What Laptop Thread
Discussion
Ok so my laptop finally blew up on me last night and I need something new so some help and advice would be apprecaited.
I need it to do the following things:
1. Run my ebay business on it
2. Be able to play games like C&C but not the top end games
3. Have a decent media suite on it to watch movies music etc
4. Good graphics card
5. Be light and compact if possible
Price - Hmmm not to sure could always do a finance programme but no bothered.
Any help
Also age old questions comes in, shall I get an Apple or another PC?
I need it to do the following things:
1. Run my ebay business on it
2. Be able to play games like C&C but not the top end games
3. Have a decent media suite on it to watch movies music etc
4. Good graphics card
5. Be light and compact if possible
Price - Hmmm not to sure could always do a finance programme but no bothered.
Any help
Also age old questions comes in, shall I get an Apple or another PC?
If you want to try out a Mac then pop along to a Store and get one of the staff to run you through the iLife bundled media software. It's pretty good, reasonably powerful and there's no additional cost or nagware / trialware nonsense with Macs. Also ignore the FUD, no intrusive 'internet security' software is required on OS X, so the system is free to run at the speed of the hardware - some large 'save you from internet threats or OS bugs' packages utilise so many system resources and interfere into so many system processes that the system is measurably and noticeably slower than a system without such 'protection'. Of course this can be ameliorated by choosing a different anti-malware package. Any software that inspects every file at the time of access will impact performance at the end of the day, but modern machines are so damn powerful that unless you're pushing the limits you won't, in general, notice. Mac OS X is a hungrier operating system than Windows XP and its parents in terms of RAM requirement - Windows runs better on the lower-spec machines - but even though it's similarly modern and advanced, it's nowhere near the bloatware that is Windows Vista. If you really want Vista then you'll need a higher specification machine than you would to run OS X at the same comfort level.
Macs are more expensive than similarly specced PC laptops (only compare like with like here - the Macbook is a high quality build machine with decent components, there will always be MUCH cheaper PC laptops but most won't be anywhere near the same level of ergonomics, quality or robustness) but the software package and 'all-in-one' usability is worth a fair amount of time to me, and therefore money.
If you already have an investment in Windows productivity software and will spend the majority of the time running Windows, then the economics behind buying a Mac don't stack up - it'd be purely an 'image' purchase. However if your current workflow isn't as smooth as you'd like, then it's definitely worth trying the alternative and seeing whether the Mac software could save you time and aggro - that alone is worth the additional purchase price for me.
Also, noting that Macs are more expensive to buy, be sure to note that they also retain a lot more of their value when it comes to sell - the value-for-money equation isn't as simple as just looking at the purchase price and hardware specification.
Dell make some pretty monstrous laptops (dual hard disks, big beefy graphics cards, etc.) as well as some very cheap units (which I tend to ignore as the *really* cheap machines just have to be poor quality, which I won't accept). Not sure what their 'nicely designed, high quality' range is like - a mate has one with a purple lid, which I assume is Dell's 'design' range as opposed to the utilitarian stuff. His has a simply wonderful screen, but since it's 17" I don't consider it a portable, it weighs a ton as well.
If I needed a Windows laptop and couldn't just co-opt one of my Apple laptops, then I'd most certainly have a Thinkpad. I have harboured desires to turn the 12" ultra-portable Thinkpad into a Hackintosh running OS X, to make up for Apple not releasing a successor to the 12" Powerbook which was one of the more perfect size / portability compromises ever...
However I tend to put ease of use, quality and longevity, ergonomics, material quality, resale value, software versatility etc. well ahead of price when it comes to criteria. I'll be using the laptop for 2-3 years and spending enough time actually *using* the thing that purchase price comes second to whether I enjoy being stuck in front of it for hours on end
If you're going to be running the sharp end of a business from it, then saving a few quid at the expense of comfort is false economy, IMO. Depends on your budget of course, since Apple start quite expensive these days, but hours using a poor screen, a rattly, cramped keyboard and a small, fiddly or unresponsive trackpad gets very old very quickly.
Another question worth asking - what premium are you willing to pay for portability? Many cheaper PC laptops are either very heavy, or use desktop parts and have very short battery life. If you need to work on the road regularly, then check out what the other road warriors are using. So many people buy laptops and never move them from their desk that the manufacturers quite happily cater for that as the primary market. So if you actually need your laptop to be *portable* (whodathunkit?) then you'll have to choose one that was designed to be happy away from a power source.
Which laptops do you like the look of? Size / features, etc. - I'm sure someone on here will have either owned a similar model, and there are a few tech support bods on here who see large volumes of certain manufacturers' laptops in a corporate maintenance setting (and therefore know well which ones are shoddy and unreliable or not). I say try a Macbook if you're happy with 13.3" screen size, but I would. Give us a clue what you're looking at and we can advise
Macs are more expensive than similarly specced PC laptops (only compare like with like here - the Macbook is a high quality build machine with decent components, there will always be MUCH cheaper PC laptops but most won't be anywhere near the same level of ergonomics, quality or robustness) but the software package and 'all-in-one' usability is worth a fair amount of time to me, and therefore money.
