Tibook vs wintel portables

[Geert]

Does anybody have detailed info on comparison of the Tibook vs recent wintel portables.
I bought a PC magazine where they tested 30 of the latest notebooks choosing the best/ blablabla.
Tibook is discribed as a pretty looking thing/long battery life and that's it.
An HP Omnibook 500 and a Dell Precision M40 came out as best.
Yeah right.
If I had some tests (that compares them) proving that the Tibook is better or as good as those 2 I will grrrrmm send them a small note .

I've chosen to pick up the gauntlet, and battle for Apple.

 

[Mr. Anderson]

What magazine? I'd be interested in seeing what they had to say. There's a lot more than just pretty looking and long battery life.

I work on a TiPB and I wouldn't use a PC laptop for work, given the choice. Its so much more elegant.

 

[iGav]

But do you really expect that a PC Magazine would rate an Apple above a PC.....???

Same way as Macworld or Macuser would never turn around and say a Dell is better than a Mac.......

The people here know the truth,...... it's ashame though that a magazine cannot equally compare like for like with regards to 2 different machines, and give an honest account of said machine!!

T3 magazine normally gives a fair review to machines regardless of what OS they use!!!

http://www.t3.co.uk/

 

[AlphaTech]

Not just more elegant, but the TiBook has better features (at least for a lot of people). Since they are made by Apple, they are also easier to maintain and repair then wintel laptops.

I remember reading in a pc magazine how the TiBook was one of the best products (think it was last year). Being, thinner, lighter, and all around better then any pc laptop with a screen size that even came close (some are just now getting into the 15"+ LCD sizes). Sony does have a few offerings that are almost the same thinness as the TiBook, but they don't have any optical drives inside them.

Compare all the features, and the TiBook beats them in just about every feature except for the MHz rating of the processor. Then again, the G4 550 will blow away any celeron, and all but a GHz+ p3 (mobile).

 

[iGav]

Here Here! Alphatech.....

I've yet to see a PC laptop that packs all the features of the TiBook. in a similar sized case!! And one that looks so cool aswell!!

I still think at MWNY we're are going to see some real fireworks with regards to the Pro line at MWNY.....

 

[Geert]

Why I'm reading PC magazine?
Simple, I was browsing through all Apple related sites.
One of the is called:
http://www.macfundamentalist.nl/
In dutch, the guy that hosts the site states on one of the links that there are 30 good ways to promote Mac, and one of them is buying PC magazines and always go through reviews and if no accurate info is provided, send a letter/mail correcting the faulthy info.

 

[mcrain]

I had a top of the line IBM business laptop. It had every bell and every whistle, and had a screaming mobile pentium (at the time, it was as fast as they came). After having used that on the go for quite some time, I became very familiar with its shortcomings and its strengths.

I had an opportunity to use a TiBook (rev a I think) that was running at 500 Mhz. At first, I was taken by the looks and lack of things to break off or get nasty looking. After that, I found that I liked the screen and general appearance of the desktop.

Once I had a little more time with it, I was amazed more and more by the light weight and thinness.

That being said, light weight and thinness are the first thing I am willing to give up if it means that the portable will do what I need it to do. So, I started actually using the computer, and found that once I figured out how to use OS9 and OSX, and how to find the things I needed (for a new user, that's always a challenge), I really started to like how "using" the machine worked. In addition, I kept finding that everything that I liked about the IBM was done equally well on the Apple, if not better.

After using the TiBook, I came to the radical conclusion that all my mac bashing in the past may have been ok as to the silly looking blueberry gumdrops or old PowerPC based machines, but the new products apple was putting out were amazing.

I'm now a PC user waiting for the next revision to the TiBook so I can become a Mac user.

Long story, but the morale of the story is that given a little time with the TiBook, even a long time PC portable user will admit that the TiBook is, at least in my opinion, a better machine.

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

 

[AlphaTech]

Originally posted by Geert
Why I'm reading PC magazine?
Simple, I was browsing through all Apple related sites.
One of the is called:
http://www.macfundamentalist.nl/
In dutch, the guy that hosts the site states on one of the links that there are 30 good ways to promote Mac, and one of them is buying PC magazines and always go through reviews and if no accurate info is provided, send a letter/mail correcting the faulthy info.

