Laptop Options

Hi Steve -

As far as I’m concerned there are two types of laptops:

Those made by Apple Those made by everyone else

HPs are very good, however, and we buy lots of those. I hate Dell and have given up on them completely.

The Apple models are easy to recommend – there are only a few – but HP, eg, has hundreds of models all with subtle and obfuscating differences. Basically you have to decide what size you want (10″, 12″, 14″, 15″, 16″, 17″) & then I usually find whatever is cheapest.

Most laptops these days come with Windows Vista, which everyone hates. Windows 7 will be released shortly, but I haven’t tried it yet. We commonly perform downgrades from Vista to XP.

My general disdain for Microsoft’s operating systems stems primarily from the fact that they do not work in any way an operating system is meant to work. At all. They are insecure, unreliable, difficult to fix, difficult to troubleshoot, prone to failure, commonly crash, won’t boot, horrendously inefficient, not elegant and incompatible. They do, however, offer outstanding job security for technicians in the IT field.

I, too, have received several notices these past days for discounts on HP equipment at the HP store online. The discounts are most substantial for the ‘higher’ end laptops – those that offer features & capabilities that cost an arm & a leg and that no one ever uses. But there are some good deals there if you’re in the market. I would look for:

At least a Core 2 Duo Processor At least 3GB RAM At least a 250GB Hard Drive At least a DVD-Burner Wifi/Wecam All Standard these days

And I wouldn’t pay more than $1000 for it, either. Compare:

http://dealnews.com/HP-Pavilion-Core-2-Duo-2.1-GHz-16-Laptop-for-630-after-rebate-free-shipping/317683.html

hunter greene Brainspiral Technologies, Inc.

Time Machine Backup/Underground Cat5e/6

Hi Alex -

Just remember that the Time Machine software will ONLY work with Mac OS Leopard (10.5) or Snow Leopard (10.6). You have to perform a complete system upgrade to take advantage of this backup method if you aren’t already running one of those operating systems.

I have about 2 miles of Cat6 cable. I can drop off a box for you.

Of course Cat6 offers no advantage over Cat5e over 100ft. They can both run 1000Gbps. And unless you’ve upgraded your laptop, you don’t have a gigabit ethernet card, so you’d only be running at 100Mbps.

The more you can do, the better, if you want to maintain a specific budget.

A new 8-port gigabit switch costs about $50. A 5-port switch is about $30. The Time Capsule is also a switch and has 3 or 4 gigabit ports (depending on whether it’s being used as a router or just a bridge). It also has wireless capability.

hunter

On Sep 4, 2009, at 1:30 PM, wrote:

> Hello Hunter, > > Thanks for such a quick reply. My backup system has been a problem > for a long time now (really really slow)and I think I need to switch > to a new system. I’d like to put the time capsule up at the house, > and run a new cat6a cable to connect them, I probably need a gigabit > router and then the additional hard drive, but the one I have may > work as a backup. I think I can pull the wire and set up most of it, > but may need some help with the configuration. Is it easier or best > for you to do the full set-up, or just as easy to come in and fuss > the configuration? I haven’t bought any of the equipment yet, and > I’m clearly on a budget. > > On an associated topic, I was searching for cat 6a cable on the web > and don’t understand how the price varies so widely. Do you have > some recommended cable I can pull and you can add the connectors > later? I need about 100 feet to go in the plastic conduit > underground between the house and the studio. > > Also, after letting the website go to sleep for the year, I think > I’m back to giving it a little focus. > > Best Regards, > > Alex > > Hunter Greene wrote: >> >> Hi Alex – >> >> The Time Machine is great & works very reliably, even on a wireless >> connection. It can be configured to back up multiple machines on >> the same network. >> >> An external hard drive can be connected to the Time Machine to >> offer additional storage. >> >> The Time Machine can accommodate up to a 1TB drive with an >> additional 1TB external drive for a total storage capacity of 2TB. >> >> It can also be configured as a Wireless Access Point and/or >> Broadband Router. >> I have seen the 500GB version for less than $200. >> >> Hope that information helps – >> >> hunter greene >> Brainspiral Technologies, Inc. >> hunter@brainspiral.com >> http://brainspiral.com >> w: 413-458-5755 >> c: 413-281-4918 >> >> >> On Sep 4, 2009, at 12:40 PM, help@brainspiral.com > > wrote: >> >>> a form has been submitted on September 4, 2009, via: http://brainspiral.com/contact/ >>> [IP 69.205.56.222] >>> >>> Contact Us >>> >>> Name Alex >>> Email >>> Message Couple of questions: What do you think of the Apple time >>> machine? And can it be set up with a second back-up drive? >>> >> >

Time Machine Backup

Hi Alex -

The Time Machine is great & works very reliably, even on a wireless connection. It can be configured to back up multiple machines on the same network.

An external hard drive can be connected to the Time Machine to offer additional storage.

The Time Machine can accommodate up to a 1TB drive with an additional 1TB external drive for a total storage capacity of 2TB.

It can also be configured as a Wireless Access Point and/or Broadband Router.

I have seen the 500GB version for less than $200.

Hope that information helps -

hunter greene Brainspiral Technologies, Inc. hunter@brainspiral.com http://brainspiral.com w: 413-458-5755 c: 413-281-4918

On Sep 4, 2009, at 12:40 PM, help@brainspiral.com wrote:

> a form has been submitted on September 4, 2009, via: http://brainspiral.com/contact/ > [IP 69.205.56.222] > Contact Us > Name Alex > Email > Message Couple of questions: What do you think of the Apple time > machine? And can it be set up with a second back-up drive? > powered by cformsII