next computer / macs

[Zaphod]

ive been looking at macbooks. If I get one, I plan on just buying the cheapest one that has the 13" screen. My mom has one and I like it a lot. I know that If I do get one, it will have leopard OS on it, how does leopard compare to vista?

Secondly, does anyone have any good experiences with cheaper people? I dont really want to buy another HP or Sony at a place like best buy, but does anyone have good experiences with some other company? My friend has a toshiba and its pretty cool, etc.... PS, I do not want a gateway or dell, one of the computers my parents have is a gateway and my dad had a dell from his job and both had issues

Ebay is another option I guess, but in a scenario where the thing craps out when I turn it on I want to be able to have an option to get it fixed without paying


Final note: Spore...

[Pat]

first note spore lol... Steve i would recommend if you have any rent to own places down where you at can be a real good option you can try out a few before you actualy purches it... yes sure it can cost a penny after you paid it off but its worth it in the run for some reason...

1) protection if you loose or puter is burned up in fire covered and replaced no extra cost...

2) parts and labor no charge...

3) if you want a diffrent model trade out...

those are some of the benifts of renting to own and yes that is what im doing right now is typing on rented computer from a local store here - pat

[Shadow Assassin]

I'd recommend finding where you can get an Acer laptop. They're really quite good - had one myself, gave me quite a few years of faithful service, but then I had to upgrade...

I don't really like Macs - they're user friendly, sure, but overpriced for the feature set they offer.

So, Acer are good. I think they've got some product lines in the US, but I'm really not sure.

[Diggis]

Toshiba are good, we've had very little problems with it (I say very little, but the little i did have was a failed hard drive after a year, which was repaired in 4 days, which I thought was very good) and the customer service has been excellent.  They do tend to come with a price tag though.

My advice would be to get the best you can afford.  You will thank me for it in the long run.

[Shadow Assassin]

Well, it's a bit of a mixed bag with Toshiba. This laptop's quite good (a Toshiba), but I've had problems -- the LCD screen failed. Twice in two weeks (both of them totally new). But they fixed it quite quickly.

[Xiziz]

Toshiba have served my laptops for years, and though i havnt owen a laptop since 2000, well i still have that one but it hardly runs win95(its from 95-96).

On the Vista vs Leopard, id say without using eather, that Leopard beats vista several times around. From all that ive heard, vista is just total crap, so much as to people actually reinstalling XP on their newly bought vista-pc's. Mainly because of all the spyware microsoft sends with it, its gonna take a few years of reverseengneering before vista us usable sadly :/

Though id like a Macbook too, for schoolwork, i just dont have that kind of money to put down on it.

[DFire870]

Getting a pre-configured computer from a place like Best Buy or Circuit City is a no-no, because you can't configure anything. Buying direct from the manufacturer is the best. And I know that you ruled out Dell, but all my experiences with Dell have been stellar. My dad has had his Dell desktop for about 7 years, and we haven't had any major problems. He's replacing it soon, but that's only because it's old and outdated. And I've had my Dell laptop for about a year and a half, and I haven't had any problems so far.

Do not get an HP though. We've had two HPs (desktop and laptop), and both had numerous problems. And Acer's a good brand, except that they recently bought Gateway... Toshiba's great too though.

If you want to play Spore, you'd probably be better off with Windows-based, since Spore for Mac might not be released for a while.

[JoeST]

Though I don't like Windows I would say go with that for gaming (though that may just be me liking it better than mac). Building your own would be alot cheaper, but really restricts you to a pc. Gaming laptops are expensive and not particularly good. AMD is alot better than Intel, Nvidia is better than ATI. Vista is rubbish at the moment. Acer and Dell are both rubish.

Joe

[callagrafx]

If you're looking for a PC laptop, then I'd also recommend either Acer or Tosh, although they really are pretty much the same these days.  Toshiba have a long pedigree with laptops but Acer machines are nicely put together and work well.  I bought a Core 2 Duo 2Ghz one for the missus for £400 and it's been a diamond.  The built in wireless is powerful for a laptop with about the same range as my Apple...

