Starting to look at laptops again...

[fotojack]

I use a Windows based PC for my regular work station. I still use Windows XP Pro on it and it works just fine. Matter of fact, it's 32 bit! My monitor is a 22" Samsung wide screen. My lap top is a Lenovo ThinkPad T61 with Windows 7 Pro installed.....also 32 bit. Works flawlessly, despite it's 14" screen.
Sure, a Mac would be awesome to own, but the prohibitively high price just stops me cold! I personally think in this day and age that they're way over priced. There's no reason that I can see that should make them so expensive. Then again, I'm known as being quite frugal. I have to be, being on a fixed retirement income. Once I hit the lottery jackpot, though.....watch out! LOL

 

[funfortehfun]

Display size is not all that one should look at when deciding laptops. Resolution is very important (I cannot stress this enough!); the larger, the better for larger PPI (pixels per inch). For example, a 1366x768 display on a 17" monitor will look horrible and "pixel-y."
Newer laptops with Intel Haswell CPUs will have the battery life you want.

Once the Apple Haswell refresh of their MacBook Pro Retina line comes out, they will be ideal (but insanely expensive). Keep in mind that the gamma of Apple PC displays is 1.8 and not 2.2.

 

[riverside]

I have four PCs on a LAN, a mix of XP and WIN7 with 22-24" monitors and one 17" screen laptop w/win7. I dislike having to use the laptop (as does my wife) and it usually resides on a table next to the entry door in case one of us needs a PC when we're going somewhere. The thought of paying Apple prices with performance and CPUs identical to PCs makes me laugh out loud.

 

[Cochese]

Macs just work...until they don't. I always find it funny to hear 'It just works' followed by how many trips they've taken to the Apple Store to have something fixed (usually a logic board). I like Macs, but I think people mix reliability with customer service, which Apple seems to have down like no other. I say this as an owner of several Apple products. When you trade up every year or so, of course it's going to work well.

I was in the market for a laptop a couple months ago and seriously considered laying out some extra money for a MBP. I was upgrading from a 2005-era XP tablet (which still 'just works', albeit slowly) and didn't know what I wanted, but I thought I wanted that. How could you not? It's an excellent machine (and the MBA) with excellent construction, a good OS that I wanted to explore, and a good buying experience. Plus they are cool. I could have made do with the 13" MBP, but as I started researching I realized I preferred a number pad and a wider screen.

I ended up with a HP Probook, which is actually the guts of a MBP stuffed into a little bit bigger and less attractive shell. In fact, it's a favorite of the Hackintosh community. I hope to be dual-booting by the end of the summer. If it had an Apple on it I would have paid $2200, but with an HP logo it was $600. While I wish it had a backlit keyboard and a bit more resolution on the screen, the $1600 I didn't pay is better.

No offense to the Mac owners out there, I may switch over one day myself. But it will be when I have a lot more disposable income.

 

[JudeIscariot]

Display size is not all that one should look at when deciding laptops. Resolution is very important (I cannot stress this enough!); the larger, the better for larger PPI (pixels per inch). For example, a 1366x768 display on a 17" monitor will look horrible and "pixel-y."
Newer laptops with Intel Haswell CPUs will have the battery life you want.

In my experience, most default to 1600x900 these days, and that looks great.

This even includes the cheap Toshiba ones we use at my job.

 

[Krs_2007]

I love the pc guys and how they always come out to bash Apple computers. What you are missing is its more than hardware. It's the fact that they control hardware and software, that's why it works. There are way too many so called pc makers that don't fully test their product and just cram hardware in it and ship it to the stores.

Back to the original poster, which has a valid question and was looking for suggestions. I would suggest doing a lot of research, neither pc or Mac are cheap.

In reality you really need to see which OS works for you and go from there. Also remember if you have software for Win OS then you will have to repurchase for Mac, although some disk have the both formats on one.

Find what works for you and you only.




Kevin,

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[piperbarb]

I have had my Macbook Pro for almost 3 years and it has worked flawlessly. Also, I didn't get it just as the new model year version came out. I waited a few months. I have upgraded it a few times in those three years, including upgrading the hard drive to 1TB, and 8 GB of RAM. I plan on upgrading the RAM to 16 GB soon. That should keep me happy for a while.

