New Macbook Pros and MacBook Airs

Hello All,

New Apple products were announced yesterday and here is my take.  Unless you are a gamer, photographer, or into heavy image editing or manipulation, get a Macbook Air.  Apple reduced the price of the 13" model, the one you should buy, down to $1199.  This machine is lightweight, quiet, and has between 5-7 hours of battery life.

The 13" Macbook Pro is also $1199, which is a heck of a deal for the money.  Compared to the Air you get a faster machine, a DVD drive, a larger hard drive, but a much heavier machine.  If you want the portability though, the Air is impossible to beat, and if you do not want the portability you should buy an iMac and get a faster machine for about the same price.

If you are any of those people I listed to start this article I would recommend a 15 or 17" macbook pro.  Either the 2011 model on clearance, or the 2012 models are both solid, depending on your budget. MacMall is blowing out 2011, 17" models right now, but the rest of their prices on last years models are nothing special.  I would check Apple Refurbished before you make a purchase, here is the link for MacBook Pros, and for MacBook Airs.

Lastly, check with the local college if you have any affiliation.  They usually have a fair number of the last years laptops for a big discount, and you get a free printer/scanner/copier when you make an educational purchase.

Good luck,

John

Laptop Reliability Ratings

Hello All,

-- Update --

Here is a PCMag article that mimics the findings of the Squaretrade data. As I said Consumer Reports shows similar data as well. That makes three separate sources that say HPs have the highest rate of failure.

Interesting article over on Gizmodo about laptop reliability. This mimics what Consumer Reports found as well, and what I have said all along. The short story, do not buy a Compaq or HP and Asus and Toshiba are some of the best.

Read the full story here.

Later,

John

Deal of the Day #2 - 11/4/09

Hello All,

Here is the rest of the Wal-Mart deals for Saturday. They surprising pretty solid for being so far from Christmas, and not Black Friday.

Highlights Include

• $300 - 15" laptop
• $500 - 42" Sharp LCD HDTV
• $150 - Sony Blu-Ray Player

Find them all here.

Later.

John

Deal of the Day - 10/15/09

Hello All,

It sadly has still been slim pick'ins for the most part, but Newegg has a couple good deals that are worth your attention.

Gateway Core 2 Duo 2GHz laptop. 16" screen, 4GB Ram, 500Gb hard drive. Vista 64 bit.

Find this here.

If you need a laptop now, this is the best deal I have seen in a while. I still recommend waiting until November so Windows 7 is installed on the machine, but if you need a laptop now, this is a good deal.

Later,

John

Deal of the Day #2 - 8/17/09

Hello All,

If you are in the market for a netbook because you want something cheap, you should get this. Best Buy is selling a 15" Acer with 2Gb of ram and a 64-bit processor for $279.99. This is cheaper then a Dell Mini10 and it is a full powered machine.

You will give up battery life and weight over a netbook, but it is a full powered machine, and it has a DVD drive.

Find this deal here.

Later,

John

Deal of the Day #3 - 7/9/09

Hello All,

Apple released updated laptops about two weeks ago, and consequently the old ones came down in price. If you do not need the speed increases or the sd card reader built in, you can get a great deal on a new, but last generation laptop.

If you work or go to the UW, you can get a 13" Macbook Pro, an iPod and, a printer all for $899 plus taxes. Find that here.

Here is a similar, although not as good, deal for people that have nothing to do with education.

It is a slippery slope, but if a 13" will not work for you, here are some Apple recertified laptops for cheap, directly from Apple.

Thanks Hans for the post idea.

Later,

John

Deal of the Day #2 - 6/10/09

Hello All,

With the announcements of new faster, and cheaper Apple laptops on Monday, the price drops on the older models make now a great time to buy an Apple laptop. All of the last generation models can be found for at least a couple hundred dollars off, and up to $800 off.

You can compare models and speeds here.

You can find the deals here.

Later,

John

iPhone Updates

Hello All,

Today was the first day of the Apple World Wide Developer Connection (WWDC) and there was a lot of news. There are all new laptops, a new operating system, and a new version of the Safari browser. This dear readers is all good news, but not the big news. The big news is two fold.

1. There is a new version of the iPhone operating system, 3.0, that is coming out on June 17th.
2. There is a new iPhone, the 3GS, coming out on June 19th.

Here is a quick rundown of the two biggest announcements.

The iPhone 3.0 operating system

• It is a free update for all iPhone users and $9.95 for all iPod Touch users
• Improved Safari web browser
• Copy and Paste
• Landscape mode in email, text, and notes
• Complete iPhone search
• Voice Memos
• Improved calendar app

You can find all the updates here.

