Recently I decided that I needed wanted a new laptop computer. Being the tech-savvy geek I am, I naturally started looking at beefy machine specifications from Dell like the M6400 range. I almost fell off my chair at the price of these new powerhouse beasts.
Then at the recent Scott Hanselman talk I saw his new Dell Mini 9 up close and it triggered a new investigation into the NetBook form factor. However that was a short-lived investigation as there are hardly any decent models available on the local market to choose from and quite frankly, the cost of solid state storage (SSD) is a little too exorbitant at the moment.
I’ve often pondered the idea of owning a Mac due to the simplicity of it all, just open the box, plug it in and you’re done. Over the years I’ve built up clone PCs using the best highest spec components I could find but in the end the machines have always had some irritating problems that just bug the crap out of me. This is when I realised that quality of the individual components is the key factor and if I could find a pre-built machine that doesn’t come at too much of a premium, then I’d be more than prepared to spend the few extra bucks. So building my home desktop PC resulted in choosing a quality Intel motherboard and Core 2 Duo processor with 4GB of high-performance Transcend memory. Similarly my Windows Home Server was built using an Intel motherboard rather than a motherboard that has more bells and whistles coming from a ludicrous number of individual component vendors. Both machines to this day have not given a single headache.
Over the next few blog posts I’ll share my experiences with Mac OS/X and getting everything setup the way I imagine it.
So did you?!? Which Mac you buy? The power book? I am strongly considering getting one myself, but cant decide if i should get the 13″, or the 15.4″ or even the 17″.
Lost to the dark side… 🙂
(Personally, I’ve never been a fan of the Intel boards – I like Gigabyte. I’ve had some bad experiences with some other dubious brands though, like ASRock).
@Ryan: I’ll be following up with some posts on exactly what I bought. 🙂
@Claymore: Intel for me is generally rock solid and well tested. Gigabyte would be my next bet but I tend to stay away from things that have too many disparate chipsets in the mix.
@Claymore and Craig: Asus would be my first choice when it comes to motherboards, for so many years with each new model it has provided high performance with almost no headaches, which is something I can’t say even for more established and proven brands like Intel and Gigabyte, although I still think that both Intel and Gigabyte are pretty good boards with Gigabyte giving a bit sluggish performance compared to the rest.
@Craig: I always thought that Mac notebooks are overpriced rubbish which apparently many claim was pretty much true with pre-OS/X versions, however it looks like things have changed, I’ll keep an eye on your blog to see what your impressions are on this journey.
I can’t trust Mac lovers to give me an honest opinion as usually they don’t know any better.
O yeah, you might find Corsair to be a better choice then Transcend.