I also have a couple of Dell laptops that has also worked flawlessly, but they were not the economy, bottom of the line models. Both are running Ubuntu Linux. One is 7 years old and the other 1-1/2 years old.

I think the important thing is to get the best laptop you can afford that that does what you want. Get as much RAM, hard drive (which can always be replaced with an SSD drive when the prices drop some more), and processor you can afford. Also, go and look at different laptops, type on them and see if they work for you. You don't want to have to go buy another one once the warranty has expired. A friend of mine keeps buying cheap laptops at Walmart, then complains whey then start having issues, then she has to go and replace it because the repair would cost more than replacing it with another cheap laptop. In the 5 years that I have known her, she has replaced her laptops at least as many times, if not more.
​

 

[Cochese]

I love the pc guys and how they always come out to bash Apple computers. What you are missing is its more than hardware. It's the fact that they control hardware and software, that's why it works. There are way too many so called pc makers that don't fully test their product and just cram hardware in it and ship it to the stores.

Back to the original poster, which has a valid question and was looking for suggestions. I would suggest doing a lot of research, neither pc or Mac are cheap.

In reality you really need to see which OS works for you and go from there. Also remember if you have software for Win OS then you will have to repurchase for Mac, although some disk have the both formats on one.

Find what works for you and you only.




Kevin,

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Actually, what gives PCs such a awful reputation is that people, a lot of the time, go and buy the cheapest thing at a certain performance point. PC makers take money from crapware manufacturers to lower the selling cost, and it's that crapware that slows down the computer. Couple that with poor customer service (comparatively) and a not as nice buying experience, and there's your poor reputation.

For laptops at least, the trick is to purchase business class models. You pay a bit more, but there's no crapware. The only unwanted thing on mine was a trial of Office. As such, it works as it should. I think that point is relevant to the OP - if you want a better experience, buy something without the crapware: either Mac or a business class PC.

 

[Horoscope Fish]

For laptops at least, the trick is to purchase business class models. You pay a bit more, but there's no crapware. The only unwanted thing on mine was a trial of Office. As such, it works as it should. I think that point is relevant to the OP - if you want a better experience, buy something without the crapware: either Mac or a business class PC.

I think there's a lot of truth in this statement. My solution to this, as well as things like hidden "restore partitions", et al, was to buy a retail boxed version of Windows and simply wipe the drive and do a clean, virginal install of Windows. Windows is, in large part, a victim of it's own success and every PC vendor out there seems to think they can improve upon my "Windows Experience" by mucking with it, and that's putting it politely. A clean, proper install of Windows 7 is a beautiful thing; it's lean, it's fast, it's stable. A thirty-day trial version of Norton Security Suite, or whatever they're calling it now does nothing but interfere. That and Symantec, I firmly believe, is the product of Satan's personal foray into software development.

To a large degree, and as was posted earlier, the control Apple has over not only the hardware profile of its product, but also the software component, does contribute to the Cult of the Mac. Still, what I'm paying for is hardware and there is nothing magical about Macs in this regard. Macs use the very same off-the-rack hardware as PC's. What you're paying for when you buy an Apple product is, in large part, curb-appeal which, I readily admit, Apple products have in spades. In *that* regard, you may as well be comparing an Italian sports car to a cinder block.



....

 

[Krs_2007]

Your point on the business side is correct Cochese, there is an issue with bloatware on PC's. Your other statement is exactly what I was saying, its all about quality control.

As far as the Mac Cult, that is really old and is computer profiling... LOL.

No cult, just tremendous knowledge and experience from 20 plus years in the business and working with computers.

​

 

[Horoscope Fish]

As far as the Mac Cult, that is really old and is computer profiling... LOL.

That's called "humor". It's a tad dry, but it still counts.

... just tremendous knowledge and experience from 20 plus years in the business and working with computers.

I too have spent several years deploying both PC's and Mac's at the enterprise level. I might stop short of calling my knowledge-base built on a couple decades in the biz "tremendous", but I feel I've earned my chops nonetheless.


...

 

[piperbarb]

I think the point a number of us are making is that it is not just the OS that makes for the best computing environment, digital photo or otherwise, it is also the quality and resources (hardware, software, whatever) available on the PC someone chooses. Too many times we get hung up on the OS and forget about all the other components that contribute to the computing experience.