Now, onto Macs.  The price is high, yes, but you really DO get what you pay for.  It's an incredibly robust machine with the most advanced operating system available commercially.  And here's the real winner: You can quite happily run XP or Vista on it too.  Not emulated, but as if the machine was a PC.  I am typing this on my macbook Pro whilst rendering in 3ds Max, and in a while I'll reboot and do some work on the Mac.  It's like having 2 laptops without the weight.  One thing though is the difference between the Macbook and the Macbook Pro is quite significant and definitely worth considering spending that bit extra.  It's aluminium casing and advanced battery make it a machine that will outlast almost anything else.

Oh, and the games work beautifully too 

[BigSlark]

I would go with an HP or Acer myself. My roommate and I run an informal repair business out of our sunroom and we see the least of these two brands (we have around ten customers a week and they are almost all laptops).

The new HP's are very affordable and well-built machines.

I would suggest purchasing your next PC from NewEgg.com. They have a huge stock, fast shipping, and excellent customer service. I have done business with them since 2002 and have had no problem.

While Macs are nice, they are VERY expensive. I would recommend an HP:

I recently ordered an HP DV8000i for my future brother-in-law. It has an Intel Core Duo processor, 2 GB of RAM, and an ATI x1400 256MB video card, all for only $800 shipped!

That's my 2 cents. I'll keep tabs on what everyone else has to say.

Cheers,
Kevin

[Kitsune]

If you plan on using the laptop a lot - dont go for HP. They wear out real easy, mine is barely 2 years old, and already its on: Its 3rd harddrive, second keyboard, second cd/dvd writer, second monitor, second plugin etc, pretty much the only thing that hasnt had to be replaced is the motherboard. Its spent about 6-7 months of it life in for repairs - argh.

[freedo50]

I'd recommend finding where you can get an Acer laptop.

... and I would recommend finding that place then moving as far away from it as possible. The laptop that I am typing on now is an acer that my parents paid almost £1500 for two years ago and it already has problems, the lid hinge is cracked and would break very soon if I continued to open and close it (I just leave it out on my desk instead), the DVD player won't play DVDs for films etc, but works ok for games, and the speakers have decided to stop working. In short, I'm not going to buying another Acer again unless they can offer me something very good.
Incidentally, I just bought a pretty beasty laptop from Dell the other day for £772, which is really cheap. Now, I know Dell has a bit of a reputation, but I did some thorough research and in all of the independent computer buyer magazines, they were top of the customer satisfaction league for new laptops, add to that the spec of the system for that price and I couldn't resist. Its due for delivery in 8 days. 

Fred

P.S. The spec is:

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7250 (2.00 GHz, 2 MB L2 cache, 800 MHz FSB)
2048MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x1024]
nVidia® GeForce™ Go 8600M GT with 256MB DDR2
250GB (5400RPM) SATA Hard Drive
15.4" Wide Screen WXGA (1280 x 800) Display
8X DVD+/-RW Drive
Intel® Pro Wireless 3945 802.11a/b/g Mini-Card
Windows Vista® Home Premium

[JoeST]

could i possibly review your spec from my point of view Fred:

The processor is rubbish IMO (i dont like intel's for anything but low spec hunks of junk)
the RAM is nice
Pointlessly overpowerd graphics card for a laptop (laptops never work well with graphics as they have to process both drawing on the screen and making the graphics)
Nice HDD
Small screen for such a powerfull graphics card
dont particularly like vista at the moment

oh and here is my spec: all under £300

AMD Athlon X2 64 4200+
1GB Corsair
Widescreen 17" CRT (upgrading to 19"wide LCD No extra cost)
ASUS M2N mobo
nVidia GeForce 8500 G (512)
60GB+40GB (upgrading to 500GB No extra cost)

Joe

[toxicpiano]

Vista is fantastic, providing that you have the power to run it (It's faster than XP for me). Mac OS X 10.5 is as cal said, a fantastic OS. If you're sick of editing the registry or ctrl alt delete, increasing the page size or turning the user access control off like me then it's definitely worth getting. I'm dual booting Vista and OSX right now on my new imac so I have the best of both worlds (They don't have the correct graphics drivers for boot camped vista yet however for proper gaming).

[freedo50]

could i possibly review your spec from my point of view Fred:

The processor is rubbish IMO (i dont like intel's for anything but low spec hunks of junk)
the RAM is nice
Pointlessly overpowerd graphics card for a laptop (laptops never work well with graphics as they have to process both drawing on the screen and making the graphics)
Nice HDD
Small screen for such a powerfull graphics card
dont particularly like vista at the moment

I'm not generally an intel fan, but I've heard great things about their dual- and quad-core chipsets. I know it isn't the most powerful one on the market, but it is supposed to be a good high-mid range chip.

