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Mac or Linux (Xubuntu)?
donut - 27/6/07 at 08:56 AM

I have cancelled my order for a Dell lappy with Vista due to bad reports on this forum and a friend who's an MS certified engineer who said vista was poop!

So what to do? I have about £500 to spend and not sure whether to go for a MAC or a linux based system.

All i want to use it for is:

Word (or office - I hear Open Office works on Xubuntu)
Web brousing
Photoshop (Gimp or whatever - Must be able to upload images from camera to PC)
iTunes (willing to sell ipod and get a normal MP3 player- need to be able to rip CD's to MP3. Must be able to upload to MP3 player)
possible movie maker/player

Hardwear:
Cannon MP160 printer/scanner/copier

Thats about it really. Anyone know who sells PC's with linux pre loaded? Or how would i go about getting a new PC/Laptop to work with Xubuntu?

Thanks in advance

[Edited on 27/6/07 by donut]

Humbug - 27/6/07 at 09:05 AM

Most laptops come with Windows in some form, so unless you can negotiate a discount not to have it installed, that's what you'll get.

To install Xubuntu or another Linux, you should get a "Live CD" (either buy it cheap from one of the distributors, or download the image to another PC and burn it onto a CD). If you reboot the laptop with the CD in then, assuming that you have the settings set to look for a CD during boot, it should boot into Linux from the CD. One of the options then should be to install Linux on the hard disk. If you don't care about having Windows at all, you can tell it to use the whole hard disk. There will be a few steps to reformat the disk, copy the Linux system, etc. and you might need to reboot a couple of times, but then you should have a Linux-only system.

For what you say you want to do, OpenOffice, Firefox, Gimp, some package that I remember seeing but can't remember the name of to replace iTunes should do it.

btw it would be worth donig a search to see if there is a Linux driver for your specific printer/scanner - I have PCLinuxOS installed in dual boot mode with Windows and it appears there is no driver for my Lexmark Z45.

andyharding - 27/6/07 at 09:07 AM

Once you've had Mac you never go back!

andyharding - 27/6/07 at 09:09 AM

donut - 27/6/07 at 09:16 AM

Can't afford a Mac notebook all i can afford is a mac mini



donut - 27/6/07 at 09:18 AM

quote:

mind you for surfing and stuff I might buy the wife a mac because they are mainly for the nice and simple users who cant get too technical......
Sounds like me!!

gingerprince - 27/6/07 at 11:19 AM

quote:
Originally posted by donut
I have cancelled my order for a Dell lappy with Vista due to bad reports on this forum and a friend who's an MS certified engineer who said vista was poop!


You can get selected Dell machines shipped with Ubuntu preinstalled...

http://www.dell.com/content/topics/global.as px/alliances/en/linux?c=us&cs=555&l=en&s=biz

David Jenkins - 27/6/07 at 11:40 AM

If you're buying a new machine, you don't need to use xubuntu - that's really only for resource-limited (old or small) machines.

The standard Ubuntu will be fine, or consider Mint, which is Ubuntu with enhancments that some seem to prefer.

HTH
David

craig1410 - 27/6/07 at 12:10 PM

quote:
Originally posted by CaLviNx
hahaha mac
...
they are mainly for the nice and simple users who cant get too technical......


Sorry Calvin but that is utter nonsense!

Huge numbers of professional programmers, web designers and graphic designers use Mac's because they can get more done in a day than they ever could with a PC. Obviously for professional users this brings in more money due to the increased productivity.

I am an IT Consultant and have been programming computers since before they were called PC's. I run Fedora and Ubuntu linux at home and use Windows XP and Vista at work. I have used Mac's regularly over the years and they are simply a joy to work with. In fact, I am just waiting for the imminent redesign of the Apple iMac and I will be buying one.

My advice to the OP is to go to a proper Apple store or large reseller and get a proper demo. Don't just go and poke at one in PC World for 60 sedonds - get a demo. Trust me, you won't want a PC after using a Mac!

If your budget is tight, take a look at the Apple Refurbished stock lists. You can get substantial discounts. Here is the link. Only Macbook Pro's today but keep an eye on the list as it changes regularly.

By the way - if you want to run Windows on your Mac then you can because they are Intel based these days. They are also regarded as some of the most reliable, best engineered and coolest computers you can buy! Best of both worlds!

Good luck,
Craig.

[Edited on 27/6/2007 by craig1410]

awinter - 27/6/07 at 02:46 PM

Buy a PC, from a local company that have been around a while and ask them to put XP on it. While your at it get em to install ubuntu as a dual boot option. Macs are nice toys but for what you want to use the pc for you are wasting money.
Avoid cheap crap software and XP will be fine. Ubuntu will do everything you want it to do but there can be problems.

Allan

chrsgrain - 27/6/07 at 02:49 PM

Get a Mac....

I want a computer as a tool to do the standard things - word, excel, photos, email, internet... it does it quickly, intuitively, easily and with none of the slowing down, spyware and rubbish that comes with PC. I would never go back.

Chris

britishtrident - 27/6/07 at 05:48 PM

Get a copy of Linux magazines from WH Smith you will find companies who do Linux Laptop advertising in there.

