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PC notebook with apple style?

S

sneth

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 5, 2005
4
0
I am getting close to giving in, and i just cant sacrifice portable power for the apple price.

So i am looking for a PC notebook that is not a big black brick.

I haven't committed to going PC yet, i am just looking for some comparisons. I will be doing mostly mutliplatform developement, including .net, so the powerbook option might be out the window already.


what we got?
 
Get an iBook. No scarifice there.

All my windows machines are continually giving the kids/wife problems. If I could afford to do it, I'd throw them all out the window (fitting OS name BTW).
 
Well, if you can't wait till this pring then you have two options.

1. Brick

2. Mac

If you need x86 NOW, then a brick for you I'm afraid.
 
There are a few that are pretty decent...off the top of my head the new Dell XPS M140 is a pretty nice machine. 1.86 ghz processor, 1 gb of DDR2 memory, 80 gb hard drive, 802.11 b/g wireless, 128 mb video card, dual-layer dvd burner, 5-in-1 memory card reader, widescreen, 5.5 lbs. (same as 15'' Powerbook, so no, not a "brick") and long battery life for like $1450. Which is around $700 less than a comparable Powerbook, except the Dell has a faster cpu. Here are a few reviews (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1877005,00.asp and http://reviews.cnet.com/Dell_XPS_M140/4505-3121_7-31565934.html?tag=sub) It actually has pretty good aesthetic appeal too. That's one just off the top of my head...gimme a few more minutes and I'll come up with a few more.
 
Lord Blackadder said:
1. Brick

2. Mac

If you need x86 NOW, then a brick for you I'm afraid.
Click to expand...

Not really. And look at the type of things he wants to do. Getting a WinXP laptop may be the best thing to do for him if he doesn't want to sacrifice power for portability.

Also, not all Windows laptops are ugly. You can get a laptop that's quite nice from other companies as well, but they all cost as much as the Powerbook anyway, usually more, so what's the point in going that route?
 
By the time you get to Sony VAIO's, you may as well buy a refurbished PowerBook from Apple.com, there are some good deals there.

Any notebook with anything that you could call 'style' is going to cost some money, Apple included.

As others have mentioned, iBooks are very nice. I would personally recommend a refurbished PB.

There's a Sharp notebook that is pretty much a copy of the PowerBook cosmetically, but I doubt it is very cheap...
 
If you can wait a bit, Intel-based Macs may be able to run Windows.
 
How much are you willing to spend? I know Sony is touted as everybody as the 'Apple' of the PC world, but I rather hate Sony. They look chintzy to me.

IBMs - black bricks as they are - are not bad once you get used to them. Very light and built very, very tough. Consider it.

Some of the newer HPs or Compaqs are good too.

Fujitsu are actually quite sweet. Nice silver, dark blue, nice trim.

For some unique stuff, check out www.dynamism.com
 
My price range is about $1.2k-$1.5k

Getting a powerbook at that price range means barely 1ghz, weak ram. etc....

I need some upfront processor power, lots of ram, and at least 15"

I also need to be able to dev for some .net , not all the time, but some. I use Virtual PC on my g3, so i know it runs ok. I just not sure how a pwoerbook would handle win2k or XP. I do not have the $$ for a macintel.

I do not want a black brick. I know the Thinkpads are nice, but they are clunky. Every VAIO i have ever touched, has fallen apart. I will not buy an HP/Compaq product. So i think i'll look more into the Sharps, Toshiba's, and random 3rd parties.

Appreciate the responses. Some guys use some 17" powerbooks here, i might demo their virtual pc to see how well it works out.
 
How about a Ferrari? :D (eh, I guess it might be a bit outside right price range though).
 

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sneth said:
My price range is about $1.2k-$1.5k

Getting a powerbook at that price range means barely 1ghz, weak ram. etc....

I need some upfront processor power, lots of ram, and at least 15"

I also need to be able to dev for some .net , not all the time, but some. I use Virtual PC on my g3, so i know it runs ok. I just not sure how a pwoerbook would handle win2k or XP. I do not have the $$ for a macintel.

Appreciate the responses. Some guys use some 17" powerbooks here, i might demo their virtual pc to see how well it works out.
Click to expand...


You can get a refurbished 15" 1.5 GHz for $1500 from Apple. A 1.67GHz Superdrive model is $1600, which is practically top of the line in terms of Mac notebook performance. Buy some 3rd-party RAM for cheap, and you're set, no need to buy RAM from Apple at 2x the price.

No one knows how much Macintels will cost, especially iBooks. However, IF they can indeed run Windows, they will run Windows much, much, much better than VirtualPC on any PPC Mac.

If you anticipate needing to run Windows a lot, then I would seriously consider a Windows notebook, or wait until January and see if an x86 Mac notebooks are announced.
 
You should seriously consider an iBook, its no slouch and affordable.....If you must go for a PC notebook go for an IBM thinkpad, it mmay not have the looks but it certainly has a timeless design and durability,

SHadow
 
yeah, here's the thing:
CAD

My powermac can swing it sorta in VPC, but no way would a powerbook.
 
The Sony Vaio's have sort of a slim, sleek look to them. As for specs, if I recall they weren't terribly impressive.

Of course, uttering the word Sony here is something of a deathwish given their recent headlines.

Get an iBook or a Powerbook. :D
 
sneth said:
yeah, here's the thing:
CAD

My powermac can swing it sorta in VPC, but no way would a powerbook.
Click to expand...

Yeah...Pro Engineer is dog slow under VPC...and it doesn't help that it doesn't recognize my middle mouse button :|

Bring on the Intel Macs!
 
medion has a couple of white laptops. big in germany new to the us. and lets see acer has some nice looking laptops. MSI i think has a white laptop. sony just released a small portable affordable notebook. comes in diff colors. averatec has a nice little white notebook. just giving you some options.
 
sneth said:
My price range is about $1.2k-$1.5k
Click to expand...

refub(1.5ghz) 80gb HardDrive 15''
1449

ttp://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/73104/wo/zm2nkgQLqnJJ3EgQILK1n9rszDC/1.0.0.19.1.0.8.7.3.5.1.1.1.1.5.1.2.5.0
 
Averatec and Sharp both have machines that aren't black or bricks with decent graphics hardware.
 
I have a mate who bought a Toshiba laptop with an aluminium-like exterior, and he really invested a LOT of time and effort downloading and installing all those mods and skins to make his WinXP *look* like MacOS.

I'd recommend don't bother with it, get the REAL thing :rolleyes:
 
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