12/02   I have only used Mac laptop (powerbook).  However, I am not making
        lots of money these days and mac laptops are just too expensive.
        To those who have used both Mac and PC laptop, are there cheaper,
        faster PC laptops that are no less reliable than the powerbooks?
        Are there going to be features that I will miss if I switch, like
        target disk mode, etc?
        \_ Why don't you post your username. Maybe someone at Apple could
           get you a discount.
        \_ In my experience (have owned several Mac and PC laptops - have a
           G4 powerbook and a Dell now) they are both about as reliable,
           which is not very. I've had Sony, IBM, Toshiba, and Dell and
           four Macs in the last 7-8 years and they all had problems
           in a few years. Heck, the 17" PB went back within the first
           month I got it (dead motherboard). Apple said they had a lot of
           them back for bad screens, too.
        \_ I've owned several PC laptops. I most likely won't buy a Sony
           due to bad support. IBM is selling their PC line. Dell is
           relatively reliable and all repairs are done onsite if under
           warranty (yes they come to your house even to replace a faulty
           keyboard). If IBM weren't selling off their division I would
           recommend them, however who knows what this will do to their
           support.
           \_ Got a link to the announcement? This is very interesting.
                \_ http://tinyurl.com/6rgdw .  I like mine, but be careful
                   as ThinkPad BIOS tend to be a bit weird in some respects--
                   they're great for Windows, but I've run into tremendous
                   problems getting a real OS to run on one (primarily things
                   like ACPI, their non-keyboard buttons, etc. tend to make
                   your life difficult.)  -John
                   \_ Eh, you just don't know how to recompile the kernel
                      properly. Anyway, I wouldn't call Linux or FleaBSD
                      a "real OS". If they were a "real OS" you wouldn't
                      have to fuck around with them as much.
                      \_ I'm sorry, did you have anything of substance to
                         contribute?  I take it you've an X series handy on
                         which you've done this yourself?  No?  Oh, and NDIS
                         is great for wireless scanning?  What's that I hear?
                         No?  Oh my bad!  I suppose you'll be keeping your
                         cakehole shut then.  Go back to troll school.  -John
                         \_ not above poster, but i've installed FC3 on my
                            wife's x40 and have ACPI suspend to ram and
                            hibernate working using the hotkeys.  wireless
                            a/b/g works, but there does seem to be some
                            wonkiness w/ X resuming from hibernate on
                            occasion.
                      \_ What's a real os?
                         \_ Anything w/ DX9, how can it be a real OS if you
                            can't play HL2 on it?
        \_ You can have a base iBook for $999+tax
        \_ A decent PC laptop will cost you about $1K (probably
           more).  Don't go for the $500-$700 ones b/c you will
           probably end up with a lemon.  Everyone I know who
           bought one of the cheap dells or hps has had to send
           it in for a repair w/in the first 6 mo.
           The best PC laptop was probably a IBM ThinkPad, but
           IBM is selling thier PC business, so it might be risky
           to by a ThinkPad at this point in time. Also ThinkPads
           sometimes had problems running Linux/FreeBSD (not sure
           if you care about this).
           If you really want to look at a PC laptop, try Fujitsu.
           The LifeBook series is pretty good, and the ToughBook
           series is super rugged.
           Unless you have a specific reason for wanting a PB,
           why don't you consider an iBook. It is light, durable,
           has good battery life and is pretty cheap. If you are
           willing to go refurb you can get a 1ghz model for around
           $800, with tax, ae and extra ram you are looking at about
           $1K (about the same price as a okay PC laptop). I know
           some people complain that there is no PCMCIA slot and
           that the screen is only 12" 1024x768, but I switched from
           a PB to a 12" iBook last year (for coding and non coding
           homework) and I haven't had any problems.  In fact I like
           my iBook more than my PB b/c it is lighter, has better
           wireless reception and has much longer battery life.