Hi, I need some help on a new laptop purchase! I have an old toshiba laptop that is currency running Ubuntu 7.04. The machine is definitely on it''s last legs; I expect it to die any time within the next 3 months, probably a lot less. I''ve been looking around at laptops to replace mine when it dies, and I was surprised at the hardware in a MacBook (not pro) for the price. I am in Canada, so I am quoting the specs/prices that relate to me. This is the MacBook that I am looking at http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/canadastore.woa/61024006/wo/B15TNtnqe8KH3jHmExt10XriAfp/8.?p=0 It is $1250 (CAD), shipping included for an Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0 Ghz processor (no upgrades). The best non-Mac comparisons that I can find are: 1300 + shipping for an Intel Core Duo 1.83Ghz http://www.toshiba.ca/web/product.grp?lg=en§ion=1&group=1&product=5732&category 1400 + shipping for an Intel Core 2 Duo 1.67 Ghz http://www.toshiba.ca/web/product.grp?lg=en§ion=1&group=1&product=7211&part=6484#spectop 1330 + shipping for an Intel Core 2 Duo 1.66 Ghz http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3106996 1300 + shipping for an Intel Core 2 Duo 1.73 Ghz http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3113048 1300 + shipping for an AMD Turion 64 X2 Mobile 2.0 Ghz http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3203544 There are three common things that the PCs tend to have better than the MacBook: -More RAM (some have 2GB) -More HD space (many are 100-150 GB) -DVD-Burner I don''t think I have a problem with the RAM, but I''d like the opinion of a MacBook user: Will 1GB RAM be enough for Rails development, watching DVDs, surfing the web, and instant messaging? I may do some word precessing and spreadsheets too (OpenOffice)--but most of the big documents will be done on my desktop. I don''t about the DVD-Burner. I have one on my desktop and that is enough. Can I format a USB hard drive so that it is readable and writable by both the MacBook I am looking at and Windows XP Pro (and preferably Ubuntu 7.04)? If so, I don''t care about the HD space. Here is the really trick part of the question: Both my wife and I love Ubuntu. Both of us have used macs and don''t like the UI. So I will almost definitely erasing whatever OS comes with the laptop I buy and instead installing Ubuntu. Given the above, my decision should be based primarily on the hardware''s price/performance/reliability. Should I buy the MacBook? Here are a few other considerations: -Lighter is highly valuable - the MacBook is lighter than all the PCs i noted -Screen clarity is important - I think the MacBook is better here; can anyone confirm? -I will be doing rails development at least part time. Is it possible to dual boot Ubuntu and Mac OS X? If so, considering that I have tried and generally don''t like the OS, how valuable is booting into Mac OS X just for rails development? Currently I use jedit. It''s been great, but I don''t have the time to add all the shortcuts that seem to be built-in to TextMate -Does the MacBook I am looking at come in black? I couldn''t figure it out from the apple website. This isn''t that important, but black is much cooler. -My wife will KILL me if I make her use Mac OS X. So far I have assumed that I could install Ubuntu on it, is that assumption true? Can someone who has done it say how easy/hard it is? Thanks in advance to everyone who takes the time to reply!!! PS. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE do not make this into a Mac is better than Windows. My laptop will not have Windows (except if I have to test in Internet Explorer 6/7). --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ruby on Rails: Talk" group. To post to this group, send email to rubyonrails-talk-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rubyonrails-talk-unsubscribe-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
On Jul 2, 2007, at 11:59 PM, DyingToLearn wrote:> I don''t think I have a problem with the RAM, but I''d like the opinion > of a MacBook user: Will 1GB RAM be enough for Rails development, > watching DVDs, surfing the web, and instant messaging?No. (IMHO) That said, if you want to buy more RAM there are third-party RAM merchants (crucial.com, transintl.com) which can at least bring the cost down.> Can I format a USB hard drive so that it is readable and writable > by both the MacBook I am looking at and Windows XP Pro (and > preferably Ubuntu 7.04)? If so, I don''t care about the HD space."maybe"? IIRC OS X can read and write to FAT32 volumes. I haven''t tried it, though. but...