PC or Mac

[heparin]

My MacBook Pro does get pretty hot, but its not that much worse than some other PC laptops i've used. As for the whine that a lot of people are complaining about, I haven't noticed it with my MBP. All computers make a small amount of noise (fans, drives, etc.) and the noise comping from my MBP is minimal. Both of these issues may have been addressed in the latest versions of the MBP. I read somewhere that Apple is swtiching boards that they are using.

I've noticed that people tend to complain a lot about minor concerns Mac laptops while in reality they are very reliable, becasue they expect them to be perfect. IMHO it's because they're so shiny and perfect-looking people expect them not to work like normal computers (ie make noise when spinning up and accessing the hard drive).My friend was so concerned about the paint coming off his old Titanium PB in one corner that he bought a touch up paint kit. With PCs people are just happy if the machine works, it's a matter of expectations.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Rafa]

I've noticed that people tend to complain a lot about minor concerns Mac laptops while in reality they are very reliable, becasue they expect them to be perfect.

When you drop two grand on a computer, you pay a lot more attention to its flaws than when you buy a sub 1k machine. Expectations will go down when Jobs scales back on the price inflation.

 

[etf]

my macbook pro was made in the third week of production, and it has the whine, the overheating, a trackpad that gets stuck, and a pretty defective dvd player. i'm sending it to apple as soon as the school year is over. once these problems are fixed, i will be able to confidently say that this machine is the best notebook computer money can buy.

 

[ND2005]

If you read reviews on Amazon, some people complain that their macbooks get really hot and some of them seem to make humming noises, and Apple won't fix either issue. Can anyone who has a MBP comment on this? I wouldn't want to spend $2,000 to get a laptop that overheats and makes noises.

Apple's been quietly fixing the problems. They are already on revision D.

Buying 1st gen computers is basically like paying $$ to be a beta tester.

 

[beefballs]

seriously nd2005 continue with the mac info please

 

[ND2005]

seriously nd2005 continue with the mac info please

ThinkSecret

Macrumors


All I know is what's posted there.




And no, I haven't crossed the threshold from "minorly dorky" to "majorly dorky" (that is, I don't post on the message boards at those sites)

 

[PBandJ]

nd2005 is in the loop on the mac info.

i'm surprised to see so many mac users among the premed crowd. i, too, am a mac user at home, but up until last june, i have always been a PC user (and at work, i still have to use the d*mn old PCs running windows freaking 2000). i found the transition very easy. the only thing i've had a problem with is my printer (b/c it's old, and they just recently made a driver for it that is compatible with osx 10.4) and my PDA (dell PDA running pocketPC)...i downloaded the free trial of pocketmac, which is designed to work with pocketPC PDAs, but it still doesn't recognize my device when i plug it in. if any mac users on here have any suggestions, i'd be very happy to take them.

 

[beefballs]

bump for more hot mac talk

 

[PBandJ]

macs ARE hot and sexy

 

[beefballs]

you said it sweet mint

 

[SRK85]

Yes Macs are nice but exepensive if you can afford a nice new macbook pro or powerbook go for it they are nice.

 

[colt]

Is it just the "cool" factor of owning a mac that makes them popular? I've yet to hear any reason as to why they're better.....

Just read the whole thread and it seems like reliable and "sexy" are the main points. Any PC owners have reliable and sexy computers?

 

[wendywellesley]

IAny PC owners have reliable and sexy computers?

no. i used PCs for a long time and recently gave up. macs are better and much more reliable.

 

[e_phn]

macs all the way!

 

[colt]

What about the dual core mac mini? Those are only $699....anygood? I really want a notebook, but $1700 is a lot.

 

[dr.z]

Macs!

 

[HopeFaith]

macs do rule.
if you cant afford one, you could always go for the free one's from those SPAM emails and pop-ups. it worked for me, i just got 12" ibook for the cost of a USA today subscription. i $h!t you not.

it takes a little effort, but it works.

Hey, it worked for me as well. People should give their spam folder a chance. I recently converted to mac and doubt I will ever purchase a pc again. But I'm guessing a tablet PC would be an excellent option for med school as well.

 

[deleted77919]

macs are so awesome my 3 year old G4 powerbook runs like new... the other day I was updating to os x 10.4.6 and for a day the airport didnt work but I fixed it now its back to running like new.. what PC has anyone EVER owned that ran like new 3 years later!

