Mobile phones & tablets thread

[Andrewmcm]

Interestingly your name didn't crop up once in my post, Daniel, so I find it hard to understand how you feel that I would be accusing you of something specific.

On this thread, and on others to do with Apple/Microsoft I have been more than happy to declare that (these days) I primarily use Apple devices as they best suit my needs. I have also stated that if my needs change in the future I will happily move to another manufacturer. I have also stated that people seeking guidance on purchasing a device should try as many as possible and then make an informed decision, rather than pay heed to the subjective experiences and biased views of posters on this (and other) forum(s).

Fanboy-ism is a waste of time. Particularly for grown adults who should be able to see past the spin and make their own minds up about things.

[donKey jote]

If you arrange a discount for Conti's then I'll get them to buy Conti's

Those were the days... I just paid 850€ for my new set. And I got them >20% cheaper on the tinternet than though our very own outlet

[Malbec]

Is that a conscious thing on Apple's part, though? Even if it is, I really don't care. Apple products suit my needs down to the ground, but in no way is this the case because of any perceived image they have. They simply do.

Which is the same in my case, at least with the desktops. I switched to Apple because they deliver exactly what I need.

Last week my 8 year old powermac died a death. I bought a new iMac, connected up the timemachine external drive and when I booted up the iMac for the first time I was asked if I wanted to restore my entire previous system. An hour of restoration after all my files, applications and preferences had been restored with only one click, no need to hunt around for disks and drivers. This kind of convenience is what makes Apples special.

I don't get this blanket "I don't see why people buy apple products" and the derision aimed at those who buy them. Nor do I understand judgmental posts like the one we saw from ioan on the previous page.

These are merely computers and phones. Different products are aimed at different parts of the market and fulfil different needs. So what? There are more interesting and exciting things in the world to get passionate about.

[Daniel]

Which is the same in my case, at least with the desktops. I switched to Apple because they deliver exactly what I need.

Last week my 8 year old powermac died a death. I bought a new iMac, connected up the timemachine external drive and when I booted up the iMac for the first time I was asked if I wanted to restore my entire previous system. An hour of restoration after all my files, applications and preferences had been restored with only one click, no need to hunt around for disks and drivers. This kind of convenience is what makes Apples special.

I don't get this blanket "I don't see why people buy apple products" and the derision aimed at those who buy them. Nor do I understand judgmental posts like the one we saw from ioan on the previous page.

These are merely computers and phones. Different products are aimed at different parts of the market and fulfil different needs. So what? There are more interesting and exciting things in the world to get passionate about.

Thing is you can do this with a Windows PC. The problem is that Microsoft barely publicise a lot of the functionality that their products offer. When I talk about a Windows Home Server I imagine people visualise some really difficult to set up thing which they simply couldn't get their head around. In reality it's just a PC running some different software and I'll wager that just about anyone on this thread could set it up. My WHS actually offers a lot more functionality than a simple backup, I can access both of our PC's from anywhere in the world and I can also access my data as well. It's completely Microsoft's fault for not really advertising what their products do which leads people to believe sometimes that Apple is the only company who offers an easy and convenient (and very useful) product like Time Machine.

"There are more interesting and exciting things in the world to get passionate about."

I really strongly disagree with that. I enjoy technology, it's not merely a tool to do my job, it IS my job. My job is to keep a small college of 200 staff and students working and make them as productive as possible. I'm not really all that passionate about the healthcare system like you might be but I'm not going to say "Why anyone would be passionate about healthcare I'll never know!!!!!". Just because you're not passionate about something doesn't mean that someone else shouldn't be passionate about it. If people weren't passionate about IT, we'd probably still have sure dire OS's as Windows 98, Windows ME or XP or pre OSX Mac OS's which IMO were terrible. I for one am glad that people want to do better. Some people like to watch trains, some people like to climb different mountains and I like technology.

[Malbec]

Thing is you can do this with a Windows PC. The problem is that Microsoft barely publicise a lot of the functionality that their products offer. When I talk about a Windows Home Server I imagine people visualise some really difficult to set up thing which they simply couldn't get their head around. In reality it's just a PC running some different software and I'll wager that just about anyone on this thread could set it up. My WHS actually offers a lot more functionality than a simple backup, I can access both of our PC's from anywhere in the world and I can also access my data as well. It's completely Microsoft's fault for not really advertising what their products do which leads people to believe sometimes that Apple is the only company who offers an easy and convenient (and very useful) product like Time Machine.