> Here is the really trick part of the question: Both my wife and I > love Ubuntu. Both of us have used macs and don''t like the UI. So I > will almost definitely erasing whatever OS comes with the laptop I > buy and instead installing Ubuntu.In that case a Mac laptop is just a PC running Ubuntu. It has some niceties, but most of the magic is in the software. If you don''t like the software then you just paid a lot for hardware you can often get elsewhere for cheaper. As to the prior question of what you can format the disk to: if you''re running Ubuntu then the question is not whether you can format a volume so the Mac and Windows can both read it, the question is whether you can format a volume so Ubuntu and Windows can both read it. Of course this all assumes you *can* install Ubuntu on a Mac. I haven''t tried it (well, other than in Parallels) nor heard of anyone trying it, so I don''t know.> Given the above, my decision should be based primarily on the > hardware''s price/performance/reliability. Should I buy the MacBook?Are you carrying it around with you a lot? One thing to be said for the MacBooks is that they tend to be fairly rugged -- they''re a descendant of the iBook which seems to be designed to be used by drunken college students. Otherwise you''re basically buying a PC so you should be able to compare price/performance straight up.> -Lighter is highly valuable - the MacBook is lighter than all the > PCs i notedThere are dramatically lighter laptops than the MacBooks -- look at some of the Toshiba and Panasonic ultralights. Dell has a 3 lb''ish laptop. There are rumors that Apple is going to come out with an ultralight sometime soon sometime maybe. These rumors have been around since just about forever, though.> -I will be doing rails development at least part time. Is it > possible to dual boot Ubuntu and Mac OS X? If so, considering that > I have tried and generally don''t like the OS, how valuable is > booting into Mac OS X just for rails development? Currently I use > jedit. It''s been great, but I don''t have the time to add all the > shortcuts that seem to be built-in to TextMateI''m guessing it''s possible to dual boot but that''s just a guess -- I haven''t done it, nor do I know anyone that''s tried. As I mentioned, I don''t even know of anyone installing Ubuntu as a primary OS. Dual booting for nothing but development seems like kind of a pain -- I wouldn''t want to do it but YMMV.> -Does the MacBook I am looking at come in black? I couldn''t figure > it out from the apple website. This isn''t that important, but black > is much cooler.The higher end MacBook comes in black. When they first came out I compared and you could equalize the feature sets at which point black cost $150 more. I''ve heard that premium has dropped to $50 but I haven''t checked.> -My wife will KILL me if I make her use Mac OS X. So far I have > assumed that I could install Ubuntu on it, is that assumption true?Someone else will have to chime in on this.> PS. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE do not make this into a Mac is better than > Windows. My laptop will not have Windows (except if I have to test in > Internet Explorer 6/7).One way in which a Mac will be better than Windows (and Ubuntu) is that you can run a VM system on Mac OS X (Parallels or VMWare) and then put Windows and Linux in a VM on top. This lets you have Windows, Linux and Mac browsers up *at the same time* to test your Rails app. -faisal --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ruby on Rails: Talk" group. To post to this group, send email to rubyonrails-talk-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rubyonrails-talk-unsubscribe-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
Wow. Very thorough response. That is really helpful. Thank you very much! --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ruby on Rails: Talk" group. To post to this group, send email to rubyonrails-talk-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rubyonrails-talk-unsubscribe-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
Not a Mac user (yet.. it''s on the buy list as soon as I have the money) but 1GB of RAM should be *plenty* for Rails development. On my WinXP laptop I ran Visual Studio 2005, SQL Server 2005 Express, Oracle express, MySQL, Adobe Photoshop and Office 2k3 on 1GB of RAM and it never gave me any problems at all; you should be fine with 1GB. Also only a certain type of Macbook comes in black (and costs about $200 US more since it has more HD space that you can''t modify). If you didn''t see the option, then it''s not the one. I know because I''ve been looking at MacBooks myself lately :-) Hope this helps. -- Wayne http://www.rubykoolaid.com --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ruby on Rails: Talk" group. To post to this group, send email to rubyonrails-talk-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rubyonrails-talk-unsubscribe-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
