The Ideal Law School Laptop Forum

[Lem37]

Whatevs, MacBook is prettier.

Having it in my room actually compels me to clean my apartment. Seriously. It's nuts.

[Aqualibrium]

so many mac fan boys and girls lol

[doyleoil]

so many mac fan boys and girls lol

a reliable machine that doesn't crash, freeze, or slow down and that maintains its battery life...what a concept (stupid bill gates)

[superflush]

Lol, it is obvious you have no idea what you are talking about.

Or, I do. The fact of the matter is that possum's point makes sense. Its a nice feature of the macbooks. And while, on a windows notebook you can tweak the settings all you want, it still doesn't work as nice as a mac. And, starting up on my windows notebook from either Hibernate or Standby takes much longer than just opening up a macbook from sleep and it being exactly where you left it.

[kiwislug]

I just got a lenovo t400 w/ battery, processor and memory upgrades and I love it. Just another vote =)

[tome]

I just got a lenovo t400 w/ battery, processor and memory upgrades and I love it. Just another vote =)

I am pretty keen on the T400, but worried about the weight. How heavy is yours, and does it feel like it will be a pain to lug around?

[leron]

Or, I do. The fact of the matter is that possum's point makes sense. Its a nice feature of the macbooks. And while, on a windows notebook you can tweak the settings all you want, it still doesn't work as nice as a mac. And, starting up on my windows notebook from either Hibernate or Standby takes much longer than just opening up a macbook from sleep and it being exactly where you left it.

i close my pc's lid and the screen goes off. i open it and the screen comes on. aside from that, i don't have to wait for anything to come back on before using it. MAGIC. considering the amount of options that you can tweak, whatever argument you have that claims macs handle battery life better with the lid closed is probably nominal.

seriously, i'd like a mac if someone gave me one and i would use it too, but i'm not going to buy one. you really do pay a price premium for them. yes, they look pretty. i'll give you that. the os looks pretty too. pc's really do not crash as much as mac fans would like to believe.

you know what else is great: you don't have to spend hours perusing messageboards to find comparable sotware such as one note or to figure out how to set up any number of other programs that are primarily made for pc's.

so how do mac fans really justify their computers? they look slick as hell. and that's perfectly alright. this is why apple is badass.

call me cheap and call me practical, but i'm going to be a poor law student and i love my pc. once i get that biglaw, i'll love me some mac.

[puppleberry finn]

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[puppleberry finn]

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[chief915]

Linux + Windows with GRUB ftw! A dual-boot linux system on good hardware (read: macbook, Toshiba r500, etc) is the ultimate setup.

[angiej]

I save everything to a flash/jump drive. I really want to start backing this up somehow . . . perhaps on a portable harddrive. How does that work? I was with the understanding that a portable harddrive just backs up everything on your computer's harddrive. How do I backup the contents of my flash drive?

[dmreust]

I do have one question for those people using Macbooks. What note taking software are you using? I have played around with One note and it seems amazing. The only dedicated note taking software I've seen for the Mac is Omni Outliner and I was considerable underwhelmed after having played with One note. Could someone please shed some light on this for me?

Just use One Note, with VMWare Fusion! (http://www.vmware.com/products/fusion/). It allows you to run Windows and/or any windows software on a Mac AND is super awesome. Make sure you have at least 2GB of RAM to make it work smoothly, but once you have that, you're golden. Plus, it has Unity Mode, which is the most exciting bit of software I've come across in the past few years.

I figured this might be the response I got. The problem I have with it is this; If I'm going to spend some extra cash to get a Macbook I want to be using OS X which is effectively the reason for having a Mac (in my mind anyway). If I'm running Windows thorugh VMWare Fusion non-stop for note taking and whatnot, I may as well just be using Windows. Besides, I assume that Windows 7 really will be a lot better. I plan to wait for the next release on the May 5th, install it on my desktop, and make my decision that way. Thanks for the reply though.

[Lem37]

locker? your law school has lockers? which law school do you go to?

The good one.

+1

Weird but true.

Most of the schools I visited had lockers - Columbia, Penn, etc. Law school books are heavy!

[chief915]

I do have one question for those people using Macbooks. What note taking software are you using? I have played around with One note and it seems amazing. The only dedicated note taking software I've seen for the Mac is Omni Outliner and I was considerable underwhelmed after having played with One note. Could someone please shed some light on this for me?

Just use One Note, with VMWare Fusion! (http://www.vmware.com/products/fusion/). It allows you to run Windows and/or any windows software on a Mac AND is super awesome. Make sure you have at least 2GB of RAM to make it work smoothly, but once you have that, you're golden. Plus, it has Unity Mode, which is the most exciting bit of software I've come across in the past few years.

I figured this might be the response I got. The problem I have with it is this; If I'm going to spend some extra cash to get a Macbook I want to be using OS X which is effectively the reason for having a Mac (in my mind anyway). If I'm running Windows thorugh VMWare Fusion non-stop for note taking and whatnot, I may as well just be using Windows. Besides, I assume that Windows 7 really will be a lot better. I plan to wait for the next release on the May 5th, install it on my desktop, and make my decision that way. Thanks for the reply though.

