Apple Unveils New MacBook

[Ypoknons]

Unless you travel a lot, why in the hell would you spend extra money for a laptop gaming rig, Mac or PC? Hell, I play about three games and I have a separate Winblows box for it. The laptop--and iBook G4--is for work and the Internet.

I'm a gamer, less now that I'm university. I go to NYU, but I spend the long summers back home in Hong Kong. It's really nice to have something you can just throw in a bag and fly, and I don't have to give up gaming for three months when I'm at home. Obviously it's a compromise - you're getting something that's pretty heavy for a laptop but inferior to a desktop, but I'd rather have this than splurge for two computers or cut gaming from life entirely. Gaming's a nice escape when you're tired of the real world.

[InnocentBystander]

Mobility is a joyous thing to have.

A "gaming laptop" is nowhere near as mobile as a lighter laptop. There are a few circumstances where a "gaming laptop" might be called for, but for the most part they're an unwise purchase compared to a lighter, leaner laptop coupled with a gaming desktop.

Just because it's 7 pounds or even one of the 12 pounders doesn't mean it's any less mobile.

Can you pick up your desktop, bring it into the living room and use it there? Can you head off to the train or some other form of non-you driving trip and while the time away playing computer games? Gaming laptops are no less mobile than any other, just heavier, and require a power source after an hour or so.

It's true, you cann't game away from a source of power for terribly long, but that doesn't detract from their mobility.

[Uraniun235]

Gaming laptops are no less mobile than any other, just heavier, and require a power source after an hour or so.

Sorry, but I think that pretty handily defeats the purpose of "mobility"; it greatly restricts the range to which you can independently operate the computer, which I see as a major function of laptops.

And the fact that it's so heavy does detract from it's mobility. I'm not going to want to lug around 12 pounds of laptop for a few hours just so I can play games for an hour. (I could, you know... read a book, or something that isn't so inconvenient or obscenely expensive.)

And as a matter of fact, I could pick up my computer and move it to the living room... it would just take longer. And then I'd move it back because my computer desk and chair are much more comfortable and suited to using a computer.

I mean, if you simply cannot bear the thought of being unable to play Quake 4 or whatever without being at your desk, or if having a small computer is really worth the obscene prices, then I guess throwing a wad of cash at a gaming laptop is worth it.

[Shogoki]

You might not want to lug around a 12 pound laptop, but that's just personal preferences, as counter apple-fashionable as it my sound a lot of people dont mind carrying around heavier laptops, and some actually like having bigger laptops.

A gaming laptop still provides all the functionality a light laptop provides, and then some, maybe you think a thicked laptop is ugly, gamers and power users usually don't give a damn. Lighter laptops are only superior if the person using it has no need for the extras you get from a gaming capable model. That and the usual "it's too heavy and ugly, bwaaa, i want delicate and beautiful" stuff i swear i hear every time a powerful laptop designed to be so is reviewed, like if a subjective opinion was an inherent design flaw.

Also anyone who knows anything about portable computing knows, battery life depends on what you're doing, a 1 hour life comes from pushing the hardware with complex 3d games a light laptop cant even run properly, but if all you do is browse around in the internet, the powersaving features and software are enough to give them a battery life as long or almost as long as any other laptop.

The mobility aspect is only influenced by the owner's willingness to carry the device around. And that's something you can't force unto others.

[InnocentBystander]

And as a matter of fact, I could pick up my computer and move it to the living room... it would just take longer.

You could, but you won't. Moving your desk setup is a pain in the neck; it's not really meant to be moved, and even then, you need a place to put all that "stuff", with a laptop the "stuff" is greatly minimized.

The laptop can be picked up and moved, with little hassle, to any place you want. Granted you can't go into a field and play quake as if you were at your desk; but you could go over to the armchair, or to a friend's place, or take it on the train, some spots aren't quite as good as others, but you've still got your computer there with you. Freshman and part of sophmore year I went home every weekend, or every other weekend; an hour and a half train ride each way, plus a day and a half or so at home. The mobility was very handy.

[General Zod]

Mobility is a joyous thing to have.

A "gaming laptop" is nowhere near as mobile as a lighter laptop. There are a few circumstances where a "gaming laptop" might be called for, but for the most part they're an unwise purchase compared to a lighter, leaner laptop coupled with a gaming desktop.

