Please suggect : Thinkpad or Mac mini or Mac Book ?

[din]

Confused again (as usual lol)

Requirement -

1. Least power consumption (not too much worried on the power bill, but more power outages these days )

2. Extreme Portability (traveling 300 KMs every 3 months - have two homes)

4. Main softwares that I am using - XAMPP, DW, All chat clients, Editpad, Filezilla, Firefox and Thunderbird, small multimedia softwares (nothing big or resource hungry), and majority of these are portable apps.

5. Do not need a huge screen, but something like 15/ 16 inch is quite ok.

6. USB ports - need 4 numbers

7. Need to connect to broadband all the time, in built wireless needed.

I am pretty happy with my 3 yr old Thinkpad and Infra helped me a lot by suggesting many things.

(Ref : infra_red_dude causing heavy loss to the hardware industry !!! )

That is working perfectly, I am thinking of an additional one as a backup.

Now which one I should go for ?

Option 1 - Thinkpad (yes another one, so that the old one will get company and it can have some romance ) - One of the things I never regret on buying, but not sure the present ones quality. I guess min of 2 hr battery backup (?). And power consumption low.

Option 2 - Mac mini - Power consumption low, highly portable. Need to carry LCD monitor. Already have one, so not a big problem.

Option 3 - Mac Book - Quite expensive (I agree it worth the $$$ - not sure about the backup time, those who are using it, please give some details)

Please suggest. Also, if there is any alternative option (that is not listed here), please tell me, always open to suggestions.

Thanks a lot - in advance

[m-jeri]

buy a EEEpc ..MSI wind ....Acer Aspire One...lenovo s10....

[gxsaurav]

Thinkpad U series good. Don't install all chatting clients, just install Digsby

[VarDOS]

yeah IBM ThinkPad

[din]

Thanks a lot friends. Got some info from infra as well.

While I was checking EEE PC, I saw this - EEE BOX

Thats interesting.

Anyway will check all these new options.

[infra_red_dude]

So, decided on anything Din?

[din]

No, now I am confused more lol.

Thanks a lot for the suggestions Anirudh.

I think I will go for laptop, basically it has its own backup, thats sure a plus. If I go for mac mini or EEE box, the power consumption will be less but no battery backup (of its own).

I will take a decision within 2-3 days. Will check Thinkpad prices as well.

[aryayush]

I’d say go for the MacBook.

Except for the four USB ports, it has everything you need… and, oh, soo much more. You’d have a Mac! Also, the screen is only a 13.3-inch one.

But it sure is the sexiest kid on the block.

[din]

Arya, whats the price of entry level mac book ? I mean the basic one.

[infra_red_dude]

You'd be better off buying any of the Macs from online stores as they are giving huge discounts for the prev. Macbooks. The newest versions, if I'm correct, cost a bomb in India.

[aryayush]

Originally Posted by din

Arya, whats the price of entry level mac book ? I mean the basic one.

If by basic you mean the white one, it’s about Rs. 58,800 in India, including taxes. But that’s the white one with none of the great features of the recently upgraded MacBooks. The cheapest of those, one with a “precision aluminium unibody” enclosure, glass Multi-touch buttonless trackpad, glass LED backlit display, etc. will run you about Rs. 75,800.

Here’s a detailed comparison of all the MacBooks from the current lineup. If you choose to go for the cheapest, white model, maybe you should take infra_red_dude’s advice and buy one of the recently outdated configurations being offered at huge discounts.