The graphics card is not pointlessly overpowered for a laptop, it is a mobile card for a start, and so designed for laptops, and also it is one of the few DX10 mid-price graphics cards out there. The DX10 bit is important here, as DX10 is a big step up form DX9 in terms of what you get for your (graphics) processor time.

The screen is actually not that small, certainly its is big enough for my gaming adventures (and yes, I do play FPS' as well as SC4), it is also an HD screen, and the card supports HD rendering, so that will make the (currently few) games that support this significantly better looking.

As for Vista, I got that because it's £100 more to have XP installed, and also I would like to try Vista. I have a feeling I will adapt to it and end up liking it as much as I have XP.

As for your spec:

oh and here is my spec: all under £300

AMD Athlon X2 64 4200+
1GB Corsair
Widescreen 17" CRT (upgrading to 19"wide LCD No extra cost)
ASUS M2N mobo
nVidia GeForce 8500 G (512)
60GB+40GB (upgrading to 500GB No extra cost)

The chip that you have there will never run at anything near 4.2GHz, that is just the theoretical limit of the chip's speed. The actual number will be closer to 3.8/3.9GHz probably, here you have a fast chip, but it is also based on an old architecture, so it won't have some of the more modern things you would expect in newer processor.

Corsair RAM is good, but 1GB is getting close to the lower end of the acceptable range now, it will almost certainly need to be upgraded in the 9-12 months.

The screen, I can't really comment on seen as I don't know the manufacturer or anything about it.

Good motherboard.

A good graphics card which is DX10 compatible, and really very similar to the one that will be in my laptop, just with extra memory.

Obviously plenty of HDD space there, which is good, but the manufacturer and RPM of the disc can make a fairly noticeable difference.

For £300 I would be pleased with that lot, but I wouldn't be expecting a bleeding edge rig either, it almost certainly won't be able to run something like oblivion at max screen resolution and with max details, not that I'm expecting my laptop too either, but I expect it to be close to the top.

Fred

[Zaphod]

hey, thanks for all your input

My situation has changed, while i'd like a new computer I found out I want those savings open for possibly living on temporarily when I move, so I don't have to work as much for a while. I'm finally transferring out of college and into a real university next fall, and I want time to actually have a life and still be able to study and pass,etc

[freedo50]

I got my new laptop today, and I have to say, so far I am very impressed with the whole Dell package, it was cheaper than its rivals, with good service and a good product. Whether that will remain the case is a different matter altogether  .

Fred

[flame1396]

I like new computers, except for getting rid of all the gimmicks and idiot-proofing.

I'd like a new computer eventually, I like the XPS I have currently (light on RAM but damn fast anyway)

I want an Alienware but I'll probably end up with a more conventional manufacturer.

[Xiziz]

Unsure if I(or someone else) mentioned this before but from what i gather the best make for a laptop would be Acer.
Ive played on a few mates acers and there really fast, and ther coustumer support is grand too.

Though i dont really like OEM-Manufacturers, and i havnt bought an OEM-Computer since 1995. I Prefer to pick and choose peices myself and build it, why would you buy a preassebled box of legos, the fun is in building & modifying them for optimal looks(or preformance & aethetics when talking computers). Also saves me a lot of swedish crowns, since it actually costs MORE to ship a computer WITHOUT an OS.

[dragonshardz]

I do not have a laptop, but my machine is a custom build by my uncle running Vista Home Premium, and it works fine, aside from the parental controls....still a minor, i am. not long until 18 though. but anyhow, other than the parental controls, Vista is fine.

Specs:
AMD Athlon 64 FX-53 processor (2.4 ghz)
2 GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT

I have had a few funny quirks, such as the graphics card overheating (slightly) and the processor hogging the power supply, but other than that it's ALL good. Don't particularly like Intel, mom has a vista pc with a core 2 duo, and it LAAAAAAGSSSS, while mine is pretty darn good for a single-core. and macs, don't like 'em much either...I have my reasons, such as the VAST majority of games being PC and not Mac. solid, good computers though.

Good luck!