1 I wouldn't get the mini models for that. But you can buy a cheap Dell or HP laptop for 450 to 650 now a days. A Mac for around 1000, but the Mac will come pretty much with anything you would ever need

2 Toshiba > Dell or HP

3 Toshiba. We have two that were around $300 - #350 and they do all you are asking for and more.

4 Wait, did you just admit to playing WoW?

5 lenovo

6 The little Dells work fine. But they're infuriatingly small.

If you don't have baby hands, don't do it.

"That's what she said!"

7 macbook

8 macbook Posted by: phoenixgirl at June 04, 2010 09:27 AM (ucxC/) Yeah that is what everyone in my family has, but they are more expensive

9 Don't bother with the minis,you wont like then in the long run. If you are not going to game, Acer 17.3" Aspire AS7736Z-4088 Laptop from Walmart, got one for my wife, great system for under $500

10 As a writer, I just don't believe you should ever go "cheapo" on your laptop...especially if you are involved in any kind of publishing. You will always end up putting some unforeseen demand on the machine, and it's best to have one that's up to the job.

11

I have the Dell Inspiron 11z w/the Pentium SU4100 processor.  It works great no problems for my uses that match yours.  Mines cost about $370 after coupons and deals.  It's light, small, efficient and runs well.

Don't get me wrong a MacBook Pro is sharp, but far more $ than it's worth just because a laptop (given my experience) should be be cheap and practically disposable.

I would NOT go for the Inspiron Mini 10 even with the Atom N450 processor, if you can wait Intel may be coming out with a dual core Atom processor which is definately worth waiting for, but I have to think the Pentium Dual Core is going to run better anyways.

12 Toshiba, seriously.

13 I'm a desktop support technician. I've worked with Dell, HP, Apple and IBM systems. Of all of them, I'd recommend IBM if you can afford it, and HP if you can't. I'd only suggest Apple, and only refurbished Apple, if you're used to it / like it, since buying new means you're sending your money to an avowed Communist.

14

This Compaq has been pretty good for the Outlaw family.  As a matter of fact I'm buying another one for my son's graduation.

15 Compaq cq60-615dx at Best Buy for $350 plus taxes.

16 I'm in a similar way. My old laptop... an HP... was a piece o' crap, so I gave it to my new foster kid. And my ancient desktop is increasingly senile. This Samsung seems to have a lot of bang for the buck, but it's ugly as hell.

Gateway models seem to get good reviews, but Gateway is almost as hinky as Apple when it comes to drivers and such. Some of their drivers are proprietary, so if you try and wipe the crapware off the drive the laptop ships with and overwrite it with a generic Windows OS, you end up with half your devices not working and they won't supply you with replacement drivers.

17 Asus netbooks have some insanely long battery life, depending on model. Wish I'd gotten one but my hp netbook is ok too.

18 Every Toshiba I've ever dealt with has had thermal problems and engineering faults. Lenovo Thinkpads and HP ProBook/EliteBook are the way to go. You'll pay a little more, but you get so much more computer.

19 Just got a Toshiba L455 for $400 at Best Buy.  Runs like a champ.

20 Stay away from HP.  They have screen problems, wherein the screen just shuts off for no reason> All of my friends who have HPs and myself included have run into this problem.

21 If your word processing needs are simple... Ipad + dock + wireless keyboard = simple, (relatively) cheap, very portable.

22 4 Wait, did you just admit to playing WoW?

Heh.  Guess he already beat Wrath of the Lich King.

I needed a lappy for "work" so I could post nonsense on AoS write up lab results. I settled on an HP Pavilion dv4-2145dx notebook from Best Buy.  I'm not the most astute shopper though.  It set me back about $650. 

Now I can post nonsense on AoS, surf the web, play old-school Doom, listen to Rush write up everything I need to from the safety of my desk. 

23 Lenovo. Hands down, Lenovo. If you don't buy a Lenovo, you'll be saying "FUCK, I should have bought a Lenovo".

24 Also, Lenovo is Chinese. Take that for what you will.

25 Didn't know HP sucked that bad, . 

26

http://outlet.dell.com

 

Been buying from there for years.  About once every few weeks or so, they'll offer a 10-15% on an outlet purchase.

27 i have been happy with my (less then a year old) Dell studio 17. i quit playing comp games too, it runs everything mentioned great.

28 Toshiba Satelite

29 I have one of the little Acers and it's perfectly fine for travel.  I wouldn't use it as a main computer, though--keyboard is too small.  You can get a USB keyboard, but that rather defeats the portability. 

I also have a Fuji Lifebook U810 which is very tiny and difficult to type upon; I recommend it only (again) for travel, where space is going to be a premium.

If this is to be your main computer, go with something that will be comfortable to work with.

30 My wife's Dell has lasted her for 4+ years now and is still going strong. I had a Sony that lasted for 5 years.

I like the Sony's but they are a little pricey.

Right now I have a cheapy Acer netbook. Get's the job done, but does tend to slow down if you have multiple things open (pron, vlc, AoS,word)

31 I buy Dell Latitudes on e-bay for $150 to $225. Older models, 1.8 to 2.2 ghz, 1 gig ram, 60 to 100 gig hdd. Never had a problem with them and they are cheap enough to toss if they do go bad. I bought 4 in the past year, myself, wife, and each kid.

32 Toshiba > Dell or HP

I concur.  Don't be afraid of "Refurbs" either.  TigerDirect.com is a good place to look.

33 Try a Toshiba. I got one for my wife a year and a half ago very cheap at Bestbuy. It's fine except for the ac adapter which I replaced on ebay for 9 bucks. I have had it completely apart too, because I like to tinker and I fix computers, and they are very easy to work on and replace parts.

34 Just bought the spousal unit a 16" eMachines duo core at Walmart for about $340, and it's a very fast and smooth machine. Has almost the exact feel of my HP G60, but a lot faster! It's also very light.

35 I've had an HP (Compaq) Tablet PC for a while and it's always worked fine, but it's slow.  I've always blamed the tablet feature for that.

Right now I'm on an HP Mini 311-1025NR.  I love it.  It's just a little bigger than the 10.1 netbooks but not much more expensive.  It runs the full Windows 7, which other netbooks can't do.  It boots fast, runs fast and will even run a Hulu movie if you have nothing else in the background.  It even runs smoothly with iTunes in the background and iTunes tends to swallow memory like the head cheerleader.  (Warning, if you want a laptop sleeve, you'll have to buy HP's.  Being an odd size, you can't get a generic one.)

It's new to me, I've only had it a few weeks, but no problems. 

36 http://www.logicbuy.com/deals/hp-dm4-core-i3-core-i5-laptop/19851.aspx Above link via Tom's Hardware. $1099+ of laptop for $350 less, but just through today. Yes, HP has a higher fail rate than Asus. They all go down eventually. Might as well get some power to go while it's running.

37 keep in mind that there's a wide gulf between the HP Pavillion/Compaq Presario class machines and the ProBook/EliteBook machines. They aren't built using the same components, and the ProBook/EliteBook have a lot less annoyware/crapware to remove before they're ready to go. Which is why they cost more. Although my 6 year old IBM/Lenovo Thinkpad is still my main travel box.

38 Don't be a victim. Go here and get a Latitude.
If you watch the auction for a few days you can get a great, Industrial Quality,
laptop with a lot of useful features for around $300.00

39 Avoid gateway like you would barney frank. Same result.

40 I have 3 Toshibas (one for me and 2 for my daughters) that are about 2yrs old now and all have been trouble free so far. _{(knock on wood)}

41 A Hasbro Light Bright.

42 I'm using one of the Acer netbooks and it's pretty darned stable. Going on 2 years and I can't remember ever seeing the BSOD on this machine.

The small keyboard takes some getting used to, I don't have too much of a problem with it, but I can definitely see where others would.

The small screen on the netbook isn't much fun though. You never really get used to it, at least, I haven't. It's something I tolerate for the weight/size advantages.

Travel, on-the-go or backup machine, absolutely. But you really need something full-sized as your primary.

43 You used to play WoW? Like I needed another reason to like ya, Gabe. Not much to offer in the way of laptop advice, but it looks like the other commenters have a handle on that.

44 MacBook. Period. Man up and pay the extra bucks. The damn thing just works.

45 Just hang out at the airport for a while...someone will fuckup and leave a nice one unattended long enough for you to redistribute it.

46 Oh I do have one thing...newegg.com is a pretty good place to check for reviews and specials on any kind of equipment you might be looking to buy.  It's where I go for parts for my desktop. 

47 Netbooks are great for travel and for their long battery life (with a 6 cell battery).  Full size laptops are not much more, but you will not get "thin and light" in the cheaper models.  Do you need an optical drive? Do you need an SD card reader?  Only a few netbooks really have the CPU power to play back video with much bandwidth to it.

I got a Lenovo for engineering work, just because the problems people were having with the HPs and Dells were frightening and those with the Lenovo were only moderately scary.  Toshiba did not have what I was looking for at the time, but otherwise seem to have worked out well for the few we have in the company.

48 Just make sure that whatever you buy has the Debrahlee Loranzana 3D Nipple Pop option.

49
I just bought an eMachines netbook at MicroCenter for $220, and I'm very happy with it. Plug it into a docking station with an external monitor, and you have a nice home system as well. Also, I ripped out Windows 7 and installed Ubuntu 10.04 netbook edition; works beautifully.

50 Dell minis are fine for small, feminine hands..........like Gabe's.

51 Everyone I've spoken to says Toshiba is about the best.  I've never heard a bad word about them.  That said, if you're a cheap bastard like me, I can give a good testimonial on the Gateway I bought last year - good stats, cheap price, no extra bullshit programs loaded up.  It has performed flawlessly thus far, though I admit I seldom (if ever) have 10 windows open.

52 for on the go or quick use I have an Eee netbook that i got for Valentines Day that I love, it plays Hulu and Youtube fine, 8.5 hrs battery life, wifi built in, a couple hundred bucks at Wally World. Of course mine is pink and has a little pink carry case and mouse too :0)

53 dear sweet gabriel,

Do not be limited by your "salad days" with lappy....

Put on your best duds, get a starbucks and go to a Mac store, and let them sing their stories.

Do not lose your wonder.....

54 2 years on my Dell Studio 17 without a problem except for Windows Vista. I'll be getting another next year with Windows 7. Very satisfied customer.

55 I have 2 older Toshibas that BOTH got the overheat and cut off disease, Hate that!! everyone tells me MAC is the way to go.. yo no se Im a windows baby.

56

Been buying from there for years.  About once every few weeks or so, they'll offer a 10-15% on an outlet purchase.

Posted by: p0s3r at June 04, 2010 09:35 AM (tCE3y)

 

We buy all our comps from the outlet.  Great next day warranty service.  Same as if you bought brand new.  I could drop kick my laptop and they'd send a replacement next day.   not say'n I'd try that.... 

Dells do cost a little more.

 

57 oh and get Wiondows 7.

58 I bought one of the Dell 15" Inspirons for my grandson on his way to college. It has been highly reliable and works fine. He does play a few games on it, but other than school work mostly he uses it for music which also will put a load on the processor.

I thought about getting one of those little netbooks myself but I have never seen anybody that had one and how well they worked.

One other recommendation I would make is to get a Logictech remote keyboard and mouse for the lap top. I have found that regardless of the size, laptop keyboards and finger mice are not worth a shit.

59 I got a Samsung N150 netbook in February and I love the thing.  I upgraded the RAM to 2 gigs and it plays video without a hitch and does whatever else I need without problems.  I'm on the road a lot and it's great to be able to bash out something while I'm on the bus or in a coffee shop.

60 MacBook. Period.

Man up and pay the extra bucks. The damn thing just works.

Mac's are for people who don't know how to use computers and like to pay extra for everything. If you get anything by apple, you can pretty much count out 90% of all third party software.

61 www.newegg.com always has the best prices and many excellent reviews.  This is NOT spam but my honest opinion.

62 This is NOT spam but my honest opinion. Agreed. NewEgg is the only place I buy computer components. Good service and a solid return policy(if necessary)...

63

Heh. Every corporate office I have visited (which means I end up in the server room) which uses Lenovo or HP always has an absolutely gigantic stack of dead machines in the corner. So as an observer of 'desktop support technicians', I would not buy a Lenovo or a HP on a bet.

Lenovo and HP = teh suck, and pricey to boot.

For your best bang for the buck, Acer or Emachines. For a no-brainer no regrets safety buy, Dell Inspiron.

 

64 Get an Olympia portable typewriter.  The innertubes is just a fad.

65 Don't get less than 3G of RAM if you will be running Windows.  Windows loves memory.

66 For cheap laptops, I recommend keeping an eye on Woot.com. $5 shipping and they have some decent deals.

If you require a bit more schedule for this, the Dell refurb center is pretty good.

67 Also, go for at least a 1600 x 900 screen resolution.  Anything less that that can be problematic when trying to run applications.  Don't cheap out on the ram memory either as that dramatically affect your web browsing speed.

Don't buy a Mac.  TOOO expensive for what you get.

68 Toshiba NB205.

I have bought both HP and Dell Mini's and Toshiba beats them hands down on battery life and typing.  I picked mine up at Best Buy for $319 with 160 gb hard drive, 1 gb ram, Intel Atom, and web cam.  The USB ports can still charge things when it is turned off too.

The dell mini 9 sucks at the keyboard and battery.
The HP broke and Best Buy replaced it with my Toshiba.

Toshiba is the way to go and is the best bang for the buck.

69 De-fragging a solid state hard drive takes seconds to few minutes.

70 If you get anything by apple, you can pretty much count out 90% of all third party software. Posted by: taylork at June 04, 2010 09:57 AM (0Hn5w) Well that really depends on what you use your computer for? Neither me nor anyone in my family every really had that problem. But I will say we are not game players

71 The Compaq Presario laptops at Best Buy are highly rated by users, and my brother loves his. Probably run you about $400 or so all in. Much better than those flimsy netbooks too.

72

Just bought a notebook for my wife and the requirement was for light weight and decent keyboard and ability to run Win 7 Home Premium like we have on the desktop.  That last requirement was a big factor and eliminated most of the $300-ish units, that run Win 7 Starter. Starter is NO GOOD - it will not do a whole load of things you will want to do, like play DVDs for example.

