Yeah, I thought mainly about that option too.

Truth be told, the only reason I'm considering the mac mini option is, I really like the mac mini's small size. If I happen to move again, I will be able to carry it with me and not sell it and have to buy another one. Plus, it's always nice to have an uncluttered desk.
When it comes to gaming, I play fairly lightweight stuff- so I think the nVidia 9400M (which is the same as the one in the macbook pro, I assume) should be enough.

But then again, mac mini's seem like the poor man's mac- I'd be able to get better specs for the same price in a PC- so I'd like to have some feedback on their quality and overall performance for everyday stuff.

Hey guys,

So I'm going to renew my setup around may/june, since I'm going to move to another country and taking a 15+ kg desktop on a plane is a no-no, so I'll sell my current one.

I'd like to get a laptop (budget of ~$1000) and a desktop (budget of ~$600 without a screen).

I need Mac OS X (I plan to get in iPhone/iPad dev, and I owned a macbook a year or two ago, it was neat) and Windows (testing out the latest indie games, random compatibility stuff, etc.).

So I looked a bit around, here are my possibilities:

- 13" Macbook Pro, custom built desktop
- Random laptop, mac mini
- 13" Macbook Pro, mac mini, bootcamp on one of the two for windows.

What would you guys choose? Why? Mac people, any advice/feedback on the mac mini/macbook pro? Are any updates coming soon that should make me wait past a specific date? If you recommend a PC laptop, what's the good stuff below $1000?

Thanks! 

Hmm fair enough, I thought he meant browsing the web as in reading the news or such.

The games on iPhone rarely require a walkthrough though... (where can i find a walkthrough for doodle jump? :D ) even though I'm guessing the iPad will probably open the market for bigger adventure/action games (damn I'd love some Sam & Max on that thing)

So, if i want to play a game and browse the internet at the same time it's really not as convenient.

Why would you want to play a game and browse the net at the same time? Can't you just play a game, focus on it, and go on the net when you're done?

I agree with the people who said earlier that they believe "unitasking" is actually beneficial- except in the cases where you listen to music while you write an email for instance, but that's handled by the iphone.

I noticed that I tend to browse the net while watching a movie and chatting and doing tons of other stuff at the same time, and as a result i'm never truly focused on what i'm doing and don't enjoy things as much as I could, so now I try to minimize that.

does not allow you to do what you want to do on it.

What if I want to do is browse the web on a touchscreen, iBooks, etc. ? 

Don't forget that

lack of freedom

is purely subjective. I get sick of people saying "the iPad limits your freedom etc.". It does not- different people have different need. So instead of saying "the iPad limits your freedom", just say "the iPad doesn't answer all of my needs". It'll make you look less obtuse.

i like to contradict people

Fair point, those look great. However you can find examples of great artwork done in any application. Look at some of the stuff done in MSPaint. That doesn't mean that the software is not a pain to use and to achieve something like you've shown would have taken far longer than on a more suitable application. I guess if there was a stylus there would probably not be pressure sensitivity anyway, so i would still be wishing i had a cintiq!

True, but how expensive is a mid-range tablet used by professionals? I'm guessing close to the price of an iPad...clearly the iPad could not be meant as a replacement. (I remember buying my first tablet, a Wacom, I paid it 50 euros (which was fairly pricey for me, as a poor student ) and the quality was not that great.

But for most people, being able to randomly doodle on their tablet when they're bored in the train or whatever could be a nice way to stimulate that little artistic thing in them, which could lead them to better options later on.

I have used drawing software on an iphone and it's awful. There just isn't enough accuracy.

( http://www.flickr.com/groups/brushes/ and http://brushesapp.com/ )


i like to contradict people

I've been using my ipod touch for almost 2 years now, and the glass display is really good at not getting smudgy.

Plus, the backlight is strong enough to "cancel it out".

The processor is an ARM-based A4.

In other words, forget about Mac OS X on there- OS X has builds for x86, x64 (and PPC for the older versions) but no ARM.

Allen:

Well it's a netbook- even though a very polished one. So ebooks are out of the picture, no multi touch interface, average battery life, slow booting time, etc etc. But it does have a camera, a more flexible choice of OS, more hard drive space, etc.

 

  to mewse.

That's why they're heralding it as the netbook killer, not a laptop or desktop killer.

I think the reason why they're not heralding it as a laptop/desktop killer is because they already SELL laptops and desktops.

Come on Derek, you know you want to work on a Spelunky adaptation for the iPad.

Also, at the risk of sounding silly, web apps. Remember that originally Steve Jobs sold these as being the best part of the iPhone, and they don't need any kind of approval.

To those saying web apps are pointless, see Google Voice.

No, but in fields like visualization for medicine, education, etc. the iPad is going to be pretty awesome.

Can someone explain to me why it's getting so much flak for not having flash support?

People want to go on youporn.
More seriously, my bank's login page used to use flash for password input to make it more secure, but they released an iphone version since then.
So I guess in small instances like that, Flash actually is used- otherwise, I don't really see the point either.

I think it's just a matter of preference in the end- Apple's bluetooth keyboard is pretty compact. I travel quite a bit and always take my netbook with me, but I think I'd actually prefer the iPad + keyboard combination for the reasons cited in my earlier big post.

You'd have to type on a virtual keyboard and the iPad itself would be laying flat on the table, giving a bad view of the screen.

No, you'd either be using the keyboard mount stand, or a bluetooth keyboard of your choice, using the iPad's sleeve stand.

I totally see myself working on it- iWorks looks like a dream.

I think my 'meh' attitude towards it is because of Apple's claims that it's a netbook killer. They shouldn't even be mentioning netbooks when trying to market is, as that will just point out all the aspects where the iPad is inferior. Instead, compare it to the Kindle and other ebook readers (and enewspaper readers, as that's where color will be more important) and devices like the Archos. Then I can kinda start to see it's potential. But comparing it to netbooks is faulty, as netbooks are more than just media consumption devices (despite the 'net' part of the name).

It is a netbook/ereader killer, just not for the tech educated consumer.

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fgizmodo.com%2F5458531%2Fwhy-the-ipad-will-crush-netbooks-and-ebook-readers&h=76bf96dd57d8e0e701e53f64477d794d

The idea of a nice-looking $500 tablet PC seemed promising to me.  But yeah, you can't really compare it to a laptop when it can only run iTunes apps and can only run them one at a time!

Will very certainly be fixed in OS 4. As for the App Store, well it's not that much of a problem to me.

And yes, I just can't wait to see some awesome board games on that. Heck, I want to pick an iPad and an iMac just to dev for it.