Thursday, July 28, 2005

An Apple Powerbook or a Tablet PC or a Laptop???

I know.. we have addressed this before.. but I really cant decide.. now it has come to the crunch.. I have to decide and let some people know about what I zigackly want.
I want a DVD writer, 50 GB and above space... I dont need a webcam. I cant think of the rest!

So shoot up people!!!

Also an I Pod is something that I am gonna buy.. Options on how to buy that, because I am thinking of going through with my first online transaction!

42 comments:

Anonymous said...

Laptop would be the best option. Problem with the gadgets like Tablet PC is, it gets outdated soon. And a Laptop is for multi purpose.
Take a look at IBM Thinkpad. There is a version for entertainment use(Music, Medai etc).

Regarding buying iPod. I suggest you ask someone coming from US/Singapore to get it for you, that is if not in hurry. That will work out cheaper and safer.

Rahul Tyagi said...

Buy a laptop.. and a good one.. IBM should be fine.. or Sony Viao (or apple in case you are comfortable with Mac). I don't know how good the service of these brands is in India, though. In case the service is fine, buy any one of these.

As for ipod, I personally haven't been too impressed with mine. I think its a bit too expensive for the amount of time is actually is useful to anyone who has to work on a comp. still, if you want to buy one, probably getting one from US would be better than trying to buy it online in india. I don't know how good and reliable the online stores are there.

Sriram said...

Depends on the usage...

Just can't underestimate a Powerbook!
The sound/video coming from a powerbook/ibook is phenom! Has a very high power dissipation and is pretty delicate! And you will have to be stuck to the mac world!
Tablets are I feel more suited for the corporate world...

Laptops are a safe option... thinkpads (IBM) are the best! but a tad expensive than its counterparts. its by and large the most rugged laptops available and performance is superb... most of the advanced ones have dvd writers with them.

Dell,Sony,HP and Toshiba are catching up and they all are pretty good too... All depends on you budget!

Regarding were you buy: The cheapest place is US (sometimes its way too cheap compared to the rates in India)...buy it there and ask someone to get it! check out at www.deals2buy.com ! they show the best deals on different outlets for the day. there are also hajaar other websites which helps you get a good deal.

IPOD is the most interesting gadget for music listening makkal! they Rock quality wise...! got a 20 GB photoIPOD for a steal recently through amazon... chk out there!
IPODS in India are almost more than double of the rates at US.

-Sriram
thetraces.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Hi Chinmayi,

I would also suggest the same... Laptops are better always... as Rahul said if you are comfortable with Apple, then Apple is the best option. But when we compare other features, I feel Laptops are the best. Even Apple is planning to move from Motorola to Intel processor. As far as the brand is concerned I would suggest you DELL or Thosiba. Don't go for HP/Compaq, its not that good (even am typing this comment from a Compaq laptop :-))

Regarding iPOD... I think its a must for people like you... more than that the quality of music very gud. As ferrari said better ask someone to get from US or Singapore. Even I did the same.

Narayanan Venkitu said...

My 2 cents

a) Laptop - IBM - But checkout the $$. Kiruba can guide, he bought one a few months back.

b) IPOD - Great idea, I saw a 60GB last week for 399% USD

Good Luck.!

Praveen said...

chere didi..well i am not fully a qualified engg to suggest u somethin in this...but i believe whatever comp u have has to serve its purpose...my BIL got me a IBM laptop from the US...i sorta luv mine...its the sorta useful for the things that i do at this stage of my life..ie...watch movies,play games,browse and chat all the time...and once in a blue moon i do some programmin...well i feel comfortable with wat i have...neways..wat i would say is buy anythin that serves your purpose best...cya....ur bro,Praveen...

Chinmayi Sripada /Chinmayee said...

I must say .. I have never worked on a Mac platform.. I just happened to see Rahman anna's powerbook and I thought it was awesome looking..
Now Can I do the usual DTP, sound files, basic recording, designing webpages, translating, watch movies, I work a lot on Photoshop and Acrobat also.. but this also means that I have to software compatible with MAC Os right?

Anonymous said...

Hi Chinmayi,

Yes Rahman uses Mac... Mac is made for Designing, Sound-editing (Sound-Edit is one of the tool used by most of the Music people and is available only for Mac). After knowing your use I feel Mac is made for people like you. You can do all such stuffs in laptops with Windows OS... but Mac rocks in quality and performance. One more thing you are Virus free with Mac. I vote for Mac... ne other info you need..

Harish Sivaramakrishnan said...

Hi Chinmayi,

I use a Powerbook as well as an IBM Thinkpad T43 at work. Here are my observations.