(btw I don't just word process and surf, photoshop garageband 3d protein rendering like it aint no THANG)

I currently use a windows desktop, it will be 4 years old this August, never frozen, never crashed, never had a virus (I'm pretty careful about files tho). I've been exceedingly happy with it. As far as applications usual stuff plus a fair amount of computational chemistry.

 

[surjski]

Is it just the "cool" factor of owning a mac that makes them popular? I've yet to hear any reason as to why they're better.....

Just read the whole thread and it seems like reliable and "sexy" are the main points. Any PC owners have reliable and sexy computers?

I'd like to speak to the reliability and sexyness of a pc. my dell is 5 years old..... and still works perfectly. running windows 2000k. i had friends with macs who had to replace them within 3-4 years, and friends with PCs who had to replace them within 3-4 years.

 

[surjski]

I'd like to speak to the reliability and sexyness of a pc. my dell is 5 years old..... and still works perfectly. running windows 2000k. i had friends with macs who had to replace them within 3-4 years, and friends with PCs who had to replace them within 3-4 years.

oh and by the way, i have to use a mac at work. its about a 1-year-old mini mac, and it sucks. my 5-year-old dell latitude is way faster and the compatibility is so much better!

 

[tao]

i currently own a powerbook g4 12" rev.c, that I bought 2 years ago. before that I had 2 wintel computers. I can honestly say that macs are so much more reliable than any of the windows machines i had. the only regret i have for buying a mac is that most of the new games out are only for pc's. but i guess having bootcamp on the mbp solves that issue.

oh and for all of those thinking of getting a mbp this summer, if you can, you should wait until the fall, since that's when intel is going to release it's 64 bit merom processor, in other words, expect a mbp update.

 

[colt]

Maybe I’m off base, but you can get a IBM like this for $859 : http://www.amuras.com/prodDetail.asp?PartNumber=D88555

INTEL CORE DUO 1.66GHZ T2300 512MB 80GB HDD (5400RPM) DVD/CDRW 56K GBE WLAN 15.4inch WXGA WinXPP New & Sealed $100. mail in rebate $859. after rebate

That is $1150 cheaper than the entry-level powerbook. How many of us are going to keep a notebook longer than 3 yrs anyway? With the price difference you could keep a PC 2 yrs and buy a better one—all for less than a Mac.

 

[jebus]

Maybe I’m off base, but you can get a IBM for $859
That is $1150 cheaper than the entry-level powerbook.

You've distilled the problem well. (your numbers are a little off, academic buyers get a 10% discount so the entry-level MacBookPro is $1800 for pretty much everyone on this board...)
Clearly that kind of money is not worth it to you. I'm surprised it's worth it to me, but I think my $3000 botox injections were worth it, too. You can't put a price on beauty. Still, I am a corporate ho and I think macs are worth it. I've had my powerbook for 2 years, I'm not going to get a new one for at least a couple of more. Then I'll smack old people and children around with it because it's got a metal case and those hurt plus they are strong. Strong like ox. Strong like me.
Plus, I'm not poor. Word to the manilla on your paper.

 

[):(]

.

 

[colt]

Clearly that kind of money is not worth it to you.

Naw, I'm just trying to see how mac users justify their purchase. The new commercials appeal to my wild side--pc= dork mac=

 

[etf]

anyone who says they have a windows machine that hasn't crashed in 3-4 years is lying, or probably thinks that you are supposed to have to restart every 2 hours or so...my dad got a new dell laptop from costco, and it actually crashed 40 minutes after he fired it up - it hadn't even connected to the internet yet!

 

[deleted77919]

anyone who says they have a windows machine that hasn't crashed in 3-4 years is lying, or probably thinks that you are supposed to have to restart every 2 hours or so...my dad got a new dell laptop from costco, and it actually crashed 40 minutes after he fired it up - it hadn't even connected to the internet yet!

That may indeed be your father's experience, but that has not been mine. Admittedly I am a sample of n=1; I can not speak to the experience of others, but neither can you.

I have not had any stability issues running Windows XP. No crashes. No freezes. Rarely turn my computer off.

I personally don't care whether other people get Macs or PCs, just wanted to throw in my experience.

 

[etf]

That may indeed be your father's experience, but that has not been mine. Admittedly I am a sample of n=1; I can not speak to the experience of others, but neither can you.

I have not had any stability issues running Windows XP. No crashes. No freezes. Rarely turn my computer off.

