denlem

Is that like Verizons network extender, aka a Femtocell?

stangfoeva

I could start an entire thread on how terrible their CS is. Like the time we spent 1hr on the phone with a tech who's only solution was to reset the phone to factory and lose all the data on there. I played with it for 15 min and fixed it myself, thank God.

laserred38

Lol. Tech. And at least they stayed on the phone with you. One time I was at work an hour and a half after closing trying to get this customer's swapped phone to activate. Our "techs" at the apple store used to hand off so much crap to me because they were always behind (due to our managers forcing us to see walk-ins ahead of people who did it the right way and made appointments - ), and literally I was mid sentence with their "CS" rep, and she hung up. I had them on speaker because they needed to go back and forth with me and the customers, and the customers were the only ones in the store. We were appalled - so I called back, got another rep who gave us the same crap spiel (restart the phone lol) and then she hung up on us too. The customers said :fvckit: and left, had them come back the next day, return their replacement phone - their baby had dropped it and cracked it - which is highly against policy, and they bought two AT&T phones

stangfoeva

Lol typical Sprint. Did I tell you about the time they tried to bill me $6,000? No lie.

When a co-worker recently asked me if he should switch to Sprint I told him I can't recommend them lol.

Blue Notch

Went to Best Buy after work today to check out a few laptops. First of all, Windows 8 is one of the stupidest things I've ever seen. It's like they tried to take their failure of a Windows phone OS and integrate it into a PC OS. Hate the dumb squares, and it just plain confuses me. Still want to see the Dell XPS 15 in person though before I cross it off my list. The specs are everything I want in laptop (aside from the unaffordable SSD, though it comes with a 32GB SSD in addition to the HDD), but the Windows 8 and my extreme frustration with Windows keeps me from going that direction.

Compared the 15" and 13" Macbook Pros as well. Not sure if I could live with the 13" or not. It didn't feel as small as I thought it would be, but I wish it was slightly bigger. The 15" is just like my sister's, but that feels somewhat big at times. Wish there was something in between. Tried out the Air and that just feels way too thin/small. I'd be worried that I would break it or something. Plus I really want the optical drive. The MacBook Pros with the Retina display looked really nice. They were thinner than the regular Pro but not crazy thin like the Air. The display was very nice and looking at iMovie on both, there was an obvious difference in image quality. Wouldn't mind one of those, but the extreme price and lack of optical drive kill that option for me. The 13" is close in price range to the regular 15", but that's only 128GB. I feel like I'm going back in time with the super small drives. Wish SSD's weren't so small and pricey. The 512GB SSD is a $1000 option on the Pro. Regarding speed, I did a little comparing, and the Retinas with the SSDs were noticeably faster than the regular Pros, but it was maybe only like a 1/2 to 1 second difference. Might be more with heavier loads, but still not sure the jump in price is worthwhile for me.

Ideally, I'd just buy all of them and try them out for a week or two and return the ones I decide I don't like, but that's obviously not an option. lol Want to go to the Mall of America and check out the Microsoft store to see if they have an XPS 15 on display. Plus there's an Apple store pretty close by so I could check that out too. Just need to find the time!

So far what I'm looking at:

Intel Core i7 3612QM 2.5 GHz
8GB DDR3 1600MHz Memory
750 GB 7200 rpm Hard Drive + 32 GB Solid-State Drive
15-Inch Screen, 1080p
Windows 8
NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M
$1430

2.9 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i7 processor
8 GB DDR3 RAM; 750 GB Hard Drive, 5400 rpm
13.3 inch LED-backlit display, 1280-by-800 resolution
Intel HD Graphics 4000
$1420

2.3 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 processor
4GB DDR3 RAM; 500 GB Hard Drive, 5400 rpm
15.4 inch LED-backlit display, 1440-by-900 resolution
NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 512MB Graphics
$1710


Only if I sold my car...

2.6 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 processor
8 GB DDR3 RAM; 512 GB Flash Storage
15.4-inch LED-backlit Retina Display, 2880-by-1800 resolution
NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 1GB Graphics
Mac OS X v10.8 Mountain Lion, 7 Hour Battery Life
$2650

2k7gtcs

NTTAWWT

laserred38

The start up/wake from sleep times on SSDs versus HDDs are the biggest diff, and then opening/transferring huge files.

