Replacing my HP "Pavillion" ZD8000 is long overdue; it still works but the
display conked out (started acquiring vertical lines) coincident with the
expiration of the warranty. No more HP for me, as the company rep denied the
problem existed, and I have found their support lacking with their other
products as well; I find their web interface reflective of their
indifference as well. I have been limping along using it as a desktop with a
separate monitor.
So . . . . the question remains--Mac or PC? From the various comments thus
far, I still can't quite make up my mind, but I plan to look into the Mac
(however, rumor has it that Mac laptops have also had similar problems with
the display).
I started out with punch cards in the Air Force (IBM 360) and bought the
first Compaq "portable" with the tiny screen and orange display and 250 KB.
Many computers later I have suffered from my learning curve bending down
instead of up, and justifiably or not, have grown to despise Microsoft in
general, grunting as I have under their little cartoon characters that pop
up to "help" me, ad nauseam.
I guess, then, I'm ripe for a Mac, but all my archives are PC. But, when I
tried a Mac for a few minutes I couldn't make sense of the icons (and could
barely see them), but then, that probably wasn't a fair trial. I prefer
keyboard commands to mouse clicks, but then, I know I can't have everything
. . .
Sorry this doesn't contribute anything, but I'll appreciate any comments and
advice.
WT
----- Original Message -----
From: "Greg Colores" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, August 12, 2008 8:56 AM
Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] moving from a PC to a Mac???
Just wanted to point out that if you price a comparably equipped Mac and PC
the prices are actually very similar. When you configure them alike
(videocard, no shared memory, etc.) you usually end up with a difference of
roughly $100. If you can get an EDU discount it is pretty much a wash.
And even if there is a difference, not having to deal with viruses, spyware,
etc. makes it more than worth it.
Greg Colores
*****************************************
Gregory M. Colores
Associate Professor
Department of Biology
185 Brooks Hall
Central Michigan University
Mount Pleasant, MI 48859
Office: (989) 774-3412
FAX: (989) 774-3462
E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.cst.cmich.edu/users/color1gm
*****************************************
On 8/11/08 1:47 PM, "Scott D Lapoint" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Hello Ecologers,
It's time for me to invest in a new computer. I've long been a fan
of Dell computers and PCs in general, but because of the issues I've
seen with Vista, I've been considering a switch to Mac.
The problems are one, Macs seem much more expensive than a
comparatively equipped PC (which is a factor for a graduate student
like me), and two, I can't seem to find any one in the ecology field
that uses a Mac for work.
I was hoping there was someone on this list that uses a Mac to
perform GIS analyses, runs statistical packages like Systat or Program
R, and maybe how they've found Mac's OS to work with in a field where
apparently most of our colleagues are using Windows.
Any input would be extremely useful at this stage. Thanks in advance.
Scott
Scott D. LaPoint
Graduate Student
SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
243 Illick Hall
Syracuse, NY 13210