Went for the Acer 1410 at $450-ish plus an external DVD read-write unit, from Amazon.  Had it for 4 months and very happy so far.

Another hint: if you work for a company that has shitloads of Microsoft software, check to see if they have a Home Use Program, often abbreviated HUP.  This allows you to tap into their master agreement to purchase software for home use.  I bought Office 2007 Enterprise Edition (everything but the kitchen sink) for $10.  That's about a 23 bazillion % discount, morons!  For another $12 they sent me a backup DVD (you download the software to install it), that will come in handy if I ever want to move it to another computer.

73

Just bought the ball and chain an Acer from Best Buy for $299 before taxes.

It has more power, speed, memory, better graphics, etc than my year old HP which cost me about 6x more.

These things are pretty much disposable anymore, including Macs. I go through a laptop about every 18-24 months.

I'll never buy anything from that cocksucker Jobs at Apple, though

74 I just bought my wife a Toshiba Satellite T-135. LOTS of bang for the buck. 64-bit processor, 4GB RAM, all packed into a small package, larger than a netbook but much smaller than full-sized laptops. Paid around $400 for it, IIRC.

75 Dells are ok until you need support, then you get endless runaround. Drivers are prepriatory (unless you can find them third party). I have had good luck with HP

76 Another option is to go into Best Buy or Staples- pick up a lap top and on your way out, tell them to bill Obama

77 Macbook. MACBOOK! However, if you've already got a metrick fucktonne of software for PCs, Toshibas seem to be solid. Avoid HP and Compaq like the plague. Those things have been, for me and everyone I know, very expensive door stops.

78

I'll never buy anything from that cocksucker Jobs at Apple, though

Yea verily!  The GE brand is not welcome in my house either.

79 Mini's are for web browsing and minor email, Not blogging... I know I got a 9 inch one...waste of money.. the 10 inch are out there but the atom Processor sucks and is slow... go with a full feature model - mid range price of 599 to 800...Dell is having a sale right now...

80 I love my netbook (Asus EeePC) like I love chocolate. If you're going netbook get at least a 10 inch. I got the BFF an Asus Eee PC Seashell 1001 about 2 months ago and she thinks it's fantastic, the battery really does go all day.

I'm generally all about getting HP for laptops but the Sony Vaio I got a few months ago is fantastic.  Of course, I got a desktop replacement one so I think that's more than you want to spend. 

81 A good alternative if you want the $300 price range units that come with Windows 7 Starter...just scratch the OS that comes with it and install Ubuntu Linux instead. I've been running Ubuntu since around March and don't miss Windows. At. ALL.

82 Those things have been, for me and everyone I know, very expensive door stops. Posted by: AngelEm at June 04, 2010 10:07 AM (Aq93A) Well just like we need mediocracy on the Supreme Court, we also need door stops.

83

Stay far, far away from Gateway at all costs.  Their laptops are marginal at best and prone to hard drive failures... and they have the absolute worst customer service I've ever experienced.  The WORST.  I had a customer service rep hang up on me one day.  I had another one go on and on about how bad the company is.  I'd rather have an abacus and a crayon than another Gateway.

84 love my Toshiba NB205.  It's sitting next to me in my work area(er).

85 #63  Agreed. NewEgg is the only place I buy computer components. Good service and a solid return policy(if necessary)...

Yup.  I've only used NewEgg to get memory upgrades for my desktop, but I've never heard a bad word about NewEgg.

86 You may not like Steve Jobs of Apple's business model (I run into that a lot) but their customer support is second to none, at least in my experience. If you live close-ish to an Apple store, you can hit the genius bar and get all kinds of help from actual people. right. there. in. front. of. you. Who speak English.

87 Stay far, far away from Gateway at all costs. Their laptops are marginal at best and prone to hard drive failures... and they have the absolute worst customer service I've ever experienced. The WORST. I had a customer service rep hang up on me one day. I had another one go on and on about how bad the company is. I'd rather have an abacus and a crayon than another Gateway. Posted by: Jodi at June 04, 2010 10:09 AM (uu8qd) I would like to add something. I was in the old days a committed Gateway user. But one day they let someone steal my ID, financial info, stuff that ONLY could have come from them. I actually tracked the fraudulant shipment to a Fedex Truck before it was deleivered and they did not give a shit and did not even apologize. That was it for me and Gateway. Fuck em.

88 Who speak English. Posted by: AngelEm at June 04, 2010 10:11 AM (Aq93A) AMEN. And while Apple products are pricy, the Genius Bar is great.

89 So, I need to buy the boy a new laptop for college. Same deal? I'm going to see if the university has a deal with someone. I know that the va state universities have a deal with dell---buy the dell from them and they support it with on campus geeks.

90 My mom ordered a Gateway laptop several years ago. It came without a hard drive and motherboard. NO SHIT. Can you imagine? I suppose they would ship one that way if someone requested it, but she'd paid for a fully functional machine, and they were less than helpful about getting it fixed.

91 I have a nine year Sony that still hums like a MFer.

My son is in MBA school and got a Lenovo through the school. He got the solid state hard drive and all the bells and whistles. 

They are not cheap, even with a school discount, but the Thinkpads are the industrial grade type of computer you will want.  Load it up.  Get the blue tooth installed so you can use a blue tooth mouse.  Of course, it has the best keyboard in the world, the old IBM keyboard with a touch pad and a finger pointer.

Remember if it lasts another year, that extra cash up front will mean nothing.

I have a desktop HP that is on Windows 7 and I like it as much as XP.

Haven't owned a Toshiba in 10 years, but the one I had was great.

92 Get a cheap HP Multi-media laptop. I got one under $400. The multi-media tag is the key to performance you can use.

93 Asus eeePC mini-note. I paid like $300, with a bit extra for more RAM and an SSD. Total was $500. I get about 13 hours of battery life, it weighs almost nothing, and it has an excellent WiFi antenna. If you can stand the smallish screen, the eeePC has one of the better keyboards on mini-notes out there.

94 @91-- Apple's offering a free iPod touch with new laptop purchase right now.... Just sayin'.

95 In my experience, Netbooks are extremely slow and frustrating to work with (I only have experience with a Dell). Get a real computer, with a dual-core processor running at least 1.6 GHz. Try visiting NewEgg.com before you buy. They often have good deals on cheap laptops that are fast enough not to be frustrating. It also has a powerful search engine so you can find the cheapest model that has all your "must-have" features. If you get Win7, make sure you get a laptop with at least 2GB of ram (3GB is better) even though all you want to do is word processing and hulu. I had a tablet and I don't think the tablet feature slowed it down at all. I think tablets often come with underpowered processors, which is ridiculous, because who is going to buy a tablet except a power user? I don't think you're looking for a tablet, though.

96 So, I need to buy the boy a new laptop for college. Same deal? I'm going to see if the university has a deal with someone. I know that the va state universities have a deal with dell---buy the dell from them and they support it with on campus geeks. Posted by: dagny at June 04, 2010 10:13 AM (c5cHT) Universities usually do and so does Apple. Actually Apple's student discounts are pretty good. I can get the Student discount ( thru my duaghters ) or the Military discount. Both have different guidelines and they figure it out both ways for me so i pay the least I can.

97 My advice: look into the business line notebooks from each company. They tend to treat their customers better, give them higher priority, and the build quality (chassis especially) are a step up from the cost cutting consumer lines. So it would be: Dell Precisions, HP Elitebooks and Lenovo Thinkpads. I prefer the HP Elitebooks. 3 year global warranty right off the bat, and they have a separate customer service team for this line and are very durable (metal finish).

98 I'd go with an HP dv4 if you're looking for something pretty cheap and serviceable.

But if you're looking for awesome...

Get yourself a Fujitsu T4310 convertible tablet. I just bought mine for $810 a few weeks ago. Easily my favorite purchase I've ever made. Light, great battery life, fast as lightning and just generally among the best things ever.

99 AMEN. And while Apple products are pricy, the Genius Bar is great.

Those cocksuckers denigrate the term genius.

100  Oh, boy... religious wars.

Real men use Linux on a homebuilt Intel box with a monochrome screen and command line interface only.

Not.

101 I'd go with an HP dv4 if you're looking for something pretty cheap and serviceable.

The dv4 screen will crap out on you within 1.5 years.

102 AMEN. And while Apple products are pricy, the Genius Bar is great. Those cocksuckers denigrate the term genius. Posted by: taylork at June 04, 2010 10:16 AM (0Hn5w) Hey tell me some other hardware maker who has a place you can walk in ( ok ya need an appointment, but still ) and get help?

103 Doesn't much matter, really. Get something with a dual core and without an intel gpu (if you can avoid it).

104 I LOVE Dell, but I bought on of their minis and took it back. Like working on a 486. Remember those? My son bought a Lenovo S-10 with a solid state hard drive - that was fast, even though the processor is the same as the one on the returned Dell. Prob seek time is less because of the solid state drive, but that raised the cost considerably. I personally buy used Dell laptops from eBay and have never gone wrong. I use them as loaners for my home business, ship them around the country FedEx, and never have a problem. I like Dell Latitude D620 and D630, with a Core 2 Duo processor, the faster the better. You can get a refurbished one from the Dell website for around $700, or buy them used for under $400. I'm about to get several more. They will certainly do what you need.

105 The dv4 screen will crap out on you within 1.5 years. Posted by: taylork at June 04, 2010 10:17 AM (0Hn5w) And with the way things are going in the world and Obama in the White House, you still think human life will last that long?

106 Dell, period, if you want reliability.  I've bought 4 Dell XPS's off eBay this year (1530's- they ROCK) and got CHEAP.  Avg price:  385.00.  Only one had a RAM card issue, fixed for 55 bucks.

You can't beat that process if you go with a Dell.  Others, well, a stack of dead machines in the corner should give you pause... 

Wolf

107 92 My mom ordered a Gateway laptop several years ago.

It came without a hard drive and motherboard. NO SHIT.

That's like buying a car without a engine and transmission.  Dang...

There was a Gateway store near the Harrisburg mall until a year or two ago. 

108 Just make sure you get Win7 64-bit if you decide for a non-Apple lappy. 32-bit is for chumps.

109 A used thinkpad x60 is an excellent machine too, if you can get it for less than $350.

110 Hey, Gabe... have I got the computer for you.  Economical and revolutionary.

111 104 AMEN. And while Apple products are pricy, the Genius Bar is great. Those cocksuckers denigrate the term genius. Posted by: taylork at June 04, 2010 10:16 AM (0Hn5w) Hey tell me some other hardware maker who has a place you can walk in ( ok ya need an appointment, but still ) and get help? Posted by: nevergiveup at June 04, 2010 10:17 AM (0GFWk) Exactly. And I've heard people bitch about the Apple store employees - the Genius Bar guys in particular - being hipster douchebags, but that hasn't been my experience at all. Geeks, to be sure, but douchebags? Not hardly. Of course, I live in the D/FW area, so my Apple Store might be different than one in, say, Los Angeles.

112

I wanted to buy my daughter a "disposable" Windows-based computer for her first year of college last year, but she was hard-wired to get a MacBook, which cost approximately twice as much.  I haven't used a Mac since I blew up my old, b&w Mac Plus sometime around 1990.  I ended up letting her pay the extra cost from the money she received from her graduation party, and I have to tell you: the MacBook is worth every penny, as far as I can tell. 

Everything about it is beautifully designed.  It was up and working, and self-connected to our house's wireless router within 3 minutes of pulling it out of the box.  No software to load.  No viruses, ever (so far).  The battery-life is excellent. I can't think of one quibble, aside from the fact that it's hard for me to operate without her help, due to the different operating system. Not that she lets me use it, except under her cautious supervision.

 I'm sure I could master the lingo in a day or two, though.

So, there's my 2 cents. 

113 I invented the laptop.

114 Of course, I live in the D/FW area, so my Apple Store might be different than one in, say, Los Angeles. Posted by: AngelEm at June 04, 2010 10:22 AM (Aq93A) I'm in NJ and I never had any problem either. And when my wife starts bitching at me about how to do this or that with her Macbook, all I say is make an appointment with the Genius Bar and then we don't have to fight.

115 #107  And with the way things are going in the world and Obama in the White House, you still think human life will last that long?

Good point.  No need to worry about the reliability of my HP laptop then.

The deaths of jihadists always makes my day better:

NATO says it has killed a top Taliban commander for southern Afghanistan's largest city - AP

116 112 Hey, Gabe... have I got the computer for you. Economical and revolutionary. Posted by: George Orwell at June 04, 2010 10:21 AM (AZGON) This should be able to handle a little word precessing.

117

I don't have a laptop but have used HP desktops for some time and never had any major problems.  I'm soured on Dell after getting boned on an employee discount program.  YMMV.

118 Buy a used Dell 700m off eBay.  It'll do everything you want, weighs less than 4 pounds, and will cost you less than $150 for one in relatively good physical shape (few scratches, etc).

119 Stay far, far away from Gateway at all costs.

I have never heard anything GOOD about Gateway.  Everyone I know who bought one of their units has problems with it whether it was a desktop or a lap top.

A friend of mine bought one and when it came in he couldn't get the floppy drive to work and he didn't want to go through the mail back and forth. I went over to check it out and found that the drive had never been connected.

That is the kind of crap they do. Throw it together and push it out the door. I have also heard that even if they work fine initially they use lower grade components that have a very short life span. 

120

I believe in Dell Latitudes. I have had one for years that I bought used from a friend and still works great.

I looked at laptops on Overstock the other day and was surprised at all the name brand re-furbs the have on there cheap. I've had good luck with Overstock before on stuff.

121 I'd also like to add to the anti-Gateway chorus. Had one for the first 3 years of college. In the first year, the hard drive died without warning or provocation. Got a replacement one (customer service was actually pretty good to me), which also died within a week. The third one lasted me for a couple of years, but the computer was just a piece of garbage. Third-rate, awful battery life, and cursed with Windows Vista.

