Computer advice

[BoyNeedsTherapy]

So, I'm looking at getting a new laptop but I have no idea what I'm looking for, like what makes a good laptop, so I was wondering if you guys could give me some advice, I know we have a lot of very smart people here so might be able to help little blonde me out here.

 

So, the words and initials I keep hearing are:

1. Memory
   
2. Hard Drive
   
3. Cache
   
4. Processor
   
5. Double layer dvd
   
6. MHz
   
7. GHz
   

Ok, I don't really know what half of those mean let alone what I should be looking for about them. I don't want to go into a store cos they'll try and pressure me into a buying one, and I'll be tempted and as Oscar Wilde said 'I can resist everything except temptation' soooo, I want to know what I'm looking for. I basically want a small (about 12-14") laptop that's still powerful. I'm willing to pay a reasonable amount for it cos I want it to last me a few years, like this one has, but I also want something stylish looking.

 

Also, I'm really tempted by the very cute little ibook but I've never had a mac before and I don't know how to work them and if there are compatability problems. So could someone who knows infinitely more about macs and such give me a couple of pros and cons?

 

Oh, and I just wondered if anyone else had seen these funky looking gadgets the flybook?? Aren't they neat looking? I like it but I don't know if it's powerful, but it is little, I'd kind of like something that I can put in my bag and take places with me...

 

Heh, so I know I asked a lot here, but if someone could give me some hints I'd be really grateful and if someone can help me I might even come up with a new game or something

 

Thanks bunches!!

[Drewbie]

Is there a reason why u want a mac. I use them alot of I love them, Since they just switch over with an intel processor somethings are availble yet. though it will work, Have a program called rosta that helps mac pc (Processor) programs to the intel version. My recmendation for any computer is get memory 512 or a 1g.

 

Pro's with mac's is security and Ease of use

 

Cons, if ur a gamer mac isn't for you, Macs don't have the amount of games available.

 

I recomend a macbook pro for better performance, though the screen is 15" and 17"

 

I generally don't like dell's but useally have a good serivce if there's any probelms, if you get a pc laptop don't get a gateway.

Edited August 4, 2006 by Drew

[glomph]

Supposedly Dell's service has significantly worsened in the last year or so. I have no experience myself. A friend says you do better if you can speak Hindi. I did have some odd experiences with their web site. I was supposed to get prices on a Dell as a low-cost option for the office. I never could get the same deal twice. I think the site is geared for impulse purchases. And by the time I'd add what I considered basic stuff, a $700 Dell started running over $1600. So good luck.

 

What you want depends upon what you want to do. If you want every ounce of performance out of games, you don't want a laptop anyway, and as Drew said, you don't want a Mac, unless you get an Intel Mac and run Windows when you want to play games. Or if you are a real estate agent in Colorado.

 

If you want to make music, edit movies, etc., then you want a Mac.

 

If you just want to surf the web and do email and chat, it doesn't much matter.

 

There are books for people switching to the Mac. The people I know who have done it have not had much to get used to. I'd suggest you get a two-button mouse since you're used to that. Apple's new meese can be configured to work either way. But the laptops have one button with the track pad. To "right-click" with a one-button mouse, you hold down the CONTROL key. That's the main thing you need to know, other than using the COMMAND key (with an open apple and a cloverleaf) for the times you used the CONTROL key on a PC. Otherwise, the basic commands are the same since MS adopted most of the basic Apple key combinations, but didn't have a COMMAND key. Oh, and programs don't quit on a Mac just because you closed a window. With modern memory management, there's not much point in quitting a program anyway.

 

My laptop is an iBook, the last model they made. It was replaced by the Mac Book, the Intel version.

 

I would suggest that you get 1 GB of memory whatever you get. If you get a Mac Book or Mac Book Pro, I'd say that's the minimum. A PC that you're not going to do much with and don't plan to update the OS next year should do fine with 512MB.

 

Unless you get an old Pentium or something, gigahertz is not going to matter a lot. Any of the more modern chips at 1.5 GHz or faster will be plenty fast for most people. Most of the new Intel chips are dual core, and that speeds things up (except with the home version of Windows XP, I think).

 

80 GB should be the absolute minimum for a hard drive if it's your only computer. You'll want to archive old files you don't need all the time on to DVD and take them off the hard drive in any event.

 

I doubt you need a double-layered DVD unless you are going to be making movies that run over an hour and burning them to DVD. But they are becoming common, so don't reject getting one. You can still burn single-sided discs and CDs in them.

