Sick of Driving but too cheap..& who owns a mac book?

[Yankees Rule]

I need to get down from the wilmington NC area to Tampa Fl later this week its a 550 mile drive and I have plenty of time to make the trip, but would rather fly but too darn cheap to spend the money.

I mean with gasoline now down to near 2 dollars a gallon , it would cost about 100 dollars to drive there and back. to fly i need to get on southwest air out of Raleigh and for two of us its 700 dollars then a rental car, it becomes a 1000 dollar trip.... I guess I need to suck it up and drive the chariot down I95...

Oh and I need a new laptop. Anyone own a mac book??

Wait, now if I drive I save almost the cost of a new laptop... I just answered my question.. But who likes a mac over a PC and who hates the long distance driving?

 

[Moemg]

I absolutely hate long distance driving and I find it hard to believe a plane ticket to Florida costs $350 from raleigh . I'm always flying somewhere from Tampa and usually pay under $200. My laptop went last week and I went with CFB's suggestion and got a Dell Inspiron $499 at Best Buy . Every week Best Buy as an unadvertised laptop special . My daughter has a Mac and loves it but it was a lot more than I usually like to pay .

 

[DangerMouse]

Don't own a Mac book, but last month I switched from the HP desktop to a mini-Mac. Let's say after 1 month, I would never go back. The Mac product is so superior it's scary.

 

[W2R]

Are you just going to Tampa to visit Disney World? It doesn't sound like you are looking forward to the trip at all. Vacations are supposed to be fun.

I think that as Moemg points out, good laptops are available under $500. Unless you have unusually rigorous requirements for a laptop, I would suggest picking one for no more than $700 that has the features and processor that you want. Laptops are getting to be so cheap that pretty soon they are going to be throw-aways, if they aren't already.

 

[CuppaJoe]

... But who likes a mac over a PC and who hates the long distance driving?

That would be me (hopefully among many others) on both counts. I went for the MacBookPro partly as a symbol of the difference between w*rk and home (play and retirement).

As for hating long distance driving, I used to love it and hate flying: Recently took a trip and met relatives in another city. I took a one hour flight while they drove for about ten hours.

By the time they arrived, I was unpacked, relaxed, and had already taken in one of the places where locals hang out, a farmer's market with great live music and a petting zoo. They bragged that their gas cost less than my taxi fare. But when they were ready to drive back home, it was road rage.

 

[Notmuchlonger]

If its long distance driving and you stop to see things I love it. The drive straight through pure hell driving..no thanks

 

[Rambler]

I love to drive if its up to 8-9 hours or so and I don't have to do it more than one or two days. I'm a morning person and love to be driving (especially in the hills/mtns) at sunrise. I need to visit my sis in Texas sometime, but don't want to drive the 3 x 8-10hr days it would take...each way My alternative is to stop in as part of a month-6 week RV trip...sometime down the road. Until then, we fly from asia and she flies or drives from Texas to CA to see our parents.

I got a netbook for my DW for travelling. I'm going to get one for myself as well. Both our laptops are large...my 17inch screen is great for massive spreadsheets, but I love the light weight of the netbook and the ability to do most of what I want on it (email, checking in here, quick web searches, simple spreadsheet to calc something...). Dell has a new one out at 12", very thin & light, nearly like a mac air. Saw it in Tokyo when visiting there, looked it up, and found its only available in Japan right now. I want an English version so will wait and see. Since I am working still, I don't think I would go to a mac, still fearing the compatibility issues, since I work at home when I get ideas,etc.

R

 

[HFWR]

The Mac product is so superior it's scary.

If this doesn't bring CFB out of retirement, nothing will...

 

[haha]

I need to get down from the wilmington NC area to Tampa Fl later this week its a 550 mile drive and I have plenty of time to make the trip, but would rather fly but too darn cheap to spend the money.

I hope you will not be offended, but this post reminds me of "I wish I were tall, but then if I were tall I might bump my head."

Short of a transporter, I guess your choices are fairly clear.

Duh

 

[yakers]

Love driving. In late August we finished a 7 week, 8,500 mile road trip to the arctic in our Jeep. And we use Macs. I took my very old G4 Powerbook. DW has a very recent Macbook and just loves it. I was all PCs at work and Macs at home. If I have to maintain them, I want a Mac. I just wish they had a 12 inch Mac, almost went for one of those small UNIX units, I like the size and only have limited things I would use it for since I have enough other computing power.

 

[Ronstar]

I have an old powerbook and Imac G5. DW has a Macbook. She goes all over the house with it, but never leaves the house with it. Its perfect for her email and internet use - dependable.

