Myself, started as an Apple geek.  My first computer (which came from my Dad) was an Apple IIe.  Dad had the Macintosh and eventually upgraded that to a Performa.

Winter of ’98, with the help of a buddy (thanks irrision) built my first computer.  Installed Win95 briefly, but quickly upgraded it to Win98.  I loved the fact that it ran on any hardware, so I was able to save a ton of money getting my own parts and building my own version of a desktop computer.

The love went from there, as a high school kid and then starting out college, kept upgrading the thing to keep it close to gamer specs.  I continued to work with Windows, advancing along with it from Win2k, WinXP, (I won’t mention WinME), and even working with Windows Server Editions.  Through my consulting job I worked with MS SQL, Server side installations of software, Active Directory, etc.  Oh and got a Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician cert.  So it is safe to say I am pretty much on the PC side of things.  Or I have been.

The home laptop is starting to age and get flakey.  So I am hoping to upgrade/replace it within the next year.  My old desktop died about a year ago and I never bothered to replace it. I was going to with a spare machine, but a friend of my Dads needed a computer, so passed it off to them.  Pulled the old hard drives, converted them to external drives and haven’t worried about it since.

So it is just the laptop I am looking at replacing.  It is no longer cost effective for me to build my own machine.  Perhaps if I were going for a top-end gaming machine I could make it worth it, but I don’t game much anymore and really am not concerned with squeaking out a few extra frames-per-second.

This is a good point to go into the Mac vs PC topic.  It really seems to come down to what you want to do on a computer, budget, and comfort.  Let’s look at some Pros and Cons for me:

PC Pros:

Long time user, advanced knowledge

Have been building/using/repairing for over a decade.

Fairly reliable, providing virus and spyware blockers are used and updated

Cheaper to buy, easy for me to maintain

Software I have is PC based, would be starting from scratch

PC Cons:

I know how they can fail, hardware and software

Viruses and spyware – constantly evolving and constantly annoying

Not cost effective to home build anymore

Don’t really game anymore

Can’t run MacOSX in virtual (easily or legally)

Mac Pros:

My Dad loves his Macbook, as I do when demoing it.

Photoshop supposedly runs better on it

Writing and photography tools have a lot of support for Mac.

The Macbook Pro’s just look really sweet

With VMWare Fusion I could run Windows in a virtual (and my windows apps)

Mac Cons:

I am not as familiar with the support (both software and hardware) with modern apple products.

Price – they are freaking expensive for a comparable PC

So, I think I am going to demo my Dads Macbook a bit more.  I need to save up anyways, my Gadget Budget is a bit low (and may be non-existent for a while).  My normal computer usage is now internet (blogging and such), writing, or photography.  So software compatibility isn’t that large of a concern to me.  In the end, despite being a PC guy for over a decade, I am contemplating going back to Mac.  Both have come a long way, but it is tempting.  I just have to get over that price thing.  (Oh and of course budget for it.)

I did find a couple of interesting articles online looking at the topic as well.  You might be interested in checking those out as well.  I will do a follow-up later once to do some more looking around, testing, and generally looking.  (Here is article 1 and here is article 2.)

Post from: Jake's Corner

Mac vs PC

For those interested in model railroading… I have a blog started for that specific hobby.  A post went up today on constructing the table/benchwork.

Frequent YouTube visitors – there is something funky going on with embedded videos, possible virus/phishing alert. (Actns/Swif.T is what it comes up as.)

Not a post, but I have been upgrading my blogs to WordPress 2.7 RC1.  I tested out the new beta versions, and really like the changes I see.  My main plugins are all working, with a couple of issues with minor ones that I just dropped anyways.

Technorati Tags: Actns/Swif.T, supergeekblog, olorinpc, wordpress, model trains

Post from: Jake's Corner

12/2 Update

Logan is a fairly recent import to ND. He is the Assistant Editor of the Jamestown Sun. (Having been Editor in Chief of The Collegian back in college at JC – I can attest that can’t be an easy job!) I find his blog well written and enjoyable. Even if you aren’t from Jamestown – stop by and take a look. You might move here and like it too.

Actually just today he was kind enough to link to this blog in a post.  Thanks Logan!

