I won't deny it, I dislike Vista a lot. I decided to begin exploring other alternatives and decided to install Ubuntu on my thinkpad.

I have been running Ubuntu on my server for about a year without major issues, but I did not expect it just to work on my thinkpad. I just installed it and everything, including my wireless, is working great... Honestly for home use this is great.

So has anyone decided to try other alternatives?

Yes. I bought a Mac.

I'm obviously an Apple fanboy as well. I'd never look at anything else... except maybe installing OS X on a PC if it ever became 100% reliable because Apple hardware sucks.

windows XP

i gave up on ubuntu, cos there is buffer issue for flash video

what buffer issue with the flash video? I am curious because I am trying to determine the things that do not work on ubuntu well...


and pfft OSX; I just love how apple now recommends anti-virus

I know "I bought a Mac" isn't really the answer you were looking for, but after living with Vista (and a buggy Lenovo) for two weeks, I returned it and did just that. Don't regret my decision for a minute. OSX is an absolutely brilliant operating system.

I don't mind Vista, really. It's a shame it's so much more of a system hog than XP is but on a fast machine it's a non-issue. Then again, my experience is entirely with the Enterprise edition which certainly must have less bullshit in it than Home Premium or Ultimate.

I have an XP gaming desktop, a macbook, and a brand-spanking new copy of vista ultimate in the drawer. XP is great, it is stable, it runs PC games without a hitch, its good. OS X is good, but I miss some basic functions like cutting and pasting files, the lack of a MS paint like program. Other annoyances with OS X are when you exit say Safari, the application actually stays running and there is just not an active window, which is quite a resource hog and has to be closed manually by right clicking and quitting the program. (Probably not a big deal with desktops). Also the shortcuts are irritating as hell since for example take force quit.



An important shortcut since it is about the equivalent of windows' task manager.
But WAIT of the 3 symbols listed there is only 1 of those symbols on the keyboard, WTF.

Also the complex shortcut for the windows equivalent of printscreen is also a pain in the ass.
Also people say Macs don;t crash, THEY DO, I was working on a large Excel program while mine did (before remembering to save of course).
I would say my XP machine crashes less per unit of time than my mac.

I will install Vista when I feel a need for directX 10 which should not take too much longer.

That being said, I will never get a mac desktop as I can build a windows machine for probably 1/2 the cost and will perform 4x than mac desktop. As far as a laptop goes, I like the design and if a future Mac OS addresses my complaints I might be temped to get another one, if i will need another laptop after college..

I can't make OS X NOT crash on me.

I just went to apple website and tried to configure a desktop to as close as my desktop as I could, it was OVER $4,500. I spent around $2,200 on the parts for mine.

I guess you can charge whatever you want when you have a monopoly on the parts.....

windows xp pro. vista sucks.

Graphic Converter is good and, plus, it's free:
http://www.lemkesoft.com/



Apple Q (command Q) is your friend.



Apples don't offer great performance for the dollar. I perceive them to have better build quality and a more refined, more user-friendly operating system, so for me it's worth it. I kind of think of my MacBook Pro as a Lexus IS and the Lenovo I returned as a Pontiac G8 GT. Your mileage may vary.

I use photoshop to edit massive files. I need more RAM.

XP is capped to 3GB

I installed Vista 64bit, and so got 64bit Photoshop, more usable RAM etc...

After a few days the fresh installation of Vista just completely screwed up.

Now i'm back to XP!

You set of its gaydar.

Seriously though, I'm going in for an Apple next time around. I'm not partial to any OS or anything, I just really like Apple's laptop design.

The new aluminum unibody laptops are so cool. I don't know if there's any practical advantage, but it just feels so much sturdier, and better made, than even their old aluminum body-on-frame laptops, not to mention plastic-bodied competitors.

Well apparently, it uses up less energy then a single light bulb (according to their commercial). I have a macbook (not the newest one), its not bad I'll give it that. But i just can't get used to it. There are things i love and things i hate. I love how the boot-up doesn't take fucking forever like a windows computer does. It's sleek and it (usually) doesn't seem to crash. But the things I hate are just the small things. No right click, you can't maximize a window (what the hell, seriously...), and the whole thing where when you close a window the program doesn't end. There are more too, but I can't think of them right now, but those are my main problems with it.