122 What do you need a cheap laptop for?  You're a lawyer!  You're rich.  (Oh, I forgot; you're an honest lawyer.)

123 Refurbs are definitely a good way to save some money and still get an excellent machine.

124 I'm still waiting for someone to design a laptop with a built-in slot for a flask of Val-U-Rite.

125

I'm with you on the avoidance of gimmicks and gadgets.  I bought an Acer with the largest Hi Def screen, bluray player, etc.  Screen died and 18 months.

So this time I shopped on one primary criteria....warranty length.

Asus UL80V has a Two Year warranty.  Most everyone else has a one year warranty.  Not crazy about the hypersensitive touchpad, but battery life is outstanding.

126 Of course, I live in the D/FW area, so my Apple Store might be different than one in, say, Los Angeles.
Posted by: AngelEm at June 04, 2010 10:22 AM (Aq93A)

I'm in NJ and I never had any problem either. And when my wife starts bitching at me about how to do this or that with her Macbook, all I say is make an appointment with the Genius Bar and then we don't have to fight.

Those people only help if you have the simplest of problems. Macs are great for people who don't know how to use a computer. But if you have to do anything that requires third party software, you're SOL. Also you're pretty much forced into buying Apple product for the rest of your computers life, and that shit always cost at least 30% more.

127 4 Wait, did you just admit to playing WoW?

Posted by: ClassicCon at June 04, 2010 09:26 AM (ZMfGZ)

I play wow, you gotta problem with that?

128 So this time I shopped on one primary criteria....warranty length.

Love or hate Apple, their so-called Applecare extends the warranty for a total of three years.  If you get a laptop, you definitely want a long warranty.  It's saved my sorry ass more than once, and is totally worth it.  You can buy an Applecare license from eBay sellers for nearly half the retail price, totally legit.  Done it myself twice.

129 OT,

Gabe what was your take on the SC guy Larry Marchant?

Gay? or just bad Southern accent?

Need expert advice.

130 131 4 Wait, did you just admit to playing WoW?

Posted by: ClassicCon at June 04, 2010 09:26 AM (ZMfGZ)

I play wow, you gotta problem with that?

Posted by: Unclefacts, AoSHQ Professional Debate Team at June 04, 2010 10:32 AM (erIg9)

It must be difficult choosing between wow and ever getting laid. But I admire your level of commitment.

131 Remember, at the end of the day a computer is a tool that you use to perform
tasks. Now you can spend a lot for this tool or you can spend a little.

At this point in the game, laptops are pretty much disposable items as they have
come down significantly in price as their performance has increased.

With that said.

1) Netbooks are over-priced for what can be had for a few dollars more
in a full fledged laptop.

2) Unless you can get some sort of discount Mac laptops should be out of the
question as they are VERY over-priced.

3) Never have less than 2GB+ in your laptop.

4) A descent enough laptop can be had for about $399-$450.

132

It must be difficult choosing between wow and ever getting laid. But I admire your level of commitment.

Posted by: dagny at June 04, 2010 10:36 AM (c5cHT)

Morons get laid?

133 This is all the computer you will ever need.

134 I have a deep hatred for anything apple. Which stems from having to hear all through the nineties some mac evangelist telling me "You know if that were a mac you wouldn't have that problem". 

This was on computer controlled equipment that did not have the option of mac which just made the comment that much more annoying.

135 Wait.. did someone just say "Man up" and "MacBook" in the same comments???

I guess that's how they self-justify paying double what something's worth just for the privilege of being in the I've-got-an-apple-logo-on-my-laptop-club-nananana

136 Those people only help if you have the simplest of problems. Macs are great for people who don't know how to use a computer. But if you have to do anything that requires third party software, you're SOL. Also you're pretty much forced into buying Apple product for the rest of your computers life, and that shit always cost at least 30% more. Posted by: taylork at June 04, 2010 10:31 AM (0Hn5w) I use Apple computers because they JUST WORK and I don't have to fuck around with Windows. I loathe Windows. I'd rather focus on what I need to do instead of spending time figuring out why my computer won't do what I want it to. If that makes me computer illiterate, so be it. I want my computer to be the tool I use to do my real work. I don't want my computer to *become* my real work. I haven't had a problem that a stop at the Genius Bar didn't take care of. A while back, my computer/email/everything was hacked and they were able to recover it all. Any hardware failures were covered under AppleCare and my computer was back to me within three days, even if it had to be sent out for work. I haven't had to spend an entire day pulling viruses out of my computer, either, though I don't know how much longer that will last. Software is a big - probably the biggest - issue. If you need/have software that works on a PC, yeah, it only makes sense to continue with a PC. Unfortunately, a lot of stuff isn't even available for Macs, even if you had the money and inclination to replace it all. That's not an issue I have, but many people do. Again, for PCs, Toshibas have been solid performers in the past, but it's been a while, so YMMV.

137

Gabe - I've got a HP Mini (Netbook) that my company gave me for work.  While I didn't like it at first because of the size, I've come to think of it as a really big blackberry instead of a tiny laptop.  Its got a 150 Gig hard drive and a Verizon aircard and, once I got used to it, works really well.  It'll take a little time to get used to the size, but once you do, its really convenient.  Good luck and happy shopping.

138 Acer Aspire one. $250 at BJ's. I use it for school, have full office on it and have used it with about 5 browsers open and Word, Excel and Power Point running at the same time. Not for gaming. I have thick fingers so getting use to the typing took a few tries, and get a mouse, I don't like the touch pad.

139

15" MacBook Pro w/250GB drive. It cost me well over $1400, but the thing just works, man. All the time. No "blue screen of death," no fucking endless "security pack updates," no bullshit.

The AirPort wireless is brilliant, Mac OSX is elegant, and despite my best attempts, I simply can't kill the fucking thing, no matter HOW many applications and windows I have going at one time.

Steve Jobs may be a liberal prick, but lets face it: excellence should be non-partisan.

140 Toshiba Satellite.

Never had a problem with it.  Three+ years now, still runs like a champ and never hiccups. 

Wouldn't touch an HP if it were filled with butterscotch pudding and we picked up 20 + seats in the Senate in November, IYKWIM...

141 Lenovo may be Chinese NOW, but it was IBM before. As a developer, I absolutely beat the shit out of my laptop and it just says "that all you got?" .. every day. Mac's, also good machines, more expensive and you'll be buying into their gestapo "We want to control you and your data too" company; and aren't we all sort of against "The Machine" ?

142 Right now I'm on a Toshiba Qosmio, which is awesome, but more a luggable than a laptop. For the past couple years, work has given me HPs. Very functional. I'm brutally hard on them but they've mostly held up. Prior to that, Fujitsu. Nice, tended to overheat. On the topic of Fujitsu tablets, you can get $500 off a T1010 at the Fujitsu store. That brings the cheapest down to $900 for a full-powered convertible. Wish I could think of a reason to buy one....

143 #136  Morons get laid?

If that ever happened, it's a sure sign the Apocalypse is nigh.

Sadly, I'd probably be into WoW if my home internet was more reliable.  I had enough trouble playing WC3 on B-net.

144 DON'T buy a cheap Dell. Physically flimsy and glitchy. I'll never buy another one.

145 Yeah, I hate APPL, black turtlenecks, and good design. But really, a couple hunnies extra for a machine that can be a pleasure to use is worth it to me. I save cash at lenzkrafters!

146 Sadly, I'd probably be into WoW if my home internet was more reliable.  I had enough trouble playing WC3 on B-net.

Posted by: Kratos (missing from the side of Mt Olympus) at June 04, 2010 10:53 AM (9hSKh)

Wait till Star Wars, The Old Republic launches, they'll be issuing a missing persons amber alert for me...

147 Whoa, looks like Pixy's servers are on their last legs too, today.

148 15" MacBook Pro w/250GB drive. It cost me well over $1400, but the thing just works, man. All the time.

I use Apple computers because they JUST WORK

Hooray for regurgitating company slogans!!!

149 Make sure you get one that plays WoW anyways. The music has a Pavlovian affect, once you hear it again you have to play, at least for a month anyways.

150 Steve Jobs may be a liberal prick, but lets face it: excellence should be non-partisan.

What's so excellent about an OS that can't run 90% of the third party software without an emulator to run Windows?

151 Lap dances are much cheaper, so I'm told.

152 My home lappy is a bichon frise. She has bad breath and runs on milk bones. Old operating system, nearly kaput. Can anyone put me some knowledge on your next lappy?

153 Wow, can't believe all the love HP is getting here.  The Elite Book in particular has some hardware and software issues.  Lots of entries on the HP forums if you want to search for a particular model.

154

I think moronettes get laid.

 

Last year my son spent $700 on a gateway. Less than a year later the hard drive started losing it. By the time we got all the permissions to send it back, the year had expired. I was able to wipe it and reinstall the operating system which worked for a while with error codes galore. A couple of weeks ago it fully crashed. I bought a new hard drive and installed it myself. However, now the cd rom drive isn't being recognized so I can't upload microsoft office. They don't download over the net the office version i own the product key for so I'm going to have to buy office 7.

The gateway help people are douchbags too.

155

It must be difficult choosing between wow and ever getting laid. But I admire your level of commitment.

Ha, dagny! Priceless!

156 Rush uses macs. Lots of them, with 30" screens. I use a MacBook Pro. It was made in Israel. Not cheap, but a great rig.

157 The genius bar doesn't exist to fix Apples, it exists to show idiots like me how to operate Apples. Apple score perfect, operator 0.

158 I also don't understand the logic that apple macs always work but they have a genius bar and a store where you can go when it doesn't work. Posted by: caveman polynikes at June 04, 2010 10:56 AM (m2CN7) It's not just for things that go clink in the night, but show people how to use the software.

159 130 Macs are great for people who don't know how to use a computer.

They're also great for those of us who use computers daily (like me, a software developer with 20 years experience).  I want something that works without having to put with anti-virus scans, registry issues, various "editions" of the OS crippling or disabling certain features because I didn't feel like forking over $220 for the full edition, etc.

But if you have to do anything that requires third party software, you're SOL.

I guess you've never heard of Microsoft Office.  Or Adobe Photoshop.  Or Steam.

Also you're pretty much forced into buying Apple product for the rest of your computers life, and that shit always cost at least 30% more.

Again, not true.  See above.

You really should do a little research or ask someone who knows that they're talking about before you make posts like that.

160 If Apples "just work," then why do they need a genius bar?

161 Any time I have needed to go to the Genius Bar (twice) it resulted in me getting a new replacement, no questions asked, right there on the spot. Once for a macbook for ms. rawmuse, once for an iphone.

162 Just beware of Win 7 "starter" being put on computers these days. You *will* have to upgrade. I wish I had bought a netbook with a full version of home XP than this darn "starter" which won't even let me access our network drive nor print wirelessly! I can't even change the background image?! Ugh. iBook died, got an Asus for $250, has a decent keyboard in this one. I upgraded the memory, and now have to pay for "un-starter". If I had the money, they had a MacBook for $700 and I would have preferred that. Macs are a dream in ease of use and solid in handing memory across multiple apps. But alas, my wallet said no. I do like the battery life, portability, and cost of this lil guy. I am surprised at how well it runs (I even got Second Life to run!), and how cool it stays (the new atom chip). That being said, heavy Hulu usage while in other apps might require a midline laptop instead of a netbook/mini. Hubby has a Lenovo we got for $350 and it's been a solid performer and puts up with a lot of drops and other torture. Just go to a store that will let you actually sit and use the machines for a bit. MicroCenter wasn't skippy but did comply with our demand to connect the machine to the internet (they carry dongles in their pocket) for try before you buy testing.

163 I would look at a low-end Apple.  I still think their graphics are superior and that the platform is much more stable.  The knock on Apples is the lack of software, particularly games, but if you are not looking to do lots of gaming that's not an issue. 

164 Rush uses macs. Lots of them, with 30" screens.

SEE SEE SEE! RUSH IS A BIG LIBERAL WUSSY!

165 Look up the reliability statistics for the common brands.  In a nutshell, they suck.  Have one built by a local Mom-and-Pop computer store- It will use less sucky/cheap components, have vastly better failure rates, and they will help you with issues, etc much better than a big box store.   I didn't think for many years that having one built was worth it, but after 3 of 6 Dell laptops we bought for employees have > $300 failures in the first 2 years, dead screens, dead harddrives, dead motherboards, I'm a believer now.  Also, they don't tend to load all the crap Dell/HP/Compaq software that  tries to sell you stuff, and just bogs down the speed.

166 161 I think moronettes get laid.

No doubt there.  But when getting laid can split the head of the mighty Titan Cronos, something the Blade of Olympus can do quite readily, please let me know. 

Until then, video games >>>decadence!

167 I've got a few HP's, and haven't had any major problems. Something to keep in mind, though is that laptops are about screen, keyboard, and battery (if you don't plug in all the time, like I do). If you have to squint to see the screen or a single open window covers most of it, and the keyboard is some reduced-size POS, you'll hate the laptop even if it cost $300 and has petaflops all over the place.

168

About 8 months ago, I bought an HP laptop at best buy for about $500. It had a 16:9 monitor, fairly fast processor, HDMI, 4GB and came with an upgrade to Windows 7 that I finally installed.  The video is fairly fast because I can watch DVD movies at full screen without hesitations. They might have the same thing still but cheaper as these things tend to go.

169 I guess you've never heard of Microsoft Office.  Or Adobe Photoshop.  Or Steam.

You listed three products, one of which is Microsoft, the other is Adobe, which Jobs blasts regularly. The only reason to use steam is to play Half-Life, not exactly very useful for anything else.

And yes, apple shit cost about 30% more, at least for everything.

They're also great for those of us who use computers daily (like me, a software developer with 20 years experience).  I want something that works without having to put with anti-virus scans, registry issues, various "editions" of the OS crippling or disabling certain features because I didn't feel like forking over $220 for the full edition, etc.

And I get this feeling that you either develop Apple software, or have to use a PC for developing your software.

170 Mac user at home, PC user at work.

I'd look at only two PC laptop makers: Toshiba and Sony. Toshiba has a nice outlet store online, and plenty of sales. #Dealzmodo at Gizmodo.com runs down daily discounts that'll make you blue in the face.

