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Contrary to popular belief, I am not a computer guy. Sure, I consider myself to have a basic competence with the things. On the hardware side, I have semi-built my own desktops; on the software side, I can program passably in Fortran 77, C++, Perl, and an assortment of other minor languages. Really, though, I just learn what I need to do whatever task is required of me in any given moment. I have known some true computer people -- they spend their weekends writing device drivers, just for fun!
What experience I have has been mainly within a Linux environment. I have been using Linux since about 1994 and administering Linux systems for over a decade. Although I avoid Windows whenever possible, I have certainly had my fair share of experience there, too. With Macs, not so much.
Anyway, I have two computer related questions to throw out to the collected wisdom of my gentle readership. One involves Mac hardware; the other, Windows software. One hundred points are at stake for each question -- the person with the best answer in each category walks away with them!
So, without further ado, here goes:
Question the First: What is the difference between a MacBook and a MacBook Pro. Online searches have mainly turned up two answers, neither of which is helpful. The first is simply a common statement that: "A MacBook Pro is essentially the same as a MacBook, but more powerful." Thank you, Igor. Not terribly useful; this answer screams ignorance. The other unhelpful answer is that a MacBook has a thirteen inch screen, where MacBook Pro screens start at fifteen inches. Whilst once true, this information is now obsolete. I am curious because I recently priced a MacBook and a similarly equipped MacBook Pro. With the former, I took the base system from Apple's website and simply upgraded to a 320 GB hard drive and added a three year warranty. With the latter, I configured it to the same specifications as the MacBook -- same RAM, same hard drive, same processor speed. The MacBook Pro still cost $245 more. What I want to know is this: What does one actually get for those $245? The best I can tell, you get:
Question the Second: I run a dual-boot system with Linux and Windows. Annoyingly enough, my Windows partition seems to have recently been infected with some minor, yet annoying, viruses. Adware, Google redirects -- you get the idea. I have been running various free anti-virus programs: Spybot Search & Destroy, Ad-Aware, AVG Free, and Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware. This has had varying degrees of success, purging the worst of the lot from my system. Not all of it, though. So, gentle readers, do you have a favourite free program to recommend? Or perhaps it is time to byte the bullet and purchase some digital protection? If so, what would you suggest that has been useful to you?
Remember! There are two hundred points at stake here! Think carefully and answer well!
What experience I have has been mainly within a Linux environment. I have been using Linux since about 1994 and administering Linux systems for over a decade. Although I avoid Windows whenever possible, I have certainly had my fair share of experience there, too. With Macs, not so much.
Anyway, I have two computer related questions to throw out to the collected wisdom of my gentle readership. One involves Mac hardware; the other, Windows software. One hundred points are at stake for each question -- the person with the best answer in each category walks away with them!
So, without further ado, here goes:
Question the First: What is the difference between a MacBook and a MacBook Pro. Online searches have mainly turned up two answers, neither of which is helpful. The first is simply a common statement that: "A MacBook Pro is essentially the same as a MacBook, but more powerful." Thank you, Igor. Not terribly useful; this answer screams ignorance. The other unhelpful answer is that a MacBook has a thirteen inch screen, where MacBook Pro screens start at fifteen inches. Whilst once true, this information is now obsolete. I am curious because I recently priced a MacBook and a similarly equipped MacBook Pro. With the former, I took the base system from Apple's website and simply upgraded to a 320 GB hard drive and added a three year warranty. With the latter, I configured it to the same specifications as the MacBook -- same RAM, same hard drive, same processor speed. The MacBook Pro still cost $245 more. What I want to know is this: What does one actually get for those $245? The best I can tell, you get:
- A backlit keyboard
- A firewire port
- An SD card reader
- A spiffy looking metal exterior
Question the Second: I run a dual-boot system with Linux and Windows. Annoyingly enough, my Windows partition seems to have recently been infected with some minor, yet annoying, viruses. Adware, Google redirects -- you get the idea. I have been running various free anti-virus programs: Spybot Search & Destroy, Ad-Aware, AVG Free, and Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware. This has had varying degrees of success, purging the worst of the lot from my system. Not all of it, though. So, gentle readers, do you have a favourite free program to recommend? Or perhaps it is time to byte the bullet and purchase some digital protection? If so, what would you suggest that has been useful to you?
Remember! There are two hundred points at stake here! Think carefully and answer well!
