Another kitchen investment I recently made is to purchase a Sanyo programmable rice cooker. I eat a lot of rice and had been cooking on the stovetop, but could never get brown rice in particular to come out as well as I would like. This little rice cooker cooks it to perfection, better than restaurant quality. It also cooks porridge, oatmeal and is fully programmable…so you can dump rice in the morning, set the timer, and its ready for you when you come home so you just have to focus on the main course. Also can program porridge or oatmeal to be ready in the morning for breakfast. A huge time saver and gets used nearly daily (if not twice a day) in my kitchen.

Can’t comment about Ubuntu, but one thing’s for sure: with Linux, you’re pretty much on your own for any problems you have or apps you need, or at the whims and mercies of obnoxious people in the Linux forums. Linux brings to mind hours of endless trolling the forums using the search feature for your particular problem, or dealing with people to do you a giant favor by helping you out.

That said, I will keep in mind what Dan said, and will see if my year-old Mac Mini really becomes obsolete all too soon. From what I’ve heard, Leopard runs even faster on older hardware – that was their main focus in the release: to boost performance and remove bottlenecks.

Apple makes an excellent product. But they really make you pay for it. I have been a Senior Systems Engineer specializing in Windows products for the past 10 years or so. For my home machines I used Windows for a long time but my interest in Linux finally won out. Now I run a Windows free home because I love Ubuntu and Red Hat.

A few months ago I was teetering on the edge of buying a Macbook Pro for my home. But when I did a price comparison between Intel hardware running Mac OSX and Ubuntu, there was no comparison. I ended up buying an HP laptop with the exact same specs as a Macbook Pro and saved $1100. I immediately put Ubuntu on it as well as other open source software and use it as my main work machine. It works fine in a Windows, Linux or Mac environment and is still saving me big-time bucks.

Ubuntu is so simple to install and use, I have built several computers with it for my family members. A side benefit – the support calls from my family and friends using Ubuntu have gone WAY down!

I also enjoy the Yellow Tail merlot (Australia). It’s a great, widely available, inexpensive pick for the holidays. Sold in a 1.5 liter too.

On LED Christmas lights: great purchase. We switched last year. Actually, the fact that they don’t emit heat is much safer — and I, for one, never saw any lowering of my heat bill in December due to my Christmas lights. I did see a lowering of my electric bill last year, though, thanks to LEDs!

Thanks for a great post and for sharing some Cosumer Reports goodness.

Install ubuntu, its like buying a newer faster computer

It’s good to be back.

You might what to consider getting a Macbook instead of the Pro. The pro is quite a bit more expensive and unless you’re editing video on the go or doing a LOT of Photoshop, you won’t utilize the extra CPU power. The 17 inch screen is going to use a bit more battery power too…

Thanks for posting the important bits of CR. Looking to get a subscription this year.

Instead, you could get a vanilla MacBook. Then get an external drive for backups and a nice big screen. And put the money you save into a fund and you can get a new MacBook in a couple years.

I have to disagree with Dan. I use Linux and XP quite a lot. Linux is great, but you have to commit to lots of time tinkering to get everything you want working. XP (especially on a laptop) has the same problems as a Mac, but without the Apple innovations.

Just my two cents. And to Dan’s comment that Apple make very appealing products, yes they do but so does everyone. Well they try to it’s just that Apple is so good at it! But I know from experience of using Dells in work, they seem prone to power failures after about 18months, my first Mac (the G3 iBook) is still going strong and is used by a friend of mine daily.

It’s just that Apple is VERY good at creating product lines that expire. The people I know who use Macs complain to me the most about how there’s a new one available–if only they could afford it! The new iPod makes the old one obsolete, Leopard is better than Tiger, there’s some new innovation in the latest laptop.

The business model is to create product envy and toy-lust, and from a consumer/frugal mindset, I would recommend against becoming a part of the cycle.

For reference: I use Linux and XP Pro.