Oh dear, people, oh dear. Does nobody read manuals or search help files anymore?

1. Right click: Depending on your generation of Macbook, you can enable a setting through System Preferences for the trackpad which, when you leave two fingers on the surface and then click the button, causes a right-click. Easy. This method of right clicking is, in fact, superior to an actual button once you get used to it.

2. Maximizing: I will admit that this sometimes doesn't work as well as projected, but sometimes you can maximize windows by clicking the green (+) button on the window titlebar while holding down Option/Alt. This will frequently maximize the window, but not all the time.

3. Closing programs: Really, how hard is it to hit Apple-Q? I don't even think about hitting that keybind anymore. It's second nature, and it works with every application. This really does end the program.

Edit: Razor beat me to the punch.



Just so you know, if you plug in a two-button PC mouse, it'll work just fine, and the right-click will function as a right click. It's aggravating as hell that there's not a physical right button on the trackpad itself, but OSX does have right-button functionality.



This one I'll give ya. Though you can get close enough to maximized (the border touches the screen on all sides) that you're losing all of 4 pixels in width and 4 in height. Not a big deal. I do wish there was a single button you could push to make the window that size, though.



Seriously, command-Q is your friend. I don't see why PC users complain so much about this. The same thing happens in Windows when you close all the individual windows in Microsoft Word (by using the X immediately below the top-right X) but don't use alt-F-X or the top-right X. In both systems, if you close out the wrong way, the program remains running; if you close out the right way, it doesn't.

It's just the fact that you shouldn't have to hit a shortcut. X out of an application and you should be done period.

What happens when you get nailed by 4000 porn pop-ups in XP or Vista? X out of every single one? Oh, that sucks.

It takes me less time to hit two keys on the keyboard than to move the mouse over to a 10 pixel by 10 pixel button and click. They're called "shortcuts" for a reason.

99% of the time I am running a maximized window and all you have to do is shove your cursor to the top right hand corner of your screen and click, it doesn't even have to be on the button, and it takes near a millisecond to do...

...that doesn't happen, period.

This debate always baffles me. I use OSX and Vista/XP daily; the computer I own is currently running Vista. Granted, I do not use OSX very in depth (I check email, web browse, use Office, etc.), but there is NOTHING I like about it. I mean, I just can't think of a single thing it does better. I guess Vista is excessively demanding on your hardware, but XP certainly isn't. And if I were to buy a Mac for some reason, it would be so useless to me unless I installed a Windows operating system on it because of software I would not be able to use. And then how is it worth the money (plus time spent dealing with compatibility issues) at all to buy a Mac?

That right there is pretty much the reason I'm buying an Apple. It's not that I prefer Mac OS (I don't), or that I think Windows it's worthless (it's not).

I don't really think that the mac laptops are that much better made then the Lenovo Thinkpads. Thinkpads use outer plastic shell with magnesium or titanium chassis, those things are tough. The lack of the right click button on the touchpad is really puzzling to me...Would it really kill their design philosophy that bad to put another button there?

Interestingly enough their pricing on the laptops is fairly competitive to what is out there... I was a little bit surprised by that.

anyway, I am still sticking with linux I formatted my windows 2003 server and installed ubuntu server

oups, haven't check this thread for a while

seems like the discussion turned in to Win vs MOS again lol....

i dont' know....when i watch youtube with ubuntu, the video always stops playing at 5 sec....and bastards, they are locking access to copy flv in temp folder for some website ("the file is in use" blah blah)....but as soon as, i close the browser the flv in temp is erased....sigh ....but i figured in ubuntu, you can still copy the files

XP Pro hasnt bothered me...at all.

Vista on the other hand, I wasnt a fan of.

I don't think that the new MacBook Pros are more durable than Thinkpads. Actually, I suspect that the Thinkpad construction does a much better job of protecting the laptop's internals when you drop it. But I think the MacBook Pros "feel" more solid (a purely subjective thing, not an objective advantage), and it's my understanding that the aluminum unibody construction allows them to be much thinner and lighter than a comparable Thinkpad.

