I can just mention that I am typing this on my Sony VAIO SR17. Which is way
old, and not very fast, but I do a fair bit of development on it. It has
traveled to four continents, have lasted me for two years of heavy use. But
I have also replaced a few parts (harddrive, keyboard) and the pc-card port
is fubar.
What I love about this machine is that is so small (10" screen), and I
actually like the small screen. Running it at high resolution gives an
amazing resolution in terms of dpi (super super sharp). I still gets oohhs
and aaahs when people see the machine (although it is old, slow and shows
signs of wear). I don't think it would be impossible to using it for picking
up girls/guys, although I haven't scored with that :) (my gf is not a geek,
and is not impressed by that)
-------------------------------------------------------------
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Project Officer Phone: +46 8 230460
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WWW: http://www.grida.no
-------------------------------------------------------------
----- Original Message -----
From: "Sean A Corfield" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Wednesday, February 18, 2004 19:55
Subject: Re: [CFCDev] OT: The Sony Vaio or the 17in Mac Power book?
| On Feb 17, 2004, at 11:52 PM, Nathan Dintenfass wrote:
| > if you will actually have to carry it around a lot consider the 15"
| > model.
|
| Agreed. The 17" is a beautiful machine but it sure is big. I'd use the
| 17" as a desktop replacement with "occasional" mobility. I have an old
| 15" and it's "just right" in terms of size. The widescreen (1280x854)
| is great too - makes going back to a regular aspect screen really hard!
|
| > I found CFMX on Tomcat to be the easiest install (easier than with
| > JRun, in
| > my experience).
|
| Yes, although I've now switched back to CFMX on JRun - since I
| discovered how to run it with the 1.4.2 JVM (**unsupported**).
|
| > I must say that Dreamweaver MX 2004 on my 1Ghz PowerBook
| > performs like a dog, and I have read MANY others who have expressed
| > that
| > same problem, but that is the the only piece of software I have run
| > across
| > that has this problem.
|
| According to the Q3 earnings breezo, a DW updater is coming soon:
|
| http://www.macromedia.com/macromedia/ir/macr/web_pres/earnings/q304/
| (slide 26)
|
| > Although I've become a big OSX fan, I can't say there's any really
| > compelling reason for you to "switch" from a productivity standpoint
| > unless
| > you will get a lot of use out of *nix applications.
|
| Yes, that's the biggest culture shock for folks who've only ever used
| Windows - you really do need to get comfortable with the command line
| when you're doing development on a Mac! I typically have three or four
| Terminal sessions open.
|
| > You'll find a lot of quality software out there, both written for OSX
| > and for unix more generally.
|
| You'll also find a huge supply of free open source software which can
| be a great way to learn new languages and new technologies.
|
| > 1) Windows -- in OSX when you Alt-Tab, you Alt-Tab across
| > applications, not
| > across windows, as you do in Windows.
|
| In Panther, I use Expos� to switch between windows (F9). I find Expos�
| to be one of the biggest productivity tools since it shows live
| miniatures of all your open windows so you can see at-a-glance what
| state another window is in (if you're waiting for a process to
| complete).
|
| > 2) Having to control-click instead of having a right mouse button.
|
| Yes, and that can get particularly confusing if you're running X11
| (which really needs a three-button mouse) and Virtual PC and switching
| between those and Mac OS X all the time.
|
| Virtual PC is usable but it will feel slow for interactive use. If
| you've got plenty of memory in your PowerBook (see below) and you don't
| have any other apps running, Virtual PC isn't bad.
|
| > 3) Closing the last open window of an application doesn't close that
| > application. You have to "Quit" the application itself (typically,
| > command-Q).
|
| Hmm, I actually really like that feature - I tend to keep all my apps
| open all the time (I only reboot when I update my system software) so I
| never have to deal with application startup time. I've also mapped Quit
| to Command-Option-Q in most of my applications so I can't accidentally
| quit an app (close window - Command-W - is too close to quit on the
| keyboard :)
|
| > FWIW, I too have heard that Sony laptops have longevity issues. I've
| > heard
| > great things about IBM Thinkpads, though.
|
| Yes, the Thinkpad seems to be the standard PC laptop around here and
| most folks seem to love them. You pay a premium for the brand but you
| get quality in return. I've had good experiences with Dell and would
| consider the Inspiron or the Latitude (do they still make that?) if
| budget is an issue.
|
| Key things with any laptop:
|
| 1. Buy as much memory as you can afford / fit in the machine!
| I got my 800MHz 15" Powerbook with 512Mb RAM originally. I upgraded to
| 1Gb RAM recently and it's like a whole new machine!
|
| 2. Go to a store and try typing on various keyboards for a while to see
| if you can live with the key action!
| I eliminated Compaq and several other brands this way back when I was
| in the Windows market ('97-'02).
|
| 3. Get an extra battery!
| They're expensive and heavy but the convenience of the additional
| battery life when you're on the road totally outweighs that. Right now,
| I don't have a spare battery and I sure wish I did :(
|
| Sean A Corfield -- http://www.corfield.org/blog/
|
| "Conform! Consume! Obey!"
| -- Mr Snaffleburger : http://www.matazone.co.uk/theotherside.html
|
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|
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