I personally don't care whether other people get Macs or PCs, just wanted to throw in my experience.

lol, yeah, i guess with regards to windows, it's like the med school admissions process - it's all a crapshoot!

 

[deleted77919]

lol, yeah, i guess with regards to windows, it's like the med school admissions process - it's all a crapshoot!

Now that I can buy . . .

My roomate from first year had a laptop (windows XP) that never worked right. It would freeze on startup and he would have to unplug it and take the battery out, then putting the battery back in and trying to restart it usually worked on try 2.

Glad I've been lucky thus far, but maybe desktops are more stable than laptops . . . hmm . . .

 

[kypdurron5]

I was talking about Virtual PC for the G4 powerbook (which is what the poster who asked about Virtual PC owns).

It's funny to see this post now, after I've spent the entire weekend working on installing Mac OS X on my PC >). I did finally get it up and running, without emulation. Still, there's only one (intel) graphics chipset that supports the 3D acceleration, so the menus and animations move at about the same speed as a much slower computer. Oh, then there's the fact that there is no sound, no ethernet driver, and, well, no Rosetta compatibility. BUT, at least it can be done >). I personally believe that Apple will come out with an official version of OS X for PC's. It's simply the next logical step since the development community is already doing it. Apple's hardware will always have a "coolness" factor even if the OS isn't proprietary. Look at the iPods, I would dare to say that there are music players on the market with better user interfaces and features (and cheaper at that!). Still, no other music player matches the incredibly sexy design of the iPod. If this does come to fruition, it would mean we can get what we've always wanted...awesome OS and cheaper hardware. Right now I'm typing this from a version of mandriva linux deceptively well-styled to look like OS X. It'll have to do for now >).

P.S. Oh, by the way...I just heard an interview 2 days ago where Michael Dell admitted he'd be happy to sell Dell PC's with OS X >)

 

[LUBDUBB]

Hi All,

Just here to add to the discussion; Just to credential-drop a bit, my undergrad is in Comp Sci and I've extensively used windows laptops as well as the PowerBook G4.

The powerbook is an extremely reliable computer, the operating system rarely stalls, essentially no viruses and it runs pretty smoothly. However, it is plagued by compatibility issues.

There are tons of programs that require windows, esp academic software. Up until now you could have installed virtual windows - but why would anyone want to install an Extra operating system on their computer?? Now they got this new thingy BootCamp which is supposed to solve all compatibility issues right? Nope. Apple's customer service is piss poor as it is, but to make matters worse BootCamp is not customer service supported. So if you got something wrong with it, then you gotta figure it out.

Fact is most software is windows based, ALL networking is windows based, most ppl use windows. So if you're not currently a mac user, no reason to change now. Get yourself a Toshiba or Dell (inspiron 7 series is my pick, best freakin customer service) and if u wanna get stylish go for a sony vaio ( I still have my original vaio from 2002), at least you wont look like the drones of powerbook users. Try to get more than 1.5Ghz process. centrino/pentium M, and at least 1gb of RAM. Get yourself norton antivirus and update it automatically everyday.

However, if you insist on macbookpro/powerbook. I'm not sure how much better the intel chip is than the motorola G4, but I do know that apple will save tons of money going with intel cuz of the sheer amount of chips intel makes, the prices are cheaper. The powerbook is no doubt an awesome notebook, especially with the 1.25gb ram upgrade (which is necessary IMO).

Just a bit of mac history, Apple was in the dumpster until the Ipod which put apple back on the map and scored it some sales in the computer sector as well. The apple II (steve wozniak's invention) was truly a great computer in its era, really what started apple. After that, and up until recently, Macs were a bunch of garbage if you ask me. And anyone who used macs during the late 90's/early 00's will agree. Sorry for such a long post.

 

[MossPoh]

I'm an information science major and I still prefer Macs.lol I have had nothing but problems with windows..although I'm curious about the new OS. As for combatibility issues...well every major program you are likley to use is on both. I mean academic software..I doubt the selection is really a problem unless you are a stickler and have a favorite program such as mathematica, mupad,matlab....or cad programs or something. I mean the vast majority of people use their computer for music/photos, word processing, email, and internet. Networking wise..never had severe problems with my dell, my dad's macbook pro, the imac, or any other computer..actualy I have had the most with the centrino crap..which is just a load anyway. Pick which you'd be happy with...apples tend to be more expensive but several sites have shown that they also last a tidbit longer when it comes to running newer programs and stuff..aka you get a winbox and it may last 3 or 4 years before it starts struggling, a mac will last about 4 or 5...so the cost kind of equals out..not totally but a bit.