If you really want to go Linux only consider a Debian based distro --- these days that means Ubuntu or a distro based on it such as Mint Linux or Mepis.
Mint is pretty good and ready set up as a home user desktop system.

Mac have sway in the publishing field mainly from being first in that sector, make no mistake Macs are good but you pay a very large preium every time you buy software. The current Mac OS is really a version of Linux with a Mac interface.

Personally with laptop there are only four major brands I would even consider, Toshiba, Fusitsu-Siemens, Lenovo Thinkpad and Sony.
Of these Toshiba is without doubt the one that handles rough handling the best, Tosh laptops are very reliable. Sony is good but you pay for the extra bling, Thinkpads are good but more prone to case damage, Fujitsu-Siemens are very reliable and terrific value for money. Staples have terrific deals on Fujitsu-Siemens just now as do Morgan Computer co.

You could buy one and a spare hard disk, swap the disk in and load Mint Linux from cd, that way if linux dosen't like your hardware or you don't like Linux you can just swap the original hard disk back in.

craig1410 - 27/6/07 at 10:48 PM

quote:
Originally posted by britishtrident
Macs are good but you pay a very large preium every time you buy software. The current Mac OS is really a version of Linux with a Mac interface.


Not true - the "premium" you pay is nowhere near what it used to be. True you can buy cheap PC's in the same way you can buy a cheap car but you will know it's cheap by the cheap plastic, the cheap seats, the poor finish and the poor reliability. I don't want to harp on about total cost of ownership but again taking the car analogy, a cheap car won't necessarily be cheap over, say, 5 years compared to a car which costs more to buy to begin with. Mac's will last for years and still be supported and compatible with the latest Apple software. Oh and by the way, you can buy OS X for £89 inc vat whereas Vista is £295.98.

Your statement that Mac OS X is just Linux with a Mac GUI is just plain wrong. The current Mac OS is based on a BSD Unix variant from the late 1980's long before Linux was released in late 1991. It has its origins in a project called NeXTSTEP which was a ground-up, money-no-object design of an object-oriented operating system. At the time NeXTSTEP was released it was 10 years ahead of anything else and although that gap has narrowed it is still years ahead of the likes of Vista. They may look similar like Lotus Seven replica's look similar but there is a world of difference underneath!!

Sorry to get all techie but I had to correct this point.

Calvin, Just because an operating system is so easy to use that a Grandma could use it is no bad thing in my view. This just means it is well designed! Why does it need to be difficult to use to be "better"? Strange logic...

And as for the iPod - my daughter has one and it's great. The battery lasts just fine, it's not scratched despite heavy use over 2 years+ and the sound quality is great! What's not to like?

As you say, each to his/her own.
Cheers,
Craig.

[Edited on 27/6/2007 by craig1410]

donut - 28/6/07 at 06:11 AM

I have a fairly new 30Gig iPod video(3 months old) and the battery is pretty poor in my opinion. I charged it fully and played about 5 albums over a 4 day period with out keep mucking about with it and the battery is 2/3 empty. I turned the iPod off after each 'session' so no waist there and not good. Saying that the sound quality is superb and it's easy to navigate. It will be going on ebay soon to make way for a windows based jobby as i have now ordered the same laptop as before but with XP. I went for Windows again rather than MAC mainly due to a programme that i have which is not available for MAC. I'll get a MAC one day

craig1410 - 28/6/07 at 08:43 AM

Hi Andy,
To be fair, my daughter's iPod is the "Nano" variety which is music only not video so that may account for the difference. As you say though, the sound quality is excellent and the user interface is second to none. The user interface side of things always has been Apple's strong suit which is why "Granny" can send emails on a Mac no problem...

Good luck with the new laptop, good choice avoiding Vista at least! Be aware for future reference that Apple use a product called "Parallels" to allow native Windows programs to run on the Mac in a virtual windows environment. This product has reached version 3 recently and this supports 3D graphics so we should start to see even 3D games running at native windows speeds on the Mac desktop. Also, several games makers have pledged recently to make games for the Mac alongside the PC and other consoles.

I'm confident that next time you need a new laptop the case will be much much clearer that the Mac is the way to go.

Cheers,
Craig.

Keith Weiland - 28/6/07 at 07:45 PM

Ebuyer has several laptops for £299 which will do everything you want, they come with XP home or vista basic but no reason you cant install ubuntu, Mint or any other Linux on them.

Another option is to buy an Intel based laptop or PC and installing OSX on it. You can even dual or triple boot with XP/Vista and Linux. If that sounds interesting then you should look at the hardware compatability list before making your purchase.

I predict if you go with Linux Mint and install Amarok and K3B and use Open Office and learn Gimp you might just be hooked on linux, I dont think there is a better music player/organizer than Amarok on any platform at any price and K3B beats every CD/DVD burning program I have ever seen.

Also if you have a valid copy of Photoshop you can probably
get it working with Wine, I have with CS2 and earlier versions. Otherwise if you take the time to learn Gimp it will do most thing PS with do.

Another very good Photoshop alternative is Krita. Its more like photoshop than gimp but less powerful, it will do most photo editing things you will need though.