If you already have an investment in Windows productivity software and will spend the majority of the time running Windows, then the economics behind buying a Mac don't stack up - it'd be purely an 'image' purchase. However if your current workflow isn't as smooth as you'd like, then it's definitely worth trying the alternative and seeing whether the Mac software could save you time and aggro - that alone is worth the additional purchase price for me.
Also, noting that Macs are more expensive to buy, be sure to note that they also retain a lot more of their value when it comes to sell - the value-for-money equation isn't as simple as just looking at the purchase price and hardware specification.
Dell make some pretty monstrous laptops (dual hard disks, big beefy graphics cards, etc.) as well as some very cheap units (which I tend to ignore as the *really* cheap machines just have to be poor quality, which I won't accept). Not sure what their 'nicely designed, high quality' range is like - a mate has one with a purple lid, which I assume is Dell's 'design' range as opposed to the utilitarian stuff. His has a simply wonderful screen, but since it's 17" I don't consider it a portable, it weighs a ton as well.
If I needed a Windows laptop and couldn't just co-opt one of my Apple laptops, then I'd most certainly have a Thinkpad. I have harboured desires to turn the 12" ultra-portable Thinkpad into a Hackintosh running OS X, to make up for Apple not releasing a successor to the 12" Powerbook which was one of the more perfect size / portability compromises ever...
However I tend to put ease of use, quality and longevity, ergonomics, material quality, resale value, software versatility etc. well ahead of price when it comes to criteria. I'll be using the laptop for 2-3 years and spending enough time actually *using* the thing that purchase price comes second to whether I enjoy being stuck in front of it for hours on end
If you're going to be running the sharp end of a business from it, then saving a few quid at the expense of comfort is false economy, IMO. Depends on your budget of course, since Apple start quite expensive these days, but hours using a poor screen, a rattly, cramped keyboard and a small, fiddly or unresponsive trackpad gets very old very quickly.
Another question worth asking - what premium are you willing to pay for portability? Many cheaper PC laptops are either very heavy, or use desktop parts and have very short battery life. If you need to work on the road regularly, then check out what the other road warriors are using. So many people buy laptops and never move them from their desk that the manufacturers quite happily cater for that as the primary market. So if you actually need your laptop to be *portable* (whodathunkit?) then you'll have to choose one that was designed to be happy away from a power source.
Which laptops do you like the look of? Size / features, etc. - I'm sure someone on here will have either owned a similar model, and there are a few tech support bods on here who see large volumes of certain manufacturers' laptops in a corporate maintenance setting (and therefore know well which ones are shoddy and unreliable or not). I say try a Macbook if you're happy with 13.3" screen size, but I would. Give us a clue what you're looking at and we can advise
Wow what a great read.
Ok previously I have had an old compaq which has done sod all for me my main use will be at home in the evenings to whatch movies, play games and surf the internet.
It will also be used as I travel internationaly quite a lot, so I want something small and light to take on the plane to watch movies, most trips are short haul Europe, but sometimes long haul so the extra battery life would be great.
I download a lot of films etc, so I want easy access to these and to be able to play whenever and wherever I am.
In regards to working on it, its mainly emails that I do by logging into my work email over the internet, but I also run a small ebay business on the side, but I doubt this will matter mucgh as this could be done on any computer.
Im hinting more and more to a mac I think as I like the durability that they offer and also this buy now pay in 6 months which they have available now which sounds quite good as well.
HMMMMMM
Ok previously I have had an old compaq which has done sod all for me my main use will be at home in the evenings to whatch movies, play games and surf the internet.
It will also be used as I travel internationaly quite a lot, so I want something small and light to take on the plane to watch movies, most trips are short haul Europe, but sometimes long haul so the extra battery life would be great.
I download a lot of films etc, so I want easy access to these and to be able to play whenever and wherever I am.
In regards to working on it, its mainly emails that I do by logging into my work email over the internet, but I also run a small ebay business on the side, but I doubt this will matter mucgh as this could be done on any computer.
Im hinting more and more to a mac I think as I like the durability that they offer and also this buy now pay in 6 months which they have available now which sounds quite good as well.
HMMMMMM
Further to this, I have just got my mits on a half decent desktop which I will have in my new home office when I move house, and what I would like to do is use that as a central server so that I can then run a really good media suite throughout my new home which I am moving into in June.
So would this mean I should stick with PC or go with Mac and explore the mac world which I believe does offer a really good entertainment suite with the other bits and bobs it has
So would this mean I should stick with PC or go with Mac and explore the mac world which I believe does offer a really good entertainment suite with the other bits and bobs it has
sgrimshaw said:
If you've got a desktop for central duties, what about one of the "netbooks" for portable use.
"Best" at the moment according to reviews is the Samsung NC10. Be able to run the apps you list, and is extremely portable.
Just a thought.
My house mate has just bought this for £300 and loves it."Best" at the moment according to reviews is the Samsung NC10. Be able to run the apps you list, and is extremely portable.
Just a thought.
Only problem is that it is really small and my eyes are not great.
I had trouble reading the text of his the other night, but again this is a serious consideration now.
I just cant justify the spend on a mac.
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