Powerbook
--------------

Steamy Gadget, looks cool to hold one, extremely fast processor, some cool UI and the regular Laptop functionalities. Powerbook is typically used for high end computations, as its atleast 75-80% faster than a usual p4 laptop (it costs around 2 times the price of a laptop too).

Powerbook is used in 3D rendering and soundrecording becos of its overwhelming buffering and processing capabilities. Also on sound rec lines, most of the cutting edge software - hardware combos like protools, Reason etc wrk the best with MAC.

Not surpriced that Mr A R Rahman uses a Mac

IBM Thinkpad t43
-------------------------

I guess this one is a steal!! This is an awesome laptop . I have fallen in love with this one for its ergonomics, performance and spellbinding configuration. My T43 has 80GB harddisk, 1 GB RAM, and a Centrino mobile processor. It works like a gem!! For a regular user, I strongly recommend thinkpad.. as I duno if u are running licenced copies of Photoshop etc ( It hard to pirate stuff on Mac!!! )

So my recommendation is IBM Thinkpad T43.
always,
Vodka

Anonymous said...

Hi,
I dunno if u do know this but IPOD's battery usually craps out after 1 1/2 -2 yrs and you cannot change it you will have to send it to Apple and that will cost you.
I have an IPOD too ...20GB ...I love it. If you were in US i guess an IPOD would be better . Since you are in india...i think it would be a better decision to invest on something which wont require any/much maintenance.
Creative has also come up with another player.It doesnt look as cool as an IPOD does ...but it gets the job done and there are no battery hassels.
http://www.creative.com/products/welcome.asp?category=213
You have to deciede for yourself which one suits you the best.

Ideamani said...

Go with an iPod, the sound quality is unbeatable !

Ganesh said...

chinmayi
Yesterday I was talking with Mukund aka Thennavan, he is making a trip to Madras so you can ask him :)

I am sure Mukund wont mind :)

BTW here is the best review of all the laptop check it out, it will help you
http://www.consumersearch.com/www/computers/laptop-reviews/

Arvind Srinivasan said...

not my cup-of-tea :-)

Anonymous said...

Hi, I have some experience with editing video and music on a mac. But from what I see, mixing tools like protools (which I assume you will be using extensively) or editing tools like premiere and even photoshop seem to (again..its my humble opinion) work better on a MAC. Also, I am not sure if there is a protools version for PC. But, for sound editing, a MAC would be much better.

Ganpy said...

Hey Chinmayi..Have been a regular reader of your blog for the past month or so. Great job to keep it going..!

I have been a Mac user as well as a Windows user. I use Power Mac for my home music studio..There is no doubt that Macs are superior. So even if you have not used Mac before, go for it...With an IPod, it only makes a perfect match.

Like many others, I too would suggest a laptop over a desktop (buy both if you can afford :-))..just for the convenience factor. So go for a Powerbook/Ipod combo!!

Ganpy.

Anonymous said...

Chinmayi, although your mom has been doing most of the music posts these days that doesnt mean I am going to stop reminding you of my requests(and a couple of others' as well)from few days back about posting your experinces working with Rahman and others and most importantly-as to how the music directors communicate the difficult singing parts to you and the walkthrough of an entire recording. It could be brief, pl consider it. And although I do welcome the creation of a new blog just for musical discussions by your mother, my general request is dont be upset by comments from any passer-by "baaboo"s or dont let it provoke you. There are hundreds who probably read this blog and there are going to be a bunch of varied opinions. I am surprised that a single comment from a casual passer-by prompted your mom to start a whole new blog!This is your blog and you can write whatever you want to. Dont be pressurized into restricting the range of topics you are writing on here.

If baboo doesnt like or is not interested in hi-fi musical stuff in your blog then I might not like reading which cinema you went to today, or which restaurant you went to, last :-)You cannot aim to cater to everyone's own prefernces. Just a thought.

Ganesh S said...

hey i bouhgt dell 700m compact place saving light wt of 4.5 pounds and then a wxga lcd screen of lenght 12.1 anyway u can ask some one in us to send it to you or bring it in im coming in september for good i can bring one
go and check out the deals here

http://www.deals2buy.com/delldeals.htm

Ganesh S
http://www.rupya.com

Anonymous said...

Cant believe so many of you are willing to carry stuff to India. Is this option only because it's Chinmayi ? Would you do it for the lady next door?! (rolling my eyes in...)

Come on people..give Chinmayi a break from her stardom and treat her like one among us...unless ofcourse Chinmayi - you enjoy the "special" treatment!?!

