About today’s Macbook announcements

>> Toshiba also released some really nice laptops today. They didn't get hardly any press.<< Thats their fault; not apples, not the presses.

"All Intel Macs support booting off of USB2" Yep, and sometimes doesn't work. I could not do it trying two different USB2 drives cloned from a "Disk Utility" "Restore", which makes an exact bootable copy. The copy would boot using spare internal drives, but the Intel Mac Pro Tower [3GHz Quad with 4GB RAM] would not boot on two different external USB drives. I then got an old FW CD burner and replaced the CD drive with a 160GB IDE HD, cloned with Disk Utility "Restore" function, and it worked. Not a good choice get rid of FW on the new Macs, IMO.

>>I think Dell and other notebook manufacturers believe Apple whiffed today.<< I think Dell and others have also thought that after each iteration of the iMac and certainly with each iteration of the iPod. I can look up the quotes if you want, but everyone knows that its true.

>>Every buyer is unique in their needs and desires, and that must be taken into account when making a recommendation.<< Well said. Close and lock the thread.

A couple of points here. First, within the entire year of any given year, new notebooks and updated notebooks come out. Yet none of them come close to having the fanfare and press coverage of Apple. Lets be honest here. Is a simple refresh really worth of that amount of coverage? No. Apple does get an ungodly amount of press coverage even for most things that shouldn't waste press space. New car models that get refreshes only get a tiny amount of coverage. Its shows a clear Apple bias and it shows a lot of the psuedo-Tech journalist have an Apple bias. Yet not one journalist has looked at the actual construction cost of the Mac products and see if their's actual justification in the final sticker price. Nobody disputes that the Macbooks aren't good products. Our problem here is the almost religion like worship of their fans and their disparaging attitude. I don't have to point fingers at the teardown, disparaging comments made by their uber fans in here. The proof is in the commentary. It doesn't make an argument to call people names and make broad generalizations. The simple reality is that the computer is a tool, not a fashion statement or a piece of jewelry. Making a notebook anymore than it is, makes no sense. Why do you need some company to define you? It seem its more flaunted as a status symbol and not a working device. This why Apple gets labeled frequently for style over substance. Insufficient amount of frequently used ports is something I witnessed several Macbook owners having. USB is versatile, but come on. Watching them struggle and fumble around with USB hubs was sad. I've seen this a lot. Many Windows users and Linux owners watching this and shaking their heads. I've seen this in the bookstores with wifi, coffeeshops, the libraries I use, and in restauraunts over the year. I would never argue that Apple doesn't do a great job. I can see a lot of the benefits. My issues with Apple are clear. First of which is the cost. I recently had a chat with a Mac user and we had a lovely conversation about many subjects. She revealed to me that she had to take a loan out for her Macbook. I was like, "You have got to be kidding me?" She insisted she had to because of her major. Loans are for cars, homes, college tuition/board, and major things. When you have to get a PC or a Mac on a loan, that says to me excess not value. Maybe its because I live in a middle class neighborhood. Many of the folks I grew up with always seen Apple as a luxury and not necessarily economical. However, I've seen diligent PC users match or exceed the same life as Macs. Second, the hardcore Mac users. I don't want to be associated with folks who are just rude and praising the dishonest marketing of that company. Its just wrong. Also, we have those Mac users calling us fangirls and all kinds of nonsense. To me, if you have to insult your opponent, you lost your argument. You have nothing good to say, so you resort to a slander. Finally, the issues recently with Leopard and the percieved instability that I've frequently read among Mac users. This year alone, Leopard has been patched over 250 times. The reports are all over the net. Then there's the vulnerability issues which I've addressed again and again. Leopard is frequently being patch for these security vulnerabilities and bug fixes. However both XP and Vista can boast that two months of this year, they had no patches necessary for both respective operating systems. Apple can't say that. Yet that achievement didn't get much press Since I'm sure someone in this blog is going to insist that I'm on drugs, a fan girl, that I don't "Think Different", insist I'm a moron, or some other insult or slur, I'll just let them do it. When they actually have something positive, unique, or something that furthers an actual discourse, I'll listen. Until then, go ahead start the smear campaign.