How to answer: "macs too heavy" issue

[clifflui]

I am persuading a female friend to buy a mac to replace her IBM notebook. She, like most girls in Hong Kong/China is smaller than most Caucasians, so she told me that she would not go ahead since the macbook is too heavy. Of course, she also told me that the Chinese input method of MacOS is not as user-friendly as that of Windows.

As I type Chinese myself, I can say that the Chinese input method is indeed not as advanced as Windows. On the Mac, each Chinese character must be input individually, whereas on Windows, you can type an entire PinYin string and it will guess the entire sentence of characters. In short, Mac Chinese input is slow.

But how do I address the issue of weight? Samsung as an example provides light, big notebooks with lots of battery juice...

 

[e²Studios]

Is 5lbs really all that heavy? To be honest i dont even realize thats its on my back at times.

Ed

 

[Bill Gates]

They're not too heavy at all. They fit snugly in their respective classes. If she's looking for something lightweight then she needs an ultraportable, or perhaps an older 12" Apple notebook.

 

[kalun]

um...tell her to get a sony? Granted, sony is insanely overpriced! However, if you are willing to fork over the money, it is a really nice system! Nice, Powerful, Light!

 

[scott523]

It'll be hard to explain to her. I personally would/will buy a MacBook. At around 5.2lb, it's considered to be neither light or heavy from most people but 5.2lb still falls in the portable category. I'm in university, several girls have MacBooks and I'd be considered to be a weakling if I ever said a MacBook was too heavy (and it isn't; I've carried far more heavier things than that in high school).

If weight is a big factor and that she says Mac OS X isn't her type, she could consider the more expensive but lightweight Sony notebooks.

 

[Koodauw]

Compared with some of the other offerings from asia, the Macbook is rather large.

Your best bet is to show how the other advantages will out weigh the cost of the heavier Macbook, keeping in mind, Apple computers are not for everyone.

 

[clifflui]

thanks all

Thanks for your input. I guess my best bet is to exercise my skills of persuasion. If that fails, I guess a Sony will fit her style.

As you may know, girls here prefer to carry chic handbags accessories rather than a notebook bag. A Dell with its associated power brick is out of the question. What is desired is a sexy computer that won't break the straps or the shoulder. So.

Macs are sexy. Sonys are too.

Personally, I'd prefer the macbook because I'm using an iBook now and to me, it is not really heavy given its characteristics.

 

[ZoomZoomZoom]

The Chinese input is a big factor. I wonder if there is any third-party software that can address this. I find that although I can make do with the OS X Chinese input, I had a much better time on my friend's Thinkpad. I was pretty impressed with that feature, and sort of hoped that someone would have adapted a version for OS X by now...

 

[solvs]

Apple might be releasing a mini laptop in Jan from what I've heard, but who knows. We don't even know when the new MacBooks and Pros and coming out. If they do, she can run Windows on them too, but it seems kinda pointless if she's just going to do that. I've used a Sony and an HP mini laptop, they aren't great, but if that's what she wants, there you go.

Kinda odd since Apple uses has lighter notebooks compared to the rest of the PC industry.

 

[PCMacUser]

Hmm, unless you have something to gain from making her buy a Mac, I would say let her buy a Sony.
Apple = sexy + light-ish
Sony = sexy + light-ish + good Chinese input.

It's a done deal in my opinion. Who cares what computer people use these days...

Edit: oh yeah I forgot... Bootcamp... That changes things a little:

Apple = sexy + light-ish + XP capable.... ahh who would've thought 2 years ago that being able to run Windows would've been considered a good thing in the Apple community ha ha ha!

 

[iVersa]

Well she can't type on it comfortably and its too heavy for her, maybe she needs something else.

 

[fatties]

Thanks for your input. I guess my best bet is to exercise my skills of persuasion. If that fails, I guess a Sony will fit her style.

As you may know, girls here prefer to carry chic handbags accessories rather than a notebook bag. A Dell with its associated power brick is out of the question. What is desired is a sexy computer that won't break the straps or the shoulder. So.

Macs are sexy. Sonys are too.

Personally, I'd prefer the macbook because I'm using an iBook now and to me, it is not really heavy given its characteristics.

personal experience- my 3 year old vaio z-1 (14 inch screen etc) is lighter than my macbook. conversely the mb fits into a handbag better than the vaio because of its shape (trust me rectangles are much better than squares).

if its the weight she is worried about then tell her it still weighs freaking less than a birkin or a roxan or any designer bag.

but ultimately i think its the typing chinese thing that would piss me off too. if she does it all the time, then may be she does need windows. may be she uses a different input method than you.

trust me, i am from hong kong and if i had to use chinese typing 24/7 i probably wont have the luxury to get a mb either (which fits into a hand bag. if you have the will you will find a way)

 

[harveypooka]

I am persuading a female friend to buy a mac to replace her IBM notebook. She, like most girls in Hong Kong/China is smaller than most Caucasians, so she told me that she would not go ahead since the macbook is too heavy. Of course, she also told me that the Chinese input method of MacOS is not as user-friendly as that of Windows.

A quick look on Macintouch and it looks as if people have had this issue already:

"OS X has full support for the following input methods: Traditional Chinese, Hanin, Cangjie, Jianyi, Dayi (Pro), Pinyin, Zhuyin"

http://www.macintouch.com/readerreports/macosx10_3_8/topic2795.html

So that's the user input solved (hopefully) and regarding the size, I didn't think they were that heavy? Best to try one out in the store and see if it's ok or get her a laptop bag?

