personal computing discussion - what fits your needs best?

[deltatahoe]

for my personal home computing, i have been using a vintage (bought in 2002) ibm thinkpad for the last eight years, and am planning for the day when it inevitably dies (although it continues to go strong). i was holding out for the new update of apple's line of laptops before making any rash decisions. i've been reading on the macrumors forum for the last few months in anticipation of the update; a couple factors have gotten me all mixed up regarding what i should do for my home computing.

first off, the introduction of the ipad forced me to really ask myself -- what are my computing needs at home (vs. work)? the more i reflected about it, the more i realized that i do very little "power" computing at home -- generally just surfing the web, looking at pictures i've taken (i'm getting more into photography), sending an odd email, etc. pretty basic stuff (which is why i have no issues with my 2002 thinkpad).

one thing i am considering is to get an ipad and either an imac or a mac mini connected to my 50" plasma. that seemed like an interesting combination, but then the more i considered the ipad, the more the macbook air seemed like a much better option (portability benefits of the ipad, but with a full keyboard and computing ability), and potentially the perfect solution to my computing needs. one thing i found particularly interesting was that people say that the macbook air is a pure pleasure to use given how light it is in your lap. however, i'm not 100% sure about the smaller screen of the macbook air (my thinkpad is 15"); given i don't travel all that much any more and most of my computing is done on the couch, i wonder if i might enjoy the extra screen real estate of the 17 macbook pro. so the trade off between the extra screen real estate of the 17" macbook pro and the lightweight factor of the macbook air is one big factor i need to figure out.

so at the end of the day, i'm all confused about what will best meet my personal computing needs, waivering between the following options: i) macbook air, ii) combination of the ipad and either an imac or a mac mini connected to my 50" plasma or iii) 17" macbook pro. and the update this tuesday just makes things worse -- i felt like it was a rather underwhelming update to the macbook pro line; the macbook air not getting an update was extremely disappointing to say the least. i'm holding out hope that they have something really special in the works for the macbook air that they will reveal at WWDC, but if i'm honest that is unlikely.

anyways, i'd be curious to hear people's thoughts on my situation, what works best for you and why, etc. i'm always impressed with the knowledge and perspective of people here on RWG, so i figured might as well put this topic up and see what comes of it.

all the best,

deltatahoe

[Nanuq]

I use an iPhone for 90% of my "non work" computing and I'm real pleased with it. There are some things it won't (easily) do so I keep a dinosaur tethered in the Man Cave too.

[vafarmer70]

I love computing discussions.

Personally I have my Macbook Air running Fedora Linux for work and compiling for Fedora. I dual boot that and Red Hat depending on what my needs are at the time.

I love the air for the portability the thing is super light, and if needed I can use an external drive for anything I need it for, but most things nowdays fit on a usb drive.

So the non internal optical drive is not an issue.

I also have a Toshiba Satellite that runs Fedora as well, the larger screen is great for movies etc. My wife uses an ibook, that I have OSX on for her.

No since in boring you with our servers etc. But they are all running either CentOS or RedHatEL.

[redwatch]

B....I share your pain to a certain degree. Here's a couple of thoughts:

1. Macbook Air - while very light weight, very underwhelmed when it comes to processing power. It is (aside from the new iPad), the slowest product Apple makes currently.

2. 17" Macbook Pro - unbelievable computing power, but just to big to be considered a laptop IMO. The thing is an absolute beast!

I personally own an older black Macbook 13" 2.4GHz 4GB RAM & 500GB 7200 RPM SATA Drive and it suits my daily needs just fine. Since I have started to get more and more into photography, I definitely miss the extra video ram that that Macbook Pro's offer. Since the new machines were announced on Tuesday, I have found myself lusting after a new 15" Macbook Pro with the 512MB Video RAM. That, to me, would fit the bill nicely for day to day home and office use. I am still thinking that down the road a 2nd Gen iPad (assuming they actually listen to the users for the next release) would be the best option for home/travel internet surfing.

Anyways, that's just my 0.02

[vafarmer70]

B....I share your pain to a certain degree. Here's a couple of thoughts:

1. Macbook Air - while very light weight, very underwhelmed when it comes to processing power. It is (aside from the new iPad), the slowest product Apple makes currently.

2. 17" Macbook Pro - unbelievable computing power, but just to big to be considered a laptop IMO. The thing is an absolute beast!

What exactly are you doing that 2.13 GHz is underpowered for? Mine does compiling just fine.

And some sacrifices had to be made to fit it all in a tiny tiny package that will fit in an envelope.

[redwatch]

For compiling I am sure it is just fine, but for anything graphics intensive, IMO, the air just doesn't cut it. And being able to fit in an envelope really is a requirement for me. My 13" macbook also fits into the same sort of envelope that Apple was advertising the Air fitting into - it just weighs more

Not knocking the Air. It has it's place, but I just feel that you should maximize your computing power when buying a new machine.

[vafarmer70]

Graphics intensive? Watching a movie, and youtube in the background? I have used mine as a DVR and hooked it up to the bigscreen with no issues at all.

I guess it depends on what you are doing. I will agree that you should maximize what you can get when you first buy something new.

The original air had some issues people were talking about with the intel graphics but with the nvidia 9400 it has not caused me any grief at all.

Cheers