No, the point is you get awesome hardware, a great os (Mac OS 10), PLUS you have the option to run windows if you need too, which you probably will at some point since 97 percent of the world uses windows.
That's same reasoning behind a dual-boot linux setup, it's the best of both worlds essentially - you'll never be stuck not being able to run some software that requires windows. Basically, you're not going to be able to totally avoid windows, just due to sheer market dominance.

[JuryDueT1000]

I'm looking at the Lenovo ThinkPad X200 7454, with upgrades. Will probably cost close to $1700.

Thoughts?

[dmreust]

I do have one question for those people using Macbooks. What note taking software are you using? I have played around with One note and it seems amazing. The only dedicated note taking software I've seen for the Mac is Omni Outliner and I was considerable underwhelmed after having played with One note. Could someone please shed some light on this for me?

Just use One Note, with VMWare Fusion! (http://www.vmware.com/products/fusion/). It allows you to run Windows and/or any windows software on a Mac AND is super awesome. Make sure you have at least 2GB of RAM to make it work smoothly, but once you have that, you're golden. Plus, it has Unity Mode, which is the most exciting bit of software I've come across in the past few years.

I figured this might be the response I got. The problem I have with it is this; If I'm going to spend some extra cash to get a Macbook I want to be using OS X which is effectively the reason for having a Mac (in my mind anyway). If I'm running Windows thorugh VMWare Fusion non-stop for note taking and whatnot, I may as well just be using Windows. Besides, I assume that Windows 7 really will be a lot better. I plan to wait for the next release on the May 5th, install it on my desktop, and make my decision that way. Thanks for the reply though.

No, the point is you get awesome hardware, a great os (Mac OS 10), PLUS you have the option to run windows if you need too, which you probably will at some point since 97 percent of the world uses windows.
That's same reasoning behind a dual-boot linux setup, it's the best of both worlds essentially - you'll never be stuck not being able to run some software that requires windows. Basically, you're not going to be able to totally avoid windows, just due to sheer market dominance.

If I'm in Windows every day (practically all day) to use One Note, why not just be using a Windows based laptop anyway? It will likely be faster than running Windows through VMWare Fusion to use it anyway won't it?

[premierock]

What decent laptop can I get for $5-700

[tkj]

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[UNC2009]

What decent laptop can I get for $5-700

Samsung NC10 Netbook - $398 at SamsClub.com

[premierock]

What decent laptop can I get for $5-700

Samsung NC10 Netbook - $398 at SamsClub.com

I SAID MINIMUM $500!!!!!!!!!!

[UNC2009]

What decent laptop can I get for $5-700

Samsung NC10 Netbook - $398 at SamsClub.com

I SAID MINIMUM $500!!!!!!!!!!

No, you said minimum $5... Check it out. Contracts is going to kick your ass...

[JuryDueT1000]

What decent laptop can I get for $5-700

Samsung NC10 Netbook - $398 at SamsClub.com

I SAID MINIMUM $500!!!!!!!!!!

ha, oh lord. Actually you said $5

[premierock]

Eff the semantics. We're in a chatroom not a courtroom. But, touche my friend.

Do you use a netbook? I have poor vision and don't want carpal tunnel syndrome. Are these legitimate concerns?

[UNC2009]

Eff the semantics. We're in a chatroom not a courtroom. But, touche my friend.

Do you use a netbook? I have poor vision and don't want carpal tunnel syndrome. Are these legitimate concerns?

Yes, they are legitimate concerns. I just ordered mine. I did go to BestBuy to try them out. The keyboard on the Samsung is 93% of full-size (and just 1/2 inch smaller than my desktop keyboard at home). As for vision, I can't help you as my vision is 20/15. Ask me in December how I like it (though I know that is no help right now...).

[chief915]

I do have one question for those people using Macbooks. What note taking software are you using? I have played around with One note and it seems amazing. The only dedicated note taking software I've seen for the Mac is Omni Outliner and I was considerable underwhelmed after having played with One note. Could someone please shed some light on this for me?

I figured this might be the response I got. The problem I have with it is this; If I'm going to spend some extra cash to get a Macbook I want to be using OS X which is effectively the reason for having a Mac (in my mind anyway). If I'm running Windows thorugh VMWare Fusion non-stop for note taking and whatnot, I may as well just be using Windows. Besides, I assume that Windows 7 really will be a lot better. I plan to wait for the next release on the May 5th, install it on my desktop, and make my decision that way. Thanks for the reply though.

No, the point is you get awesome hardware, a great os (Mac OS 10), PLUS you have the option to run windows if you need too, which you probably will at some point since 97 percent of the world uses windows.
That's same reasoning behind a dual-boot linux setup, it's the best of both worlds essentially - you'll never be stuck not being able to run some software that requires windows. Basically, you're not going to be able to totally avoid windows, just due to sheer market dominance.

If I'm in Windows every day (practically all day) to use One Note, why not just be using a Windows based laptop anyway? It will likely be faster than running Windows through VMWare Fusion to use it anyway won't it?

yes