Questions from a Linux user considering a Macbook

[Aaron Vegh]

Hi there,

> Hoewever, I also think Mac's are very expensive for what you are  
> getting and if you use Linux, I do not see the point in having one.  
> Linux can be very empowering and the perfect way to get all the  
> features of a Mac--or better--at a fraction of the cost. Mac's are  
> too darn expensive (in my opinion). Also, I have spoken with several  
> laptop repair persons who say Mac's are fragile and if they last  
> long--it is because people who shelled out a bundle of cash for them  
> treat them more carefully. My opinion is that you get the sturdiest  
> machine for your money--like a business class laptop from any  
> manufacturer--Lenovo, Sony, HP, Toshiba, Dell, whatever. They are  
> usually less expensive than a Mac, have just as much power if not  
> more so--and with a Linux OS, you will have the best of all worlds.

It appears your opinion is based on purely circumstantial evidence:  
you are using the opinions of others, and your own impressions to  
support your beliefs. Here's an example of circumstantial evidence  
being used to support an opposite position:

New Mac users, whether they come from Windows or Linux, find  
themselves impressed by the operating system. Linux users in  
particular really enjoy not having to worry about drivers and  
compatibility: things just work. These people value their time as they  
do money: time spent getting all the features of a Mac to actually  
work, and who prefer to actually do the work they've purchased their  
computer for.

That last paragraph is brought to you by the (perhaps) dozens of  
people who have commented in this way to me. Still, it's  
circumstantial, until you *try it yourself*. You haven't done that.

I'm not saying you should, either. But perhaps you should, before  
commenting on this thread.

> My opinion is find the best value for your money--do not pay for the  
> MAC machine OS/X if you can avoid it. Use the extra money on  
> something else.

It's Mac, not MAC. This isn't the Macintosh Acronym Club. I won't even  
go near how you conflate OS X with OS/2! :-D

> That's my 2 cents.

Gomen nasai, that's about what it's worth.

Aaron.

P.S. This is not an attack on Linux! I've said it before, and it bears  
repeating: Linux is awesome. But if someone wishes to use the Mac,  
then it's worth mentioning that the platform has its advantages. Every  
platform does; your choice as a consumer is to decide which platform  
will give you the biggest win.

>
> On Fri, 2009-02-20 at 17:41 -0500, S P Arif Sahari Wibowo wrote:
>>
>> On Fri, 20 Feb 2009, Aaron Vegh wrote:
>> > I'm not familiar with gvim, but there are GUI vim apps for OS
>> > X. Here's an example: http://code.google.com/p/macvim/
>>
>> There are also vim-app port from macports.
>>
>> > There is fink for OS X, but the community prefers Darwin Ports
>> > for running *NIX applications on OS X. http://darwinports.com/
>>
>> I think it is officially moved to http://www.macports.org/ ; and
>> the download from MacPorts does not ask for personal
>> information, so I definitely suggest that.
>>
>> MacPorts is a portage system: on installation it will always
>> compile things in your machine, no prepackage binary around.
>> However, if you want, MacPorts system can produce rpm binary,
>> which then you can install in other OS X system without
>> compiling (e.g. when security dictate a system without
>> compiler).
>>
>> Fink should have some prepackage binaries, but in my experience
>> most things I want to install does not have binary available, so
>> fink will compile it in the machine.
>>
>> > Overall though, the environment is nearly identical to Linux;
>> > you'll be comfortable and productive on the command line right
>> > away.
>>
>> There are some differences originally since OS X is a BSD system
>> (on Mach kernel). However if it bother you, there are several
>> sysutils packages / ports (such as coreutils, findutils,
>> diffutils) which will make sure your tools work are as what you
>> expected in Linux.
>>
>> You can even install common linux desktop manager, such as
>> Gnome, KDE, or XFCE. Haven't tried that, though.
>>
>> > VMWare is what I use, however, and it works very well.
>>
>> That's what I use as well. I tried QEMU but VMWare definitely
>> much more usable.
>>
>> > To my mind it's the perfect platform. It's the only hardware
>> > that will (legitimately) let you run Mac OS X, while also
>> > letting you run Linux and Windows easily and quickly.
>>
>> My thought as well. As hardware I think it is generally a nice
>> one in perfomance, reliability, and durability. At least
>> comparable to non-Mac on the same price point.
>>
>> Just a note: make sure you have more than 1GB memory, make a
>> quite a difference. :-)
>>

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