tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15888307.post7387995601045450761..comments2024-03-21T01:01:49.406-04:00Comments on The Phantom Soapbox: Apple: don't fix your phone, peasant!The Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10159748429049446398noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15888307.post-49794576088371517072019-01-09T12:30:17.660-05:002019-01-09T12:30:17.660-05:00Hi Orvan,
I have an Acer monitor sitting on my de...Hi Orvan,<br /><br />I have an Acer monitor sitting on my desk, it works great. Always can get a lemon though, that's for sure. Acer, Asus, Samsung, HP, I've got all kinds of Frankenstein stuff around here. <br /><br />For work, I build all the PCs myself. Made to order for the job intended, super cheap, better grade of parts by far than anything you'll see in the Dell ready-made machines. Sometimes Intel, sometimes AMD, whatever is on sale when I spec it out. I've built ten the last few years. All still working fine.<br /><br />So far the only problems I ever have with any of them is the operating system and printers. Getting them to scan and print reliably and back up over the network are semi-permanent issues. <br /><br />Example, this box I'm working on just updated. It can't see anything else on the network right now. It'll take ten minutes to reset everything the update broke. One PC is nothing, but you start talking about eight boxes in three locations, that's getting to be some work. >:(The Phantomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10159748429049446398noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15888307.post-90604268234811095732019-01-09T10:53:13.894-05:002019-01-09T10:53:13.894-05:00Once upon a time I knew a fellow who did some IT s...Once upon a time I knew a fellow who did some IT stuff for the place he worked for, and they always went with Acer due to price. I said something about gateway and he said he wished they could go that step <i>up</i>. Years later, I bought an Acer monitor... and that was, and likely will be, the first and very last Acer product I bought or ever will buy. Even if I am willing to invest some time and effort in things, there needs to be a quality foundation to build upon. While System76 pricing does give me "sticker shock" that it is a Known Good Product does mean something. I might not go that way for MY next purchase, but I know where I refuse to go.<br /><br />That's for laptops. For desktop stuff... I cannot quite manage to make modern machinery out of "stone knives and bear skins" but a few things in my past might suggest the possibility. I prefer to be a bit more "turn-key" than that, even if 'some assembly required' is the true reality.Orvan Taurusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15888307.post-3286445807264137052019-01-06T10:59:50.373-05:002019-01-06T10:59:50.373-05:00I didn't consider a Hackintosh - or a cheap la...I didn't consider a Hackintosh - or a cheap laptop that I'd have had to install Linux on myself, either - because, to me, a laptop is a tool. I need an appliance that I can simply plug in and run, without having to fiddle with the machine itself. If I'm fiddling with the machine or the OS to make it do what it's supposed to, then I'm not getting done what I have the machine to do in the first place.<br /><br />Yeah, I've got the technical chops to do it. What I don't have is the time.<br /><br />I have no doubt it can be done, and it's the right answer for others. For me, the extra cost in getting a machine with Linux preinstalled and tested and that Just Works is worth it.Jay Maynardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17225059135487539410noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15888307.post-32281750618775932102019-01-05T11:54:22.450-05:002019-01-05T11:54:22.450-05:00Hi Jay,
Friend of mine made a Hackintosh with an ...Hi Jay,<br /><br />Friend of mine made a Hackintosh with an Intel i7 motherboard. It has better specs than the top-of-the-line Mac, and it cost less than $1500 Canadian. More RAM, more storage, faster CPU, better video card. Runs the latest OSX, no problem. He uses it in place of an old iMac he had running his home theater setup.<br /><br />There's probably nothing stopping an intrepid lad from doing that on a laptop. Get one of those nice HP Pavilion or Spectre laptops, and put OSX on there. Or, if you're cheap like I am, ACER makes a really nice tablet-format PC with a fold-down keyboard. I use it to write my books when I'm on the road. It is about the same size and heft as an iPad, has an Intel i5 processor and runs Win10 flawlessly. $700 CDN. Cheap like borscht.<br /><br />I'm sure it could run Linux or maybe even OSX as well. Or be a multi-boot box with all three on there. Its got lots of headroom.The Phantomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10159748429049446398noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15888307.post-75686875004428886132019-01-05T11:12:30.828-05:002019-01-05T11:12:30.828-05:00I was in the market for a laptop earlier this year...I was in the market for a laptop earlier this year. It was time to retire my 2010 MacBook Pro, since it would not run Mojave (graphics adapter isn't supported by Metal, which is a Mojave requirement). So I went to Apple's site to look at the prices for current MBPs.<br /><br />The configuration I wanted, with an 8th generation 6-core Core i7, 512 GB of solid state disk, 16 GB of RAM, and a 15-inch Retina Display, was $2800.<br /><br />Then I went to the System76 site. A friend had bought one of their laptops, and liked it, so I checked it out. Pretty much the identical configuration on an Oryx Pro, including the 15-inch 4K display. $2200.<br /><br />And even better: the Oryx Pro can be repaired and upgraded. The MBP? Not a chance of upgrading anything at all.<br /><br />Guess which one I bought? Yeah, the Oryx Pro runs Linux, not OS X, but I'm not entirely sure I like the direction OS X is going, anyway.Jay Maynardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17225059135487539410noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15888307.post-19974153704957945972019-01-04T18:03:06.194-05:002019-01-04T18:03:06.194-05:00Didn't know about the bricking phones thing. T...Didn't know about the bricking phones thing. That's evil.<br /><br />You know, about the only thing I liked with Apple devices was Plants vs. Zombies. Now that I can get it on my Samsung, I have no reason at all to use an Apple device. The Samsung Note is a superior experience in every way. <br /><br />This is not to say that the Samsung is perfect, but it beats an iPhone for my purposes.The Phantomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10159748429049446398noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15888307.post-77852681559226370942019-01-04T16:15:52.827-05:002019-01-04T16:15:52.827-05:00One thing you missed in your rant. Apple was brick...One thing you missed in your rant. Apple was bricking iPhones that had been repaired by "third party" vendors. Picture someone who has an iPhone in the middle of nowhere (Eastern Europe if I remember correctly) who couldn't just walk into the nearest Apple store (around 500 to 1000 miles away over three or four borders. Someone fixes it in an unaffiliated shop and next update, *poof* you are carrying a bricked device. Reasons like that, and the cult of Apple are major reasons why I don't want to use their devices or products.paladin3001https://www.blogger.com/profile/01180847466684617578noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15888307.post-32574067285505939482019-01-04T14:27:22.471-05:002019-01-04T14:27:22.471-05:00Of course Mr. Cook cares about the environment. He...Of course Mr. Cook cares about the environment. He firmly believes that OTHER people should live more simply and OTHER companies should sacrifice their bottom lines. If you ask him about the hypocrisy of it, I doubt he'd even know what you were talking about.<br /><br />Incidentally, I'm typing this reply on a laptop with no down arrow key, a keyboard that now slopes about 15 degrees, and a touchpad that tends to stop working after about 15 minutes. I alternate between hating the stupid thing and clinging to it because I know that whatever I eventually get to replace it is going to be even less reliable.Zsuzsanoreply@blogger.com