Been there, done that, got no reply from the mag/rag. They had a review of OSX (10.0.3 I think). It was after 10.1 was out for over a month. The way they made it sound, what they were reviewing was the very latest. I called them on it, but got no where. I checked the next few issues (at the store, didn't buy them), and they didn't print any retractions/corrections at all.

Those bastards... I bet they killed Kenny too.

 

[Baseline]

I currently have an older IBM Thinkpad (it's just short of three years old now). At the time, it was top of the line. It has a DVD-ROM and S-Video out in it, just think about that for a second, a three year old laptop with a DVD-ROM!

I really do love that Thinkpad, but I'm eagerly awaiting the new TiBook release so I can get my first Mac. The design of it is the primary seller to me, with OS X coming in a close second.

I just wish I could get a Powerbook with a Trackpoint (pencil eraser in the middle of the keyboard). I can work those things like crazy. And I hate the trackpads that are on most laptops.

Overall though, I haven't been able to find any other laptops on the market now that match the TiBook in terms of amount of features in such a tiny size.

Now if they would only give it a decent video card...

 

[Baseline]

Scratch that, I'm an idiot. It's almost two years old, not three. And I actually did have a point to make in my first message, but it got lost somewhere on the way to the end

 

[AlphaTech]

Baseline, DVD-rom drives have been shipping in Apple laptops since the G3 (wallstreet) series began. Not in every model, but the top end units came with it as standard equipment. Along with an INTERNAL ethernet port, modem and the S-Video out port. All that back in 1998 to boot. I have one right here that I am looking at (not deploying it, holding onto it for when people do presentations and need a loaner laptop). The spec's are as follows (off the bottom of the unit)...
Macintosh PowerBook G3 Series, 14.1TFT/300MHz-1MB/64MB/8GB HD/4MB video/DVD/Modem

Which stinkpad do you have??? I know that the T series have crappy video cards even by yesterday's standards.

 

[Baseline]

I've got an iSeries Thinkpad. Pretty much comparable stats to your G3 setup (although mine has a 366 Celery, which I'm going to assume is much slower than a 300 G3).

Only problem we've ever had with it is that the DVD drive gave out about two months ago, but having purchased the extended warranty, all was good. (And in thinking about it AGAIN, it has been almost three years. I got it at the beginning of my first year of university, and I'm just about to finish up my third year).

Of course, until OS X, I wouldn't have even considered an Apple machine. We're force fed Solaris and Linux in my department at school, and I've very much become a *nix monkey, thus my now strong interest in OS X.

I don't even have an Apple machine (like I said, still waiting for the next Powerbook revision), yet I bought the O'Reilly Cocoa book today! I can't wait to actually be able to play around with it.

 

[jefhatfield]

let's see what apple has in store in the laptop department to counter-attack the athlon 4 and pentium 4

dollar for dollar, a minimally configured athlon 4 or pentium 4 for well under $1,500 dollars "might possibly" be the better deal for the majority of the "non-multimedia population"...i hate to say

if price was no issue, the tibook as configured at 667 is the best

so the best value will be determined once apple answers back with their newer ibooks and tibooks

and then we will see...he he

ps - my bet is for a 1 ghz tibook before the end of this year...sweet!!!

 

[Gelfin]

PowerBooks still seem kind of expensive (still paying for mine), but I think the notebook market is one of those "compromise" markets. Like when a plumber has one of those smartassed signs on the wall that says, "cheap, fast and good: pick any two." With laptops you get to pick among lightweight, powerful and cheap. There are a couple of notable exceptions. An iBook still has a amazingly high power-to-weight ratio for the cost. And with a VAIO laptop, you only get to choose either "lightweight" or "powerful." "Cheap" never enters into the picture. Some might argue that with VAIOs you only get to choose "lightweight" or "not lightweight."

(Me? Biased?)

Anyhow, a TiBook will cost you more, but it'll be well worth the investment.

 

[Baseline]

Well, I'm definitely NOT a multimedia-guy, but I'm still going to buy the next Powerbook, for two reasons:
1) OS X
2) Look/size of the TiBook.

I could get a very high powered PC laptop (with a GOOD video card) for less than a TiBook (with educational discount, a 667 TiBook with the 3 year warranty is going to cost me about $5500 CDN). However, I'm in love with the look of the TiBook, not with the look of some Dell machine.