[Ibuprofen]

Is the main reason you want a laptop so you can move it around and take it places or is that just a neat little extra?

 

I have had horrible luck with laptops, they tend to get messed up easily and break.

 

With desktops its easy enough to get a new part so if something in it gets messed up you don't have to scrap the whole thing(most of the time).

 

If you are hell bent on a laptop the only thing I can say is to stay away from panasonics, they really suck. The toshiba laptop I had worked the best. I don't really like macs, but that said, I also haven't had much experience with them other then in jr. high, all the computers in the school were those little machines from hell. Thats just me though, I have friends who like them alot better then PCs, just depends on what you are used to.

[JamesSavik]

Everybody- and I do mean everybody- has their own ideas on this subject.

 

Macs are OK as long as you understand their limitations. The applications for the Mac environment are good in the areas of word processing, desktop publishing and design. Things go south fast when you go beyond the Macs strong points. Software isn't as plentiful and tends to be less choice and more expensive.

 

Windows is a decent well rounded environment. Most software is designed to run on Windows PCs as upwards of 85% of the PCs in the world run Windows. RESIST THE URGE TO GET WINDOWS Vista. IT'S NOT READY AND WON't BE FOR 2 MORE YEARS. There are a number of open source programs available for the windows environment. It's worth having a look at sourceforge.net to see.

 

Linux is the dark horse. Lots of software is being written for it. There are free open software versions of the applications that most people use. If you do scientific work like mathematics or modeling, Linux may well be the OS of choice as lots of big labs are going that way.

 

As for hardware, there seems to be two tiers of systems on the market: consumer [which are usually crap] and business [better quality, more expensive]. All of the big companies seem to be doing this now. HP, IBM, Dell and Gateway: all have tiered product lines. If you can, go for the business class machine.

 

My favorite hardware maker is HP. When you get past their crappy consumer POS's, their professional class machines are tight.

 

Other people will have their favorite BIG companies. Others will tell you to buy from small, no-name companies.

 

It's all a judgement call.

[NateB]

Benji,

 

If you want a simple little Dell that has good performance and is a smaller model try the Dell D610 or the D620. That's what they are giving us at the tech college and those little things are tough when it comes to being beat up

 

But personally i like white books, which are custom made no name laptops. However; most the time they don't have the best customer support as they are smaller companies.

Edited August 5, 2006 by NateB

[Tim-n-NC]

Macs are great if the SW you need is available on them, but I'll mostly address PC stuff since that's my area of expertise. Most engineering applications are PC only, so that's the only viable option for those of us in technical fields. My Graphic Designer buddy swears by his Macs, though, and I

[Narcidius]

Ok... are you looking for a reliable and portable laptop? or a Desktop replacement?

 

I dont suggest buying a Dell or Gateway or other things. If, like you said, you're willing to pay a reasonable price. Here are some good options:

 

http://www.voodoopc.com/default.aspx

Voodoo laptops and desktop replacements are awesome. Think Alienware, but not ugly. Think Mac, but very custumizable.

 

http://www.falcon-nw.com/

Falcon is amazing. They have the best customer service and support if you have time to read it. And they use the same automobile paint for their laptop's paint jobs.

 

Unlike the systems you'll get when you buy premade ones, Voodoo and Falcon lets you customize it to your heart's desire. From how much memory to what kind of video card you want in it, from what color to what tatoo or picture you want on it. You can actually play around they're websites and see how much having them assemble one for you will cost. The price isn't so bad... it's very worth it actually.

 

But if you just wanna buy something that's already premade... i suggest you buy a MacBook, a PowerBook, or an iBook G4 from Apple. Apple laptops are great.. we all know this.. they're very cool looking too. Don't buy MacBook Pros right now though... i heard they're having problems.

 

As for specs, choose processors that are MADE for laptops, like Centrino Duo. or AMD Mobile Athlon 64. IF not, they'll get too hot and crap out.

 

For RAM, get 512 MB MINIMUM. Don't get anything lower. If you wanna play Games on it, I suggest 1 to 2 GB.

 

HardDrive capacity is up to you really... but 60+ GB is advisable.

 

Videocards also depend on what you wanna do with the laptop. Videocards can be expensive, but you have to decide before you buy the laptop if you want an upgrade, cause its not as easy to upgrade a laptop's video card as it is with Desktops.

 

Wow.

 

Well.. I hope that helped. lol

 

 

P.S. AND OH! The good thing about voodoo, falcon and apple, is that when you get them, they're hard drvies are completely clean. Unlike premade laptops tht has alot of crap on it like useless McAfee or AOL Trial. And you get an actual (for voodoo and falcon) Windows CD, cause having windows preinstalled in a partition of your hard drive sucks.. believe me it takes up valuable space.

