Motorists hit by card clone scam

Make credence recognised that on 23 Apr 2007 08:41:54 -0700, snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com has scripted:

they

Obviously just that.

Make credence recognised that on Mon, 23 Apr 2007 16:29:05 +0100, %steve%@malloc.co.uk (Steve Firth) has scripted:

What a wanker.

*plonk*

It can't really. You can pick a random cheap laptop with specs. that look similar on paper, but the build quality and niceties of the Apple machine put it in a different class. (My MacBook and iBook are polycarbonate shells, for example).

*shrugs*

I was trying to pick from known quality WinTel brands. Obviously I'm a bit out of date with what's considered 'quality'.

FWIW, I'd consider my IBM Thinkpad T42 (ISTR) to be in the same quality league as Mac notebooks - they are / were pretty much matched in price-point, spec. for spec., too.

Well, no. It's just comparing like for like. If you want the 'under the hood' features you get with OSX, you can't compare it with Win Vista Home Standard, which is pitched as price point similar to OSX.

So the Mac has a slightly lower resolution screen (which may or may not be actually nicer to use in the real world - one area in which Mac laptops excel is quality of displays), but the Mac is a fair bit cheaper.

Point proven, I think - especially as you can't compare Dell with Apple.

Especially because Adrian got the spec wrong and the prices wrong, the Dell M90 he quoted for doesn't appear to have a DVD rewriter or bluetooth. There's no option to add the same built in webcam, remote control, or firewire 800 as the MBP to the Dell.

For:

8x DVD rewriter IIg wireless card (not IIn as on the Apple) Internal Bluetooth 2GB RAM 160GB SATA drive 2.33GHz Core 2 Duo 1440x900 display Vista Ultimate

The Dell price is £2014+VAT (£2366.45)

For the above spec + larger 1920x1200 display the price is £2088+VAT (£2453.40)

The Apple costs £1616.17+VAT (£1,899.00)

So you pay £467.45 more for the Dell to end up with an inferior spec (slower firewire, one less firewire port, slower WiFi, lower resolution display, no webcam, no remote).

I added a Mac Mini to our bedroom Samsung HDTV, when the new OS comes out in Oct (shame on Apple!), I'm gonna replace my home office Mac Mini w/ a new one and move the old one to the kitchen HDTV where the home automation software will be installed, Indigo 2 now has a local network server though... but it will still be nice for Food Network and my network CCTV.

jay Mon Apr 23, 2007 mailto: snipped-for-privacy@mac.com

Not in too much detail, I'm not at work now ;-)

But basically I was autogenerating a batch file to do a whole heap of file system stuff and call a few intermediate processes (some XSL transforms, some third party command line tools) along the way.

I could have done it from C++ but it would have been longer, less clear and full of system() calls anyway, so why not make it a batch file and keep it simple?

(and no I'm not interested in a geeky argument, before anybody else joins in... it's done, it's quick, it's reliable, and it took far less time than the estimate. The real world wins again.)

Of course it wopuld have been a lot easier to do in bash/perl.

On Mon, 23 Apr 2007 12:49:04 +0200, in rec.travel.europe, Tim C. arranged some electrons, so they looked like this:

... Following up to Magda : ... ... >Comparing the intelligence of Mac users to that of flies... Hmm... I wouldn't step that ... >low, but... looks like someone did. ... ... Some of my best friends are Mac users (sic).

I didn't say "best". You did.

On Mon, 23 Apr 2007 12:52:01 +0200, in rec.travel.europe, Tim C. arranged some electrons, so they looked like this:

... Following up to Magda : ... ... > ... >Your IQ has just lost *at least* 10 points. ... > ... >(In this case, when you reach the bottom, you won't be able to go up... The exception to ... >the rule!) ... ... Reminds me of a joke the Austrians have: ... ... Q: What happens when an Austrian border guard crosses over into Germany? ... A: The average IQ in both countries rises.

