4 posts tagged “wish list”
Note to myself: Justice League Unlimited season 2 (actually season 3) -- the final season -- is scheduled to be released on March 20th. (Now with DVD box artwork from Amazon.com)
Although I do think the company has a little too much in common with a petulant child, Apple Computer does make nice looking notebook computers. Today, they finally grant my wish and released 64-bit notebook computers. That said, as of today, it is still two-grand to get in on the ground floor with a 15" 2.16GHz Core 2 with 1GB of RAM. ($1800, with college discount). Over at Dell, I can build a "similar" system (meaning I can dump stuff I don't want, like the webcam and use the savings to get something more worthwhile, like a 256MB NVidia card [vs the 128MB ATI card on Apple's]) and it will only cost me just under $1700. Of course, with Dell, I run the risk of them not shipping the thing at all. Or the later risk of fighting with Dell support. (And with this many consecutive links, we will get to see if Vox is made of the stronger stuff.)
Of course, now you're all probably wondering why I so easily through aside my $1000 soft limit? Well, I figure I can hold out two months and save up the difference. (Shop after Christmas) Although I do believe notebooks are far too fragile to be paying an premium for (the more fully powered the machine is, the hotter it will run, and with packing it all those hot electronics in a small form factor, the innards will wear out faster), I figure it might be worth it to set my sights up to the 2K limit. Especially since I can hold off on a desktop replacement for a while more.
But, that still leaves the issue of Windows Vista. Ironically, if I choose to buy Apple, it frees me from having to rush buying within a brief frame where Windows XP remains an option for notebooks -- I will have up to two years from release of Vista purchase XP. I've been testing Vista for a while, and I suspect that its overhead will cause quicker drain on battery life, and will leave machines running longer and harder than XP. Of course, the downside will be that if I do need Windows, I will have to purchase it at closer to full price. Not to say I'm uncomfortable with OS X. I have been using a used G3 iBook for over 18 month with it running 10.3 (Panther) and 10.4 (Tiger). Unfortunately, I fear the day I am stuck in Apple-only land will be the day I'm required to run some esoteric modelling program that either comes in a Windows-only format, or is a goofy-assed port from Unix/Linux that requires a beating to get running on OS X. (I really should get back to the land of graphic design.)
Well, I promise to keep you all updated, whether or not y'all want me to.
In a post that started off with mention of AMD processors, I totally forgot about there being AMD powered 64 bit notebooks that already have a price below $1000. For example, this $930 15" HP Pavilion at Circuit City (DV6119US), which is currently on sale for $830. That looks to also be a dual core, judging by the name.
That said, I'm still going to hold out. There will be deeper discounts during the holiday shopping season. There might be coupons for a free or discounted upgrade to Windows Vista -- provided I don't purchase an Apple. And on the Apple front, I doubt they can possibly get away without updating to Core 2 Duo before Christmas, despite their tendencies to hold updates to after January's MacWorld conference. (Why not? See the $930 HP Pavilion, or any other notebook from a major manufacturer.)
A friend of a friend (don't all urban legends start this way?) reports that the 64 bit version of Windows Vista running on his AMD Athlon 64 powered machine positively screams, with World of Warcraft getting over 100 frames per second. Hearing that makes me really, really want to get a new 64 bit notebook computer -- but I'm waiting for the price to come down to around $1,000 or below on a decent machine. (That is, a machine with at least 1GB of RAM, standard DVD writer, a graphics card with 128MB at least...) Yeah, it isn't likely to happen before my birthday, but I'm hoping for some good year-end holiday sales.
(Why a notebook? Well, because I am still considering building my own desktop, like I have each time before... however, I am wavering against it, as actions by various groups are making it more and more difficult to be a hardware tinkerer.)