The iPhone 3GS Update

• Same size and shape as the 3G phone
• Faster processor 2x or more, depending on the application
  
• Improved camera, 3 mega pixel, with video
• Faster 3G network support
• New 3D video support
• Improved battery life
• Voice control for many applications

The 8GB 3G is now $99, the 16GB 3G is $149. The new 3GS will come in 16GB and 32GB at $199 and $299.

The only bad news involves AT&T. If you are like me and got your 3G iPhone when they first came out last year, you will have to wait until December or so to get the upgrade prices. If you cannot wait that long you will have to pay an $18 upgrade fee and either $399 or $499, depending on the size of the phone you want. This is better than people with recent new contracts. They will be hit for $599 and $699, depending on the phone size.

Overall I am pretty excited about the new phone, but I am disappointed there is not a better upgrade path. If you can wait 6 months why would you not wait 6 more and see what Apple comes out with in June of 2010. AT&T would be better served to keep people like me on the hook for another two years then allow me to wait and see. This will without question piss off a lot of their customers, and that is not good for business. I am half way through my contract, why not lock me in for another two years. A lot can happen in a year with regard to technology. There could be a better phone out than the iPhone in another year, or at least close to as good and AT&Ts service leaves room for improvement. So maybe people wait for their contract to end and then they leave. That is a risk AT&T runs with this strategy. I know I switched solely for the iPhone, I would switch away if there were a better phone out there.

Later,

John

For more Apple coverage check out this, this, and this.

Deal of the Day - 5/8/09

Hello All,

Sellout.woot has an Asus Eee PC with a solid state drive, for $164.99 shipped to your door.

This machine is refurbished, but Asus is a great company so I would not let that hinder you from buying the machine. This machine is great for browsing the web, taking notes, sending email, all of the stuff people do on a regular basis. It is also small and cheap, two pluses for a little laptop.

You can find this deal here.

Happy Birthday Jill!!! The big 27, you are getting OLD.

Later,

John

Deal of the Day - 5/5/09

Hello All,

If you need a laptop, heck if you even think you want a laptop, then this is the deal for you. CompUSA is selling a HP 15.4" laptop for $329.99. This is a brand new machine, the only catch being a mail-in rebate, but for $100 who cares. This is a netbook priced laptop, buy it if you want a laptop. It is far and away the cheapest 15" new laptop I have ever seen.

Ok, there are definitely some negatives to this machine, but for under $400, you are getting a lot of bang for your buck. My general rule is an Intel Core 2 Duo for $500 or under is a good deal. This is only a single processor, but it is more than enough for most people. You can browse the web and check your email on it just fine. Gaming might stink, but no one buys a $330 laptop for gaming. At least you should not do that. If you do, you get what you paid for.

So on to a short sweet and sour.

The Sweet

1. It is a new laptop for $330.
2. 15.4" Screen
3. Dual Layer DVD Burner
4. Built-in wifi, ethernet, and phone
5. Did I mention it is $330?
   

The Sour

1. Not a dual core machine, so not 64 bit compatible
2. Only 1Gb of ram, although you have an open slot
3. Integrated video card
4. AMD Sempron processor
5. Vista Home comes on the machine
6. No firewire jacks

Ok, so the specs are not awesome, but again it is $330. It will work great for 95% of the things that most people use a laptop for, save your money and buy this if you are looking for a laptop.

The latop can be found here, and the rebate can be found here.

Later,

John

Deal of the Day #2 - 4/29/09

Hello All,

Sellout.Woot is selling a refurbished 17" Dell for 554.99 shipped to your door. It is a 2 GHz Core 2 Duo, and 17" screen, which is huge. This machine also has a 9 cell battery for longer life, great for people who will use it away from a power source. The video card is not great but for anyone who does not play high end games on your laptop, this is a great deal.

You can find this here.

Later,

John

Deal of the Day - 4/21/09

Hello All,

Lenovo is having a one day sale on some of their laptops. They have models with Core 2 Duos for under $450, which is a solid deal.

You can find the sale here.

Later,

John

Deal of the Day - 4/20/09

Hello All,

NewEgg has a decent deal on a new laptop for $399. It is a 15.4" Core Duo, which is quiet good, and the machine is only $399. The Dell machine for $399 was better, but if you missed that one and need one, this one is a good deal. Here is the quick run down.

The Sweet

• 15.4" Screen
• 2.16 Ghz Core Duo
• 2GB of ram
• 160Gb Hard Drive
• DVD Burner
• Memory Card Reader
  

The Sour

• Shared Intel video card
• No bluetooth
• Only a 6-cell battery
• Vista is the O/S
  

Overall this is a sweat deal for only $399.

Find this deal here.