All Mac users should go live in some Micronesian island... :))

On Mon, 23 Apr 2007 17:41:33 +0100, in rec.travel.europe, %steve%@malloc.co.uk (Steve Firth) arranged some electrons, so they looked like this:

... SteveH wrote: ... ... > Adrian wrote: ... > ... > > Steve Firth (%steve%@malloc.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they ... > > were saying : ... > > ... > > > And here we go again with PC weenies trying to claim that a ... > > > 512MB/1.2GHz/40GB 14" LCD AMD Turion laptop with cheap plastic case and ... > > > a crippled version of an OS is comparable with a Dual Core ... > > > 2GB/2.33GHz/160GB 17" laptop ... > > ... > > £1825+vat for a Dell Precision M90 to that spec with Vista Ultimate, £1780 ... > > +vat with XP Pro or Vista Business. ... > > ... > > £1650+vat for a MacBook Pro to that spec, BUT with a lower resolution ... > > (1680x1050 instead of 1920x1200) screen. ... > ... > So the Mac has a slightly lower resolution screen (which may or may not ... > be actually nicer to use in the real world - one area in which Mac ... > laptops excel is quality of displays), but the Mac is a fair bit ... > cheaper. ... > ... > Point proven, I think - especially as you can't compare Dell with Apple. ... ... Especially because Adrian got the spec wrong and the prices wrong, the ... Dell M90 he quoted for doesn't appear to have a DVD rewriter or ... bluetooth. There's no option to add the same built in webcam, remote ... control, or firewire 800 as the MBP to the Dell. ... ... For: ... ... 8x DVD rewriter ... IIg wireless card (not IIn as on the Apple) ... Internal Bluetooth ... 2GB RAM ... 160GB SATA drive ... 2.33GHz Core 2 Duo ... 1440x900 display ... Vista Ultimate ... ... The Dell price is £2014+VAT (£2366.45) ... ... For the above spec + larger 1920x1200 display the price is ... £2088+VAT (£2453.40) ... ... The Apple costs £1616.17+VAT (£1,899.00) ... ... So you pay £467.45 more for the Dell to end up with an inferior spec ... (slower firewire, one less firewire port, slower WiFi, lower resolution ... display, no webcam, no remote).

Paying for a brand is the ultimate proof of intelligence...

Ah, the sort you don't own you mean.

On Mon, 23 Apr 2007 19:32:09 +0100, in rec.travel.europe, snipped-for-privacy@malloc.co.uk (Steve Firth) arranged some electrons, so they looked like this:

... Magda wrote: ... ... > One that speaks proper English. ... ... Ah, the sort you don't own you mean.

Sorry, mommy says I'm not allowed to speak with stupid people, Mr Filth.

SteveH ( snipped-for-privacy@italiancar.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Crap. You don't buy a 17" widescreen laptop and skimp on resulution. B'sides, the MacBook screen is not high enough resolution for 1080i or

1080p HD video. The Dell is.

I've got a Dell Latitude with a 1920x1200 15.4" widescreen - and I do NOT ever want to go back to a lower-res display. Ever. Being able to have two pages of a document, side-by-side, full size, *legible* - invaluable. Not to mention the ability to have multiple apps in use.

I'd lay money on both TFTs being sourced from the exact same suppliers.

About a hundred quid cheaper, on close to two grand's worth of absolute top-of-the-range laptop.

I'd kill for Perl... even bash would have been better.

However. Customers. SyOps. You know how it is...

Oh, and the bloody consultants sticking their oar in...

She was telling you to stop talking to yourself.

Failing to read the post you are replying to is the low watermark of "intelligence."

No, nearly £500 cheaper, you didn't get the spec right.

On Mon, 23 Apr 2007 22:20:22 +0100, in rec.travel.europe, snipped-for-privacy@malloc.co.uk (Steve Firth) arranged some electrons, so they looked like this:

... Magda wrote: ... ... > On Mon, 23 Apr 2007 19:32:09 +0100, in rec.travel.europe, ... > snipped-for-privacy@malloc.co.uk (Steve Firth) arranged some electrons, so they ... > looked like this: ... > ... > ... Magda wrote: ... > ... ... > ... > One that speaks proper English. ... > ... ... > ... Ah, the sort you don't own you mean. ... > ... > Sorry, mommy says I'm not allowed to speak with stupid people, Mr Filth. ... ... She was telling you to stop talking to yourself.

No, she wasn't.