Pandora or laptop?


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xJuicyPhreshx

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So my birthday/Christmas is coming up, and I am going to ask for my parents to help pay for either a pandora or a laptop and I can't decide which to get...


We already had a desktop Mac, but it is getting old, and I will be getting a laptop when I graduate high school in a few years. I am not much of a PC gamer, I play minecraft and Garry's mod, otherwise I have an Xbox and iPod for gameing.


I would also like to get more into coding, which I understand that the pandora is pretty good for, also I like retro games and want to play more of them.


I would love to hear what you guys think I should do!
 
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The Pandora is only more useful than a regular laptop running GNU/Linux (preferably one that works entirely with free software, e.g. from Think Penguin, so you don't have driver or firmware issues) if you need the portability. Except for the slightly awkward special way the Pandora handles software (easily worked around by using PanDebian on an SD card), the Pandora is pretty much exactly like a smaller version of a laptop, but with gaming controls built in for gaming enthusiasts. I want to clear up that the Pandora is not especially good for coding (i.e. it's no better than a regular laptop running GNU/Linux); it's just good for it when you need something that fits in your pocket.


Retro gaming is something that the Pandora is very good at, mostly because the built-in controls mean there's no reason to carry around a separate gamepad. The controls are excellent, though the shoulder buttons could do without the clickiness that they have in my opinion.


Minecraft, on the other hand, is something that doesn't work last time I checked, and probably not Garry's Mod either. So if you want to be able to play those, you'll need a laptop (again, I really recommend you take a look at Think Penguin for your shopping if you have any intention of using GNU/Linux; some laptops and other computers make WiFi and/or 3D acceleration require proprietary firmware or drivers, and this not only can make things difficult, but also can mean that a system update down the road can break the components' function).


So really, it depends on what you want to do, and where you want to do it.
 
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My Mac will do for minecraft and Garry's mod untill I graduate, and I'm not going to be doing and "intense" coding with pandora, so I think it will work for what I need.


Thanks for the response! :)
 
xJuicyPhreshx said:
So my birthday/Christmas is coming up, and I am going to as for my parents to help pay for either a pandora or a laptop and I can't decide which to get...


We already had a desktop Mac, but it is getting old, and I will be getting a laptop when I graduate high school in a few years. I am not much of a PC gamer, I play minecraft and Garry's mod, otherwise I have an Xbox and iPod for gameing.


I would also like to get more into coding, which I understand that the pandora is pretty good for, also I like retro games and want to play more of them.


I would love to hear what you guys think I should do!
Click to expand...

Well, in all honesty, there isn't much a Pandy can do that a laptop couldn't...except, of course, fit into your pocket, and give you ten hours of battery life!


BUT...if you're getting a laptop for graduation in a couple years...well, I can't advise.
 
The Pandora can also be a conversation starter. A laptop isn't interesting to anyone.


Having a Pandora also means you can be a more involved member of this nice community of hackers.


As you're getting "more into coding", how much experience do you have so far?


What are you aiming for after high school? You say it's a few years away, but maybe you have something planned already.
 
Main question : May I ask your ( general ) age group ( nothing creepy I'll explain ) ?


I 2bit am what most people would describe as early teen , and ( here's the reason I bring it up ) find that the Pandora is a eye opener to the real ( digital ) world . And seeing how easy it is to use apple products or the Xbox you might be ( ok if you can code just the tineist bit then you are probably ahead of me ) slightly used to ... Easyness . You see the Pandora ... Caught me off my guard , here I was thinking ( Before i bought ) Ok I've downloaded stuff on my DSi and 3ds , I've taken apart a original Xbox independently ( with YouTube's help ) and seen how friendly and helpful the Pandora community is . I think I can manage . I have . But I think had i been Mabey a bit older or grown up in a tech minded house ( I shot an ak47 3 or 4 years before I had the slightest idea who Steve Jobs was ) I would have been more ... confedant in using it . I still to this very moment have a thread going in support . So ultimately the choice is yours but be prepared to work for your prize .


Minecraft : Poket edition runs through android , and they're making a version for the Raspberry Pi so there may be hope yet .


Sorry for the bad grammar and spelling . And dragging on and on .


Lastly , if you buy one it is illegal to download roms from the Internet for emulators . So if your a goody two shoes ( like me ) you'll have to rip your own roms . But you knew that .


Coincidentally I acquired a z64 today .
 
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If you want a portable gaming device the pandora is for you,


but the pandora is no working horse, too small for daily work, too unhandy for writing longer texts etc. compared to a laptop.


If you need a computer for school etc. get a laptop.
 
If you like to have a big screen, watch movies, do number crunching, have a comfortable keyboard or play high-end games: laptop!


If you like ultra-portability (pocket, not backpack; no need to bring extra game pads etc), huge battery life, retro-gaming: Pandora!