Later,

John

Deal of the Day - 4/7/09

Hello All,

Dell has a sweet deal on a new laptop for $399. It is a 15" Core 2 Duo, which is all good, and only $399 to boot. Here is my new quick run down.

The Sweet

• 15" Screen
• 1.6 Ghz Core 2 Duo
• 2GB of ram
• 160Gb Hard Drive
• DVD Burner
• Firewire
• It looks like you can install XP on the machine without much trouble
  

The Sour

• Shared Intel video card
• No bluetooth
• Only a 6-cell battery
• Vista is the O/S
  

Overall this is a sweat deal for only $399.

Find this deal here.

Thanks Jesse for finding this deal.

Later,

John

Deal of the Day - 3/31/09

Hello All,

Best Buy is selling a 15" Toshiba laptop for $499. Now a $500 laptop is not a big deal, but a 15" laptop that runs an Intel core 2 duo, that is something to write about.

If you want a machine, get a Core 2 Duo. They are the best laptop processors on the market right now. Core Duo is not as good, do not buy one of them.

Here is a new quick run down.

The Sweet

• 15" Screen
• 2 Ghz Core 2 Duo
• 3GB of ram
• 200Gb Hard Drive
• Dual Layer Burner

The Sour

• Shared Intel video card
• No bluetooth
• No Firewire
• Only a 6-cell battery
• Vista is the O/S
  

Overall this is a pretty sweat deal, especially for only $499.

You can find this deal here.

Later,

John

Deal of the Day - 1/28/09

Hello All,

Quick one today. Woot is selling a 15.4" laptop for $305 shipped to your door. You can find it here. It has Linux on it, but aside from that it is a new, relatively good laptop for cheap. A netbook is the same price, and includes Linux, so why not go with a full size machine for the same price.

To help you along with one flavor of Linux, here is a free download of a Ubuntu book.

Since it is woot it will probably sell out, so act fast if you want one.

Later,

John

Deal of the Day - 11/16/08

Hello All,

I will make this short as I had the big post yesterday. Best Buy is clearing out MacBooks for $996.99. This is brand new, but in store only. As of this posting both Madison stores have them in stock. You can find this deal here.

Here are the specs:

• 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo Processor
• 2 GB of Ram
  
• 13.3" Wide screen display
• 160 GB Hard drive
• DVD Burner (Super drive)
  

For a comparison, Apple is selling the same model refurbished for $3 more. Usually refurbished Macs from the Apple store is the cheapest way to go, and have the full 1 year warranty. You can see that here.

Later,

John

Deal of the Day - 11/15/08

Hello All,

With the new Apple laptops out in stores, there are good deals to be had on the past models. MacMall has good deals on many of the older laptops. Here is my recommendation for a great all around laptop.

• 15.4-inch MacBook Pro Glossy Screen, Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz, 2GB Memory, and 20oGB Hard Drive for $1499 - $200 rebate = $1349, with free shipping. You can find this here.

For a less expensive option, but still a solid performer, this MacBook is a nice option.

• 13.3-inch MacBook, Intel Core 2 Duo 2.1GHz, 1GB, 120GB, and Combo Drive for $1094 - $150 instant savings - $75 rebate = $869, with free shipping. You can find this here.
  

Here is a comparison between the two laptops.

Feature	MacBook	MacBook Pro
Processor	2.1 GHz Core 2 Duo	2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo
Screen Size	13.3"	15.4"
Ram	1 GB	2 GB
HardDrive	120 GB	200 GB
Video Memory	144 MB	256 MB
DVD Burner	No - DVD Read Only	Yes

They both have firewire, bluetooth, built-in cameras, wireless networking cards, Ethernet jacks, CD burners, Front Row with remotes, and come with the 10.5 Leopard operating system. The MacBook pro is faster, will play video games or any graphic intensive operation much better, and has the very bright and crisp LED backlight which also increases battery life. I would buy the MacBook Pro myself, as it has a bigger screen and has a much better video card. There are other configurations at MacMall, I just picked these as they were two good deals, and at very different price points. The other models are not bad, these are just my picks. General laptop advice is as follows. Buy the screen size you want, and the fastest processor you can afford, the other stuff (ram, hard drive) is upgradable down the road.

Last but not least, for you travelers out there is the MacBook Air. This is a crazy cheap deal on an Air.

• 13.3-inch MacBook Air, 1.6GHz 2GB RAM, and 80GB Hard Drive for $1249 - $100 rebate = $1149, with free shipping. You can find it here.
  

This laptop does not have a CD-rom drive, and has a lower power processor. It is designed for minimal size and weight, and long battery life. You can read about them here, they are very small.

One last note for these deals, any of the laptops featured above include a free Epson printer and Parrallels 4 after mail-in rebate through November 30th.