 

[ZoomZoomZoom]

The problem with the input method is that it's not "smart pingying". (Unless if there's something I've overlooked.)

So for a sentence with less used words, say, "mu nai yi de xing zai tiao", where i'm trying to say "the mummy's heart is jumping" (song lyrics to a good song btw ) Apple would probably give me something like "mother milk one's heart is jumping" or something similar, because phonetically it sounds the same and those are probably the most common words for that sort of pingying. However, with some of the software I've seen on other keyboards, the words look like this:

If I type in "mu" it'll default to "mother". Then when I type "nai", both "mu" and "nai" will show up as "mother's milk". But once I put in "yi", the system realizes that I'm trying to type in "mummy" as a whole with the three words, and changes "mu nai yi" into "mummy".

 

[Abstract]

Well she can't type on it comfortably and its too heavy for her, maybe she needs something else.

Yeah, seriously.

I guess you can try to convince her, but what's the point of trying to convince her into buying something that's not right for her? It's not a Mac vs PC contest. They're all computers. Just let her get what she feels comfortable with. I mean, think about it. Inputting is a huge part of using a computer. If she can't type well on it, it's useless.

I know you probably love Macs, but if you successfully convince her to get something that's not the best thing for her, then you're not a good friend, and you're not a good Mac user. The last thing I want to hear about is someone who switched to Mac because her friend did some "smooth talking", and she ends up feeling that she would be happier if she had bought a Sony.

 

[clifflui]

Yes, the Sony is a good idea. Mac Chinese input is less advanced than that available in Windows. The MacBook is also heavy.
The only argument left is the time spent on virus, defrags and anti-spyware software. Since that is not my concern, I'll just let it be.

Thanks all, this thread can end...

 

[sushi]

Yes, the Sony is a good idea. Mac Chinese input is less advanced than that available in Windows. The MacBook is also heavy.
The only argument left is the time spent on virus, defrags and anti-spyware software. Since that is not my concern, I'll just let it be.

Probably a good idea. Especially since you will hear it every time she is having trouble with the Chinese input on the MacBook.

This way she can have fun with virus, trojans, worms and general WinXP stability while having a great Chinese input method!

 

[bousozoku]

I remember someone else complaining about the input method and there is one that you can add to Mac OS X that specifically was created to favour HK input.

Check these forums the thread on it.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

Don't be a blind fanboy. If the apple is not the right tool for the job, don't recomend it.

 

[iGary]

Try lifting a PM G5.

 

[Sesshi]

With machines like some Sonys and Samsungs, they're REALLY light even when packed with more gear than a Macbook or Macbook Pro. Apple aren't really the leaders of laptop engineering, although they are probably leaders in laptop design. (There's a big difference)

If your friend doesn't need a DVD-ROM all the time, then things can get seeeeeriously light. Like 1Kg. So if she considered it too heavy, then yeah it's a valid concern.

I have a Samsung laptop which I don't use very often because I like having a DVD-ROM drive with me always. But even that is pretty functional (although single-core, there might be dual-core versions out now) and mad light. And even my fully loaded 2.16 dual-core Sony SZ2VP weighs just 1.7kg real weight (not claimed weight) - and is part of the reason it's far more useful to me than a Macbook or a 15" Macbook Pro as a truly portable PC.

Put Firefox on a Windows laptop and buy a proper anti-virus / spyware software like Kaspersky + Ewido. This way you're about as likely to come up against serious virus / spyware - borne problems as on a Mac.

You do have more choice under Windows, no doubt about it. Your friend's decision lies solely with whether she likes OS X enough to lug a notably heavier laptop around with her all the time. For me, it just wasn't worth it.

 

[weijia]

I am persuading a female friend to buy a mac to replace her IBM notebook. She, like most girls in Hong Kong/China is smaller than most Caucasians, so she told me that she would not go ahead since the macbook is too heavy. Of course, she also told me that the Chinese input method of MacOS is not as user-friendly as that of Windows.

As I type Chinese myself, I can say that the Chinese input method is indeed not as advanced as Windows. On the Mac, each Chinese character must be input individually, whereas on Windows, you can type an entire PinYin string and it will guess the entire sentence of characters. In short, Mac Chinese input is slow.

But how do I address the issue of weight? Samsung as an example provides light, big notebooks with lots of battery juice...

Simplified Chinese input will input phrases as you say. Traditional Chinese input will not.

 

[generik]

Is 5lbs really all that heavy? To be honest i dont even realize thats its on my back at times.

Ed

That 500g may not seem like a lot to most 200 pound caucasion blokes, but to a 90 pound person that might be a lot of difference

The problem with the input method is that it's not "smart pingying". (Unless if there's something I've overlooked.)

So for a sentence with less used words, say, "mu nai yi de xing zai tiao", where i'm trying to say "the mummy's heart is jumping" (song lyrics to a good song btw ) Apple would probably give me something like "mother milk one's heart is jumping" or something similar, because phonetically it sounds the same and those are probably the most common words for that sort of pingying. However, with some of the software I've seen on other keyboards, the words look like this:

If I type in "mu" it'll default to "mother". Then when I type "nai", both "mu" and "nai" will show up as "mother's milk". But once I put in "yi", the system realizes that I'm trying to type in "mummy" as a whole with the three words, and changes "mu nai yi" into "mummy".

Er... what character is nai supposed to resolve to? When I read the pin yin my interpretation is exactly the same as MacOS'