CD-R Blanks

8100. I have not really had many problems up until this point. Maybe the few problems I did have were because of this? At least it doesn't seem to be wasting discs as it ends the session before the laser touches down on the CDR.

 

The one's made in Japan are great, but look on the back of the box, if it says made in Taiwan, run like hell.

Quality control over in Taiwan really sucks.

I've found a few blanks that looked like they had holes from BB guns.

 

Any cost-effective solutions should I decide to buy a new one instead of upgrading to a Mac? I don't know if I could last that long without a burner.

 

Why are you considering "changing" to a Mac? They are no better than PCs...

 

To be quite honest, I have little experience with them. But, everyone I know that has used PCs for years and switched to Mac have nothing but great things to say about them and would never go back. Of all the people I know that have used a Mac, only one switched back to a PC because of the lack of games to play. That was really the only reason.

 

Metalbob,

Seriously, DO NOT let people sway your opinions! Investigate things yourself! But first, ask yourself if you are happy with the way Windows works. Are you comfortable with it? If you still want to go Mac, play with one first. Get a feel for one that you intend to buy. Make your decision on those answers, NOT what some converted Mac enthusiests say. They may have different needs than you do.

As I stated before, one OS is no better than the other. Decide for yourself what you want to do. If you go Mac, do it because YOU want to, NOT because your friends like them.

 

Have you had a bad experience with a Mac? I have played around with machines at computer stores and it did seem a bit awkward with a mouse with no fingerclicking and the rate at which the mouse moved across the screen was a bit slow (in proportion to the motion of my hand compared to a PC). For the most part, it seems to be somewhat similar, but with fancier graphics I guess. Unfortunately, most of the people I know that have Macs aren't people I would typically be visiting their houses (i.e. both of my bosses for starters...), so I haven't had much time to spend on them.

 

Bob,

I don't like the feel of Macs, as I am just used to Windows PCs. It's what I started with too.

As I sauid before, don't let Mac guys sway you. I used to have Mac freaks literally follow me around as soon as they found out I was in the market, telling me how bad and evil Wintel machines were, and how awful it was that they had DOS, like DOS was worst than the antichrist! Just like the Apple commercials, they used to give me half-truths and personal horror stories about PCs. And they always talked about how a four year-old could hook one up and use it out of the box. What *I* used to ask myself is that why would someone want something so dummy-proof that a foiur year-old could use it flawlessly.

Macs have just as many potential problems as Macs do.

Again, decide for yourself. If you still make the switch, fine.

But, before you go changing machines, find out why your burner is acting up. You can change a burner. You can replace a hard drive. You can reinstall software or an OS, and it's cheaper!

 

Thanks for the tip-off. Got the next-to-last pack of 100 at my local Max right after I saw your message on the last day of the sale.

Lots of rebates on lots of brands almost all the time (Sony, TDK, Imation, Philips, etc) at various stores but it's nice to get a great price on the "good" ones.

 

Here's a question, when companies switch between Japanese and Taiwanese (I think that's the right terminology...) media, do they exist as the same product line or do they all have different numbers/product names?

 

They are almost identical. Typically even the UPC is the same. You have to read the fine print.

 

Sometimes, there are very small differences in *something*.

 

I agree--a new component for a PC is cheap. If you see a local computer show in your area, go and check it out...it's an eye opener. And you can avoid the Best Buy-style Rebate Bullsh!t when you buy these at the component level. (Just avoid the generic no-name junk.) There are sometimes hardware-level problems with drives, which a little investigation will often uncover.

As someone who works on a computer all day, and hangs out on a private newsgroup server with fellow web developers, programmers and graphic artists, I can only say one thing for certain: the perfect computer does not exist ! Even the guys there who use a Mac tell us this...it's not uncommon for a lot of these shops to have three or four different operating systems running, depending on the department.

My big complaint about Apple (the company) is their often elitist attitude that their computers are the *only* thing to buy, and the others impossible to use, not to mention the cultish aspect that some users get caught up in. Their recent ads I've heard about are childish, insulting and quite frankly, look very much like a desperate last attempt to get business. They're even worse than the Dell Dude commercials.

I'd have switched to the Mac, but the hardware is just too damned expensive. I can build myself two Athlon systems for the same price, and can buy peripherals at commodity-pricing levels. Plus, I have thousands invested in software. And I still like to get my fingernails dirty...the Mac is way too 'hands off' for serious hardware and OS-level tweaking.

 

There, you have it! But again, id depends on how the USER feels using a given machine/OS.

I liked the Dell dude commercials!

 

I think we've all known this guy. Courtesy of Penny Arcade