Need some help

[Rconectn]

Ok guys I want to purchase a new laptop computer. I'm not sure what I should go for a Dell or a Mac. My good friend says he loves his Mac and that I should just purchase one because it will never get a virus or crash like Windows. On the other hand my girlfriend says that Dell's are cheaper and that's what I should get. All I really need the computer for is composing letters on a word processor, surfing the net to talk to you knuckle heads, lol and just to download music and burn CD's and DVD's. Help me out here guys, please! Im willing to spend about$1200. Thanks, CM

 

[Xav]

JMO, I wouldnt get a Dell, I am sure that many people here have different opinions, but I have had several and they arent the best. I cannot vouch for macs, although I have heard many good and many bad things. I have an HP, and I personally love it as of right now.

 

[Jeff1101]

Try this

 

[bigvinnysd]

have you looked into the IBM thinkpads also? Look around, unless youre adamant on staying with mac or dell.. in that case, powerbook or ibook!

 

[Brickhouse]

I've owned 2 Dell laptops and all had problems in the long run.

Customer support was good and they always replaced my parts, but it's just no fun doing it.

Had a Sony VAIO for over a year now and I love it, will never get another Dell laptop.

Probably not what you wanted to hear.

 

[N2Advnture]

What, you don't like your desktop Christian?!

My wife's company (Accenture 120k employee) uses the Dell Latitudes as well.

You can also take a look at the IBM Thinkpad (now called Leveon?) I think they work out to be slightly less than the Dells for the same/similar set up.

Hope all is well bro!
~Mark

 

[Rconectn]

What, you don't like your desktop Christian?!

My wife's company (Accenture 120k employee) uses the Dell Latitudes as well.

You can also take a look at the IBM Thinkpad (now called Leveon?) I think they work out to be slightly less than the Dells for the same/similar set up.

Hope all is well bro!
~Mark

OMG Mark!!!! Thats what Im using right now, LOL!!! Its so good to here from you!! Gentleman long story short here....Mark here sent me a desktop two yrs ago along with the help of another BOTL, Penguin13, as a small gesture of kindness since I never owned a computer before. This was on another cigar website. Im trying to upgrade Mark, lol!

 

[Zeebra]

Dell laptop batteries catch fire really well.

 

[bigvinnysd]

I've owned 2 Dell laptops and all had problems in the long run.

Customer support was good and they always replaced my parts, but it's just no fun doing it.

Had a Sony VAIO for over a year now and I love it, will never get another Dell laptop.

Probably not what you wanted to hear.

I have a vaio Z1 as well... given to me by my work as a college gift; its really nice but you can get the same thing for less... I say go thinkpad.

 

[N2Advnture]

My parents had 2 Sony Vios that had major issues, they eventually switched to IBM w/o issue.

I guess it comes down to they all mfgs have an issue at some point. The Toshiba Satellites were great laptops and then had issues with the cooling system.

Check your Dell battery here to see if it needs to be replaced:
https://www.dellbatteryprogram.com/Identify.aspx

~M

 

[Rob_k]

we just replaced my wifes tosiba satellite with a current duo core toshiba. never had issues with the old one till now, and it is almost 4yrs old (hard drive is on the way out). she opted for a smaller and lighter footprint this time (14" tft, 4lbs, 5hr battery,and under 1200 bucks)

 

[Swissy]

I have had an HP for sometime, and it's become a problem- too spendy to fix. I just got my new Dell... wasn't going to go that route but the Wifely Unit© won that battle. So far so good - no battery fires! :laugh: Plus I found a $750 off coupon online that REALLY helped ease the pain of buying a Dell.

One thing I did NOT like about the HP- the damn fan ran (very noisy) almost constantly. My brother has the newer version of it and it does the same thing as well.

Of course, with the dell I had to wipe the hard drive and re-install JUST the OS... they had so much crapware on it, it was starved for space... and i got the 100gb drive! The options are nice- we'll see about the life. Of course if it dies or is a problem... just a beat down the Wifely Unit© will suffer!

 

[AVB]

Thinkpad gets my vote.

 

[Shooter]

Have had nothing but Vaio's. The current one is going on 4 yrs, only problem was the screen went out one time. It was old so I said what the hell. Took it apart al the way. Blew on the electronics on the back of the screen. Put it all back together and shazam it worked. That was a year ago. Gateway got top reviews at Consumer reports along with Lenova, (the new thinkpad) and Sony.

 

[Rod]

I would recommend Dell, Toshiba or Fujitsu for a laptop. Toshiba is very good. Fujitsu has come a long way recently. Dell, stil my favorite.

 

[symyn]

I would recommend Dell, Toshiba or Fujitsu for a laptop. Toshiba is very good. Fujitsu has come a long way recently. Dell, stil my favorite.

X2

I would add the newer ThinkPads into that group. I own Fujitsu, Dell, Toshiba and they are all solid.

HP is crap and Sony is good but very overpriced. This is all IMO of a IT Manager that has been in the game for about 9 years.

 

[Ivanovich]

Looks like I'm the first to recommend... Get a Mac!

I've owned macs and PCs and the Mac is more intuitive and more reliable.

 

[lucasbuck]

Go Mac Christian. For your needs I believe your friend is correct. A Mac would be more efficient and less likely to give you problems. Windows blows.

 

[Infinity]

Go Mac Christian. For your needs I believe your friend is correct. A Mac would be more efficient and less likely to give you problems. Windows blows.

I have always used windows. We have several computers, my latest (Jan 2006) is a HP Pavillion zd 8000 - extremely fast notebook.

Like many, I am nervous to switch to the unknown -> Mac. Recently this subject was debated and I have been urged to get a Mac.

My question - if I get a Mac, what is the best Mac notebook available, speed, memory etc? Also, what transition problems, if any, am I likely to encounter?

Brian

 

[lucasbuck]

Brian - The Apple MacBook Pro (17-inch) looks to be the top end at the moment. It comes with a 2.16GHz Intel Core Duo and 1GB SDRAM. Looks like $2400+ though. You can go with an Apple MacBook (13-inch, 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo) for about $1200 at the bottom end. Transition wise it will take some time to adapt to a new OS but I think you will be well pleased once you do.