The lack of a dedicated right button--heck, the lack of ANY dedicated button (the bottom third of the trackpad now clicks down, while simultaneously acting as a trackpad surface)--is my biggest complaint about Apple laptops. Pure form over function.

really, anyone who doesn't know computer can crash any OS....

i crashed MOS a few times....that's because of some badly coded application.....ironically, i never crash windows, never have BSoD

windows crashes because all the badly coded 3 party software or individual programs that runs in the background....

Makes me smile every time.

Ahhh that brings me back midnight. Thanks.

It's funny...except for the system update thing jumping like a fucking jack russell terrier (so true), he just described my experience using PCs.

anyways....this discussion is really pointless....

use whatever you think it suits you the best....

i'm just a internet, word processing guy.....windows is way more than enough for me....case closed....

The thing is, you know how he ridicules the dock not being able to be placed at the top of the screen? There's a Terminal preference hack to put it up there. It's the only place you can put the dock to render it almost 100% useless.

I do hate when apps have hyperactivity attacks, though, and bounce ridiculously. I remember that there's some hack to stop that, but I can't remember what it is, exactly.

Is it any worse than a tab on a Windows taskbar glowing or flashing orange? I think that's what they do when they want attention; I don't quite remember. It's six of one, a half-dozen of the other, if you ask me.

As for the dock, I put it on the right side of the screen, and make it so that it doesn't hide (duck off to the side). Simple change in system preferences. In my opinion, with those settings, it's functionally extremely similar to the Windows Taskbar combined with the Start menu.

Overall, I think it's like a foreign language. Whatever you learned first always is the easiest to you. It's like when I was failing out of Japanese language in college, and my professor (from Japan) said that she really couldn't understand it, because I must be really good at languages, because English is really really hard. I started with the Mac OS before ever using Windows (way back in the days of the Mac Classic), so I'll probably always be hard-wired to think it's more efficient. If I had started with Windows, I might feel otherwise.

I too had flash problems with Ubuntu, also, streaming radio issues. The boot time was great, and it was refreshing using something other than a windows product, but i really felt handicapped trying to figure out how to do things that really are simple on a pc.

really? I don't understand; I must be wierd... I put ubuntu CD into my thinkpad and 20 mins later it was working perfectly fine. I just watched 6 or 7 videos on youtube and it's fine...

I too was raised on Mac's. We had an Apple II in our house when I was little, apparently my dad spent $5,000 in 1980s money on it! We then had a Mac Classic, Classic II, Mac IIie, Power PC Mac clone (which I'm sure could be a museum piece, since it is an example of Mac licensing technology to other manufacturers) and finally a G3.

However I switched to windows in the 90's due to the complete lack of games for Macs in that period (Quake and Warcraft 2 were some of the only titles...and good luck finding those in stores). So I missed the switch from OS 9 to OS X. Now I find OS X to be pretty alien to me...and am kinda frustrated at times by the lack of customization Macs offer.

I just used Ubuntu for the first time. I'm impressed.

^I tried unbuntu too...when my illegal copy of XP got Windows Genuine Advantage'ed. It was OK, but far too unpolished for my tastes.

I like it for it's simplicity and speed. I may be getting a new laptop soon, but if I don't I'm going to be ditching Windows for it. I've got the install CD sitting on my desk.

To use linux successfully you need to be comfortable with the command line... honestly you have an insane amount of control of what the computer is doing.

To me the command line is going backwards. Computers in general have progressed from a command line to a GUI. I just dont have the time nor the free brain space to try and remember all of the commands, and which ones do what. Sudo this and password that.... aptget.... A PC really is easier than all that.

its so much faster to use the command line though. I really miss that in windows.

I got by fine without knowing the command line existed in Ubuntu.

windows xp 64-bit all the way. if you're working with any sort of multimedia that consumes a lot of memory, its your best bet. ive had exactly 0 crashes with Autodesk Maya, Adobe Photoshop/After Effects working with it. And those programs seem like they were almost designed to crash.

really? I am surprised by this.. I read that it was a bit of a bastard child because there were no drivers for it.