Vaughn Treude wrote:
> Matt Graham wrote:
>   
>> After a long battle with technology, Vaughn Treude wrote:
>>     
>>> The goal: As high-performance as possible for $2000 or less. In particular,
>>> I want to be able to boot as fast as possible.
>>>       
>> "Boot"?  Ever since I got a laptop that could suspend-to-RAM reliably, 
>> rebooting was a pretty rare event.  Resuming from S2RAM is tons faster than 
>> the fastest boot.
>>
>>     
>
> I never had that working in Linux, but, as I said, it's an old computer.
>
>   
>>> 15" wide screen WXGA+
>>>       
>> What's that in pixels?
>>
>>     
>
> It's 1440 by 900.
>
>   
>>> 2.4 GHz CPU, 2 G, 100 G drive@7200 RPM, DVD+-R, 802.11n, Bluetooth support,
>>> 2 USB ports, preferably 3. 
>>>
>>> Dell Inspiron 1520, Toshiba Tecra A9, Lenovo ThinkPad R61, Mac Book Pro.
>>> At the moment I'm leaning toward the Lenovo. As far as I can tell, its
>>> primary drawbacks are relatively short battery life,
>>>       
>> FWIW, I've owned 4 Thinkpads, mostly because I like TrackPoints and no other 
>> make offers them with any degree of consistency.  My Thinkpads were all built 
>> like tanks, had field circus manuals easily downloadable in PDF form from 
>> somewhere on IBM's site, and they all had excellent Linux-combatability in 
>> terms of hardware.  But all of mine were IBM, not Lenovo.  I don't know 
>> whether the new ones are cheap crap or not, and won't know until I can scrape 
>> together enough cash to run a new machine in under my still-usable T42p.
>>
>>     
>>> and the fact that it is (IMHO) one butt-ugly machine.
>>>       
>
> I really don't mind, I just thought I might get a rise out of some 
> people. :-)
>
>   
>> It looks very similar to how Thinkpads have looked since they started making 
>> them (classic, like a Model T.)
>>
>> The Mac is not worth the price premium unless you are going to be editing 
>> video all the time.  If you have *ANY* way of doing so, buy a factory 
>> refurbished laptop.  You'll save hundreds of dollars.  All of my laptops were 
>> refurbished, and I have had exactly 2 hardware problems with them in 8 years 
>> (one was fixable with the field circus manual and a $50 spare part.)  HTH,
>>
>>     
>
> I wonder if Mac does factory refurbs. I'll have to check into that. :-)
>
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>   
Apple does have refurbrished models but they go pretty quickly so if you 
see one you want at a price that's good for you, you should jump on it. 
Hopefully the link works for you and it's not tied to a cookie on my 
machine: 
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?sf=wHF2F2PHCCCX72KDY&mco=MTE3NjY&nclm=CertifiedMac.



-- 
Jon M. Hanson (N7ZVJ)
Homepage:  http://the-hansons-az.net
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