The Air is the most durable computer out there. I would cringe when customers would say they're afraid to break it. First, all the MacBook line is CNC'd from one solid block of aluminum - you can't get stronger than that. Second, the flash storage and no moving parts inside makes them extremely durable (only the little fan moves, and it's pretty much silent).

Still think the 13" Air is the best option for you. Did you play with the resolution at all? You get almost the same work area on the 13" Air as you do on the 15" Pro. I'd do the 256 Air with 8gb ram and call it a day. My buddy has that exact combo and it's a screamer. Pick up the optical drive and leave it at home to import your CDs there. I actually put my entire iTunes library on my external, so I have pretty much nothing on my 128. I really wish I had the 256, but it wasn't available back then. I also only have the 11" and I love it.

Blue Notch

If I want to watch a DVD or something when I'm away, I'd rather not have to deal with an external optical drive. Really feel like I need at least 500GB. I have a 250GB now and it's way too small. I take tons of pictures and video so it all adds up fast. Probably need an external either way, but I get sick of not having everything in one place. I'm sure it is really solid, but it just feels like it's going to break if you touch it the wrong way.

Blue Notch

Can get a 13" Air with 256GB/8GB ram for $1658 from school but it doesn't say which processor it comes with. Same configuration with i7 from apple is $1820.

laserred38

It's prob i7. That's a standard carried config. The i5 is custom order. Technically they both are, but that's one the apple stocks at the stores. I feel ya on wanting more storage internally, but I deal.

Blue Notch

It's nice and all that my school gives a discount, but with taxes, a Pro comes out $8 more than on amazon.

Blue Notch

Dumb question, but important nonetheless. Would I be able to sync music onto my non-apple mp3 player from a Mac? Are there programs I can use other than iTunes (which I hate anyways)?

laserred38

What kind of MP3 player? iTunes does suck. Especially the new one. I haven't updated to it yet, and don't plan to.

phiggs54

I wish I had not updated. Crappy new interface

laserred38

You can trash the program and download iTunes 10.7 again. Make a folder on your desktop, copy your whole library into it, trash all iTunes stuff, download the "old" version, import your library from your folder on the desktop.

Blue Notch

It's just a sony walkman. Have had it for 3.5 years and it's still going strong. I mainly use it to listen to music in the garage or when I'm at work.

laserred38

Oh ok. There def used to be software to do this, as I used to have a Sony MP3 player years ago. I don't have any idea what it was though haha, but I used it with my Mac on 10.4. Try a google search?

stupidgenius36

I'm sure it would just show up as a hard drive, so you can just drag and drop like you would any other mp3 player.

Based on price, it looks like the dell wins hands down. I've been using windows 8 for a little while now, and it does take some getting used to. If you're on a laptop, just stay away from the tiles altogether. Only use the desktop mode, and it's like windows 7 but faster.

As far as the hard drives go... get a SSD. But don't pay a ridiculous price for an "upgrade". Don't even pay for one, just buy one from newegg instead. You don't even need a huge one... buy a 1-2TB external hard drive for your old laptop, and use it for file storage.

Blue Notch

I'll look around. I'd imagine there's gotta be something out there that works. Just want to make sure though before I decide to go down that route.

Just the whole design of windows 8 is dumb. I don't like anything about it. Don't know what they were thinking.

Was looking at this last night...for roughly the same price as a 15" base macbook pro:


Intel Core™ i7-3632QM Processor (Quad-Core, 2.2GHz, 6MB Cache)
16GB Memory (DDR3, 1600MHz)
1 TB 5400 rpm Hard Drive + 128 GB Solid-State Drive
15-Inch Screen, 1080p, NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M
Windows 8

Supposedly the XPS 15 has been having issues with the wifi though. It's always something.

stupidgenius36

While I'm sure the tiles work great on a tablet, i want nothing to do with them on a laptop.

That's a pretty nice laptop. For the money, i just can't ever justify a mac. Wifi issues are often just driver related. Downloading the most recent from the actual manufacturer will usually fix it.