Just because it's 7 pounds or even one of the 12 pounders doesn't mean it's any less mobile.

Can you pick up your desktop, bring it into the living room and use it there? Can you head off to the train or some other form of non-you driving trip and while the time away playing computer games? Gaming laptops are no less mobile than any other, just heavier, and require a power source after an hour or so.

It's true, you cann't game away from a source of power for terribly long, but that doesn't detract from their mobility.

Gaming laptops also cost a considerable premium. Good luck finding one that's less than $2,000 just to play Half-Life or Quake 4. If budget's a concern, gaming laptops are out.

[Durandal]

My usual uptimes with my laptop are in the 30+ days range - usually reset due to Apple releasing an update that requires rebooting (...I'm still not quite sure why it requires a full reboot, since it's built on UNIX...but anyway).

Technically, it doesn't require a full reboot. Even if you install a new kernel extension, you can load it while the system is running, but after installing an update, I've found it's always good practice to reboot to see if it broke anything. Apple probably thinks the same thing and enforces it in their update mechanism. You always want to find out ASAP if an update will render a machine unable to boot, even if it installed and ran fine without a reboot. Trust me, it can happen.

At my previous office, I was doing some maintenance on our Gentoo Linux server. I rebooted it after making some changes to make sure that they stuck, and lo and behold, the machine refused boot. Turns out that the previous admin of the box had installed a devfs replacement back in January and never rebooted. That change broke the box and rendered it unable to find the primary hard drive device, but it was running just fine for 5 months after the update.

[rhoenix]

Technically, it doesn't require a full reboot. Even if you install a new kernel extension, you can load it while the system is running, but after installing an update, I've found it's always good practice to reboot to see if it broke anything. Apple probably thinks the same thing and enforces it in their update mechanism. You always want to find out ASAP if an update will render a machine unable to boot, even if it installed and ran fine without a reboot. Trust me, it can happen.

I do try to check carefully, and for precisely the reasons you describe.

At my previous office, I was doing some maintenance on our Gentoo Linux server.

No kidding? Awesome, I run a Gentoo Linux server at work as our intradepartmental webserver. Props to you sir, Portage is awesome.

I rebooted it after making some changes to make sure that they stuck, and lo and behold, the machine refused boot. Turns out that the previous admin of the box had installed a devfs replacement back in January and never rebooted. That change broke the box and rendered it unable to find the primary hard drive device, but it was running just fine for 5 months after the update.

I've been there, only mine was a runaway cron job. Damn I felt stupid for that, but I'm glad I made sure how to make sure it doesn't happen again.

[Ypoknons]

Sorry, but I think that pretty handily defeats the purpose of "mobility"; it greatly restricts the range to which you can independently operate the computer, which I see as a major function of laptops.

And the fact that it's so heavy does detract from it's mobility. I'm not going to want to lug around 12 pounds of laptop for a few hours just so I can play games for an hour. (I could, you know... read a book, or something that isn't so inconvenient or obscenely expensive.)

And as a matter of fact, I could pick up my computer and move it to the living room... it would just take longer. And then I'd move it back because my computer desk and chair are much more comfortable and suited to using a computer.

I mean, if you simply cannot bear the thought of being unable to play Quake 4 or whatever without being at your desk, or if having a small computer is really worth the obscene prices, then I guess throwing a wad of cash at a gaming laptop is worth it.

Let's put it this way - if I had a 10 pound XPS (I actually have a 6.6 pound M40 with a Geforce 6600 - a good compromise) I could throw it into my backpack, suffer the 10 minutes it takes for me to find a taxi to airport, suffer the half hour it takes to pass security, put it in a overhead bin on the plane, and then suffer the 10 minutes it takes for me to find a cart in the airport (immigration is a breeze to Hong Kong airport with a smart ID), then another 10 minutes to get to the airport train. Like I said before, I'm usually away for 3-4 months in Hong Kong when I study in New York, and summer is a long time to be without games. Additionally, the laptop takes up the footprint of a keyboard in the dorm room, which is always a lifesaver in cramped NYU dorms.

Sure, I could get by with a desktop, save the cash and live 3 months without games, but seriously this is way less bother.