If you can afford a MacBook, do it. Great customer service, fine hardware, and an OS that won't leave you hanging. And if you run PC-designed software, you can install Parallels or vmware Fusion to create a virtual machine onto which you can install Win and your Win software.

MicroCenter tends to sell the most recent MacBook at $100 to $200 off MSRP (better than the student discount) but you have to have one in your area, as it's a pickup-only item. Bought mine there, added 4 GB RAM and a 750 GB HD, and am rollin'.

171 If Apples "just work," then why do they need a genius bar?

Okay that made me laugh. 

172 I bought 3 Dell Laptops. All were pos. I got a cheaper ASUS, and it is way better. Strange, that. The cases of the Dells fall apart like they were manufactured using leftover cheap shit plastic by blind elves.

173 I bought a Toshiba Sattelite for $350 at best buy 3 or 4 months ago, I just use it for trading stocks and that requires having several windows open and it works fine.

174 Risking a bad, bad flame here, but I get the feeling some people feel about apple the way libs feel about Palin. I can see Cupertino from my house....

175 And yes, apple shit cost about 30% more, at least for everything. Posted by: taylork at June 04, 2010 11:08 AM (0Hn5w) Microsoft Office for Apple costs less than Office for Windows

176 the other is Adobe, which Jobs blasts regularly.


genius move not allowing flash to work on my ipod touch.

177

<i>You listed three products, one of which is Microsoft, the other is Adobe, which Jobs blasts regularly. The only reason to use steam is to play Half-Life, not exactly very useful for anything else. </i>

You never heard of VM Ware Fusion, have you?

<i>And yes, apple shit cost about 30% more, at least for everything. </i>

If the product's worth it, then why shouldn't it?

178 Depends on you style.  I don't think a Netbook will fill the bill for someone as busy as you.  If you are looking for lightweight, powerful, and quality, the Sony product line is great for what you want.  I know two people with the $2K executive laptops, and they are extremely happy with them.  They have money, of course.

I have a Toshiba that carries a double load of batteries, but that makes it heavier. It also has a four plus battery life.  Good with the bad.

179 Gabe, FWIW, I find that legal research doesn't work well with Macs. Anything with a table of contents freaks out the browser. Not sure why--but not too compatible. At least not with lexis.

180 I love my Dell Mini 10v. Cheap, light, power-thrifty. Dual-boot Hackintoshing it was a piece of cake, but when I realized I needed to bump up the memory for smooth-running OS X, I had to disassemble the whole damn machine to access the memory slot. Over an hour and much sweat to replace a 1Gb memory module with a 2Gb.

Main downside: Many web pages suffer on the so-called wide screen. Firefox toolbars suck up way too much screen height. Big honkin' banner ads compound the problem. Lots of pages like Yahoo Mail, Rapidshare, Craigslist have important buttons that I now need to scroll to see. I'm starting to see some sites reformatting to netbook-friendly layouts, but not fast enough.

181 Get ASUS or HP...not mini, and get Windows 7 on it...it's worth it.

182 I have issues with my Macbook; had the keyboard replaced twice, and some bizarre problem with the headphone jack and the optical drive.  I have never paid for these repairs, though.

For the money you pay for Apple, it should really not have this many issues in the first two years, in my opinion.  Also, some issues I've had with the system, after research, appear to be issues that have been around for a very long time.  I think Apple coasts on its reputation of quality, without much justification.  I have a MacBook + iPod Touch, and you'd think they'd run seamlessly.  They, in fact, do not, and have little glitches that are well-discussed on Apple discussion boards.  These issues go completely ignored by the company.

That said, my previous laptop lasted 5 years, which is more than I can say for any PC laptop I've had.  This laptop is in its 3rd year, and it is definitely showing a lot of wear and tear.

183
If you can afford a MacBook, do it. Great customer service, fine hardware, and an OS that won't leave you hanging. And if you run PC-designed software, you can install Parallels or vmware Fusion to create a virtual machine onto which you can install Win and your Win software.

Yeah, so in order to actually do something, you need to plunk down an extra $80 to get software the emulates a PC.  What you just said is that Macs can't do enough so you need to buy extra shit to turn it into a PC so that you can do stuff.

184 OpenOffice is multiplatform and free as in beer... a good substitute for Word and Office.  It is, however, a little slow.

185 Oh, and the "SuperDrive" on this MacBook, which I've probably used fewer than 30 times total, is almost useless.  It can't rip CDs effectively (1.5 hrs for 1 CD the other day), although did play a DVD last time I tried. 

These issues have me questioning whether or not I'll buy another Mac.

186

Look at the HP Mini 311 with the 10.1" screen. My wife and I each have one and have had zero problems. The Mini's aren't a speed demon by any means but with 2GB of system RAM they run the full Win 7 experience and long with the MS Suite and photo/video stuff well. I even run full Photoshop on mine for basic photo manipulation when I'm on vacation.

 

187 Yeah, so in order to actually do something, you need to plunk down an extra $80 to get software the emulates a PC. What you just said is that Macs can't do enough so you need to buy extra shit to turn it into a PC so that you can do stuff. Posted by: taylork at June 04, 2010 11:16 AM (0Hn5w) NOBODY IS FORCING YOU TO BUY ONE. We are merely sharing our experiences and opinions.

188 183 Risking a bad, bad flame here, but I get the feeling some people feel about apple the way libs feel about Palin.

LOL.

I agree. 

I have no problem with people having their preferences and, given how central computers are in our lives, even very strong preferences.  It's a little annoying to hear outdated criticisms of Apples based on an experience they had with a Mac Classic 15 years ago, but whatever.

But I find the "Apple users are liberal freaks" arguments pretty effin' funny... as if the alternative platform and software developer are any different.  Bill Gates has done a lot more damage to this country than Jobs has. 

189 You never heard of VM Ware Fusion, have you?

If Macs are so great, why do they have software to turn it into a PC?

190 174 I've got a few HP's, and haven't had any major problems. Something to keep in mind, though is that laptops are about screen, keyboard, and battery (if you don't plug in all the time, like I do). If you have to squint to see the screen or a single open window covers most of it, and the keyboard is some reduced-size POS, you'll hate the laptop even if it cost $300 and has petaflops all over the place.

Nice to know about the HPs.  Good point about the keyboard.  I have no problems typing on my HP laptop.  Wouldn't be the case for one of those mini-thingies.

191 My first computer was a Timex Sinclair. Back in '86. Here is what I know about computers. Eventually they all fail. For that reason you should have more than one.

192

Dells run hot period & minis more so, causes all sorts of probs, and leads to short life-span.

HP minis, which I use when travelling is to limoited for blogging, excessive tabs open gives it fits and starts and not enough storage for snagging things off the net like vids to write about later, or to collate a series of things to quote from. Same is true of Dells, but worse due to cooling probs.

I picked up my 15.5in Toshiba for $600, it has more bells and whistles than I'll ever use and peforms like a champ, refitted with a 3gig HD ($120) after mine got too full, which allows massive storage and archiving.

 

Good luck!

193 If this music right here http://tinyurl.com/277znm9 starting at 1:11 doesn't give you the chills and make you want to play WoW again, there's just something wrong with you.

194

"Oh, and the "SuperDrive" on this MacBook, which I've probably used fewer than 30 times total, is almost useless.  It can't rip CDs effectively (1.5 hrs for 1 CD the other day), although did play a DVD last time I tried."

That's really unusual. I can rip a CD in less than 3 minutes, although it does take my 90 minutes or more to burn a DVD.

Is it me, or do the Mac haters here sound almost exactly like Palin haters??? 

195

opinions, assholes, everyone.  assembly required.

That said, my stinky opinion is that dells are built like tanks, and get the job done.  I'm on a precision.  Massive, but can handle everything.

Haven't used the smaller ones, but an up to date processor, lots of memory, and a huge drive (or a 1/2 or full terabyte external) will do what you need.  Running IE for westlaw in lots of tabs doesn't phase mine, even with tons of other stuff running.

Dells work. Period. 

Apples suck rocks.  Period.  My mothers is so hard to use, and one fucking button?  Cutting and pasting into memos and briefs is a pain in the ass on an apple.  Apples are for show, not for work.

196

"If Macs are so great, why do they have software to turn it into a PC?"

Yeah, I get it. You hate Macs. Shit man, chill out,.

197

For a no-brainer no regrets safety buy, Dell Inspiron.

yes

198 I'm going to recommend you consider an odd choice.  Depending on if you really use your laptop as something you carry around with you a lot.

I got a Dell Zino HD.  It in a plastic box, and it's designed, I think to be easily portable and lug around your house and hooked into your tv in each room or some damned thing.  However, it's about 4x6x8 inches and is essentially a very small desktop.  You plug it into a monitor and keyboard and mouse.  I find myself leaving an inexpensive monitor at home [I've never plugged it into the tv] and a 'free'  monitor at work. 

It bases at 250 and the processor doesn't blaze at 1.6 base, but you can upgrade if you want .  I got the smallest hard drive because I don't need more than 250G, but I went to 4G RAM for about 100.  By the time I got done I only had around 350 in a machine that I stuff in my bag and move between home and work.

This won't replace a travel laptop, but in some situations it's truly excellent for the price.

199 Is it me, or do the Mac haters here sound almost exactly like Palin haters???

It's just you.

200 Is it me, or do the Mac haters here sound almost exactly like Palin haters??? Posted by: I'm Dolemite, bitch at June 04, 2010 11:20 AM (HPhdA) See #183. GMTA

201

Is it me, or do the Mac haters here sound almost exactly like Palin haters???

It's just you.

The IMac did not give birth to the Ipad, the Iphone did and I can prove it!

202 177 You listed three products

And I could have listed a lot more.  I mentioned Steam in response to someone else's post regarding the lack of games on OS X -- that is one area where Windows dominates without question, but more and more titles are being ported.

And I get this feeling that you either develop Apple software, or have to use a PC for developing your software.

I do both.  For the PC work, I run Windows Server 2008 in a virtual machine.  If it crashes or gets infected, I just create another VM.

And yes, apple shit cost about 30% more, at least for everything.

For the Apple software development work, I use Apple's Xcode.  It's free.  For the PC development work, I use Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Pro.  Amazon sells it for $737.

When was the last time you used a Mac, anyway?  Your posts are full of outdated Wintroll talking points.

203

"It's just you. "

I can't be the only one who thinks you're starting to sound as bitchy as the douchebag who makes my coffe in the morning.

204

My home desktop is an HP Win7 64-bit, and it is used by the three females I live with, none of whom is tech-savy, and who all download and install every freaking toolbar thing imaginable, and have never heard of the concept of "logging-off" - all their accounts are open all the time, and connected to the internet.

Frigging thing has been running for about 6 months straight now, except when there was a power failure once, and never hiccups and still runs as fast as day one.  In all fairness, I should give 50% of the credit to MacAfee anti-virus.

205 My first box was a freaking Amiga 500.  It was amazing what it could do with video way back in 1985.  And the 40MB bag-on-the-side hard drive seemed huge back then.

206

You know you can't fight the WoW forever, what happens when you want to crank it up again?

Best off to buy yourself a laptop that has some guts....

207 A  IMac airbook molested my dog

208

Check out Geeks.com. They sell remanufactured and discontinued computers. You kinda have to know what you are doing as some come with no OS and installing OS and drivers is a pain. I also found that with computer relative prices dropping, the obsolete computers sometimes aren't discounted much under the newer front-line products.

Still it's worth a look. They have a lot of good stuff.

209 Hared that Dell is thinking of talking the company private again.  Good for him.  Sbarro did it, Syms did it....they are much happier.

210 206 If this music right here http://tinyurl.com/277znm9 starting at 1:11 doesn't give you the chills and make you want to play WoW again, there's just something wrong with you.

Posted by: pajama momma at June 04, 2010 11:20 AM (fo4Wl)

Lok'Tar Ogar!

211 On the Apple issue, clearly a superior machine, period. But the question was a about a laptop cheap, Apple is not cheap, which is why I went Toshiba. I ride my bike everywhere with my laptop slung, 1 mishap and machine is toast. Replacement difference: about $2900.

212 Bought a HP Laptop at Costco in November '09 liked it so much I bought a second one for the Mr Fish Sticks two months ago.  $650.00 a piece and they threw in a wireless printer.  No problems at all.

213 206 If this music right here http://tinyurl.com/277znm9 starting at 1:11 doesn't give you the chills and make you want to play WoW again, there's just something wrong with you.

Don't tempt me...

Here's an music player for WoW and Warcraft MP3s.

214 minor correction - the price I stated for Visual Studio 2010 is actually their price for VS2008.  But my point is still valid.

215 As soon as HP finalizes their contract with Microsoft for the government machines, I'm getting Office Professional Plus 2010 for $9.95 for the home user program. Can't say no to that price! Posted by: CDR M at June 04, 2010 11:17 AM (5I8G0) You can buy a Military Appreciation version of Microsoft Office for around $79 that comes with 3 lisc. So less than $30 per computer

216

And the PC people sound like conservatives who hate that cult.

Funny...I was thinking the opposite...

217 Gabe: "while hoping that it spontaneously fixes itself" When I had a serious problem with my HP laptop recently, I ended up wiping the hard drive and reinstalling the OS (Windows XP). Of course I had to reinstall all the apps and data (backed up on a DVD). Ever since doing this, my laptop, which was showing its age, has run much better. It's almost like a new machine. Cleaning out the accumulated debris can make a big difference. Before springing for a new machine, you might want to try salvaging your old one. Just be sure to back up all data on CD, DVD, USB or all of the above, and to make a list of all the apps you use and all the passwords that have to be reentered into the system. If you have to buy a new laptop, I've had good luck buying from top-rated sellers on eBay.

218 And #226, you are exactly fucking right.

219
I got tired of lugging 10+lbs of laptop thru airports - especially now that I've gone to a strict carry-on policy, so I got an Asus eeepc 901, a 9" netbook. My only gripe is that I have fumblefingers, and the keyboard is just a tad too small. But once I get used to the keyboard size after using a full-size desktop keyboard, I'm OK with it.

Hey, I've been banging away on my HTC Incredible phone's virtual keyboard and managing to get along with it.

