As I was searching for a new headset for my iPhone, Regis and Kelly was on, and I noticed that both the guest host Aston Kutcher and Kelly Rippa were using Mac Book Pros, and I wondered if the producers for the show purchased the units for practical reasons, or because they look good, or some other reason. I know that it isn’t a host request, because both Regis and Kelly have described their interaction with computers as minimal. I’ve noticed that the Mac brand of laptops frequently appear on television, sometimes disguised with a patch covering the logo. In one commercial, Macs are used for a program that helps speed up your computer, probably for cleaning/adjusting the file registry. It happens in both machines, but the Mac has a application in its utility folder to address this situation, whereas the PC needs a user purchased utility. When I went to the website for that application, I discovered it was for PC only. The disadvantage of using stock footage(?). If PCs dominate the workspace why deviate from depicting it in ‘real world’ situations by the media?
[As an aside, I just the purchased a version of this kind of program for my Toshiba netbook, based on a recommendation from CNET. It worked but, a few of my Toshiba system files were negatively affected (links between icons and application were broken).]
This leads me into the debate between the Mac and the PC. I’ve been a Mac user since 1985. When my wife began work on her masters degree, I suggested she shift over to using a computer to handle her typing. I recommended the Mac. It had nothing to do with the Apple Super Bowl “1984” commercial, but personal observations of a teacher at school battling ‘WordStar’ on her school supplied PC every day. I was horrible. Just about every time I walked into her office, she was on the phone asking about a formatting issue, a file issue, or importing other files created on other word processing application (proprietary file types were the rage). I had seen the graphical user interface in action (GUI) on a Macintosh and felt that she didn’t need that kind of frustration with a PC layered upon her regular workload.
I’ve also been a PC user since the early 80s because of course work (programming) and class work (as a teacher). When asked by colleagues at school, what computer would I recommend that they get, I would respond by asking; what kind of work would they be doing; who would they be sharing there with; and what kind of personal support that they would have. If all the all the answers were PC then that is the type of machine that they should purchase.
I’ve already mentioned that I’m working on a PC netbook, and that introduced some new questions that I would ask. If your getting a laptop, how much money could you spend, how easily will you be able to recharge the battery, and how large of a screen would you need. I have a Mac 15 inch MacBook Pro laptop, but I purchased this netbook, because I wanted a little more flexibility to move about without hauling around a larger laptop and a power supply with the attendant power cables. I would have liked to get the MacBook Air, but 1500 dollars to start went outside the limits of my budget, even although it has a larger screen and the battery holds its charge for about the amount of time I was looking for (five hours +). After checking out a number of PC review sites, I decided that I liked the netbook category, and the machine that nailed the budget (under $400) and power supply issues (eight hours +) down was the Toshiba NB 205-N312/BL. It’s sitting on my lap right now, the fan venting the heat doesn’t feel hot, I can easily see the 10pt font on the screen, and the unit has been on for about two and a half hours and the charge indicator shows 77% left. I could easily recommend this machine to a friend who was interested in a netbook, but then I would advise them to watch out for required purchases and some stupid things that I did that added costs to my purchase.
Don’t forget the antiviral software. A slip case might be needed if your going to be carrying the laptop outside the house. I discovered the need for the registry software, but I’m not sure why this occurred so soon after I started using the computer. It is sort of scary if things are happening without my knowledge while I’m working with my laptop. Consider an extended warranty, if you are nervous about machine failure. I’ve had good experiences with the Apple Care coverage and I mean major cost savings compared to the cost of the policy ( policy @ $250 and zero dollars for a $700 + repair).
Now for the “Why didn’t I check this out first?” error. Most of the netbooks, including the MacBook Air don’t have a built in DVD player/recorded. I have both a DVD burner and an older CD burner at home so I didn’t think that would be a problem, until I got the machine home and discovered that the burners didn’t have a USB connection option. (Note: the MacBook Air allows you to download software through any Mac with a DVD component, I’m not sure that is possible with this PC.) Now I needed an external DVD unit to upload movies and software on DVDs that I have. I found one that I liked for about seventy dollars. Overall, I spent just under seven hundred dollars on this computer.
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