[BoyNeedsTherapy]

See, I knew there were lots of smart helpful people here! Ok, so I've tried to take as much of that on board as possible, in simple terms it seems the bigger the number the better, heh. (Yes luigi you were right )

 

Thanks for the links there, I might have to look for a similar type of company in the UK though. But I like the idea of like a custom made one...

 

Well, since I am actually pretty shallow, and all that stuff is important, how it looks is important too, I want a cute little laptop and so far the mac's egding ahead just because it's the prettiest I know I know, substance over style and all that

 

I guess I should have included some of the things I'd be doing with my computer huh? Well, I need like a word processor, being able to view powerpoint presentations would be useful, then other than that about all I use is itunes, and then the internet and msn. Does msn work on macs? I would also really like to get photoshop and I love taking photos and want to edit them, but atm I don't have any edittting software so...but yeah, in an ideal world I'd be able to listen to itunes, edit my photos and talk on msn at the same time, without my computer slowing down. I don't play any games so that's really not a consideration for me. I do need something mobile though because I like to move my computer around so I don't just want a desktop replacement, but me being me, I don't want something fragile because I am clumsy!

 

So, ok, I'm going to look around some more for and might have to ask your guys opinions I won't be buying one for a while yet anyway as I have to save up (because I am poor!).

 

But if any mac users out there could give me some hints and tips I would be reallllllly grateful. Just, like what you found the most different when switching to a MAC, if you'd recommend it, if you'd never get another mac again....

 

Thanks for all your help guys I really really appreciate it!!!!

[Drewbie]

I hear it's not that hard to switch to Macs, I need to purchas one soon anyways,

Msn does work on macs, you can buy Microsoft Office for macs but it's more expensive for the pro version. You might can get a student discount, Though Mac does have there own version of a word processor called Key notes, you can run a powerpoint on there I believe you can check on apples website

 

http://www.apple.com/iwork/

 

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebO...nplm=MA222Z%2FA

Also for any kind of software plateform for Pc or mac check out reviews. Sometimes there helpful.

 

 

Next time you in chat Ben ask Miso. [

/size]

Edited August 5, 2006 by Drew

[Narcidius]

Well, for media purposes, like video and photo editing, i'll go for a Mac. They're the best for that kind of stuff. And also, theres a Microsoft office for Macs, so you can use PowerPoint and Word on it. and im pretty sure you can use msn on it. If not, theres always Trillian or Gaim. You'll be fine. Go for Macs!! Personally I'd get an iBook, cause they're purty!!

[rec]

Do get built-in wi-fi capabilty.

Do not get less than 512 MB of memory--better 1 gig.

Get the higher end processor chips--Athlon not turion, and various Intel chips not Celeron

Expect to pay $800 or more.

 

 

So, I'm looking at getting a new laptop but I have no idea what I'm looking for, like what makes a good laptop, so I was wondering if you guys could give me some advice, I know we have a lot of very smart people here so might be able to help little blonde me out here.

 

So, the words and initials I keep hearing are:

1. Memory
   
2. Hard Drive
   
3. Cache
   
4. Processor
   
5. Double layer dvd
   
6. MHz
   
7. GHz
   

Ok, I don't really know what half of those mean let alone what I should be looking for about them. I don't want to go into a store cos they'll try and pressure me into a buying one, and I'll be tempted and as Oscar Wilde said 'I can resist everything except temptation' soooo, I want to know what I'm looking for. I basically want a small (about 12-14") laptop that's still powerful. I'm willing to pay a reasonable amount for it cos I want it to last me a few years, like this one has, but I also want something stylish looking.

 

Also, I'm really tempted by the very cute little ibook but I've never had a mac before and I don't know how to work them and if there are compatability problems. So could someone who knows infinitely more about macs and such give me a couple of pros and cons?

 

Oh, and I just wondered if anyone else had seen these funky looking gadgets the flybook?? Aren't they neat looking? I like it but I don't know if it's powerful, but it is little, I'd kind of like something that I can put in my bag and take places with me...

 

Heh, so I know I asked a lot here, but if someone could give me some hints I'd be really grateful and if someone can help me I might even come up with a new game or something

 

Thanks bunches!!

[glomph]

But if any mac users out there could give me some hints and tips I would be reallllllly grateful. Just, like what you found the most different when switching to a MAC, if you'd recommend it, if you'd never get another mac again....

