ahoy

we are in a position to change our laptop now, just 6 months before we intend to leave for oz. any advice on compatability? never used macintosh before but hear lots of good things. would appreciate some hints.

thanks

JackTheLad

Our little laptop is on its last legs here, so I'm going to go for a power book after the laptop dies (and when I've saved up enough money!). I've researched compatability, theres nothing specific that bothers me. All files we have currently will work still on the power book.

But as a get out, we still have our desktop which is windows, so if any of our docs or spreadsheets won't work on OSX, we can always revert to the desktop.

Any specific compatability issues worrying you?

Cheers,
JTL

bridiej

I caught the end of one of those "gadget" progs on Discovery the other day (the one with Suzi Perry in it) and they were talking about macs versus PC.

The upshot was that PCs are a lot easier to repair than a Mac and also much more powerful.

Found this which may be of interest:

CLICK HERE

Alex Hall

I would suggest a Windows/Intel (or AMD) laptop. Many more out there so prices and copetition amongst the vendors is good. Also much more software and games available. More people use Windows, so easier to be round someone's house and swap music, files etc etc.

Not sure what your budget is but my advice (being a laptop user for over 5 years) is to look at the Intel Centrino chipped laptops. These come with built in WIfi (802.11b/g) and have very good battery life, typically 4-5 hours, and unless you want to play the very latest games on full graphics they will also be able to play the majority of games well enough, especially if you go for a Nvidia or ATI graphics card in them. The centrino laptops are also some of the lighter ones, and if you are having a laptop it is presumably because you will be carting it around with you, if not, then consider why you are spending the extra to get a laptop.....

One thing to point out is that unlike desktops it is very hard to upgrade laptops with respect to CPU/video card etc afterwards, so find a decent spec that will last you the lifetime of the laptop, and go for 256 (or even better 512mb of RAM in a single slot so you can upgrade the memory further later).

Personally for my I would go for a Dell Laptop, have both Inspirons and Latitude, although the new Latitude D610 (update from D600) looks very good and has the new updated Centrino chip with faster FSB etc etc. Another good laptop manufacturer is Sony. For both of these manufacturers to get a good centrino chipped machine budget on around £1200-£1500. If your budget is less then the cheapest laptops begin at £500, although these usually have desktop components in them so have poor battery life and are big and heavy...

good luck

Alex

bridiej

I agree with Alex, you cant go wrong with a Dell!

JackTheLad

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Cheers,
JTL

AdelaideBlue

I've been a mac user (powerbook) now for about 8 months, and there is absolutely no way that i'd ever revert back to a windows based PC.

Ok they're slightly more expensive, but the build quality is far superior to ANY windows pc/laptop. Mac's don't get viruses and don't crash.

Pick up any gadgets mag and the number one spot in both desktops and notebooks belongs to a mac.

Hutch

This thread is a:



Two words: Sony Vaio

Bought ours about three months ago. Looked at Dell, looked at Apple, looked at IBM - only the Sony had the combination of power, design and quality that we wanted. It worked out cheaper than the Dell (thank-you eBuyer) and had a lot more extras than the equivalent machine. Oh and for what it's worth, I'm a tech journalist who's reviewed his fair share of PCs (of all shapes, sizes and brands) over the last 15 or so years.

Hutch

Sorry just noticed that... took me ten minutes to stop laughing. They don't get viruses because it's a minority product and the virus writers want to create as much mayhem as quickly as possible. I use Apples all the time (both desktop and laptop) and they sure as **** do crash. Regularly. And you know what - when they crash, they take the whole OS and whatever you working on at the time with them.

JackTheLad

I'm replying on my homebrewed desktop PC as my sony vaio is overheating again.

And you review machines

Cheers,
JTL

Hutch

Yea, for long enough to know that people buy dud Dells, Powerbooks, iBooks and Thinkpads too.

kevinbloomfield

Totally disagree about Dell, as a person who deals in PC's all the time Dell are one of the worst for support, I have customers who moan about them all the time.
Apple Mac's are far better than PC's for the following major reasons, no viruses, no spyware.
I would say that well over 50% of problems with Windows PC's is due to Viruses or Spyware (my business is IT and I fix PC's all day long)

If you must buy a PC then ACER or Toshiba are good, Sony are also good but you pay for the name.

Kevin

ahoy

wow, it sure is a can of worms. thanks for all your advice. i think i'll just creep away now and let you boys get on with it.

all the best. by the way, what do you think of the hunting ban?

jas_uk

hehehe!!! .......runs for fireproof suit.....

bondipom

Mac's are vulnerable to viruses and hacks if not looked after properly. Mac's crash as much as a PC. Mac users will sing the praises of macs because they have to justify paying so much money for an equivalent machine. Not bad machines but nowhere near as good as the Mac worshippers will lead you to believe.

I have found XP SP2 very stable. Linux is also excellent if configured correctly.