Now, if this laptop stays mostly at home, and lugging it thru an airport isn't an issue, you may want to look at Newegg's cheapie models. For under $400 you can get the job done. And at less than half the price of a Macbook, you can afford to upgrade more often.

As a note, I'm a satisfied Newegg customer.

If that link doesn't satisfy you, then you should be looking for something that doesn't have less than 2GB - I would go with 4GB myself, but that's me - of memory, and pretty much anything over 100 GB of disk space will be overkill. Unless you have a large pr0n picture collection, in which case adjust that number.

220 My big Gateway laptop (a desktop replacement) has been going great for 5 years, and I've never had trouble with the drivers. I run all kinds of stuff on it, too, and the monitor is awesome - 17", crisp image. Love it! But it is huge and it was expensive at the time.

I just got a Gateway netbook for $300 from Amazon. The screen is tiny (10", I think), but it's light, it has 9 hours of battery life so far, and it plays Hulu, YouTube, etc. perfectly. This one is my travel laptop, so I am planning to only use it for email and Word, some web surfing.

I also have a Lenovo for work, and it is meh. I'm running RHEL5 on it, so maybe I'm missing something from the Windows version, but it's nothing to write home about. It's okay.

221 200

That's funny stuff there.

In the interest of total accuracy, however, I would point out that I have never heard anyone argue that VMS was superior to UNIX.  Even I, who is old enough to have cut her teeth on VMS while doing scientific computing (and light programming), knew right away UNIX is superior.   I was more comfortable trouble-shooting VMS, but that was me, not the OS. 

222 Dagny @161: The drivers section of the Gateway web site is pretty excellent. IIRC, I input the serial number of the machine I was fixing for a friend and it spit back a list of all the most current hardware drivers along with updates to all the Gateway software and utilities that the machine shipped with. Download/install instructions were very clear. That might fix your drive issue.

Separately, the Belarc Advisor utility (google it) does a great inventory of a machine's installed hardware and software, identifying out-of-date drivers and such.

223 If Macs are so great, why do they have software to turn it into a PC?

Because it takes a lot to take a well-oiled machine and force it to do absolutely useless stuff.

Win7 is good, but that's because they finally threw out the baby and the bathwater. Prior Win iterations were chock full of useless code which bulked up the system and slowed the most mundane operations.

224 Well, I have a crap old thinkpad x40 running linux and a crap new(er) toshiba running FreeBSD and I think I've spent nearly $800 including maxing out the memory and replacing a crashed hard drive. But Macs are still very nice machines and if I had a spare $2500 burning a hole in my pocket I'd probably get one.

225 My computer tells me that the DJIA is down 2.25% now, so everything is going according to Barry's plan.

64 bits is all we're going to have left in our pockets by the time Earflaps McBaritone leaves the White House.  And he'll probably steal all the Bs and Os from the keyboards there.

226 The refurbished macs usually go as fast as they come into the store.  But I'm not sure how much you really want to spend.  There are people who look at 200 grand houses but can afford 400 grand but they jsut want to see the difference so they can justify spending the 400 grand.

227

Fuckin great...

As if we don't have enough problems with libtards, now we're gonna start pissing on each other over a fucking laptop.

 

228 Asus laptops are pretty nice and more than affordable nowadays too. I'd recommend them.

Check out newegg.com, tigerdirect.com, frys.com and MicroCenter. One of them will almost always have the computer you want, and probably at the best price you'll find.

229 I think #231 is very wrong. Very wrong, and I needed to say it.

230 Posted by: The Dread Pirate Neck Beard at June 04, 2010 11:29 AM (Sdkia)

we think alike...lol

231 Sweet Jeebus... if'n y'all want to bag on someone, bag on Fry's.  That place is the closest thing to hell on earth, this side of Dante.

232 Fuckin great... As if we don't have enough problems with libtards, now we're gonna start pissing on each other over a fucking laptop. Posted by: I'm Dolemite, bitch at June 04, 2010 11:29 AM (HPhdA) Just a friendly discussion amongst amigos. But I have heard that Windows people piss on the toilet seat all the time?

233 I can't be the only one who thinks you're starting to sound as bitchy as the douchebag who makes my coffe in the morning.

Sorry, but Apple severely pisses me off.

When was the last time you used a Mac, anyway?  Your posts are full of outdated Wintroll talking points.

I have to do tons of extra work daily to convert shit to Macs. Regularly compiling and altering 3gigs worth of data is fucking impossible using VM fusion and having to convert that shit to an Apple readable format takes up tons of my time. (Though at least it allows me to post on AoS).

234 246
Agreed.  Fry's suck.

Dell customer service sucks too.  The. Worst.

235 Lok'Tar Ogar!

You're horde? You might as well say Allahu Akbar as far as I'm concerned

*runs, runs like hell

236

I think #231 is very wrong. Very wrong, and I needed to say it.

I might be wrong, but it's beyond stupid for a bunch of independant-minded conservatives to start accusing each other of being libtards based solely on our loyalty to our computers.

237

Friday flamewar?

238 Agreed.  Fry's suck.

Wha? That's my happy place! How can you guys say that?

239 Posted by: taylork at June 04, 2010 11:32 AM (0Hn5w)

Look, I'm far from computer saavy but why wouldn't you just install windows on your mac or os on your windows and make your life a little easier?

240 Whatever brand you end up buying you need to protect the power connection.  If you can't find a Micro-Center or Fry's near you, drop me a line and I'll send you a free JerkStopper Laptop Kit. 

241 What kind of lawyer can't afford a top-of-the-line laptop, Gabe?

Get your ass over to the emergency room and start passing out some cards. You should generate some settlements pretty quickly.

Once you have siphoned off some of the wages of human misery, go buy the pimp-ass Sony Vaio with the Intel i7 processor.

242 My Dell netbook is pretty damned decent (I got it essentially loaded because it was a black friday sale and it cost about as much as the standard model).  It works great for browsing, surprisingly well for typing/working with an excel file. If you want to stream, I cannot recommend it.  It seems to work okay on Southparkstudios.com, but it choked on my anytime I was watching hulu (just enough to be annoying).  I'd just buy a full sized laptop.  People always seem to happy with the mac (especially people that use the mac productively), but a $600 Toshiba will probably do everything you need and then some.

243 "It's not just for things that go clink in the night, but show people how to use the software.."

Yes, a good friend bought a MacBook Pro or whatever that thing is.  It's supposed to be "intuitive" to use.  After a week, she went to the Genius Bar.  Next day, she still couldn't get it.  She called me and I noodled around and helped her some.  Then she found our some essential software for her just doesn't work [and yes, the university agreed to install the VM simulator].  Intuitive my butt.

Macs are, I agree, very good at the things they're designed to do.  But they are essentially designed for people who also like to buy BMWs and have someone else service them once a year.

Nothing wrong with that [and I am mad most of the time at Microsoft], but I do get a little tired of the snotty evangelism like I never even tried a Mac.  I have.  They just don't do all the things I like.

244 Agreed.  Fry's suck.

Wha? That's my happy place! How can you guys say that?
Posted by: pajama momma

Sorry pajama momma, I hate that place.  It's like being sucked into the 5th circle of hell.

245

go with griff on this one and get an asus

they have the g31 on sale at bestbuy for 1200

has a ati 5870 and a coreI7

can do anything and even play crysis on high

did i mention the I7?

246 A B D   =  anything but Dell

Toshiba is the way to go.  I work mine like a mule, but it don't kick

247

But I have heard that Windows people piss on the toilet seat all the time?


Yes, because mac users are sitzpinklers.

248

Sorry, but Apple severely pisses me off.

Fair enough, dude. No offense intended.

 

249 You know what Fry's reminds me of?  It reminds me of some third world ripoff bazaar where half the stuff is hidden, the other half is mismarked, and it always seems to be filled with aimless people, wandering the stalls in bewildered confusion.  And may all the gods and demiurges help you if you ever want to return something and don't have every single square centimeter of the original packaging and every scrap of paperwork.

Plus, the security guards at the door look at you as if you were Tim Geithner, shoplifting an old copy of Turbo Tax.

250 @183, oh I will totally admit that I have an irrational hatred for Apple. I used Mac OS 8 and OS 9 when I worked at a newspaper, and that was both evil crappy and Fisher-Pricey, yet it was still pretentious. Why? Whyyyyyyyyy? That made me despise Mac. Hate them! I have a personal animus against anyone who could develop Mac OS 9.

I understand their new stuff is good, just expensive. But the horror lingers from OS 9....

That and iPhones burst into flame. I mean, seriously? WTF? That should be the first thing that gets weeded out in testing. "Doesn't spontaneously burst into flame." They actually had this really sniffy advisory out that people shouldn't put their iPhones in, like, their purse because that contributed to overheating. Dude.

251
Of course I had to reinstall all the apps and data (backed up on a DVD). Ever since doing this, my laptop, which was showing its age, has run much better. It's almost like a new machine.

Not surprising. I've heard of folks who do the whole wipe&load routine every couple of months for this very reason. Leave it to Microsoft to steal an Apple concept, and implement it poorly: the ever expanding Registry.

252 "Dell customer service sucks too.  The. Worst.

Posted by: mpfs at June 04, 2010 11:32 AM (iYbLN)"

As the guy reads me the manual and says "he can only do this maam, (I hate being called maam cause i'm not a maam)"  I end up yelling "what the hell country are you in, that you can't deviate one bit from the manual"....that usually gets me shipped to someone in the USA pronto and problem gets resolved quickly....

253 As if we don't have enough problems with libtards, now we're gonna start pissing on each other over a fucking laptop.

I'm not trying to say you're a bad person for using a Mac.

I just really fucking hate Apple. It complicates my work life severely.

254 251 Lok'Tar Ogar!

You're horde? You might as well say Allahu Akbar as far as I'm concerned

*runs, runs like hell

Posted by: pajama momma at June 04, 2010 11:32 AM (fo4Wl)

/gank /Banner of Orgrimmar /dance /Cast Basic Campfire

255 Massive, integrated office suites are nearly always worthless. /usr/local/bin/joe running in wordstar mode for word processing, scribus (works a lot like the old pagemaker pro) for publishing/layout, all spreadsheets suck (from siag, the least irritating, to openoffice, the most irritating (excepting excel which I haven't used since umm . . . 1998? I don't care, i hate it too)), & for slideshows/presentations/etc y'all can taste my nutsack. Useless middle management crap.

256 242 now we're gonna start pissing on each other over a fucking laptop

Sorry, Mac bashers (especially uninformed ones like taylork) make my bladder swell and I have to cut loose.

My take on the whole Mac/PC is this: I love Macs, and if you love Windows because it does what you need it to do and it does it well, then I say good luck and Godspeed.  What pisses me off is to see someone talked out of a Mac purchase by someone who doesn't know what they're talking about, either from ignorance or an irrational hatred of all things Apple.

257 266

LOL

258

or go to notebook dot com and read the forum on why notebook to buy or log in and ask

most resellers hang out there and the geek level of the posters there is awesome

259 @266. I haven't been to Fry's, but that was totally my impression of Costco. I hated that place.

260 Sorry pajama momma, I hate that place.  It's like being sucked into the 5th circle of hell.

If every date night ended up there,  I'd be in heaven. I could wander around that place for hours.

261 "265

Sorry, but Apple severely pisses me off.

Fair enough, dude. No offense intended.

 

Posted by: I'm Dolemite, bitch at June 04, 2010 11:35 AM (HPhdA)"

The next time apple stock goes down buy yourself a couple of shares....you'll really love them after that.

262 Yes, because mac users are sitzpinklers. Posted by: hobgoblin at June 04, 2010 11:35 AM (BXLor) Nope. Hey I can spell my name in the snow from 5 yards away in English and Hebrew. Backwards and forwards

263

I just really fucking hate Apple. It complicates my work life severely.

I hear ya. I work at CDW and everything's Windows, which has the same effect on me, considering everything in my house is Apple.

264

274  yep, comes with the os disk and the driver disk

bloatware has got to go

265 I have a no bells and whistles Compaq Presario, and I use it for pretty much exactly what you are looking to use yours for and I love it and it never lags when I have 15 open Firefox tabs and I have never had any issues with Hulu or other video sites.

266 Are we still discussing laptops?

267

Unless your luck is as dependable as the sun rising every morning, stay away from refurbs. There is a very high likelyhood that you will just inherit someone else's problem. 'Refurbing' consists of replacing any scratched panels, repacking the unit, and sending it to you,. Any deeper technical problems will NOT be addressed, and chances are it's a lemon or a crappy model that has built-in problems.

On the Apple/PC divide - I love Macs. They are wonderful. I've never actually owned one, the cost/benefit ratio is way too high, and I actually wanted to learn how computers work, so I was happy (sort of) to bang my head against a wall to learn all about computers by going the PC route.

If you have a Mac, you will be able to do everything with relative ease. It is unlikely you will ever know anything about just how it happened, however.

If you don't want to make computers a career (or consuming hobby), and money is no object, go Mac, no question.

 

268 Oh, and Driver Magician does a great job of backing up all your drivers to a CD or USB stick. If I ever have to wipe my machine and reinstall Windows, I'm confident 100% of my hardware will be recognized and installed properly.

269 Heh heh, Dolemite.  Nice moniker.

270 @284, this thread was about laptops?

271 Gran,

I admit I have an irrational hatred of Apple.  I just hate them.  It might be because all the PhDs I worked with were Mac snobs and a royal pain in the ass.

272 Are we still discussing laptops?

I sure hope not.

273 285 If you have a Mac, you will be able to do everything with relative ease. It is unlikely you will ever know anything about just how it happened, however.

You shouldn't have to know.

274

Office Depot has a new MCI laptop on sale right now. i5 processor, 4G of 800Mhz memory for only $459. Looks like a decent buy. From the looks of the specs I would bet good money that all the circuit board work was done by Intel, which USUALLY means good quality and reliability. My mother in law is looking for a new one and I recommended she give it a try.

Deffinitly avoid the mini's at all costs. Especially the HP's. When HP was discussing buying Compaq, any techie with half a brain said "don't do it! It will tank your quality." Guess what? We were right. It has been several years now since we purchased any HP product that didn't have issues. And when you try and deal with customer service -- well lets just say they suck the barbed cock of SATAN.