 

[psipsina]

I'm so sad! I am a mac person being forced by my med school to have a PC! UGGG! And a gateway on top of that! (I could at least justify an alienware or a sony to myself for style purposes). The school is perfect in every other way except this, and I know that if I chose to go to another med school based solely on being able to have a powerbook it would be profoundly silly, but I still needed to whine about it. Waaaaahhhhhh!

 

[jace's mom]

I've always used PCs at home, but have had a few experiences with MACs in work environments. I could learn to use a MAC if necessary, but it was definitely different. My current PC is ancient (Windows 98SE ). It works fine, as long as I keep my firewall and antivirus software current and can convince my husband and children not to accept downloads from strangers.

 

[Stoky44]

Anybody use, have, or know anyone who uses one of those convertible notebooks that runs on windows XP tablet edition. Its a laptop in which you can also write on the screen with, and not use the characters needed for a PDA. I thought this was pretty cool, that you can take hand written notes on the screen and save them digitally, since I can't type as fast as I can write, I thought this was cool. I think Toshiba and Gateway make these. Any thoughts?

http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/cmod.to?seg=HHO&coid=-30603

http://www.gateway.com/products/gconfig/prodhmseries.asp?seg=hm&gcseries=gtwycx200&clv=Img

 

[adiddas125]

In my honest opinion, the macintosh laptops tend to be a lot more pricey. An entry level laptop from apple costs just about as much as a top of the line powerhouse laptop. Albeit there are size differences, I dont think there is a real way to say why PCs or Macs are better than the other.

I use a windows XP system, and I havent had any real problems with my machine. I've never had any problems with the windows operating systems or the DOS/win 3.1 combo (whos with me on this one. ) I have had my fair share of problems on a power PC based mac with the mac OS prior to OS X.

There are some things which I will never understand about the mac (like the 1 button mouse/touch pad) or the reason why it is harder to customize your laptop when you are purchasing one from the online store, but I am shopping around for a MBP, since it does offer dual compatibility. I am hoping to run windows vista. The hardware is indeed very slim and innovative, but the software seems hard for me to get used to as I have been a PC user all my life. Did you guys have any problems/hard habits to break when you switched from a PC to a mac?



Edit to add... I really think that the educational discount of $200 is a real shame, why not $500 to the future of america's doctors?

 

[medrad]

It's funny to see this post now, after I've spent the entire weekend working on installing Mac OS X on my PC >). I did finally get it up and running, without emulation.

I installed the latest version of OSX onto my pc a while ago (pre-intel macs) using pearpc- which really sucked. How did you do it without emulation? Is there a newer hacked copy out there now?

NOTE TO ALL THOSE WANTING TO BUY A MCBOOK PRO: wait as long as you possibly can before you buy one....as mentioned earlier in the thread they have numerous problems (notably overheating due to poor manufacturing process - even I can apply thermal paste correctly at the time. They should be fixed soon. One of the reasons you might not have heard about these issues is that Apple seems sues websites for pointing out these flaws

 

[adiddas125]

I guess there is a new line of chips that are going to be put in the macs soon!

Core 2 Duo! Goto macrumors.com to check it out.

 

[bkflaneur]

Does anyone know anything about Mac compatibility with PDAs and some of the medically relevant PDA programs we'll need in med school and post med school?

 

[kypdurron5]

I installed the latest version of OSX onto my pc a while ago (pre-intel macs) using pearpc- which really sucked. How did you do it without emulation? Is there a newer hacked copy out there now?

NOTE TO ALL THOSE WANTING TO BUY A MCBOOK PRO: wait as long as you possibly can before you buy one....as mentioned earlier in the thread they have numerous problems (notably overheating due to poor manufacturing process - even I can apply thermal paste correctly at the time. They should be fixed soon. One of the reasons you might not have heard about these issues is that Apple seems sues websites for pointing out these flaws

Yes. PearPC was an emulator and horribly slow. Apple has developed OS X to work with its Intel chips now which mean x86 architecture is built into the OS. All they (under the radar developers) had to do was add AMD compatibility. The install DVD I used actually had the AMD compatibility packages available DURING the install, meaning no workarounds or safe-mode stuff was necessary.

Does anyone know anything about Mac compatibility with PDAs and some of the medically relevant PDA programs we'll need in med school and post med school?

