Apple or not?

[el]

Due to rolling blackouts in Cape Town for the next two month (minimum) I do need to buy a notebook for my business - just to enable me to log on here, eh ... to continue working... if you know waht I mean.

Would you guys and gals recommend an Apple notebook or not.

I must admit I have been totally out of it for a long time and mutated back to a simple minded user (kind of as long as it works I don't care), I don't even know if Apple still run their own OS or not.

Grateful for any hints/tips, etc.

[Verbal]

MacBook Air

[flyboy2548m]

I find Apple products very cool and very expensive.

[el]

MacBook Air

That looks pretty expensive. The quoted US$ 1800,-- (less 1) will most probably equate to (at least) tripple the price here.

Would it be worth the additional expense to say a Toshiba (which I have had very good eperiences with hardware-wise as far as quality is concerned)?

[TheRealAncientMarine]

Save your money and buy a UPS with enough capacity for the average black-out time. Protects against voltage surges too. Bought one in the Philippines for that reason, used it in Singapore and now in Norway. Cheap insurance.
Per

[Verbal]

Do you think you can live with Microsoft Pista?

[tds]

That looks pretty expensive. The quoted US$ 1800,-- (less 1) will most probably equate to (at least) tripple the price here.

Would it be worth the additional expense to say a Toshiba (which I have had very good eperiences with hardware-wise as far as quality is concerned)?

Not if you don't have a good reason to go Apple, IMO.

Mac certainly does still have its own OS - if you have grown accustomed to Windows, especially if you have learnt hundreds of keyboard shortcuts, you may find the transition frustrating.

[tds]

Do you think you can live with Microsoft Pista?

That's a good point. Is absolutely no one still shipping PCs with XP any more? I thought Dell(?), for instance, had caved in to pressure on this but I could be wrong.

[Verbal]

Don't Give Up On Vista I

Don't Give Up On Vista II

[el]

That's a good point. Is absolutely no one still shipping PCs with XP any more? I thought Dell(?), for instance, had caved in to pressure on this but I could be wrong.

Toshiba does give you a choice (at least locally).

[Airbus_A320]

Buy a PC laptop and just get rid of Vista and install XP.

[el]

Mac certainly does still have its own OS - if you have grown accustomed to Windows, especially if you have learnt hundreds of keyboard shortcuts, you may find the transition frustrating.

That is my main concern my getting used to Windows (don't use many key shortcuts). Years ago the Apples were superior in terms of speed, userfriendliness, etc., but they were incompatible with most software.

Now, excuse my ignorance - I really haven't followed this at all in the past years (and Apple only entered the SA market a year or two back IIRC) - but is Apple now a design studio so to say or do they still have the qualities they used to have?

[Tanner_J]

Ok, if you're using a laptop and the power goes out, how are you going to use the internet, if it's going through a wireless router you surely won't be, or a router at all. Hope you have dial up.

Hope your work doesn't need the internet.

[el]

Ok, if you're using a laptop and the power goes out, how are you going to use the internet, if it's going through a wireless router you surely won't be, or a router at all. Hope you have dial up.

Hope your work doesn't need the internet.

It sure does. I woudl either use the existing ADSL (if that works - no routers involved) or HSDPA which definitely works. At the moment I am carrying the private laptop (with HSDPA) backwards and forwards.

[rattler]

Apple. More value for the buck (if you are not a gamer, there still Windoze rules). FYI: Apple now has INTEL processors and can run Windows also.

That is my main concern my getting used to Windows (don't use many key shortcuts). Years ago the Apples were superior in terms of speed, userfriendliness, etc., but they were incompatible with most software.

Now, excuse my ignorance - I really haven't followed this at all in the past years (and Apple only entered the SA market a year or two back IIRC) - but is Apple now a design studio so to say or do they still have the qualities they used to have?

Same qualities still UI-wise, the OS now is UNIX basically, though Vista comes close.

Rattler