Ganesh S said...

yo anonymous why dont u give the name and talk is it becasue ur messagin in chinmayis blog we had done the same thing when kiruba asked for a laptop idea go and check his blog and the comments we have posted , infact when it come to technology computer laptop and ipod we respect the technology first rather than the person who is asking it you knw what i mean

Ganesh s
http://www.rupya.com

Robbie said...

Hey Chinmayi,
Seems like you got people giving you some excellent suggestions. I learnt a lot from this discourse, I think finally it is going to be your decision, and the best way to decide is to do some reading on your own. Buying a computer is one thing where you will get a hundred different opinions. There might be websites dedicated to help you make the right choice and it also depends on what you want to use it for. It is necessary, therefore for you to write clearly about what you require the computer for like word processing, graphics designing, composing music etc. If you can figure out the use choosing a computer will be a piece of cake. As far as my knowledge in computers go, dell is the best selling brand in the world.

Anonymous said...

Some questions to ask
1) Are u running anything graphic intensive?
2) Just need it for browsing alone? or for watching movies tooo?
3) For word, excel, powepoint, general brwosing a Penitum Mobil should be good enough. Best configs i have seen so far are PM 740 chipset with 60 GB Hard drive and 512MB RAM. i have a Dell 700m. don;t know whether u get it in india but its light weighs 5 pounds and 12.1 inch screen. In my opinion there is no point in buying a 10 pound laptop where laptop is supposed to be mobil and not carryinh 10 pounds around. Anyway, its still ur decison based on budget and ur needs...


Vijay

Krish said...

Chinmayi:

Thanks for leaving that comment on my blog. I was looking thru the comments of the others on this topic.

Regarding what works for you, if budget is not a criterion, then for multimedia stuff, it is hard to beat the Mac platform. But as someone said, if you want your laptop to do everything for you, unfortunately most programs are written for the Wintel platform and not only Mac hardware, but Apple software is also a little bit higher in price.

But Apple definitely has an edge in areas like music composition, sound mixing and graphics. If this is going to be primarily your area of interest, by all means go for the Powerbook. Apple has always used RISC processors (compared to the CISC ones by Intel) and they deliver better performance. Again as somebody said, security issues are not so much of a problem on the Mac since very few worms and viruses are written to that platform (although that may be changing with the current OS X having a Unix code base).

Advantage of owning a PC laptop is that it becomes a mobile extension of your existing desktop and so portability of files is assured between both. Another point to contend with on the Mac is that Windows IE support is not any more there and you will have to use Apple's Safari browser (that is a good product too and you also have Mozilla Firefox/Netscape options).

Tablet PCs are really cool and once you buy one, it will be hard to go back to a regular laptop just for the journaling feature itself (transcribing by hand and seeing it converted as a document is a unique experience no doubt). But price-wise, they are up there with the Powerbooks, whereas a PC laptop can be obtained at a lower level and so any extra money saved can be funneled towards other needed stuff like higher capacity hard disks, more RAM etc.

Let me know what you decide. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Hey chinmayi..
Buying a laptop and an Ipod in India is very very expensive..
I got a Ipod last week...40 GB color display for 230 dollars...Ask some of u r friends to buy it here (US) and send it to u...I guess it works cheaper...may be ask the Genius Allah Rakha Rahman when he comes to us the next time...as people suggested..Mac is best for video audio stuffs
K

Chinmayi Sripada /Chinmayee said...

To anonymous: I guess I know a whole lot of people willing to carry stuff to India.. and anyways, I had said my relatives are bringing it down.. so I think this was answered in accordance to that :))
Ganesh S: Thanks so much for the offer..! I didnt read your comment properly until I read anonymous'.

And generally replying, I have a Windows OS on my PC, was also thinking about the compatibility of using them both, so does this mean that a Laptop with Windows wins? Because let me make clear that music compostion, is not going to be my usage.. I mean I have no idea of composing anyway!! maybe i would edit thats all.. very very basic use.
And compatibility between an I Pod and Windows??

And another thing THANKS A LOT for all the help.. guess I would need more..

And... ahem.. anonymous No. 1 is Vijay? Because Vijay, you left a name in the nest anonymous post?

Chez said...

As i said b4.. stick to laptop.. and a decent one like IBM/Compaq or something like tht. as i said b4 if u r an ordinary user tech-intensive apple isnt ur thing. i'd suggest u try Kribs or even ARR for advice, if u r goin to buy in India.

If u really like Apple very much or having a strong urge to go in for it then just go for it.. its after all we who are going to use our laptop. why crib on something after not deciding to buy it??