I was a programmer and systems administrator for over 23 years before becoming a high school science teacher (what was I thinking ). I agree about the Windows bloatware. That stuff is just maddening and a waste of space and resources. That is one thing business class and Apple computers have over the "consumer" oriented ones.

At work, they gave me a business class Dell laptop with Windows 7 and it works without problems. Some of my co-workers have had problems with theirs, not because of Windows or the hardware, it is because of the crappy, bloated software they installed from questionable sources.

At home I am using a MacBook Pro with OS X and my 17" laptop is a top of the line Dell running Ubuntu Linux. Neither laptop has given me an ounce of trouble for a number of reasons. Gee, I wonder why? Just like a car, computers need periodic maintenance, which includes cleaning out junk files no longer needed, OS updates, and the like. That even holds for the 10+ year old Dell running Win-XP that my spousal unit refuses to give up. For him, it does everything he needs, word processing, e-mail, Web browsing. In other words, "it just works."

BTW, I am enjoying this conversation.

 

[Krs_2007]

Nothing like listening to a bunch of nerds, right.

 

[Kodiak]

Right Kevin,

This thread Mac or PC will be as long as threads Nikon vs Canon! =\

The later, are we lucky!, is one that has been solved at Nikonites. =)

Have a good day…

 

[riverside]

I think the point a number of us are making is that it is not just the OS that makes for the best computing environment, digital photo or otherwise, it is also the quality and resources (hardware, software, whatever) available on the PC someone chooses. Too many times we get hung up on the OS and forget about all the other components that contribute to the computing experience.

I was a programmer and systems administrator for over 23 years before becoming a high school science teacher (what was I thinking ). I agree about the Windows bloatware. That stuff is just maddening and a waste of space and resources. That is one thing business class and Apple computers have over the "consumer" oriented ones.

At work, they gave me a business class Dell laptop with Windows 7 and it works without problems. Some of my co-workers have had problems with theirs, not because of Windows or the hardware, it is because of the crappy, bloated software they installed from questionable sources.

At home I am using a MacBook Pro with OS X and my 17" laptop is a top of the line Dell running Ubuntu Linux. Neither laptop has given me an ounce of trouble for a number of reasons. Gee, I wonder why? Just like a car, computers need periodic maintenance, which includes cleaning out junk files no longer needed, OS updates, and the like. That even holds for the 10+ year old Dell running Win-XP that my spousal unit refuses to give up. For him, it does everything he needs, word processing, e-mail, Web browsing. In other words, "it just works."

BTW, I am enjoying this conversation.

Your points are spot on. That brings us around to a distinct lack of knowledge by many users. While the younger generation has literally grown up with personal computers beginning in elementary school, older users who haven't had to learn through vocation or serious hobbies are generally limited to using email, the net and perhaps some forums/games. Maintenance? When it doesn't work or gets so slow as to be irritating they call the "computer specialist" from whatever advertisement sticks in their minds or ask a friend and pay the price. Most computer literate people I know (including myself) quickly learned the "I'm not familiar with that model/operating system/etc., better call a pro" out of self-protection.

I'd venture a guess you do the maintenance on your spousal unit's Dell or that XP would be so clogged after 10+ years as to be unusable.

 

[piperbarb]

Nothing like listening to a bunch of nerds, right.

Yup. It's good company.

 

[piperbarb]

Your points are spot on. That brings us around to a distinct lack of knowledge by many users. While the younger generation has literally grown up with personal computers beginning in elementary school, older users who haven't had to learn through vocation or serious hobbies are generally limited to using email, the net and perhaps some forums/games. Maintenance? When it doesn't work or gets so slow as to be irritating they call the "computer specialist" from whatever advertisement sticks in their minds or ask a friend and pay the price. Most computer literate people I know (including myself) quickly learned the "I'm not familiar with that model/operating system/etc., better call a pro" out of self-protection.

I'd venture a guess you do the maintenance on your spousal unit's Dell or that XP would be so clogged after 10+ years as to be unusable.

Yes, I do. Gary knows enough to not "click" anything if he is not sure.

What I do find interesting, and often-times amusing, is that that a lot of kids and younger adults can navigate the Web and a lot of software but they don't understand how a computer works or why you have to do some things, such as eject or unmount an external drive. They are very proficient with a mouse, but surprisingly, many cannot touch type, nor really understand how a computer, and software work.