On 03 Jul 2007, at 13:37, Wayne Molina wrote:> Not a Mac user (yet.. it''s on the buy list as soon as I have the > money) > but 1GB of RAM should be *plenty* for Rails development. On my WinXP > laptop I ran Visual Studio 2005, SQL Server 2005 Express, Oracle > express, MySQL, Adobe Photoshop and Office 2k3 on 1GB of RAM and it > never gave me any problems at all; you should be fine with 1GB.If you ran all of these together, memory swapping galore :-) But 1 GB of RAM on a MacBook is more than sufficient for pure Rails programming: TextMate, iTerm/Terminal, Safari, Firefox If you have plenty of other apps open all the time (like I have) such as Photoshop (big memory eater), OpenOffice (another one), Mail, Adium, iCal, iTunes, Vienna, ... then 1 GB of RAM will still do, but swapping occurs and spoiled as I am, I hate the waiting between app switches. Simply put: the more RAM, the more applications you can run at the same time without losing speed. I always put in the maximum amount of RAM possible. Best regards Peter De Berdt --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ruby on Rails: Talk" group. To post to this group, send email to rubyonrails-talk-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rubyonrails-talk-unsubscribe@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
I am using a MacBook Pro with 1GB of RAM in it, and it works just fine for Rails development. In fact, I often have Photoshop CS3, TextMate, Terminal, iTunes, Adium, Vienna, and Cyberduck all going at the same time. Along with my browser and email client. It never seems to miss a beat for me. Could it use 2GB+? Sure, it could, but the 1GB gets along just fine for me. I would think that it would be the same for the standard MacBook. --Cory On Jul 3, 8:01 am, Peter De Berdt <peter.de.be...-LPO8gxj9N8aZIoH1IeqzKA@public.gmane.org> wrote:> On 03 Jul 2007, at 13:37, Wayne Molina wrote: > > > Not a Mac user (yet.. it''s on the buy list as soon as I have the > > money) > > but 1GB of RAM should be *plenty* for Rails development. On my WinXP > > laptop I ran Visual Studio 2005, SQL Server 2005 Express, Oracle > > express, MySQL, Adobe Photoshop and Office 2k3 on 1GB of RAM and it > > never gave me any problems at all; you should be fine with 1GB. > > If you ran all of these together, memory swapping galore :-) > > But 1 GB of RAM on a MacBook is more than sufficient for pure Rails > programming: TextMate, iTerm/Terminal, Safari, Firefox > If you have plenty of other apps open all the time (like I have) such > as Photoshop (big memory eater), OpenOffice (another one), Mail, > Adium, iCal, iTunes, Vienna, ... then 1 GB of RAM will still do, but > swapping occurs and spoiled as I am, I hate the waiting between app > switches. > > Simply put: the more RAM, the more applications you can run at the > same time without losing speed. I always put in the maximum amount of > RAM possible. > > Best regards > > Peter De Berdt--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ruby on Rails: Talk" group. To post to this group, send email to rubyonrails-talk-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rubyonrails-talk-unsubscribe-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
Get the best of both worlds Dual boot system, XP and Ubuntu http://www.linuxdevcenter.com/lpt/a/6554 Setting up Rails on Ubuntu http://paulgoscicki.com/archives/2005/09/ruby-on-rails-on-ubuntu/ Did all of this this weekend and system is running great -- Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ruby on Rails: Talk" group. To post to this group, send email to rubyonrails-talk-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rubyonrails-talk-unsubscribe-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
If you got 2 GB of RAM, you could run Ubuntu, VMWare Server (now free), and Windows XP in a VM, so you''d still have access to Photoshop and the like. This means no reboots, and yes, WinXP will be slower this way, but it''s easier to do that IMO than to dual-boot. Robert On 7/3/07, Craig Cherlet <rails-mailing-list-ARtvInVfO7ksV2N9l4h3zg@public.gmane.org> wrote:> > > Get the best of both worlds > > Dual boot system, XP and Ubuntu > http://www.linuxdevcenter.com/lpt/a/6554 > > Setting up Rails on Ubuntu > http://paulgoscicki.com/archives/2005/09/ruby-on-rails-on-ubuntu/ > > Did all of this this weekend and system is running great > >-- Robert W. Oliver II CEO of OCS Solutions, Inc., Web Hosting and Development http://www.ocssolutions.com/ --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ruby on Rails: Talk" group. To post to this group, send email to rubyonrails-talk-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rubyonrails-talk-unsubscribe-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---