Later,

John

Operating Systems - Thoughts and Observations

Hello All,

I am often asked about computer operating systems. There have been many flamewars over the subject, and I am not trying to start another one. I am just going to try to keep this simple and applicable from an end user perspective.

First off, for full disclosure, I am a Mac user at both work and home. I work in IT, and Mac is my operating system of choice, and the one I recommend for everyone who can afford it, and values their time and productivity. You can stop reading here if you only wanted the short answer, continue on if you want the good the bad and the why.

Windows
Windows has a lot going for it. It is almost everywhere, over 90% of the desktop market, with its prevalence comes familiarity to almost everyone, and it is cheap. You can get a new laptop that runs Vista for $500 at Wal-Mart, anywhere in America. You can get a desktop that does the same thing for probably $350 at Wal-Mart. There is a ton of software available for Windows, and it is far and away the only one to use if you want to play video games on your computer. We truely live in a Windows world.

The negatives that come with that are many. Here are a couple biggies:

• Virus writers target this operating system
• Spyware and Malware target this operating system
• Windows is not as secure as either Linux or Mac
• You must run a firewall, anti-virus, and spyware remover at all times
• You have to pay for almost everything you want for Windows

You can get around some of these issues, but not easily and not if you are not an IT guru. Even if you are an IT guru, the prevention and upkeep take time, and time is money. I can think of a million things I would rather do than remove viruses and spyware from a machine for two hours.

So to recap, you have market dominance, abundance of software, familiarity and low cost offset by viruses and other bad stuff.

Linux
Linux is the up and comer. Since Vista's release and subsequent flop both Linux and Mac usage have increased. I like Linux. I want to see it win, but unless you buy it pre-installed on a machine, or install it on a wired Ethernet connected desktop, it is not for everyone. I recommend it for people who want many of the Mac features without the cost, however the cost savings comes back to haunt you as a time investment, and time is money. For everyday people Linux is just not there. I hate to say it, but it is not. If you can have someone set it up for you, then it is a viable alternative, but most people want Windows, and do not want Linux, which makes it an even harder sell. Since I have been pointing out the bad parts to Linux above, here are the good parts:

• It is free
• There is free software to do anything you can image
• You do not need to worry about viruses
• Spyware is not an issue
• It works great on old computers
• It is very Mac like, without the Mac cost
• It is improving very quickly; many versions are updated significantly every 6 months

For the majority of the world, Linux does everything you need it to, every day, and does not break. You can do anything on the Internet, play mp3s, work on Word and Excel documents, import and edit pictures, you can even play games. I like Linux. The biggest strike against it for me is that all of the Linux Admins I know use Windows or Mac at home. No Linux Admin that I know uses Linux on their home PC. That is a big blow in my mind. All of the Mac guys use Macs at home, and Windows guys use both Mac and Windows.

If you have a desktop that is not connected to the Internet via wireless, and can get over the fact that Linux is not Windows, you can be very happy with Linux. I do not think that is most people.

Mac
As I said off the top, Mac is my operating system of choice, and the one I recommend. It does cost more. It is different than Windows. It does stink for playing video games. That is about it for negatives though. Here are some of the many advantages of Mac:

• Very few viruses, you do not currently need to worry about them or run anti-virus software
• No spyware
• Minimal driver issues, video, printers, cameras, mp3 players, you plug something in and it works
• Lots of free software
• Very intuitive, and Apple provides free support of topics online
• Tons of cool features, specifically time machine, quick view, spot light and front row
• You can run Windows, if you need to, on all of the new Intel hardware
• One year of free face-to-face support and training at any Apple Store
• One year of free phone support

Learning the new operating system will take a little time, but with the great Apple stores, you can go take a class on it for free if you do not want to teach yourself. The Microsoft Office suite, Word etc, is not the best on a Mac, but it works, and you can easily open and share files with Windows users.

I like Mac OS. I recommend it to anyone. If you have more time than money, Linux is a good option and can handle almost anything you throw at it. If you have some time, some money, and like the status quo, Windows is a vaiable option, just remember you need to pay for anti-virus, spyware removal software, and probably Geek Squad to fix your machine when you come up with the total cost of the machine.

Later,

John

Deal of the Day #4 - 11/3/08

Hello All,

Not to leave out PS3 owners, or laptop owners, here is a 320GB Western Digital laptop hard drive for $79.99 shipped. You can use this to upgrade the hard drive in your PS3 to store more pictures, videos, music, games, anything you want. You could also use it in your laptop but that is pretty conventional.

This drive has almost universal great reviews, which is why I am recommending it. Upgrading your PS3 is simple to do, but you need to back up your current drive before you upgrade. You can find detailed upgrade instructions here.

Later,

John