New workhorse

Hi Guys,

This is a bit OT, but still want some qualified opinions on it. I am looking to replace my current laptop, which is the machine i do all my studying on, and I am wondering what you guys are using as your all-round machine? I am only considering laptops, as I want to bring it pretty much everywhere I go.

It should be beefy enough to run alot of things, with enough screen real-estate. I have 2 candidates so far:

1) Lenovo W500
2) Apple Macbook Pro (17")

What do you think?

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rossonieri#1

kp,

look for some that still has a db9 serial port,
that usb to db9 converter sometimes doesnt work very well

kpjungle

rossonieri#1 wrote: »

kp,

look for some that still has a db9 serial port,
that usb to db9 converter sometimes doesnt work very well

I really doubt this is possible anymore. I seem to have found a USB<->Serial converter that works pretty good, havent had trouble with it yet anyways.

redwarrior

KP - The Macbook pro is a very sweet ride if you can afford it. I'm very tempted by them myself, but haven't yet taken the dive, although I used to support MACs. From what I've seen anything you might want to do network-wise is supported on MACs.

On the other hand, you will probably get more horsepower for your money with the Lenovo and they are solidly built with some nice features like the shock protection for your hard drive. I worked at an all IBM-Lenovo shop and once I got over their appearance (kind of boxy, like the volvo of laptops!), I actually liked them a lot. If I were buying a PC right now, though, I'd hold off until October when (supposedly) Windows 7 will be released. I'm using Windows 7 RC1 on my home laptop now and have found it to be a huge improvement in performance and stability. I like having more of my RAM back for applications and no more BSOD's!

Good luck with your purchase...no matter what, new toys are fun!

bikeandski

I would go with the MAC and dual boot it with the MAC OS and Vista or Windows 7.

Forsaken_GA

I have a 15" MacBook Pro and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

eMeS

I have a 15" MacBook Pro. I've upgraded the mem to 4GB and the hd to 320GB. I run everything from Windows XP to Server 2008 to Hercules (a mainframe emulator) on mine. I never use Boot Camp...I do everything with VMWare; IMO this is a must-have piece of software...

If you travel often I would not recommend the 17".

I got this Mac new for an incredibly low price through my alumni association. I would recommend checking with your school to see what kind of deal you can get...different schools have different agreements and can offer better deals...

MS

liquid6

definitely go for the macbook...i have a mac pro and I love it, being able to run 16+ routers in dynamips plus 3 or 4 virtual machines and not even knowing they are running is amazing! if mac came out with a pen-enabled tablet I would be fully switched over.

good luck with the studies

liquid