275

i'll do the dirty work i guess

apple sucks and so do their users, just a bunch of wannabe hippy pussies

set all of them on fire, even my wife and daughter with their macbooks and iphones  DIE DIE DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!

SAGER BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

276 277 @266. I haven't been to Fry's, but that was totally my impression of Costco. I hated that place.
Posted by: Ella

I beg to differ.  Costco is not Frys. 

Costco is my happy place.  I'm not cheap but I am easy.

277 Posted by: mpfs at June 04, 2010 11:40 AM (iYbLN)

"Once you go mac, you never go back"

278 "Is it me, or do the Mac haters here sound almost exactly like Palin haters???"

I don't hate my Mac, I have just had substantially more issues with it than I think I should, given Apple's stellar reputation.  When problems are well documented at Apple's own discussion board, why are these issues not addressed immediately?  Why do I have to do silly workarounds to prevent iTunes from automatically deleting podcasts from my iPod, when I have sync turned completely off?  My husband does not have this issue with his PC.  How come when I plugged headphones into the jack, it turned on the optical drive, killing the entire sound function?  I don't know, but these problems are discussed ad nauseum on Apple's site as far back as 2006. 

At this time, I would buy another MacBook with reservations.  If I continue to have more issues I will question whether the price premium on Macs is worth it, considering that I think any laptop I use would last 3 years.  Why pay $500 extra if there is no difference in how long the system lasts?

279 274

You don't need to uninstall and reinstall. Download and keep these three free programs and they will change your life:

Revo Uninstaller (easy, comprehensive and permanent uninstaller for bloatware).

CC Cleaner (cleans up cookies, temporary files and other crap quickly)

and Piriform Defraggler (easiest defragger I've ever used).

You're welcome

280 My take on the whole Mac/PC is this: I love Macs, and if you love Windows because it does what you need it to do and it does it well, then I say good luck and Godspeed.  What pisses me off is to see someone talked out of a Mac purchase by someone who doesn't know what they're talking about, either from ignorance or an irrational hatred of all things Apple.

Given that Gabe asked about cheap-o lap tops, I don't think a Mac was ever even considered.

But my hatred is rational.

281 If you don't want to make computers a career (or consuming hobby), and money is no object, go Mac, no question.

I'm not sure that's true.  At my old Big 10 school, the computer science department had gone Mac.  ECE (electrical & computer engineering) school was PC.  In the sciences, the split seemed to be between the life sciences (that relies on great graphics) and the physical sciences, where the high-end graphics were on SGIs. 

To me the issue in the workplace is that sys admins tend to prefer PCs over Macs, which is ironic given the virus issues.  Personally, I think it's a job security issue. 

282 Everyone in our firm got a new Lenovo two years ago. Kind of heavy, but great units. Almost completely trouble free, and lots of room. Windows O/S another matter entirely, IYKWIMAITYDKWIM.

283

cc cleaner is chris christy level of awesome

284

#236

 

"In the interest of total accuracy, however, I would point out that I have never heard anyone argue that VMS was superior to UNIX.  Even I, who is old enough to have cut her teeth on VMS while doing scientific computing (and light programming), knew right away UNIX is superior.   I was more comfortable trouble-shooting VMS, but that was me, not the OS. "

 

No, it was not you. Despite the technical superiorities of UNIX, VMS was the easiest OS to troubleshoot I ever worked with. And using DCL was like falling off a log compared to the sanskrit-like properties of UNIX shell programming.

285 Posted by: navy COP joe at June 04, 2010 11:41 AM (gg4j2)

I really hope your wife and daughter give you an iphone for father's day and you post the picture of you eating your words.

Please don't wish anyone to die.  I just lost a very young friend and another friend had a fight with him and wished him dead and then he died.  The friend who wished him dead is inconsolable.

286 I admit I have an irrational hatred of Apple. I just hate them. It might be because all the PhDs I worked with were Mac snobs and a royal pain in the ass. Posted by: mpfs at June 04, 2010 11:40 AM (iYbLN) Well, when apple dominates 90% of the desktop market and forces me to buy its products* when I really just want to run FreeBSD, I'll start hating them too. *seriously, have you ever actually tried to get a refund for your unused windows install?

287 I have the little Lenovo mini, works great - but hulu might be a stretch. I keep all data, password, and firefox settings/bookmarks on a usb (SD card) drive and boot it from a Ubuntu read-only live CD image on the drive. There is also a windows partition, but I haven't opened that since I set it up. My 2K ThinkPad rarely leaves it's dock any more, when the SD card isn't in my mini, it is in my blackberry (if lost, it can be remotely wiped) - when it is in the mini it gets backed up to a NAS box at home.

288 249 I have to do tons of extra work daily to convert shit to Macs.
.
.
.
convert that shit to an Apple readable format takes up tons of my time.


As a developer, I'm really curious to know what formats you're converting between.  Maybe the process could be made more efficient with better coding?  Or maybe there's another Apple-compatible format that would make the conversion go more smoothly?

289 Given that Gabe asked about cheap-o lap tops, I don't think a Mac was ever even considered.

I'm with the other commenter who wondered why a lawyer can't afford a $1000 laptop. 

290 Asus UL30A.  12 hour battery life, real-life processing power, 13.3" screen = portable but still usable by normal people hands.  $600 at Amazon-

http://tinyurl.com/27dclkd

I've got the the UL20A and love it, but bought it as a similarly sized alternative to the underpowered netbooks.  If I didn't need it to be ultra portable I'd get the 30.  They come with a one year drop/damage warranty in addition to the standard warranty, and mine came with XX gigs of online storage.  I don't know if they're still including that or not, but it was a pleasant bonus at boot-up. 

Good luck.

291

305  i meant their macs and iphones should blow out a chip and die

oh, and get an ssd

speed matters

292 @304
No, it was not you.

Hey, that's nice to hear!  I always assumed it was that by the time I switched to UNIX I had passed my fast learning curve phase. 

293 Fry's... where else could you buy, say, a USB A to B cable and have to pay twenty bucks plus sales tax, while you could score one on amazon.com for five?

Plus you get the added benefit of buying shop-worn packaging and a no name brand.

This is old but funny.

294

287 Heh heh, Dolemite.  Nice moniker.

I dig 1970's blaxploitation movies. Especially Pam Grier as Foxy Brown.

Sweeeeeettttttt

295 I'm with the other commenter who wondered why a lawyer can't afford a $1000 laptop. 
Posted by: Y-not


Because he lives in LA.

296 CDR

What are you doing posting so early?

Skipping school today?

297

309 I'm with the other commenter who wondered why a lawyer can't afford a $1000 laptop. 

because he didn't marry a retired sailor and force the dumbass to drive a cab for laptop money?

298

317  CDR
What are you doing posting so early?

coughstaffcough

299 Ace: Try this one - it's what I have at a much better price: HP is clearing out the G60 line. With a dual-core Pentium processor, 3GB RAM, 320GB fast HDD (7200 rpm) a really bright 16 in screen (actually 15.6") and WIFI/DVD RW etc. at $410.00! Ms. T. Bagg and I both have one - going on 1.5 years, no problems with either! http://www.shopping.hp.com and search for G60t_series

300 NCJ,

Do you get an allowance?

301 It was my daughter's graduation today.  I called up my boss afterwards and he said I didn't need to come in so I'm staying home and getting ready to go finish edging the lawn and mow it.

How exciting!

302 322  i refuse to answer that question in the hope to retain my man card

303 From the Financial Times:

Google ditches Windows on security concerns

304 I keep buying Apple products to help China with its over-population problem.

bwa-ha-ha-ha!

305
Gabriel,
 You donÂ’t have to spend a great deal on a laptop. It isnÂ’t uncommon to see laptops for $500 or less. Not too long ago, nothing was available for that price. These days, you have dozens of choices. These laptops wonÂ’t be the thinnest and lightest models. Nor will they be the most powerful.

So, theyÂ’re not the best for gaming, or photo- or video-editing. They will work, but operations will be slower. ThereÂ’s a cost/convenience tradeoff. But theyÂ’re perfect for browsing the Web, composing documents and viewing photos. ThatÂ’s what most people do, anyway. These laptops are relatively heavy. Most weigh in at six pounds or more. For the average owner, size probably wonÂ’t matter. But frequent travelers will want to ante up for a lighter model. Six pounds can be back breaking on the road.

Incidentally, you wonÂ’t see any Mac laptops around $500. The least expensive MacBook runs $1,000. You can get similar specs for much less in a Windows machine.

Now, letÂ’s talk about your Windows computerÂ’s specifications. First up is the processor. Look for a full-fledged chip, rather than a budget model. For Intel, shoot for a Core 2 Duo. Earlier Core and Pentium chips are also OK. IÂ’d avoid the Celeron, a budget chip. YouÂ’ll also see some AMD chips. Turion is fine, as are chips in the Athlon family. Avoid the Sempron, AMDÂ’s budget chip.

Some of these processors may be several years old. DonÂ’t worry about this. TheyÂ’re powerful enough to handle todayÂ’s programs.

The most common operating system youÂ’ll see is Windows 7 Home Premium. You may see Windows Vista laptops. This may save you some money. Just avoid Home Basic. New software and hardware should work with both Vista and Windows 7. At minimum, get 2GB of RAM. YouÂ’ll find machines with up to 4GB of RAM. If Windows is 32-bit, donÂ’t pay for more than 3GB. More memory will be wasted.

Unless you are working with video, you donÂ’t need a huge hard drive. You should be fine with 160GB.

YouÂ’ll want a DVD burner. These will create both DVDs and CDs. You can burn DVDs for standalone players. Or, make a music CD for the car.

A wireless card is essential. Fortunately, theyÂ’re standard on nearly all laptops. You can connect to your private wireless network. You can also use Wi-Fi hotspots at libraries, airports and other public locations.

Just as screen size is important, so is keyboard size. People with big hands often have trouble with laptop keyboards. You may see full-sized keyboards. Others are 90 percent full size or smaller. Get the largest one possible. Extras like built-in Bluetooth and Webcams are also nice. But if you won't use these features, forgo them.

As I said, lighter models are more expensive. For example, the MacBook Air starts at $1,500. So does DellÂ’s Adamo. If you need a light laptop and youÂ’re on a budget, you might consider a netbook. Screen size is very important. YouÂ’ll want a screen that is large enough to read. This shouldnÂ’t be a problem. YouÂ’ll find plenty of laptops with 15-inch or greater screens.

306

Acer Aspire series and MSI are working great for us.  And check out Staples, Office Max, Office Depot for the best deals.

HP sucks ass.  And the last Toshiba that came in here was dead in 72 hours.  Qa seems to be taking the day off there.

307 326  yep sure right-o

308

#292 

 If you have a Mac, you will be able to do everything with relative ease. It is unlikely you will ever know anything about just how it happened, however.

You shouldn't have to know.

Unless you want to accomplish something that requires more than skin-deep knowledge of a process. Just the other day I automated the playing of a DVD loop without going through any menus by extracting the appropriate .VOB file out of the DVD and scripting the load sequence with the VideoLan client player (VLC). The Mac user that gave me the DVD asked me "How in the hell did you do that?", because all she ever saw of a DVD is a pretty icon, and all she know how to do was click on it.

 Sometimes knowledge IS power, Gran. But not often enough.

 

309 I see a bunch of comments about pricing for Office....I've been using OpenOffice for a while on about half my systems, and it seems to work fine (slow as molasses to start, though).

310 I love my MSI. If you can get over the shitty power management they have pretty good specs for the price and are supposed to be very reliable (haven't had mine long enough to say from experience) The A6005 model that I have is also far less flimsy than a comparably priced HP, all the plastic is nice and thick.

311
I really hope your wife and daughter give you an iphone for father's day and you post the picture of you eating your words.

Deer Lord, that's vicious. I would hold out for an Android phone, perhaps an HTC Incredible. I know I did, and I'm happy I did.

312 Must do some actual work.

What a drag.

313 Whatever you buy, go to www.fatwallet.com and read the laptops thread in  hot deals.  ASUS would be my choice.  Best warranty and reviews lately.  Stay the hell away from Acer, cheap construction, bad speakers in my experience.  You shouldn't need to spend more than 5 or 600, and I would probalby only buy online somewhere...  Newegg is great..

314

334  sing the truth to these heathens my brother

i have a hero now but the new htc comes out today

later today i will have my brandspanking new 4g htc evo, the iphone killer

315 328 Incidentally, you wonÂ’t see any Mac laptops around $500. The least expensive MacBook runs $1,000. You can get similar specs for much less in a Windows machine.

True, but he'll be running Windows, and all of the headaches that go with it.  He has to add in the cost of all the software (security, productivity, etc.) that he'll need to run in addition to the hardware.

316 316 I'm with the other commenter who wondered why a lawyer can't afford a $1000 laptop. Posted by: Y-not Because he lives in LA. Posted by: mpfs at June 04, 2010 11:48 AM (iYbLN) This. Plus, I don't think he said he *couldn't afford* a $1000 computer, just that he was looking for a cheap one. Then again, cheap is relative.

317

sorry sir, its the g73

http://tinyurl.com/yh3n735

318 After researching the hell out of notebooks recently to get the wife on for school 1) Had to be light (around 3 lbs) 2) Had to have long battery life (more than 6 hours) 3) Had to be reasonably powerful (graphics wise) I looked at Dell, HP, Lenovo (I get a discount), and Asus. Settled on the Asus UL30Vt. Has close to 10 (count them 10) hours battery. Weighs around 3.5 lbs (with charger). And has hybrid graphics (Intel 4500 and GeForse 210m). Comes with Two years warranty of which the first years covers accidental damage. Got hers for $685 shipped. She loves loves loves loves loves it.

319 331 Unless you want to accomplish something that requires more than skin-deep knowledge of a process.

Again, why should you have to know?  What does having more than skin-deep knowledge of a process do for the average user?  If you're not in a technical job, then how does that knowledge advance your career or your life in general?