 

[toofrugalformycat]

I'm a west-coastie, and have spent very little time on the other coast, and when I was there, I had a car. But I have to ask, there's no bus or train?
I know, dumb question, but geeze, I thought it was supposed to be civilization over there.

 

[ERD50]

Don't own a Mac book, but last month I switched from the HP desktop to a mini-Mac. Let's say after 1 month, I would never go back. The Mac product is so superior it's scary.

Curious why you say this. I'm a Mac user too, but I have not used Windows much in recent years. So I wonder what a recent switcher finds compelling. If you could give a few examples, I'd be interested.

I have noticed in a few threads over the past few months, Windows users seem to go through some great pains over things that are routine on the Mac. But I'm sure there are counter-examples of that also.

Anyhow, they just came out with their 'aluminum block' MacBooks, so the white on is on sale for $999. I know there are cheaper ones on the other side, but I still prefer the Macs, they seem to be still serviceable after many years. DD uses our old iMac G3 daily - it's almost 9 YO. Son's iBook G4 is just fine - he used it all through college, it's now 4.5 YO. Can run all the latest OS/SW no problem, as can my iMac G5. The 9YO G3 can run the next-to-latest OS, which is very, very similar to the latest. I'm actually 2 versions back, 10.3.9, just haven't had any big desire to upgrade.

If this doesn't bring CFB out of retirement, nothing will...

That's one of the reasons I didn't post anything on the subject earlier

Here - now I'll really tempt fate: And there STILL have not been any wide-spread malware attacks in OSX! (my always-included-caveat: that could change tomorrow, but I've been saying that for five years....)

-ERD50

 

[harley]

And there STILL have not been any wide-spread malware attacks in OSX! (my always-included-caveat: that could change tomorrow, but I've been saying that for five years....)

There have been plenty of vulnerabilities found for osX, just like in the underlying BSD code. I suspect the reason for the lack of widespread attacks is that most teenage script kiddies have h@rdons for MS, and spend all their time setting up botnets on easily pwned Windows boxes so they can do their little DoS attacks on whoever annoys them. That said, I prefer *nix-based systems myself. But I refuse to pay the premiums for Mac systems, when all I want is access to a few forums, email, and my fantasy football site.

 

[ERD50]

There have been plenty of vulnerabilities found for osX, just like in the underlying BSD code.

Well, that was always the argument that CFB made. And of course, he was 100% correct.

However, as you know (and he pretended not to know), there is a big difference between a vulnerability, and an actual attack.

I suspect the reason for the lack of widespread attacks is that most teenage script kiddies have h@rdons for MS, and spend all their time setting up botnets on easily pwned Windows boxes so they can do their little DoS attacks on whoever annoys them.

Exactly. And the bottom line for a user is, if I'm not getting attacks, well, then I'm not getting attacks. The reason is not really so important.

The important thing is, Mac users should not think they are invincible, they just have not been targets yet. They need to keep their guard up. I also suspect there are things about OSX that make it more secure, but that can be argued endlessly, so I prefer to stick to the facts that we know - no widespread attacks to date.

That said, I prefer *nix-based systems myself. But I refuse to pay the premiums for Mac systems, when all I want is access to a few forums, email, and my fantasy football site.

I feel the same way. I am not happy with the limited choice in Mac hardware. But I also find a lot of their included software to be pretty good, so I stick with it. If I were a bit less lazy, I'd check out some of the *nix variants. It makes a lot of sense for a lot of people.

-ERD50

 

[Gonzo]

Car Train

Have you looked into the Car Train from Lorton, Virginia to Sanford, Florida?

Auto Train - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gonzo

 

[Jeb-NY]

I love long driving trips and I love my MacBook. Our house is a MicroSoft Free Zone.

Jeb

 

[Dreamer]

My daughter has a Mac and she loves it. Her DH had a fairly new Toshiba laptop, but he quickly decided that he needed a Mac also. They love their Mac laptops and then bought a Mac desktop. They say that they will never go back. I have not used a Mac myself.

 

[Yankees Rule]

Well did the 565 mile trip down to Ocala and the 565 mile trip back up from Ocala this weekend. Nice to see my father and heck he is not getting any younger. Go see your parents if you have not seen them in a while. He is almost 80 not in great health but never complains and does some fantastic art and crafts. They have a wonderful setup in a real nice golf community in Ocala and even a saltwater hot tub in the backyard birdcage. Oh gasoline was 1.97 in south carolina. Not a drop of traffic yesterday driving north. 565 miles in 8 hours and 25 minutes. Speeding? Yes I was officer but no tickets the entire trip. I just went with the flow of traffic.