The totally off-topic thread

[drron]

The Sunshine Coast has sure been copping it today.A tropical depression just off the coast has the rain just circling around.Absolutely pouring again on the sourthern end of the coast.Everything diverted or cancelled into MCY today.

 

[The Rok]

37 & sunny blue skies here in WA!

 

[anat0l]

Wet in Brisbane and increasing rain.

I got a light shower on my last bus ride due to a leaky seal on the roof of the bus.

 

[Mal]

Having a COA on the power adaptor is against MS's terms and conditions for OEM last time I checked!

Asus got an exemption from Microsoft. Likewise, the Microsoft and Intel stickers on the keyboard are a special black/silver colour.

 

[LiamR]

Well my asus is back... This time they replaced the motherboard and the power adaptor. Yet to plug it in... Wonder if it will fry itself again.

The one stupid thing tho... The windows coa is on the power adapter. The new one is coa-less. Grrr.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using AustFreqFly

Wow. Having no stickers on the laptop at all, that does not sound like a copy of a MBA at all.

 

[Mal]

Wow. Having no stickers on the laptop at all, that does not sound like a copy of a MBA at all.

But there are stickers. Three of them (serial number on the back, the "intel" chip one and the Windows one). And despite the similarities to the MBA which has Apple fan bois wetting themselves in anticipation of a lawsuit, I don't believe one has eventuated. Probably because Apple actually styled the MBA on an earlier Sony laptop

http://reviews.zdnet.co.uk/i/z/rv/2004/09/vaio-x505-i1.gif?dur=195 (Released in 2004! Yes, years before the MBA!)

 

[dfcatch]

Whilst I love my iPhone (2nd one now), and I'll probably get the new iPad when it comes out (I think I've been converted)..... The one thing I truly don't get....

Mac fanbois..??..?? I mean why???

I can understand the old-school Mac fans (the genuine graphic designers) back in the day when only Macs ran Adobe products.

But why would you (particularly business users) pay a premium for something like a MBP or MBA?

The only thing going for them (besides "look at moi, look at moi") is a sleek design.

You pay a premium for them, for less functionality ????

Come on fanbois - say it ain't so.

Ps. I just tried helping a friend who has a MBP get iCloud going - but guess what? iCloud won't run on his MBP cause the OS is too old. (even though my PC is older and iCloud is compatible with that). Imagine that - even Apple software is more compatible with Windows than Mac OS!!

 

[samh004]

Whilst I love my iPhone (2nd one now), and I'll probably get the new iPad when it comes out (I think I've been converted)..... The one thing I truly don't get....

Mac fanbois..??..?? I mean why???

I can understand the old-school Mac fans (the genuine graphic designers) back in the day when only Macs ran Adobe products.

But why would you (particularly business users) pay a premium for something like a MBP or MBA?

The only thing going for them (besides "look at moi, look at moi") is a sleek design.

You pay a premium for them, for less functionality ????

Come on fanbois - say it ain't so.

Ps. I just tried helping a friend who has a MBP get iCloud going - but guess what? iCloud won't run on his MBP cause the OS is too old. (even though my PC is older and iCloud is compatible with that). Imagine that - even Apple software is more compatible with Windows than Mac OS!!

I haven’t been using macs that long, only since 2001, but the reason I stuck it out so long was they used to spend a great deal of time making sure the software ran perfectly on the hardware. Less bugs, less crashes, better user experience makes the user happier. That all worked for me for years and years.

I find these days, as they’ve grown bigger and of course expanded massively into iOS and focused their resources there, the mac software has suffered. It’s slowly getting back to what it was but for a few years now it’s not been as good for me.

I never paid a premium for less functionality though. I guess it depends what software you use, but then if the software you need is only available on one platform it’s a no brainer really. For me, I’ve always found a work around and I’ve always had Office. I’d argue I got more functionality on account of less crashes and faster boot times back in the day on PowerPC.

iCloud… well we all know about the 3-4 year upgrade cycle. I’m actually on a 2006/7 polycarb MacBook. It’s still running the latest software, but only just. The update later this year will force me to upgrade, and tbh I really need to anyway. Programs these days are such memory hogs and this machine barely makes it. 5-6 years isn’t bad though!

Sounds like your friend couldn’t afford ~$50 for Lion? It’s not expensive, and is a very nice upgrade.

 

[dfcatch]

I haven’t been using macs that long, only since 2001, but the reason I stuck it out so long was they used to spend a great deal of time making sure the software ran perfectly on the hardware. Less bugs, less crashes, better user experience makes the user happier. That all worked for me for years and years.

I find these days, as they’ve grown bigger and of course expanded massively into iOS and focused their resources there, the mac software has suffered. It’s slowly getting back to what it was but for a few years now it’s not been as good for me.

I never paid a premium for less functionality though. I guess it depends what software you use, but then if the software you need is only available on one platform it’s a no brainer really. For me, I’ve always found a work around and I’ve always had Office. I’d argue I got more functionality on account of less crashes and faster boot times back in the day on PowerPC.

iCloud… well we all know about the 3-4 year upgrade cycle. I’m actually on a 2006/7 polycarb MacBook. It’s still running the latest software, but only just. The update later this year will force me to upgrade, and tbh I really need to anyway. Programs these days are such memory hogs and this machine barely makes it. 5-6 years isn’t bad though!