320

342  i got one of those for the car

i love it!  gave it a 64g ssd and it lasts for around 8 hours

321 About twenty years ago, I had a Toshiba Satellite passed down to me from my father. He travelled a lot for his job, and the thing had taken quite a beating on the road. Still runs to this day, though the OS needs a serious update and is comparatively slow as Christmas. With this track record in mind, DH bought me this little Toshiba netbook (NB305) a few months ago for my birthday. I've been fairly happy with it thus far. It's slower than my desktop, of course, and there is a little ghosting on DVD playback, but all-in-all, good for writing posts, fiction, and taking notes during obscenely long, boring meetings while checking blogs and e-mail. If I want to do anything more than this -- vid or graphics editing, WoW, etc., I know I have my desktop or our Gateway (desktop replacement) laptop available.

322 Unless you want to accomplish something that requires more than skin-deep knowledge of a process. I'm not even a Mac owner anymore, and that process you just described could be easily on the command line (essentially as you described it), in AppleScript, or with a quick Perl routine. You have to make an OS decision based on the workload of the machine and the operator. Not some preconceived notions or website banter.

323

I had a Toshiba Satellite that I got at Best Buy that worked great for about six months until it started overheating and shutting down every five seconds. I bought another Toshiba to replace it (big mistake) and it had the exact same problem. Both times, the Geek Squad at Best Buy was no help at all, charged me a lot and couldn't fix the problem.

Now I have an Acer netbook that is fine but runs sloooowly but I only use it for traveling. No problems yet.

My next laptop will be a Lenovo. I've only heard good things.

324

343

Unless you want to accomplish something that requires more than skin-deep knowledge of a process.

"Again, why should you have to know?  What does having more than skin-deep knowledge of a process do for the average user?  If you're not in a technical job, then how does that knowledge advance your career or your life in general?"

Well, I just gave you an example. Sorry if that was not good enough for you. Look, I like Macs. I said so. If nothing less that total commitment to drinking the Kool-Aid and wanting to blow Steve Jobs is not enough for you, I'll just have to continue to dissapoint.

 

 

325 I would hold out for an Android phone, perhaps an HTC Incredible. I know I did, and I'm happy I did.

I'm a "Apple person," but I agree with this.  Hubby has an iPhone.  Pictures are lovely, the seamless integration with our iPods is great, and the apps are fun, but it still has no nav system and some of the interfacing is pretty annoying.  Plus, Verizon outperforms AT&T in our area.  My ~4 year old enV running VZ Nav on Verizon has bailed us out on many occasions. 

I'm eager to go to a smart phone, but I still have not seen a compelling winner in the iPhone competitor market.  I get the feeling it's coming soon though.

326 348 Well, I just gave you an example. Sorry if that was not good enough for you. Look, I like Macs. I said so. If nothing less that total commitment to drinking the Kool-Aid and wanting to blow Steve Jobs is not enough for you, I'll just have to continue to dissapoint.

Jesus... chill, dude.  I was simply asking a question from a philosophical point of view.  I wasn't asking you to imbibe cheap fruit juices or engage in fellatio with CEO's.

327 I understand that the major companies are going to be refreshing their laptop lineups (for both small and large notebook computers) in the second half of June because there's a bunch of laptop-appropriate AMD chips that have just hit the market. So you may want to wait for two weeks. If you don't feel like the bleeding edge, this means they'll probably be dumping their current inventory to make room, hence lowering prices.

(I understand that HP will be putting some of these chips in the new version of the 311).

328 I have an Acer and 2 HP laptops and the Acer has been the workhorse of the bunch. Its 4 years old and runs great.

Mossberg Laptop Buying guide

http://ptech.allthingsd.com/20100428/spring-buyers-guide/

329   350     Well, I just gave you an example. Sorry if that was not good enough for you. Look, I like Macs. I said so. If nothing less that total commitment to drinking the Kool-Aid and wanting to blow Steve Jobs is not enough for you, I'll just have to continue to dissapoint.

"Jesus... chill, dude.  I was simply asking a question from a philosophical point of view.  I wasn't asking you to imbibe cheap fruit juices or engage in fellatio with CEO's."
Screw philosophy. You were not "asking a question from a philosophical point of view", you were attempting to disagree with me without acknowledging a point I made, with an example. That was rude. I was rude back atcha, but was just a more honest about it.
Now you attempt to make the point about me, with the 'chill, dude", hipster crack. I much prefer directness to sideways, passive-aggressive, "I'm sorry if you were offended, but you must be stupid, so that explains it" liberal-style repartee.   If you want to keep it up, then we can both be dissapointed, and therefore even. Seems fair to me.  

330 I have a Dell Mini 9. It's great for email, fine for word processing, blogging & websurfing, but useless for any game that requires good video.

331 354 I have a Dell Mini 9. It's great for email, fine for word processing, blogging & websurfing, but useless for any game that requires good video. Posted by: Kenneth at June 04, 2010 12:38 PM (y/n1G) As long as I can see enough of Carol Cross to get the job done . . .

332 The bottom line is that unless you are going to do gaming, visualization, or other highly graphics-intensive work, any full-size recent laptop will do fine.  I do consulting in graphics and image processing, among other things, and have a number of laptops of varying ages. 

I have *not* been happy with the little netbooks. Aside from the small keyboard issue, they are slow.  They're fast enough for reading email on the airplane or doing a little web surfing, but don't try anything compute- or graphics intensive. 

If you are considering something besides Windows, e.g. Linux, consider a box with Nvidia graphics over one that has Radeon graphics.  Linux will drive both of them, but there are generally fewer issues with Nvidia.

And, by the way, I *would* consider moving to an open-source platform.  There's a reason Google is moving in that direction beyond bad blood.

333 As for the VMs on Macs, as a PC user, I've moved pretty strongly toward using VMs on PCs. Safer, cleaner, fewer conflicts. So you could make much the same argument as far as getting useful things done. Also, if your VM gets infected, it's no big deal. I guess that's still a problem for Windows, though 7 seems locked down pretty well. And as for Frye's, I just recently returned two high end Toshibas in a row thinking there was a hardware problem when there wasn't. It was Windows 7. The only thing I ever had trouble returning was a DVD. They argued since the DVD would play on their reference machine it wasn't damaged. So I returned the DVD player I had bought there instead. The rule about Frye's, basically, is if you know what you're doing, you can find some cool and interesting stuff, especially if you're not picky about discontinued models. If you don't, you'll get screwed.

334 Sigh. The man asks a question and he ends up getting the geek version of the Ford vs. Chevy debate. [Don't think I forgot about you, Linux guys – you're MOPAR.]

335 353 (unhinged rant snipped for time & space consideration)

Hmm... not sure I should bother responding to that, since you've clearly misunderstood me and fired back with unnecessary ire.

Oh what the hell.

I've re-read my post and I don't see where I was rude or even the slightest bit pissy with you.  I asked a question...

w/r/t my choice of hipster language... that was (in hindsight) a poor attempt on my part at defusing tension with humor.  It obviously offended you and I do sincerely apologize for that.

Getting back to your original point re: DVD authoring and having the technical knowledge to do it... yes, of course you need to know what's happening under the covers to do your job.  I was speaking in more general terms about average users who, for example, might want to create a DVD slideshow of their vacation photos to send to their relatives.  They shouldn't have to know what a VOB file is to accomplish their goal.  That's my point.

Peace?  We cool?  Shake hands?

336 Unless you're eternally young or have terminator eyeball implants I would recommend against a netbook and go with a notebook. Also, don't shy away from "refurb" units, many of them come with extended warranties or you can purchase one inexpensively at places like SquareTrade.com. Also, don't expect any sub $2000 laptops to be able to play any of the latest PC games, e.g., Modern Warfare 2 with any degree of fluidity, if you can play them at all. Lastly, try to find one that has an HDMI video port. Most newer models now have them and with it you can watch Hulu, YouTube and Netflix in HD quality right there on your widescreen TV and sound system.

Good luck

337 On of my uber geek friends bought the ipad.  He returned it and was very disappointed.  He then bought one of the little laptops, allegedly the best one, with a new better more powerful chip, he returned that too.  He was trying not to lug around his 17" mac book pro with all the bells and whistles but, thus far, he hasn't been able to find anything that will allow him to do that.  He has an iphone and he said his iphoen did more than the ipad.  I tried to point out to him that I thought Steve made the ipad for his generation.  Rush, John Batchelor, guys that age are thrilled with the ipad.  I don't think he made the ipad for guys who use their iphone as a little computer and have mac book pros.   I haven't gotten a response yet but it makes sense.  That generation is not so computer savy and they love the ipad.

338 361 I don't think he made the ipad for guys who use their iphone as a little computer and have mac book pros.

I agree.  I have a MBP and a 3G iPhone.  As much as I like the iPad in terms of concept and functionality, I really can't justify purchasing one.  My phone and my laptop together serve all of my mobile computing needs.

339 A little late on this - but seriously, ignore the cries of 'macbook'. I'm an art student, which means that I use a PC in my home and Mac at school (desktops, but the point is still this . There is. No. Difference. Except in price, as macs are considerably more expensive. Sure, a mac looks pretty and will be considered very stylish in your nearest starbucks, but if you just want something that works for an affordable price, PC is the better option.

340 are you really that poor, Malor? I just bought a decent HP with a quad core, 500g hd, 8gigs ram, 2.2hz processor for under $700. I thought you were a lawyer or something? Why are you so cheap about something you'll use a lot?

341 There is. No. Difference.

I disagree.  My specialty was 3D graphics (surface rendering) and scientific computing. 

SGI > Mac >>> PC

Macs are faster and better at 3D rendering. 

I could even tell when a student in the lab generated a powerpoint on a PC versus Mac, that's how different the graphics are. 

342

Gabe, if you buy a Dell, Ebates.com (which I have used for several years and have gotten nice little checks every quarter) has a 4% cashback on a Dell Computers with an Inspiron 15 being offered for as low as $399.00. 

I really like my HP Pavillion dv6-1350us Entertainment notebook with 16.9" LED screen and windows 7. 

343

Toshiba.

Fucka Yoo Apple!

344 Gabriel, you'll get more useful/specific advice if you provide info about  what you want/need regarding basic stuff like screen size, battery life and operating system.
Asus has the best standard warranty (2 years) plus generally good build quality at reasonable price points.  These days, I'd want a USB 3.0 port or two, preferably built in, or at least via an express card slot adapter, an eSata port, HDMI out, etc.  For video, I'd also want switchable graphics (better battery life), also being mindful of the ability to play HD w/o any problems.  But that's just me.  Go to newegg.com and browse.  The customer comments there are generally (but not always) helpful.

345 I have an excellent ASUS with DVD drive, 500 gig hard drive and 12 hour battery - all for little more than a netbook. It is fast, has a strong aluminum case, camera for those quick Skype calls - been working great for over a year. So glad I chose this inexpensive little guy over the Apple option...

346 As a developer, I'm really curious to know what formats you're converting between.  Maybe the process could be made more efficient with better coding?  Or maybe there's another Apple-compatible format that would make the conversion go more smoothly?

I do a lot of GIS work so it's actually just converting a geodatabase into a spreadsheet format.  The problem is that the files are so large it take time to do the export and conversion on a 3gig file.  If they had PCs they could just run the damn software and look at it there, (would save me from having to print out a shit load of maps too), but since they don't I have to eat up a bunch of memory and time doing the conversion.

The other reason Macs piss me off...the "Hi I'm a Mac commercials". I hate that fucker. I can't see Die Hard 4 because he's in it.

347 have an excellent ASUS with DVD drive, 500 gig hard drive and 12 hour battery - all for little more than a netbook. It is fast, has a strong aluminum case, camera for those quick Skype calls showing your wang on chat roulette.

FIFY

348

I'm with the other commenter who wondered why a lawyer can't afford a $1000 laptop. 

Because this lawyer has exceptionally large law school loans and works for the government instead of a firm.

 

349 As a developer, I'm really curious to know what formats you're converting between.  Maybe the process could be made more efficient with better coding?  Or maybe there's another Apple-compatible format that would make the conversion go more smoothly?

Also, Oracle Discoverer desktop doesn't run on Macs, so that means I have to do additional data pulls for those people, rather than them doing it themselves (supposing they could).

350 370 it's actually just converting a geodatabase into a spreadsheet format. 

I don't have any experience with GIS applications, but I'm wondering if there's a Mac app (maybe this one ?) that could import the data in its native format without the conversion...

351 Gabe,I've been watching the commercials and the bus stop ads here in LA, and I think that as a gay man you're requiredby law to buy an iPad and get a Yahoo! account to go with it. Sorry, dude, I don't make the rules...

352 I don't have any experience with GIS applications, but I'm wondering if there's a Mac app (maybe this one ?) that could import the data in its native format without the conversion...

Thanks. Will take a look at it.

353 If you just want a quick-little netbook type thing, I couldn't be happier with the Acer Aspire One I own. It was, I believe, $299 at OfficeMax.

354 I woulda suggested  Dell Until they screwed up their web site for downloads. Nowadays i would try an acer. Name even works.

355 My main laptop is a Lenovo - its a tablet, so it wasn't cheap but its kind of cool to write with a pen. Its also a lot lighter, since it has a 12 inch screen. and if you don't play games you don't need a huge screen as much. Battery life is 4-6 hours.

Its solid, no problems, and they have much cheaper clamshell models I believe.

Before that I had a generic portable. It still works too. I've had good luck since I don't bang them around a lot. But it was a lot harder to lug, since the 14 inch screen meant it weighed about twice as much.

356 Stay away from the 10" netbook screens - not that there's anything wrong with them, but the keyboards on the 10" PC's are too small. Get something with a 12" screen, that's a good compromise between portability and ergonomics.

In our department we have a couple of Lenovo S12 for loaners and everybody likes them. Asus also makes a very neat 12" model called the U30. Both can be had for less than $400 and although they're not graphic workstations, they'll handle just about any office task you throw at them.

Of course you'll have to spring for an external CD drive, but those can be had for pennies these days...

357 Oh! Forgot!

Hulu: Yes, they both have ION chipsets, so they'll play HD video and even pipe it to your flatscreen via an HDMI port...

358 FWIW, there's something to be said for buying a system at Costco. The price might not be as good as Newegg's or Amazon's but, if you're leaning in the teensy PC direction, the no-questions-asked return policy will let you see if a netbook is suitable for your needs.