Gnana Kirukan said...

Y not a SONY Vaio - Its elegant, beautiful and awesome - and more than that reliable! Sony rocks!!

Anonymous said...

I think u should work on apple powerbook , imac is a nice computer i use MAC Os X, and there is many software and for everythingthe aspect of the laptop is super and its in color : orange, green, blue etc..
Finaly IMAC Is the Best Computer :P

Vaibhav Arora said...

Chinmayi,
I dont have an opinion on the notebook discussion. But, i do have one on ipod. Its a fantastic gadget and i believe it would become a cult like the walkman was - or maybe it already is.
But overall, you would do well to visit CNET asia or some such site and get the hang of other players available. Do check out the ones from iRiver. I have a small 128 mb (prehistoric - 2 year old!!) one and they make 20 GB ones too.
From what i know, you would miss the user friendliness of iPod (the wheel is missing). But two major advantages - battery life is superior far superior (for select models Iriver gives 30 hours per charge vs ipod's measly 12). Also iriver has very good sound quality and comes usually with sennheiser earphones.
Consider this, on a long haul journey - anything above 5 GBs should be fine - but on a long flight or a drive, what do you need more? Cute wheel while screaming- where's the recharge point ? :)
Second, the iriver models have some nifty attachments that let it catch your FM radio's frequency in the car and broadcast on the same -thus you can listen to it while driving. (am not entirely sure of which model / accessory enables this- but ive seen a friend use it)
True, the wheel is half the fun - but IMHO - compare apple to apple.
Haffun shoppin!
Check more reasons here http://espn.com.com/4520-6450_7-5102324-1.html

ilaiy said...

There was a good deal online @ apple if you were a student. You get a mini ipod free .. I always wanted to get a MAC. Finding software would be a big pain for it .. Just a personal opinion. and the development environment for most of open source stuff just doesnot work on a MAC. To get a tablet with Windows(eekk) i would say MAC is a better choice .. All the bast ..

B said...

I saw your question on IPOD and windows compatibility....they are compatible (using the USB 2.0 interface). I use IPOD and have windows machine (HP laptop which comes with a remote controller these days).

Sriram said...

Haven't read all comments, but I think I saw you say you've never worked on a Mac platform. it isn't a big deal. the transition is pretty easy. As for your choices, I'd suggest a laptop. If you are plannaing for some high-end stuff, I'd suggest a Sony Vaio. Tis one of the best there is :).. if u want something economical, I'd say Dell. They have some nice deals.

Anonymous said...

On the Ipod i just won a free Ipod shuffle at work and its kind of cool. Weighs less than a pack of trident chewing gum. Its a 1GB one and can store 240 songs. Trust me its the best mp3 player i have seen.

Vijay

Twin-Gemini said...

No issues between IPOD and windows. It works the same regardless of the platform (mac/windows).

Surya said...

Ask Kiruba, he bought one a few months back after posting a blog similar to yours.

Anonymous said...

Try Sony Viao.. its got good clarity and entertainment features..

You can strike a good deal by clubbing a Powerbook and iPod

Anonymous said...

Toshiba Teccra is a good one.

http://www.tabletpcreviewspot.com/price/default.asp?display=priceDetail&productFamilyID=588&productID=12979

A friend of mine has got this. Its really cool, everything you need is there :)

Kishore said...

Dropping in for the first time.. Never knew u had a blog.. :) Good going lady.. :)

Anonymous said...

Asterix fan?

Sudhamshu said...

I just bought a Toshiba laptop. Display wise they are the best and with Toshiba you get robustness so you can carry it anywhere without a sweat. Good Luck with your choice :)

Lazy Blogger said...

Dell is pretty good. You can get great deals online. If you have relatives travelling to chennai, ask them to bring one for you.

Regarding mp3 players, you dont necessarily have to get an ipod. I got a flash mp3 player for just $50 from ebay. It has 512 mb memory, so i store my music collection on my harddrive and just copy a 100 songs that i want to listen to. This player is tiny (as big as a chewing gum packet) and just plugs into the usb of my computer. it also doubles as a flash memory storage device. You can get more sophisticated ones for between 100-150$, instead of overpriced ipods (i think creative makes a good one) Here is lazygeek's review on the creative mp3 player http://www.lazygeek.net/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/781

Anonymous said...

Simple: Apple Macbook Pro

Social Network said...

hi chimaye,

wie ghets ?.. ich bin dinesh von detuschland. du kannst eine laptop kaufen.das ist besser. ich habe DELL laptop, das functionert gut und das ist besser für deine requirement.

aufwiedersehen,

Dinesh.