Of course they are, but to check on the compatibility of a specific Palm device do a Google search. If you go to Palm.com you'll notice there is a version of the Palm software for OS X. OS X also is big on it's iCal program, and so that might actually provide some native support, but again, just do a web search to check on your specific product.

To the overall Mac vs. Windows debate:
I was originally a computer science major before I switched to biology (would have required an extra year to get all the bio/chem and CS courses I needed). I've used both systems for a very long time, and I've had tons of problems with both. I will admit that the problems I've had with windows (95,98,2000,XP) have usually been functional problems (getting the system to work properly) as-where my Mac problems have usually been operational issues (getting something ON the system to work, but not the system itself). The "compatibility argument" is an old one. I really think it's outdated, especially with the good dual OS options available today (but not exclusively because of it). For the record, networks are SERVER based. They may be based upon windows server, UNIX server, Linux server, or Mac OS server (there are others though). Unix and Linux are very similar and are actually very common server platforms. By the way, Mac OS itself is UNIX based >). When you talk about network compatibility Mac OS is almost 100% compatible. Any web-based server access is simply web browser compatible. Windows file sharing/printer sharing is fully supported under OS X. Heck, there is even a Remote Desktop Client for Mac OS X so that you can log into a Windows system using a Mac. Mac OS X is also fully compatible with all internet protocols including the latest wireless standards. Software compatibility is not 100% but is very common especially among new programs. Sure, there are older, specialized programs still in use that aren't even supported by their developers anymore, but aside from a few of these my claim is that compatibility will not be a problem. Where issues do crop up there is almost always a work-around. If nothing else there will be substitute programs to accomplish the same task. If your school uses some windows-only outdated program and there is no way to get around it....well, doesn't your school have a computer lab you could use when you need that one program? If you want a Mac don't let these arguments stop you. For me (at least right now), it's the price point. I'm a techie and I must have top of the line hardware. I just put together an AMD 64 bit system for half of what a lesser Mac would have cost me. Both would have served me just fine, but in the end I can't resist the higher specs for the lower price. Nothing beats Apple's style, however. Vaio is but a four-door sedan in a world of Ferrari's.

Correct History lesson- Apple did hit a slump in the mid to late 90's when it was going bankrupt, however, the poster who indicated Apple has been in the slump between the Apple II and iPod is simply wrong. Apple has always had a very strong user community, and there were many popular Mac's leading up to the mid to late 90's (I mean come on, the competition was Windows 3.1!!). What turned Apple around was not the iPods. What turned Apple around was the same thing that created Apple in the first place Steve Jobs. Everything many popular users know of Apple (iPod, plus "i" anything- iMac, iSight, iPrograms, etc.) has been since Steve Jobs resumed as the CEO of Apple. And by the way, Apple's slump began when Jobs left Apple. I'm seeing an important correlation here. Apple's stock just recently reached an all-time high, and that includes consideration of it's hay-day in the mid to late 80's. It's true that iPods form a big part of that, but their hardware line is strong and OS X is a very well-loved OS. In truth, the future is bright for Apple, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

 

[Cashicus]

Anyone else hear the rumors about the macbook (ie the ibook version of the macbook pro) being released tomorrow? Anyone considering getting this computer, assuming its specs are good?

 

[ND2005]

Anyone else hear the rumors about the macbook (ie the ibook version of the macbook pro) being released tomorrow? Anyone considering getting this computer, assuming its specs are good?

yes

 

[BoogieGnome]

Just to weigh in a little on the issue of reliability of windows vs. apple. Keep in mind that 85% of crashes in windows are due to third party device drivers. So basically if you have a PC that uses hardware with crappy drivers, it will be much less stable than one that has good driver support. The advantage that Apple has is that they put massive restrictions on your hardware choices as compared to windows, so it's much easier for them to keep things stable.

As for my personal experience, I used an iBook for awhile and found it both slower and less stable than my windows laptop (with less memory, and I think comparable CPU speed). That and I learned to hate the interface after I used it for awhile. What can I say though, I'm a linux/windows guy, so I end up using windows+cygwin on my personal computers and like it much better than OSX.

When I start school I'm planning on buying one of the Toshiba 12" tablets. 1400x1050 resultion == sweeeeet!

 

[kypdurron5]

Just to weigh in a little on the issue of reliability of windows vs. apple. Keep in mind that 85% of crashes in windows are due to third party device drivers. So basically if you have a PC that uses hardware with crappy drivers, it will be much less stable than one that has good driver support. The advantage that Apple has is that they put massive restrictions on your hardware choices as compared to windows, so it's much easier for them to keep things stable.

