Laptop Advice

[Flyingtoohigh]

I'm typing this up on a 15" G4 PowerBook at work. I have a 12.1" iBook for home use, too. I will leave the Mac vs PC debate to another poster.

If you intend on traveling with your laptop -- AT ALL -- consider something smaller than the traditional 15" screen. Dell, Apple, and most other manufacturers make models (in widescreen, too) in the 12-14" variety. Each time you need to stash, carry, or use a laptop in transit you will thank yourself for purchasing a smaller, lighter unit.

If you do desire some desktop/home-off use consider purchasing a stand-alone 15" or 17" LCD display and a wireless keyboard & mouse combo. You can plug the external monitor, keyboard, and mouse into the laptop and use your laptop like a desktop.

Feel free to fire away with more computer questions if you have them.

 

[CA1900]

What is the best laptop out there between $1000-1500? I am looking for light weight and fast. I am almost leaning towards a mac or the dell 700m, never had a mac, but only hear good things about them.

I think they're an excellent choice. Fast, lightweight, very reliable, and no spyware or viruses to deal with. None. That means you won't have to spend money on antivirus subscriptions, which is absolutely necessary on a Windows machine, and adds $119 for three years of protection. Factor that into your price comparisons.

Can you use office on a mac or does mac make something similiar?

Absolutely. In fact, Microsoft Word and Excel were both Mac applications for years before they came out for Windows. You'll need the Mac version of the program, of course, but it works great, and the file formats are all compatible. A 30-day trial version of Office is included with every Mac.

Also, for free, you can use NeoOffice, which is a version of the open-source OpenOffice.org project for the Mac. (Same software as Openoffice, but doesn't require that you use the X11 environment.) It may do all that you need, and as I said, it's free.


There are many thousands of software and hardware products out there for the Mac. You can browse some of those here.

As for a specific model, I'd recommend the 12" iBook for $999. It's very small and light, has a 1.33GHz PowerPC processor (equivalent roughly to a 2.5GHz Pentium M), 512MB of RAM, Wireless-G and Bluetooth 2, Firewire 400, USB 2, and a scrolling trackpad that's just amazing.

You'll also find the iBook is better-equipped than the Dell 700M at the same price point: The Dell has a stripped down Home version of XP -- the full version is another $119. Its memory is split to fill both memory slots, meaning you lose some when you expand it unless you spend another $60 for a single, bigger DIMM. The iBook includes a 6-hour battery; a high-capacity one is an extra $129 on the Dell.



So you're really paying $427 more for the Dell when you include the antivirus, and you're still stuck with a crappy "shared" video board that steals 64MB of your system's RAM to produce slow video, rather than having its own on-board VRAM.


Apple has a network of retail stores that it runs, so you might check that out and see if there's one in your neck of the woods so you can try one out and ask questions.

Hope that helps.

 

[Cardinal]

Mac - Don't take the "RISC"

 

[another cfii]

I own a Dell 700m, and i love it. If you don't mind used laptop, go to dell, and they have a refurbished section, with lots of discount. I got mine with dvd burner, and all the good stuff with just below 1000.

 

[Draginass]

I've had bad luck with my Dell laptop (Inspiron 4000). Intermittent LCD screen problems, keyboard problems, dead cooling fans, touchpad problems, etc, etc, etc.

Lots of common and widespread problems with their notebooks. And then, they won't even answer your emails if your out of warranty . . just direct you to their BB section with everybody else complaining about the same problem you have . . but, of course, silence from dell.

My son recently got an IBM Thinkpad. Much sturdier than the Dell's structure. I am much more impressed with it than I am with mine.

 

[ace6453]

Do not buy a Dell. They are poorly built, almost everyone I know that has a Dell laptop hates it (8 out of 11 people). Many have had to resend their laptop back into Dell for a new one with in a year of receiving it because it had so many problems. While dell makes perfectly fine desktops their laptops are pieces of crap! STEER CLEAR of DELL!!!!

Mac's are good, but only if you enjoy the whole apple experience. You will need different software than you have for your computer now. Most programs are now offered for a Mac version, but some still require windows.

Gateway and IBM make excellent products. If I were to purchase a laptop today, I would buy gateway, IBM, or compaq. Also, always buy the 3rd best processor offered and put as much RAM in as you can afford. If you buy the 3rd best processor, you are getting the most out of your money you can and with the speed of processors today it will be pleanty fast enough. Get lots of RAM, no less than 1 gig expandable.

 

[rtmcfi]

Just to muddy things up a bit, I am using a Panasonic toughbook. I had a dell, and broke 2 screens on it. I don't even bother with a case for the toughbook. I leave it in my rollaboard, even when checking it, instead of carrying it on. The wireless works great. You do give up some perf in favor of durability, and the sound system is lacking. You can find them in your price range used on ebay. If you don't mind being extra carefull, the others are a better choice, but if you don't want to worry about it breaking, and don't mind sacrificing a bit of perf, the toughbook is (pun intended) tough to beat.

 

[Hobbs]

100% Apple

I highly recommend Apple. We switched a couple years ago and never looked back. Even with the occasional incompatibility issue we are so much happier. There is even a good logbook program: Logten Pro.

Simple, no hassle. Plug in and work good last long time.