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Laptop alternative to Apple

Ross Henderson

Ross Henderson

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 6, 2006
51
0
Hi. I'm looking to buy a laptop. Apple notebooks are very nice, but have far to many problems (personal experience) and don't run the BSD variant I need for work.

What other manufactuers to apple users see as good quality / value? Having used Macs all my life I would like something simular, any ideas?

Oh and I live in the UK.
 
the intel macs won't run a BSD distro? odd


that said, people have good things to say about thinkpads, but this is my first laptop.
 
Sony are making some exceptionally nice laptops at the moment. The nice thing about going Sony is that you don't give up all the pretty design that Macs have, though obviously they're not quite in the same league.

Gerra MacBook or a MBP, they'rrrre great (as Tony the Tiger would say). Surely using Parallels you could get your distro to run?
 
miniConvert said:
...Gerra MacBook or a MBP, they'rrrre great (as Tony the Tiger would say). Surely using Parallels you could get your distro to run?
Click to expand...
"They're gonna be greeat,
they're gonna be greeat,
they're gonna be AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!! *shoots work colleagues*
 
Just to add something, ThinkPads have fantastic FreeBSD support since the developers who wrote that OS use ThinkPads day in and day out.
 
We've always been happy with ThinkPad machines when OS X wasn't necessary. Sony hardware tended to be a royal pain when it came to obtaining device drivers for anything but Windows, and even sometimes with Windows.

In any case, check your OS' mailing list or Web site and see if someone else has got the combination running satisfactorily before you buy. Device drivers are a perpetual problem with new PC hardware and open source systems.
 
benthewraith said:
Thinkpads, though I don't know about the quality since Lenovo took over.
Click to expand...

Checkout this thinkpads.com forum. I know you're not going to believe me, but the quality got BETTER, altho people aren't liking the minor color changes. The ThinkPad I have has some red accents on the mouse buttons, the new ones don't.
 
strange.. everyone at my school has a thinkpad (the uni requires a laptop, and that's the one they support).. and 1) they're hideous looking and 2) they break down nonstop - it was so bad that last fall our support center ran out of loaners. perhaps it's user-inflicted, but my roommate was pretty good with computers and she was in our computer support center constantly...
 
go with a thinkpad. mine is performing very well for everything i need and they seem to have a model for every type of consumer so you're sure to find something that fits you well.
 
I have a 4 year old VAIO, a 2 year old VAIO and my girlfriend has a 5 year old VAIO. My flatmate has a 1 year old VAIO. All running perfectly.
 
Asus without a doubt

I recommend an Asus.

There are many reasons for that but I will be concise :

I have an Asus Z70Va (P-M 2.16 GHz, 2Ghz, 120Gb, Ati X700 128Mb, etc)

Case : it is really good. Actually, not a long time ago, Apple used asus
cases to build the powerbooks or ibooks. It also light (5.5 lbs).

Config : It is your choice, which is the best part. You do not get stuck
with fewer choices.

Price : It is not expensive as an IBM/Lenovo and you can build whatever
config you want. There are many online resellers which build
these machines. I am including a list at the end of this message
for you. I would avoid proprietary brands like Sony (check
other forums) but some people like their products.

Heat : My Asus Z70Va does not come any close to what a Macbook
produces. I was going to buy one Macbook but after going to
the store I decided to keep my Asus. I do not want a heater
in front of me all day long.

Linux : I am running Kubuntu (Ubuntu also works fine). Other people installed
Fedora but I just need a *nix environment to work.
To make thinges better, I have a dual boot with XP with a
common partition which shares my Firefox/Thinderbird folder (hence
no dual bookmarks or messages). Anyway, there are reports
of successfull Suse instalations either.

I was worried to buy a non-famous brand but a little Google/forums
research paid off. It is the best computer I had so far. You may want
to check other opinions but Asus is one of the best you can get.

Good luck !


www.agearnotebooks.com (I bought mine from them. Excellent services)
Geared2Play
mwave

Forums :

http://www.notebookforums.com/forum156.html
http://forum.notebookreview.com/
 
Wow. Thanks for the reply's. So the general opinion is that Sony's notebooks are comparable in looks, while perhaps Thinkpads don't share the same characteristics as apple hardware but are better for running alternative OS's, yes?

I've noticed the speeds of these machines are quite slow compared. Does anyone know if HP's are any good, they look it.

I was looking at ASUS / ACER machines and thought they were the same thing :confused: (four letter, starting with A etc. :p) I think I'll take a closer look at them.

In the remote chance you are interested in my OS. It's a modified version of OpenBSD. We get to change our graphical environment, so I'm hoping to run compiz for general usage (I want a Nvidia GPU so I can get drivers) and fluxbox when doing hardcore stuff.

Oh and I don't think my work will except parallels, too bad, as that would be my preferred option.
 
as a thinkpad owner, i feel i have a duty to convince you to buy a thinkpad because they really are the next best thing to apple (by a long shot, but still). the support is great and the computers are very thin and light but powerful. my friend's HP is good looking but bigger and clunkier and heavier. he says if he could change one thing, it would be better hardware/software integration - which we all know apple is king of but i would never suggest that with a thinkpad. they have great services built in and they work seamlessly with the hardware.

for people suggesting vaios, i can only share my experience with one. a friend has one and its hard drive has been replaced twice (sony admitted it was their fault), one of the USB ports doesn't work (sony can't figure out why) and there is something wrong with either the battery or the power adapter (i can't remember which, right now). so, he's giving up and going for a MBP after WWDC. were he getting another windows machine, he said he'd go for a thinkpad because of their quality and dependability.

and that's all i have to say about that.
 
I am typing this on a 4 month old VAIO that is crapping out-already needs a new CD drive and the darn USB ports are linked to some funky Sony "wizards" that screw things up every time I insert a jump drive. Unfortunatly, they do not have macs at my office... mine stays at home.

However, I have to agree with the Thinkpad idea. I used a T42 for 6 months prior to the VAIO and found it very reliable (as reliable as a windows machine gets).
 
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