Originally posted by Snowy_River
If you needed a computer and the 15" looked good to you, you should have bought a 15"Ti.
Yes, I see your point. The way to impress leading computer scientists is to buy older, slower, hotter models.
I *did* test our research needs on both platforms and, while the TiBook prformed adequately, it's relative cost (for our needs, not in general) made it diffcult to choose. The deciding factor was my long prior experience with Mac OS X (starting in Feb 1999 with the first release of OS X Server).
We record and analyze videos/audios of people collaborating and using IT at multple sites (hence the need for mobility). The 17" AlBook would have been fine with me, but grad students don' get 17" screens when all the faculty around them can only justify 15" screens. The smaller 12" screen, and the lack of a level 3 cache, also didn't work. It was reasonable to expect a 15" AlBook to be forthcoming that might have had a level 3 cache. FW800 was also a potential plus.
if I recall correctly, it outperforms them in some areas.
Not in the areas we needed.
Apple was clearly having some problems with producing the updated 1GHz version of their computers (hence the long delay in the 17" ALs shipping). What makes Apple more of a 'screw-up company'
I didn't say I agreed with him, but Apple has had a few years in which to diversify their sources of CPUs. I don't know the details of any problems Apple might have been having, and they didn't publish them. There's a growing interest - but with uncertainty - in academia for OS X machines - I see it daily - but Apple has to recognize that, for academics to plan their purchases , they need to know what to generally expect for at least 6 months in advance (they're grown-ups; they understand that real-world problems can delay schedules and they can deal with it if they know about it). The fact that Apple can't do that is an obstacle to Apple reclaiming its market share in academia. (FWIW, I've heard similar comments from friends who work for federal government outsourcers .. they buy thousands of Macs a year, and could buy more if they could only reliably plan their purchases 6-9 months in advance)
Really, I think that the 'screw-up' in this scenerio was your decision to advise your advisor not to buy a computer based on rumors.
I must not have explained myself clearly. My faculty advisor was buying the Dell in the first place and I argued to wait for an updated Powerbook. I did not advise against any prior model. Apple just ran the clock out ...
In January, the 15" had been updated just a couple of months earlier. It was reasonable to suppose that it would be at least a couple more months before they updated it again.
And, if anything had come out in that time, we would've bought it. If we'd had any reliable inkling that anything was forthcoming, we probably could have managed it. However, Apple said nothing either way, we couldn't wait forever, and Michael Dell gets the profits.
If you want to think 'harsh', think about a 16-year Mac user being forced to use Windows XP ...
cheerz!