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Re: Need info on ibook vs. PC portable wireless lab

At 09:23 +0800 09/23/2002, Dwight Johnson wrote:
>How do iBook and a PC notebooks compare (including service and our own tech
>supportability).
There isn't much to do with an ibook. It either runs or it doesn't, software can be reset easily to a standard configuration. I use assimilator but YMMV and there are a lot of different opinions as to how to do it best. Simple things like installing airport wireless cards are trivial. Replacing a bad LCD is probably not something you want to get into.

>What is the projected life span of an iBook compared with a PC notebook and with a desktop?
We are not a student lab, so I can't give you a lot there. We expect the ibooks to have the same 4 year replacement cycle as the rest of our machines. I *think* industry standards are 3 year cycles for wintel BUT academic institutions are always a bit slower (ie more cash starved).

>Are iBooks completely compatible with the rest of our system--e.g. yearbook lab, other labs, e-mail attachments, and so on.
Well compatibility is in the eyes of the person who can't get things to work! :-). But email attachments are always compatible. I would say that the ibook supports more formats and the problem with attachment compatibility is on the receiving end if you don't restrict yourself to the particular setup of the recipient. And this varies from wintel software to software. I have found that Eudora as an email client can seem to decode anything, but the builtin mail app is pretty darn good.

I have no idea about your yearbook lab. But the networking is standard and unless people go out of their way to adopt odd formats or standards things are compatible. File formats are cross platform for most software that is cross platform etc. CDs burned on one system can be read by any system if they are ISO format which MOST (but not all) are. In general compatiblity is VERY good. I would say mac compatibility is better than compatibility between various windows versions.

>Will we have to hire a Mac person for our staff?
Someone will have to be familiar with them. It is not hard to pick up the basic care and feeding, but there is always a learning curve. People who are familiar with one platform will be slower on the other. But our experience is that it takes less support people/computer for the mac than the wintel machines (and don't get me started on linux headaches!). You are going to have to have someone who will have knowledge of how to trouble shoot. It will be workload dependent if you need to hire more people. But any reasonably technically competent person can pick up what is needed.

>Anything else you think would be helpful to know?
There have been some price comparisons that show big price difference in terms of support costs for mac vs wintel. It was a university environment but I don't remember the details.

-Scott
--
- Dr. Scott Hannahs, Head of User Research Instrumentation -
- http:/sthmac.magnet.fsu.edu -
- National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Florida State University -
- 1800 E. Paul Dirac Dr., Tallahassee FL 32310, (850)644-0216/FAX 644-0534 -
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 >Need info on ibook vs. PC portable wireless lab (From: Dwight Johnson <email@hidden>)



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