the weight drive me nuts? I expect to be carrying this thing around more than I have been lately.

(Heh, maybe I won't do anything until my OLPC shows up.:)

Ugh, more complexity: Jihi may be home for months between gigs, so is thinking she wants a machine. But her ongoing requirements may include MsExchange integration, which slides toward getting an MsWindows machine. But maybe that would stay a cheap/crummy machine, and if she has "real" stuff to get done then switch over to Mac? (Or spend more for higher-end Mac that will run MsWindows on Parallels?)

  • ugh, running MsEntourage against MsExchange sounds like a nightmare. (At least in that version. Maybe the new version is better, though it seems to come only as part of the $400 MsOffice bundle which is semi pointless.)

Next steps

Outcome: bought MacBook (not Pro) for me, IMac (plus $400 for MsOffice-Mac-2008, which supposedly include MsExchange support) for her.


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