359

Gabriel,

My wife has a Dell Netbook. It works okay but the screen space is so small that it's almost crippling. Plus, it comes with a stripped-down version of Windows 7. You're paying a premium price for the size at the expense of usability.

I'm not into the OS wars -- I work at a major software company and use a number of different environments at work. At home, my laptop is dual-boot Windows 7 Ultimate and Ubuntu 4.10. I like them both. Apple is great. No matter what people say, every OS is vulnerable to attacks. The proper approach to security is to set your machine up correctly.

Here are the specs I suggest for a machine that you can get for $500 to $600, perhaps less. Those are Texas prices, so you may spend more in California.

* Processors

-- Avoid Athlon, Celeron, Sempron, Turion Neo, and Atom chips at all costs.

-- Know what you're getting if you get an Intel Core Duo chip. Some are great while others are dreadful. Make sure that the speed is faster than 2 GHz. If you go Intel, the I5 chip is a good balance between performance and price.

-- The AMD Turion II Dual-Core processors are nice. Again, make sure that the processor speed is faster than 2GHz.

-- Get a 64-bit processor. It makes a huge difference in performance with little effect on cost.

* Memory -- Get 4GB. Memory is the best way to increase speed.

* Hard Drive -- 160 GB is pretty standard. It's what I have on my main laptop. I used to insist upon 7200 RPM, but 5400 RPM is now fine due to higher areal density.

* DVD/CD burner -- A must.

* Screen -- Look for 14.1 inches or higher.

* Software

-- If you buy a Windows machine, it will probably come with the Office Starter edition. If you like Office, spend the extra money to get the Home and Student Edition.

-- If you don't want to spring for a better version of Office, you can download Open Office for free. I use it when I'm running Linux.

-- I really like McAfee Total Protection 2010. It's much improved over previous McAfee home products. If you want free, Microsoft Security Essentials is decent.

-- If you use wireless, email me and I'll help you secure your system. Actually, feel free to email with any questions or comments.

360 You work for the government? sorry, but you're probably part of the problem rather than part of the solution. Government workers of any persuasion are overpaid, and in fact are probably not even needed. Do yourself and everyone else a favor and resign. Fight the power!

361 Put me down as another MacBook vote. I've got one, set up with a Windows XP partition and Fusion. I can run everything.

This is my third Mac laptop, by the way. The other two are still being used by the people I sold them to; they're ridiculously rugged machines.

The wife owns a ModBook -- a third-party MacBook tablet conversion -- with Windows 7. It's really sweet, and I'm really jealous. But she's an artist, so if you're not planning heavy Photoshop use, it's probably not worth the money.

She also owns a Dell Mini -- as much as she loves the ModBook, she didn't want to risk it on the road. If you're doing light computing, it's a great little machine. (Though everyone's right about keyboard size -- if you've got big hands, stay away.)

I've had good experiences with Toshibas (I had one as my PC in the pre-Intel Mac days), and don't recommend Sonys or the eeePC.

362 SGI > Mac >>> PC

SGI's dead, and for good reason. It hadn't been a good product for years.

(I still have to program on the damn things. Awful, awful, awful machines.)

363

Government workers of any persuasion are overpaid, and in fact are probably not even needed. Do yourself and everyone else a favor and resign. Fight the power!

One of the things that may be true in general, but fail in particulars. I take home one third the income of my classmates who went into private practice. As for the "probably not even needed part", I suppose you also think that criminal and civil prosecutions aren't needed, or anyone to defend the government (and therefore the taxpayer) when it gets sued.

364 Search newegg.com they have a good selection of laptops, and they have a good search feature to select what you want.

365 We have recently added 2 laptops to the home kit.  Both HP from Costco.  Both about $750.  Last Sept we sent my daughter to college with one that came with a printer.  Last month we added one for my wife with a 10 numeric pad on the keyboard. 

Setup was easy, minimal crapware.  Both seem to be bulletproof.

cpu

366 If you want to actually carry the thing around, I recommend an Acer Aspire One netbook with a 10.1" screen. The keyboard is 90% of full size, and the thing is delightfully small and light. You can get a USB travel keyboard with full-size keys, and plug it in when you want to do serious typing. If you don't carry it much and want a desktop replacement, consider an Acer Aspire One laptop with a 15.6" screen. I bought one recently at Fry's for $350 and it is faster than any previous laptop I have ever bought. For either of the above, I prefer to run Ubuntu Linux. The netbook will need to run the "i386" version of Ubuntu, but you can and should run the "x86_64" version of Ubuntu on the bigger one. The difference between the two versions of Linux is that the second one uses the 64-bit mode of the processor, which makes the system run a bit faster. But either of the above will come with Windows 7 pre-installed, and I hear that Windows 7 sucks less than other versions of Windows.

367 I am in the same boat. I am sick of my Toshiba taking sometimes upwards of 6-8 MINUTES to come out of hibernation! I have several relatives in IT and they have switched over to MAC over the last few years and they report it has been the best thing they ever did (and were pissed they had not done it sooner). They will keep on supporting PC's as that is a cash cow with no end in sight! There are emulators to run the windows apps you can't get on the mac. People are fleeing the PC because it seems every week they "discover" another windows vulnerability that allows hackers to assume control of your system. After 20+ years you'd think Redmond would have fixed the leaks. I understand that Apple went thru a clean sheet process to create an operating system that was highly resistant to malware (legacy apps be damned), and that explains why Macs are rarely the targets. Because Apple market share is increasing, the threats are also increasing, but nowhere near the scale of windows machines I am getting a Mac Mini (about $600) but if you really need a laptop go with the white plastic MacBook (about a grand). The other posters are correct, skip the mini PC models (unless they get to the throwaway $150 level)

368 391  I understand that Apple went thru a clean sheet process to create an operating system that was highly resistant to malware (legacy apps be damned), and that explains why Macs are rarely the targets. Because Apple market share is increasing, the threats are also increasing

Number of Mac OS X installations worldwide since its introduction 9 years ago: 33 million

Number of Mac-specific viruses/malwares in the wild to-date: 0

The PowerPC Macs can still run legacy (OS9) apps.

369 Toby Flenderson, MAC's are just as vulnerable as PC's both can get viruses and rootkits. there is no such thing as internet security.

370 Don't get a 17" model, unless you never, ever take it out of the house.  Logistical nightmare in airports; heavy, bulky, and kind of awkward to use at a small (bar) table.

371 It won't be the cheapest, but Toshiba lasts the best of any laptop I've ever seen.

Do NOT buy a Lenovo; they are flimsy POS's that won't hold up.

372 Are you looking for a portable, or a desktop replacement that you won't actually move anywhere?

Then, get  the Lenovo that fits your needs.

This is being sent from a not-quite 5 year old Thinkpad R50e - I maxed the memory and put in a bigger HD, and it's still fine.  The machine was my daughter's for 3 years and mine after that.  It even did a semester in Australia.

Lenovo.  HP is a crap shoot, some are good.  Dell is so-so, the business models are OK, but I don't like the keyboard as much as the Lenovo.

373

PUT UP TWO POLLS:

One for which brand laptop to buy.

One for which brand laptop not to buy.

We own three Toshiba Satellite laptops here.  Mine is for the basics you listed and my daughters have a little extra to theirs that permit them to play games.  All of them work great and I'm not surprised at all of love Toshiba has gotten in this thread.  I'm posting this from my Toshiba; I have an HP desktop and this computer is far better.  It also has a ten key pad which was important to me and not all of them have that.  It gets warm but it never overheats; when its on my lap, like now, I have a padded tray under it.

They hubby is a gamer and he swears by Dell.  His laptop is Alienware, but that's way more than you're looking for in both function and price.

374 SDN at June 04, 2010 05:24 PM (MFDDF)

Dunno about that, I've got a Lenovo N200, bought it about two years ago and have had several mishaps with it.  Other than having to replace an AC power port, it's still working fine.

Granted, it does have a number of proprietary functions that run the 'number of processes' up, but thru careful research I've managed delay the start-up of several of them.

But enough about me.  As to what to buy?  HP is a solid brand and so is Fujitsu.  But more to the point, get a laptop (or notebook if you will) with a dual-core CPU, definitely above 2.5GHz and at least 3G if RAM, especially if your going with Windows 7.  A display between 14-15" should be good enough general use unless your going to be using it for media viewing more often than not, then go to 16", max [laptops start getting bulky after that...].  As internal storage, 106G is the minimum, anything is gravy after that since mini-external hard-drives are relatively cheap and getting larger every month (I saw a 1T external mini, a Hitachi I believe, for $154 at MicroCenter just last month).  You definitely have a dvd burner, a dual-layer is better; pay attention to how many USB ports it has and where they're located!  It's more important than you might think.

And, I while can't speak ill of Linux or the other Open-source OS's, bear in mind that installing them could void your warranty.

And as to the video card, I prefer Nividia over ATI (ATI was good, but their quality has gotten spotty in recent years).  Make sure that the wireless doesn't forgo 802.11 g, while 'n' is better, a lot of older established WiFi hot spots are 'g' (heck, some are still 'b').

Ultimately it comes down to this: what do you want it to do? How long do intend to keep it?  And, will it 'grow' as your needs grow (and change)?

Answer those questions before you put your money down and you'll save yourself a boat-load of misery.

375 Oooops, I meant to say 160G minimum internal HD.

Everything else I stand by.

376

Google "CULV laptops" Gabe. They're [barely] a few bucks more than a netbook, but waaay more powerful (the processors are purposely under-powered compared to "regular" CPUs, but even the least powerful CULV will surpass most netbook processors handily).

You can get thin and light AND long battery life (10 plus hours in some cases ...which is a result of the CULV processor AND the LED backlight displays) ...they'll do what you're asking. Screens

As for maker: don't matter. It's always a crap shoot. If you get a laptop that don't give you problems, you'll think the manufacturer is great. If your luck's out, you won't. Most won't give you problems, most of the time, at least.

(I've owned and/or worked on IBMs, Lenovos, Toshibas, Fujitsus, Gateways, Dells, HPs, Acers, and Compaqs and various models of each ...IT career-ist ...and probably some I've forgotten ...hell, I owned a Grid back in the day, my first LCD laptop ...and even with the "nice" business-class ones you can be very, very unhappy with machine and/or mfr support. Just the way it goes. Umm, I currently own an HP dv2150, a Dell Inspiron 1525, and an older Acer ultra-light ...the Acer is 3 1/2 lbs and long in tooth, but is still the one I schlepp around with me: weight matters. I'm probably due for replacements for the HP and Dell, but I'll be keeping the Acer.)

 

377 ...forgot Apples. I've owned a few Macbooks too.

378

Oh. And [Norcal] Staples' stores are having a clearance on Toshiba Satellite T135-S1305 this weekend (sale starts Sunday) for $449. And their email flyer has a $50 off coupon, that can also be factored in to the price. Nice little 13in CULV (duo-core) for a very decent price, even if it is a finger-print magnet. (I wish it was the 11.6 inch).

...or if you want huge, they're also closing out an HP 17 inch model for five bills (again: call it 450 with the coupon). Too big for me, but a decent enough deal.

379 You can get some kick-ass deals on Dell Refurbs at: http://www.discountelectronics.com/

380 ...and if it's a floor model, you can usually talk the managers into another 10-20% off (I paid $50 for a floor model [clearance] Samsung colour laser last year at the local Staples by taking their floor model off their hands: great little colour laser, I'dd add).

381

And Sony. Sigh. I spend the whole day (today) working on a Sony, and I forgot about Sony's.

382

I bought a Dell Inspiron 11z (duo core; 4 gb) in January and loved everything about it except the keyboard size.  It's not as small as a netbook keyboard but I just couldn't get used to it.  My 43 yr old eyes also had trouble with the 11 inch screen.  I sold it and bought a Dell Vostro V13.  It's a little more expensive but it has the full size keyboard and is ridiculously light and thin (3.5 lbs; .65 inch).  It also has an aluminum body and looks a lot like the high $ Dell Adamo.  Battery life sucks, but I'm rarely away from an outlet. 

Acer has good deals on Amazon for 13.3 inch light and thin laptops with great battery performance (8+ hrs).  My tech guy at work says they are good computers but he wouldn't buy one because they effectively have zero customer service.  If something goes wrong, you're screwed.

Because you needed one more comment. . .

383 What about this one?  They sent the sale out in special emails for people who buy too much from them.

384 I have been using Dells for my family (I use an iMac G5) and have been pleased...even with their customer service. I picked up a Mini 10V thats running Mac OSX 10.5.6 and will be upgrading to 10.6. Plenty of good advice on the 'net for Hackintoshing, especially from Mecdrew. Google "NetbookinstallerOne" for instructions. I mostly use it to surf and get email but if you up the ram to 2G and with the included 160GB hard drive its a nice little machine to travel with and play around

385 And there is this one too....but it is the deal of the day so it will only last to midnight.

Seriously, you should sign up for email alerts for all these sites.  I get stuff in emails that is fabulous and my friends don't cause they don't sign up.   Wouldn't you, if you were them, rather send your sale alerts out to an email list first to see how fast they go and then open it up to the general public?  I've gotten things from email alerts at unbelievable savings.

386 Posted by: OriginalJLo at June 04, 2010 10:37 PM (vgOEg)

funny, so you not "the JLo"? 

387 special laptop deals with limited quantities

388 I have a Fujitsu Lifebook that is 8 years old and is still running great and a 7-year old Sony that is still working. I bought a new top-of-the-line HP laptop this year and so far I love it. My Sony VAIO desktop with Windows XP is still running great.

I have never had a repair issue with my Sony or Fujitsu computers. I have not had any trouble up-grading them over the years either.

I hope the HP laptop is as good as the Sony and Fujitsu laptops.

389 I'm a desktop kinda gal but always keep a laptop for traveling.  Recently I purchased a 17" Toshiba for $399 and it is great.  The screen is one of the best I've seen and quite impressive for the buck.  My only complaint is that Win 7 is forced upon me while I'm content with XP Pro. 

390 and Yes video plays great on it, including Hulu.

391 a