Technorati Tags: Jamestown Sun, Logan Adams, North Dakota, Jamestown, olorinpc, blogging

Post from: Jake's Corner

New link to Jake’s Corner

So what are those side project? Do they really exist? They certainly do. The most exciting one, though probably least time consuming at the moment, (overall time, not time spent thinking about it) is that a friend and I are working on writing a book together. You see, I have always wanted to write my own book, but have never really gotten far in doing so. I always get frustrated and restart it, give up, etc. Well, our theory is that together we are sparking more ideas, forcing each other to write, and generally making far more progress and either of is had individually.

Of course… my other project has far less lofty goals. World of Warcraft has indeed been taking up some of my time. It is an enjoyable game, and I have plenty of friends who play on it as well, so that makes it even more fun.

Other than those two projects though… mostly just work and dart league here in town. Dart League is going pretty well. We won our first week, and loss in a tie breaker this last monday, so the team is doing well and having a good time. Work… well I leave for Miami on Tuesday, and come back sometime on Friday. Hopefully before 6, because I was asked to fill in some on the schedule for blackjack, and I think I am supposed to be dealing blackjack at the Vic that night. Don’t really need a part time job on top of the eP thing… but its helping out, and I never was one to complain about spare cash.

Well… I think that is a general update on everything… let me know if I missed anything lol!

~Jake

Technorati Tags: Jake Barnard, Jake, Olorinpc, WoW, World of Warcraft, Jamestown, Darts, Dart League

Post from: Jake's Corner

Ok ok… blog time!

Does this stop a true geek?  Heck no!  Work is calling me (since I did let them know I may or may not be online for parts of today.) if anything comes up, but I like to be on top of things.  Check email, look for new cases, etc.  So… I hop in the Escort hit “Refresh Wireless Networks” a couple of times while I was on my way over to the hotel with wireless.  (Thanks Gladstone!)  The Jamestown Middle School apparently has wireless, didn’t know that.  I was able to hit the exchange server at work and at least get my work email.

Still… not enough… so drove the last couple of blocks and am now currently parked outside of the Gladstone hotel.  Checked the email and case queue again, all clear, flew through the personal email, hopped on messenger, and was so amused that I had to blog about it.

Well that is my funny story for today – “Leech net access, Warblog today” is the new slogan.

Technorati Tags: Jake Barnard, Olorinpc, Jamestown, Wardriving, Warblogging

Post from: Jake's Corner

Warblogging

Try it yourself!

Post from: Jake's Corner

What Sci-fi character are you?

Anywho – my new project has been to attempt to relearn programming. I remember some of the C++ and Visual Basic I learned in college… but not enough to convince myself that I know how to program. I have discovered though that I remember many of the principles involved. Paying attention to web scripts (php) probably helped here.

Anywho – I picked Java since it was based on C++ and it makes a logical transition in my brain. Part of the idea of Java is portability… and I tend to enjoy working on a variety of machine types.

So this project got me thinking, why didn’t I stick with the CS major in College? Well I didn’t like programming back then–so why do I now? I think it is because I didn’t realise how useful programming knowledge is to an IT guy. I have always been into the PC field, though more on the helpdesk side. Now that I have an IT job, while I don’t really need to do programming in my Application Support role, it would be very useful if I did know more. I have actually discovered that I am having fun attempting to teach myself Java. More fun than I had with programming in college anyways. It is the purpose I think. Now I am learning it for myself to fit a recognizable need in my IT career.

Well – that is about all I have for the moment… wish me luck on learning Java!

Technorati Tags: Jake Barnard, Olorinpc, Java, Programming, Self-Development

Post from: Jake's Corner

Java is yummy?

Yes, scary but true folks. Now that there is the event in place (Sept. 23, 2006) There is a bit of breathing space before having to really get down to the nitty gritty things of planning. Beyond having Capt. Kirk, Luke Skywalker, or a LAN party at the wedding… I have a feeling neither of those will making to the final plan… what else is there? Any nifty gadgets to make life easier?

I will also be giving planning updates on my blog now. So next post will have details of the proposal and initial planning.

Post from: Jake's Corner

Wedding Tech?

Overall a well written and thoughtful article. Selecting a linux distro isn’t as simple as it sounds, but can be a fun process. Personally I recommend having a spare computer to test on. That being said… the best method is also to imerse yourself in the distro and use it from day to day. Distro of the Month you can get a new distro once a month. A month is a decent amount of time to allow a person to test a distro out to see if they like it.

What do you folks think?

read more | digg story

Post from: Jake's Corner

Linux vs. Linux: Which Distro Should You Dump Windows For?

It is a very neat review they have posted.

Post from: Jake's Corner

Unlocking the Google Mini