Windows 7

Marty_J · 10 December 2008 at 8:10PM

i-Citizen wrote: »

but to keep it simple I cant imagine myself buying a macbook, sure it looks good, keyboard types well etc but the majority is with windows and until everyone bats for the other team (apple) then no - the cam doesnt even work on msn lol.

Well McDonalds is the most popular restaurant in the world, but that doesn't mean you should always eat there.

And I'm pretty sure aMSN supports using your webcam with MSN. I use Skype myself.

I was quite shocked when you said buy before christmas - isnt it normal for prices to drop after christmas? this has happened since ive been born - clothes, furniture etc

I think perhaps Leopard is saying that as the pound is so weak, when retailers come to replenish their stock, they'll be paying a higher price for it, and passing it onto consumers.

i-Citizen · 10 December 2008 at 9:40PM

Marty_J wrote: »

I think perhaps Leopard is saying that as the pound is so weak, when retailers come to replenish their stock, they'll be paying a higher price for it, and passing it onto consumers.

so the best thing to do would be buy before christmas?
you see i like to save my mom and dad money :T i told my mum this and she said thats absurd lol everything falls in prices after christmas, dont read everything on the net, I was like it was because of the net (mse) that i saved you 200 quid on energy bills lol

Leopard · 11 December 2008 at 1:06AM

i-Citizen,

Please be clear on this: I never, at any stage suggested that you buy an Apple laptop. Nor do I. Apple came into the picture as part of the broader debate that your posting sparked off. But if you did decide to buy one, that's not something I would try to talk you out of, either

.You have to buy what you feel happiest with - because you're the one who will be using it.

To prices. Without wishing to be offensive in any way towards your mother, I would respectfully suggest that she has failed to grasp the fact that the basis upon which her life-long view of the world is founded has suffered a fundamental sea-change without her realising it.

Things aren't the same any more.

Last July a £ bought you over $2. Today, it bought you $1.47. That's a fall of 26% - or, to put it another way, the pound was worth 36% more last July than it was worth today.

And things will get worse - because Gordon Brown has run out of ideas and has adopted a bunker mentality almost redolent of Hitler in May 1945. He's given up, abandoned all his principles and is simply borrowing money (vast amounts of it that your generation will have to spend decades paying back) and hurling it uselessly into a bottomless pit.

And the reason that nothing he does is salvaging the value of the pound is because the rest of the world realises this.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7776462.stm

Things aren't going to get better in Britain - they're going to get worse, a lot worse. And soon. Because the value of the pound is going to continue to fall. (And remember, incidentally, that oil is priced in US dollars.)

This, however, is not a sub-forum for discussing world economics. We're here to help you decide whether or not to buy a new computer now or later.

So just ask yourself three questions:

1. How much are British stores going to have to pay (in severely devaluing £s) to restock their shelves when existing stocks run out?

2. Are people who realise this going to buy - from existing stocks - the best or the worst computers available.

3. If the former, what's going to be left for you to buy in the January sales? (And is it going to be what you want?)

There could indeed be some bargains to be had next January but what you may very well be left with is left-overs in the fridge from the Christmas turkey and left-over computers in the stores that nobody else wanted to buy.

You could, of course get some really cheap computers that are liquidated stock from traders who have gone bust. But if there's anything wrong with them, where are you going to take them back to when they fail?

I'm not trying to push you in any direction whatsoever over this purchase. All I'm trying to do is make you aware of the factors you need to take into consideration when making your own decision.

But I do assure you that your good mother's view that "that's absurd, everything falls in prices after christmas, dont read everything on the net" is based on fundamental rules that no longer apply.

We have stocked up a lot this past year on items we wanted and the things that they consume - and, having done so, we've now battened down the hatches to weather the storms ahead. Everything that we bought now costs more.

It's your call, buy whatever you wish (because you're the one who's going to have to use it for the next few years - and that's what's important), whenever you wish. I admire you (greatly and sincerely) for trying to save you parents money but next time your mother berates you with her views on the world economic situation, show her the foreign currency exchange rates, show her how many consumer goods retailers are going bust because of it and ask her how much she thinks a meal and a bottle of wine is going to cost her (in £) on holiday next year.

Hope that doesn't come across to harshly - I've tried to put it kindly - but remember the financial health warning: the value of your £ can go down, as well as collapse.

- ADDED LATER -

PS. * This * article will be appearing in The Times tomorrow (Thursday). And so will * this * one. You may wish to buy it and show them to your parents...

almillar · 11 December 2008 at 11:04AM

This has gone a long way off Windows 7, but just a wee note on the webcam thing. Microsoft are the software makers of MSN Messenger, and their Mac version is significantly behind their Windows version. Draw your own conclusions from that, but you can't really complain much since it's free. They do a good job with Office:Mac. I have got Vista installed on my MacBook Pro and can use my webcam in MSN quite nicely thank you!