And I'm dying to get to play with OS X. Finally, a really really nice GUI for a UNIX environment. No more Gnome or KDE!

I'd go order a TiBook right now if I wasn't so sure that a new revision is just around the corner.

 

[jefhatfield]

who cares about canada

they cheated in the olympics

 

[Baseline]

Haha, don't even get me started on that!

The REALLY funny thing is that our figure skaters got the gold not because of the Canadian public getting angry (although we weren't happy about it), but because of the American media's uproar over the situation.

For once, the American media did something good and worthwhile.

 

[mcrain]

Canada: America Lite.

You know, why are most Canadians clustered near the border with us, and not the other way around??

 

[mcrain]

Originally posted by Baseline
The REALLY funny thing is that our figure skaters got the gold not because of the Canadian public getting angry (although we weren't happy about it), but because of the American media's uproar over the situation.

For once, the American media did something good and worthwhile.

Actually, it wasn't the American media, it was the American desire for some of that Canadian skater babe. Va va va voom!

 

[jefhatfield]

i am just joking because i am in class with jenny from vancouver, thats all

 

[Baseline]

Jenny from Vancouver? She died.

 

[Baseline]

Heh, I'm sorry, that's sort of an inside joke.
In their current round of amazing commericals, Molson has one where someone at a party asks a Canadian "Oh, so you're from Canada, eh? Do you know Bob, I think he works in an office?".
To which the Canadian replies: "Oh yeah, Office Bob. He's dead"

 

[jefhatfield]

8675309

 

[Mr. Anderson]

Originally posted by mcrain
Canada: America Lite.

You know, why are most Canadians clustered near the border with us, and not the other way around??

Uh, hello? You ever been to Northern Canada? Its not exactly the most hospitable place in the world. I've been to Northern Alberta, absolutely gorgeous, in the mountains. I'd love to take the AlCan highway, do a Seattle to Anchorage drive one summer, I absolutely love Alaska, too.

No picture will ever do it justice, because no matter what, you just can't capture the emmensity of the country. Beleive me, I've tried.

Here's a pic to set the mood, Athabaska Glacier, on the road to Jasper from Bannf in April 1999.

 

[Rower_CPU]

Sony comes close...

I attended a technology briefing that Sony held on my campus today, and they discussed their VAIO laptops.
What interested me the most is how the salesman flat out said that Sony is not trying to compete with low-end laptops. The see themselves as a premium computer manufacturer that deals in high quality machines. Now, as far as PCs go, VAIOs are definitely above and beyond anything Dell/Compaq/HP and crew can come up with. They do a good job designing sleek, good looking laptops. But, the one thing that gets me is that their top-of-the-line model aimed squarely at the TiBook is nowhere near in terms of design OR functionality. Let's take a look:

TiBook: $2,798.00
550MHz PowerPC G4 @ 100MHz
256K L2 cache @ 550MHz
256MB SDRAM memory
48GB Ultra ATA drive
Combo Drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW)
ATI Mobility Radeon w/ 16MB DDR video memory
Gigabit Ethernet
56K internal modem
1 FireWire & 2 USB Ports
Airport
15" TFT Display
5.4 lbs
1" thick
Battery Life: 5 hours


VAIO: R505DSP $2399.99
Pentium® III @ 1.13 GHz-M
40 GB
256 MB
802.11b
SlimDock™ Docking Station with CD-RW/DVD Combo Drive and Floppy
10Base-T/100Base-TX Ethernet and V.90 Modem
Center Jog Dial™ Control
Memory Stick™ Media Slot
iLink
2 USB Ports
1 PC Card Slot
12.1 " TFT Display
4.37 lbs (w/out Docking Station)
~ 1" thick (w/out Docking Station)
Battery Life: 2.5 - 3.5 standard, 5.5 - 7.5 with optional double capacity battery


That's the closest I can come to an even comparison...now let's look at the differences.

TiBook - larger display, more storage, more bandwidth, lighter and thinner when similarly configured, and longer battery life with standard equipment

VAIO - Center Jog Dial Control, Memory Stick...a little bit cheaper...

I think it's pretty plain which one comes out on top...