T -30 days and counting / I'm in hell / MBP or Thinkpad?

[sweetie81]

Hiya,

I've recently been to Glasgow and had the chance to see the different 17'' models and came to the conclusion that the HD version is not the right one to go for.

Everything is small so a 15'' or a 17'' would be it, if I would buy an MBP. 15'' is smaller, lighter and with a good external monitor cheaper than a 17''

Ok I already were at this point. Now there's a new problem. Linux. Yeah I need to work with Linux because of my new job. Knowledge in Linux will be essential. Plus the company I'm going to work with gets some discount on Thinkpads.

Thinkpads aren't bad plus Linux runs good on them. My problem is that I don't know if I should go for a MBP and running Linux via Parallels. Found some links here but I'm not quite sure.

Thinkpad or MBP? The quality of Thinkpads is superior. The MBP I saw had some colour missing near the touchpad.

Is there anyone out there owning a T61 or a smiliar TP to help me a bit? Yeah I know second thread but it's just not buying trousers. I'd need Vista and Linux for the job but don't wanna miss Mac OS X cos I like it. Quandrary I'm in. CanI just install Linux via Parallels without partitioning the hard drive?

 

[CashGap]

"The quality of Thinkpads is superior."

That's certainly debatable, at best, coming from someone issued both at various times.

Running the MBP with a half-dozen Linux distros under Parallels on Mac OS X seems like an optimal "no compromises" solution.

 

[sysiphus]

If you think you can live without OSX, get a Thinkpad. I love the things...in general, the good ones have better build quality than a MBP (particularly if you can still find one built on an IBM design vs a new model since Lenovo bought the brand). My perspective on Thinkpads is a bit different than yours, since my experience lies in the ultralights (x-series)...but since becoming a Linux user, I've found my need for OSX diminishing to the point that I'd question buying a Mac just to get it...which would lead me to buying a non Mac if I had it to do today...thus I'd choose a Thinkpad. Sorry for the ramble.

 

[grafikat]

Running the MBP with a half-dozen Linux distros under Parallels on Mac OS X seems like an optimal "no compromises" solution.

took the words out of my mouth. It is the perfect setup for me. Actually, I'm only have a MB, which works fine for my traveling needs.

 

[happyfrappy]

Personally I find Parallels a bit slow vs VM Fusion, I'm basing this via current 20" iMac 2.4Ghz. Either solution would be perfect in running multi-OSes, on the other hand if you want full speed with hardware support(GPU) you'll find using BootCamp would be better. (Parallels has random graphical lag with some Linux distros vs running Windows XP/Vista)

I nearly bought a 15" MacBook Pro until my 12" PowerBook ended up going back to Apple for yet another painful slow repair covered by Apple Care and listened to a close friend on his suggestion of a ThinkPad T-series for the better build quality. With midterms on their way, I caved for a 15" ThinkPad T61 and getting by with OpenOffice(the dealer I bought mine from had the WinXP Pro based model in stock without the webcam). Keep in mind if you do run Vista on any system, you'll want at least 2 GB of memory in a laptop or dedicated to the virtual machine. I tried a demo 1.7 Ghz ThinkPad R-series with Vista and it suffered menu/window lag with 1GB of memory.

In my opinion I'd suggest thinking over the decision, Apple is busy on the revision of the MagSafe charger as getting spares are back ordered from many dealers/direct and it'll be interesting if that is why the MacBook/MacBook Pros haven't been speed bumped/refreshed. Since I couldn't buy a spare charger, it had influenced my non-MBP notebook.
At the moment I'm happy with my ThinkPad T61, honestly I miss the PB/MBP keyboard feel so who knows... maybe I'll buy a MBP next year and get the best of both makers

/2 cents from a web developer

 

[jonswan]

"I'm in hell" - gosh, how ridiculously melodramatic.

I've used plenty of Thinkpads - it's not possible to find an uglier laptop but they tend to have good build quality, granted. For Linux/Mac OS it'd have to be the MBP, which I also own and which certainly does not have less build quality that a Lenovo.

 

[queshy]

The thinkpads probably have fewer defects....but I haven't seen any hard numbers so I couldn't say. It just seems that way, though. But I like (and have) the mbp. Great machine overall.

 

[zioxide]

Leopard is going to be SUSv3 certified so I imagine many things you want to do under Linux can be done under OS X, plus you can run them via dual booting/vmware/parallels.

 

[sweetie81]

After reading your posts I came to the conclusion of making a list with pros and cons of each laptop.

The laptop with the most pros wins and will be my new 'mate' Even if the TPs look not as good as a MBP, I've read a lot of reviews in the meantime and saw vids on youtube where people are happy.

Vista and Linux are great and if Mac OS X gets this SUS whatever (what does that mean btw.?), a MBP could be possible as well. If I can't make a decision I'll have a look at the price. Should I get a discount for the TP it'll be the TP. If not, MBP.

Think it's the best.

A question regarding Parallels. Does Parallels automatically reduce the size of my partition without destroying any data before installing a linux distribution? And what about the boot loader. Maybe it's easier than I'm thinking.