For coding both are just as good, but of course a more comfortable keyboard is nice (although in my experience, thinking speed is always slower than typing speed, even when I'm thumb-typing).
 
2bit said:
Main question : May I ask your ( general ) age group ( nothing creepy I'll explain ) ?


I 2bit am what most people would describe as early teen , and ( here's the reason I bring it up ) find that the Pandora is a eye opener to the real ( digital ) world . And seeing how easy it is to use apple products or the Xbox you might be ( ok if you can code just the tineist bit then you are probably ahead of me ) slightly used to ... Easyness . You see the Pandora ... Caught me off my guard , here I was thinking ( Before i bought ) Ok I've downloaded stuff on my DSi and 3ds , I've taken apart a original Xbox independently ( with YouTube's help ) and seen how friendly and helpful the Pandora community is . I think I can manage . I have . But I think had i been Mabey a bit older or grown up in a tech minded house ( I shot an ak47 3 or 4 years before I had the slightest idea who Steve Jobs was ) I would have been more ... confedant in using it . I still to this very moment have a thread going in support . So ultimately the choice is yours but be prepared to work for your prize .


Minecraft : Poket edition runs through android , and they're making a version for the Raspberry Pi so there may be hope yet .


Sorry for the bad grammar and spelling . And dragging on and on .


Lastly , if you buy one it is illegal to download roms from the Internet for emulators . So if your a goody two shoes ( like me ) you'll have to rip your own roms . But you knew that .


Coincidentally I acquired a z64 today .
Click to expand...

No, there ARE some ROMS it IS legal to download. they can be found. Many of them are homebrew games and apps, some of them are actually quite good.


For example you can check here:


http://pdroms.de/files


NOTE TO ALL ADMINS, THE ROM SITE I HAVE REFERENCED ABOVE IS ALL LEGAL HOMEBREW ROMS!!
 
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2bit said:
Main question : May I ask your ( general ) age group ( nothing creepy I'll explain ) ?
Click to expand...
Early/mid teen


And from what I have been hearing, the pandora seems more suited to my needs :)/>


Thank you everyone for the indepth responses!
 
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If you need a laptop for coding / writing school stuff, take a cheap AMD one. More then enough power for doing homework and a bit room for playing older games (like Doom3, Half Life 2 etc.). Costing around 300-400$. Maybe this way you can get a pandora for high mobile use and a laptop for doing your homework (maybe get the laptop later, when you enter your college phase).


One idea for your laptop: http://www.computeruniverse.net/products/90458070/lenovo-thinkpad-edge-e325-700d518.asp
 
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onpon4 said:
So if you want to be able to play those, you'll need a laptop (again, I really recommend you take a look at Think Penguin for your shopping if you have any intention of using GNU/Linux; some laptops and other computers make WiFi and/or 3D acceleration require proprietary firmware or drivers, and this not only can make things difficult, but also can mean that a system update down the road can break the components' function).
Click to expand...

I, on the other hand, would recommend you get yourself a laptop with Windows 7 installed on it before they go out of fashion now that Win8 has been released. You'll get all the games you want, and the coding environments are far better than anything you'll find on linux. Linux is ok for small portable devices, but it really isn't desktop material at all.


D.
 
ZXDunny said:
I, on the other hand, would recommend you get yourself a laptop with Windows 7 installed on it before they go out of fashion now that Win8 has been released. You'll get all the games you want, and the coding environments are far better than anything you'll find on linux. Linux is ok for small portable devices, but it really isn't desktop material at all.


D.
Click to expand...

Rofl.
 
Linux-SWAT said:
ZXDunny said:
I, on the other hand, would recommend you get yourself a laptop with Windows 7 installed on it before they go out of fashion now that Win8 has been released. You'll get all the games you want, and the coding environments are far better than anything you'll find on linux. Linux is ok for small portable devices, but it really isn't desktop material at all.


D.
Click to expand...

Rofl.
Click to expand...

:)


I actually meant every word of it. I have a few machines here - one mac (snow leopard), two debian linux laptops, a slackware 14 desktop and one Win7 laptop. Out of all of them, the Win7 lappy gets the most use - both for coding and for day-to-day use. It's far better than any of the other OS's I use.


I would not, however, recommend Win8 - it's dreadful.


D.
 
While it's more like Windows 7 than I had originally thought from screenshots, Win8 is to be avoided like the plague. Ever wonder why it's so cheap? :|


More to the point, as previously said if you desire an Open Pandora then a primary reason is likely portability. This was examined in an earlier thread where a poster by the name of johnsongrantr couldn't figure out why he should keep his unit... he never traveled, or if he did it was not without his laptop (as I recall). So that defeats the purpose of owning such a small "laptop" that's less powerful because it is so small.


PSX emulation certainly is supreme on the Pandora, due to the dedication of a couple of highly appreciated devs...
 
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