Sounds like your friend couldn’t afford ~$50 for Lion? It’s not expensive, and is a very nice upgrade.

Well he's back on OS 10.5.6 or something like that.

Either way - my PC is older and more compatible with Apple..... Jut doesn't surprise me (but then again - all Apple fanbois that I know have always been happy to pay extra)

 

[Flashback]

Doh, my next trip is going to be on SN so looks like my work trips will be split over SN and AF depending on which city I'm flying to. Better dust off that BMI card!

 

[anat0l]

Doh, my next trip is going to be on SN so looks like my work trips will be split over SN and AF depending on which city I'm flying to. Better dust off that BMI card!

All they need to do is include BA or BD for your flights and they'd really send you around the bend!

 

[Flashback]

All they need to do is include BA or BD for your flights and they'd really send you around the bend!

I'm thinking I'll just credit to BD and build that from *S back to *G ; not overly concerned about status as I fly J anyway. If it gets integrated to Avios, fine, if not .. just see how it pans out I guess! If I credited to A3 to get *A G it would be dead miles anyway...

 

[samh004]

Well he's back on OS 10.5.6 or something like that.

Either way - my PC is older and more compatible with Apple..... Jut doesn't surprise me (but then again - all Apple fanbois that I know have always been happy to pay extra)

I’m not happy to pay extra, that’s why I’m still using this machine!!

I found Snow Leopard (10.6) to be a really good upgrade, and of course Lion (10.7) from that. He’ll probably be able to upgrade to Mountain Lion (10.8) even, later this year, but if $31.99 is too much for new features and stability improvements, it really is a hard life. How much did Windows 7 cost?

 

[dfcatch]

I’m not happy to pay extra, that’s why I’m still using this machine!!

I found Snow Leopard (10.6) to be a really good upgrade, and of course Lion (10.7) from that. He’ll probably be able to upgrade to Mountain Lion (10.8) even, later this year, but if $31.99 is too much for new features and stability improvements, it really is a hard life. How much did Windows 7 cost?

Is it an easy and reliable upgrade? I really don't know anything about Mac OS.

 

[drron]

Signing off for a few days.Off to have my knee done.
Thought of a new thread announcing my retirement from AFF but realise that had already been done
Have made the most of the last few days with dinners out at Cala Luna,Harvest and XO.Sampled a few more bottles including some of my cellared whites-the 1994 Petaluma Reisling was particularly nice.
So all the best.Hope to rejoin you all next weekend.

 

[Princess Fiona]

Signing off for a few days.Off to have my knee done.
Thought of a new thread announcing my retirement from AFF but realise that had already been done
Have made the most of the last few days with dinners out at Cala Luna,Harvest and XO.Sampled a few more bottles including some of my cellared whites-the 1994 Petaluma Reisling was particularly nice.
So all the best.Hope to rejoin you all next weekend.

Had the Chinese New Year Banquet at XO it was yumm.
Good luck Hope you get lots of really great drugs post-op

 

[serfty]

Good luck and wishing you and your knee further happy travels ...

 

[tuapekastar]

All the best with that drron! And remember, AFF kneeds you back!

 

[drewbles]

Whilst I love my iPhone (2nd one now), and I'll probably get the new iPad when it comes out (I think I've been converted)..... The one thing I truly don't get....

Mac fanbois..??..?? I mean why???

I can understand the old-school Mac fans (the genuine graphic designers) back in the day when only Macs ran Adobe products.

But why would you (particularly business users) pay a premium for something like a MBP or MBA?

The only thing going for them (besides "look at moi, look at moi") is a sleek design.

You pay a premium for them, for less functionality ????

Come on fanbois - say it ain't so.

Ps. I just tried helping a friend who has a MBP get iCloud going - but guess what? iCloud won't run on his MBP cause the OS is too old. (even though my PC is older and iCloud is compatible with that). Imagine that - even Apple software is more compatible with Windows than Mac OS!!

If you upgrade to 10.7 you can run iCloud (I will not as I dislike 10.7, and I still have software that requires PPC emulation; the developers are coughs). Unless you have one of the first generation Intel Macs, you can upgrade to 10.7

I pay a premium for a) easy of use b) design and c) software. The day OS X is available on a non-Apple machine, and the machine lasts as long as my Macbook Pro's have, then i'll change.

And the 'Apple Tax' is becoming less obvious these days. If you look at the cheap and nasty plastic laptops coming out of China these days, they are exactly that. Cheap and nasty. They don't last more than 18 months (and I know a lot of people replace laptops that often, regardless of manufacturer, but I easily get 2 years plus out of every Mac laptop i've owned, and they don't get treated nicely a lot of the time).

OS X is far more functional for me. Windows is a headache (that's specific to my line of work though, but in general, Mac has no less functionality than Windows anymore; gone are the days of no apps being available for Apple products, the Mac App store is full of useful stuff, and there's a very very active open source world for Mac developing some amazing apps).

 

[drewbles]

Well he's back on OS 10.5.6 or something like that.

Either way - my PC is older and more compatible with Apple..... Jut doesn't surprise me (but then again - all Apple fanbois that I know have always been happy to pay extra)

The upgrade to run iCloud costs a lot less than any other Windows upgrade, and with Windows 8, your machine won't run it at all