So if I attach a brand new unused machine to the Windows home server with one click it will install all the applications and preferences that were on the old pc? I'm genuinely curious.

I really strongly disagree with that. I enjoy technology, it's not merely a tool to do my job, it IS my job. My job is to keep a small college of 200 staff and students working and make them as productive as possible. I'm not really all that passionate about the healthcare system like you might be but I'm not going to say "Why anyone would be passionate about healthcare I'll never know!!!!!". Just because you're not passionate about something doesn't mean that someone else shouldn't be passionate about it. If people weren't passionate about IT, we'd probably still have sure dire OS's as Windows 98, Windows ME or XP or pre OSX Mac OS's which IMO were terrible. I for one am glad that people want to do better. Some people like to watch trains, some people like to climb different mountains and I like technology.

When people start deriding others who buy a particular product as being ignorant or unproductive then things have gone too far. Being interested in a subject is great. Being abusive or judgmental is not.

[Knock-on]

A few years ago, Private Eye ran a little item about how favourable press coverage of Apple products may have something to do with the fact that National Union of Journalists members receive a discount on items bought through the Apple store. Clearly I was meant to be disgusted by this conflict of interest, as I often am when reading reports in the Eye. However, up until then I was unaware of this offer, so, as an NUJ member, I immediately took advantage of it and bought a MacBook. Not the desired effect of the piece, granted, but I was most grateful for the tip.

PML Benny boy Come on over to the dark side

[Daniel]

So if I attach a brand new unused machine to the Windows home server with one click it will install all the applications and preferences that were on the old pc? I'm genuinely curious.

I believe that is possible yes. Chuck a cd in the disc drive and boot up off that and go into the recovery console. You'll probably run into some driver issues but nothing that couldn't be sorted easily. Personally I see it being more use from the PoV that you hard drive has just died and you can just restore the PC back to how it was before the HDD died.

[Malbec]

I believe that is possible yes. Chuck a cd in the disc drive and boot up off that and go into the recovery console. You'll probably run into some driver issues but nothing that couldn't be sorted easily. Personally I see it being more use from the PoV that you hard drive has just died and you can just restore the PC back to how it was before the HDD died.

This is the difference between MS and Apple for me.

If someone like you 'believes that is possible' then someone like me will have to spend a lot of time trawling around on the internet finding out how to do it.

To do this on the Mac all you have to do is attach an external hard drive and switch the Time Machine function on to backup the entire system.

To restore everything from an old Mac onto a brand new Mac all you have to do is plug in the external hard drive, say yes when you're asked if you want to restore an old system and select the drive you want to use. Then you go off and make some tea. Thats it.

This is all included on the basic OS and backup occurs regularly without prompting, though obviously this is the case for any backup system.

There is no need for bootup discs or driver issues. The only problem I had was with applications I had that were 32 bit specific, I had to download the 64 bit equivalents.

The ease with which this was all done is exactly why I use Macs.

[BDunnell]

Which is the same in my case, at least with the desktops. I switched to Apple because they deliver exactly what I need.

Last week my 8 year old powermac died a death. I bought a new iMac, connected up the timemachine external drive and when I booted up the iMac for the first time I was asked if I wanted to restore my entire previous system. An hour of restoration after all my files, applications and preferences had been restored with only one click, no need to hunt around for disks and drivers. This kind of convenience is what makes Apples special.

I don't get this blanket "I don't see why people buy apple products" and the derision aimed at those who buy them. Nor do I understand judgmental posts like the one we saw from ioan on the previous page.

These are merely computers and phones. Different products are aimed at different parts of the market and fulfil different needs. So what? There are more interesting and exciting things in the world to get passionate about.

I couldn't agree more with you, nor with Andrewmcm's last post. It amazes me that a discussion on what electrical goods we buy should be accompanied by such utter vitriol. Maybe I am naive.

[Andrewmcm]

I recently downgraded from Lion to Snow Leopard on my laptop as Lion is, shall we say, not the most optimised operating system at present. Boot into Recovery HD, select restore from Time Machine, pick a date from when I had Snow Leopard, and two hours later my laptop is exactly as it was in mid-July.

Related to that and more relevant to this thread is how iOS5 and Lion interact. I hope they retro-fit some features into Snow Leopard, as Snow Leopard isn't currently optimal for use on laptops that are not the current spec.