 

I went to Stanford for a summer workshop about the time you were potty trained. I had a Mac and a PC on my work table. Shortly after I returned home, I bought a Mac and have been using them ever since. My desktop tower is about 4 years old, and my iBook is less than a year old. I'll probably replace the tower in a couple of years (with another Mac), but for now, it runs fine in the latest version of the OS, Photoshop, Office, etc., etc.

 

Disk-intensive things seem a little slow in the iBook, but not enough to motivate me to change the drive (5400 RPM) for a faster one.

 

I gave most of my tips in my earlier post. I don't really want to try to sell you on getting a Mac, but from what you say, I don't see any downside in your situation, and I don't think you'd regret getting one. Apple sells about 12% of the laptops in the US these days.

 

I think you'd be happy with a MacBook. The black one costs $200 more than the top white one. The hard drive is slightly bigger, but you're paying most of the $200 for the color. I like the white ones better anyway, and you can upgrade the hard drive if you order from the web site or do a custom order at an Apple store, and some others. And do go ahead and get 1 GB of memory for any of the new (Intel) Macs.

 

There's a "Student and Teacher" version of MS Office that's much cheaper and doesn't leave anything out of significance. I've never had any problems exchanging Word or Excel files with PCs. If you use Access on PCs, though, there is no Mac version. MS makes their Mac apps work well with Filemaker Pro, supposedly.

[Dezlboi]

Macs are OK as long as you understand their limitations. The applications for the Mac environment are good in the areas of word processing, desktop publishing and design. Things go south fast when you go beyond the Macs strong points. Software isn't as plentiful and tends to be less choice and more expensive.

 

Linux is the dark horse. Lots of software is being written for it. There are free open software versions of the applications that most people use. If you do scientific work like mathematics or modeling, Linux may well be the OS of choice as lots of big labs are going that way.

 

Just a quick thought in this area...

 

The Mac OS is now Unix-based. It still has the pretty interface but the guts are all UNIX. This is why so many people in engineering fields have switched over recently - you can get top tier desktop/laptop hardware running a UNIX os that's actually designed to work that way.

 

The reason I mention this is that almost all open-source apps written for UNIX can be compiled for MacOS, and in fact a lot of open source apps have precompiled Mac binaries so you don't have to do any work except download. TONS of free software out there. Why buy (or steal) Photoshop when you can use Gimp legally, for free? This, plus the amount of stuff actually written for the mac, makes the "less choice in software" argument pretyt much moot, for me.

 

Lastly, and this was probably mentioned already, but with the new Intel-based Mac hardware, they can boot Windows. The extensions to do so are public beta now; it will be supported in the next major OS X release.

 

I'll end this by saying that I use a PC about 80% of the time. I do own a Mac but it's getting older. The next computer I buy will probably be a mac, tho, to replace my old one.

 

-Dez

[glomph]

Dez, a couple of cool things abour UNIX on a Mac:

 

1) You can completely ignore it and just interact with the Mac interface and let it control the UNIX underneath.

 

2) You can open the terminal and do UNIX stuff without rebooting or anything while all the Mac stuff is still running. Drag-and-drop works between the two: IOW, if you don't want to type out a file path in the terminal, you can just drag a file or a folder to the terminal window, and it will fill in the path for you.

[Tim-n-NC]

The reason I mention this is that almost all open-source apps written for UNIX can be compiled for MacOS, and in fact a lot of open source apps have precompiled Mac binaries so you don't have to do any work except download. TONS of free software out there.

 

Dez,

Guess I'm really out of date on Macs -I knew OS X was UNIX based, but had no idea so much native UNIX stuff had been ported to it.

 

Between that & the new ability to efficently run Windows, Macs are becoming really attractive!

Just wish the Macbook Pro was cheaper...

-Tim

[Howie]

Dez,

Guess I'm really out of date on Macs -I knew OS X was UNIX based, but had no idea so much native UNIX stuff had been ported to it.

 

Between that & the new ability to efficently run Windows, Macs are becoming really attractive!

Just wish the Macbook Pro was cheaper...

-Tim

 

if i remember correctly, the problem is that apple doesn't release details for the connection between the bsd operating system and the aqua user interface, with the result that it's not as easy as i could be to write software for it, so basically, they're shooting themselves in the foot a bit there (of course, it still is a lot easier to write (or port) software for os x than it is to write software to do certain things in windows)

 

celeron processors (or intel in general) is worth looking into, because intel is quite open to the linux community, which is the future of computing.