That is very true, in fact, that is my primary concern with OS X as it moves to being used on PCs (as I believe it will). The massive amounts of present and past hardware available for PC construction is probably the biggest challenge in creating an OS compatible with such hardware. In some ways though this is the fault of Microsoft. In its early years it should have focused more on creating industry standards rather than supporting any chipset manufacturer that wanted to do its own thing. Apple's strength is not only that it uses a limited catalog of hardware, but also that it vigorously supports industry standards such as USB (and having created Firewire as a standard rather than a proprietary, copyrighted version).

 

[bgtati]

anyone plan on buying one of those flip screen right on monitor laptops. What are they called? Does mac make them yet?

 

[kypdurron5]

anyone plan on buying one of those flip screen right on monitor laptops. What are they called? Does mac make them yet?

Monitors with flip screens are normally tablet PC's, although I saw a commercial for one that might not actually be a tablet PC. Anyway, that's the general idea though....flip the screen around, lay it down, and write on it rather than typing so it's more like a writing tablet. They are pretty cool, but I've found (I have one) that I don't actually use the writing feature very much (I type 86 words a minute and write much much slower). Thus, I don't actually flip the screen around very often, and the whole thing is a little heavy to treat it like a book (if you're reading long stretches of stuff). Better to just to use it in the normal way.

P.S. Apple has not made any tablet computers as of present.

 

[Twitch]

Anybody use, have, or know anyone who uses one of those convertible notebooks that runs on windows XP tablet edition. Its a laptop in which you can also write on the screen with, and not use the characters needed for a PDA. I thought this was pretty cool, that you can take hand written notes on the screen and save them digitally, since I can't type as fast as I can write, I thought this was cool. I think Toshiba and Gateway make these. Any thoughts?

http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/cmod.to?seg=HHO&coid=-30603

http://www.gateway.com/products/gconfig/prodhmseries.asp?seg=hm&gcseries=gtwycx200&clv=Img

The Toshiba tablet was my first tablet several years ago. I'm on my third one from a company called motion computing. This is a slate not a convertible. I use the tablet for most of my classes. It's so much easier taking notes directly on powerpoint slides with the stylus. For organic chem, I use MS One Note. I can use multiple colors for the various mechanisms and highlight stuff.

If anyone has any questions on tablets let me know. I've been using my tablet for school for the last 3+ years.

 

[colt]

Anyone else hear the rumors about the macbook (ie the ibook version of the macbook pro) being released tomorrow? Anyone considering getting this computer, assuming its specs are good?

I'm considering getting one of these or this link --dual core for $630 is hard to beat.

After reading about pc vs. mac, I've come to the conclustion that both are about equal in the end--value wise. If you pay $1200-1300 for a new macbook, it could be sold in 2 yrs for probably $600. That goes a long way toward the purchase of a new computer. Almost any pc, while much cheaper, is basically a door-stop after 2 yrs if you aren't using it.

The only thing that potentially keeps me from going mac is the chance of dropping/breaking it or having it stolen. I'd much rather be out $650 compared to $1300.

 

[Handle]

I also highly recommend a tablet. For a first-time tablet user, I'd recommend a convertable (as opposed to Y_Marker's slate), as it has all the capability of a regular laptop with the additional tablet functionality (though I haven't used a slate, so perhaps Marker could chime in here).

I use mine both as a regular laptop (for word processing, surfing the web, etc) and a tablet (for taking/rewriting notes). I would particularly recommend them for the visual learners out there.

An old thread with some more details/screenshots: http://drslounge.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=250036&page=2&highlight=tablet

 

[etf]

I'm considering getting one of these or this link --dual core for $630 is hard to beat.

After reading about pc vs. mac, I've come to the conclustion that both are about equal in the end--value wise. If you pay $1200-1300 for a new macbook, it could be sold in 2 yrs for probably $600. That goes a long way toward the purchase of a new computer. Almost any pc, while much cheaper, is basically a door-stop after 2 yrs if you aren't using it.

The only thing that potentially keeps me from going mac is the chance of dropping/breaking it or having it stolen. I'd much rather be out $650 compared to $1300.

when the new macbook pro came out (like feb 2006), i sold my powerbook that i bought in 2004 for $1600. these things are status symbols, so they have high resale values. although, it could just be that i am a really good salesman