Advice please

<p>So I am starting to look for laptops and need to make my purchase before the end of June. I received this internship position this summer which requires me to be on a computer quite often and on the go (it's a 6 week job in Greece where I will be reporting back to the US via blog, bulletin, and video reports). </p>

<p>I am going to be a freshman at UCLA this fall, majoring in political science. I am not sure if this helps at all, but thought it might be relevant. </p>

<p>My main dilemma here is the infamous Mac v. PC debate.</p>

<p>For the past year, I have had a pretty set mind on switching to Mac once college comes around. As the time now approaches, I am reevaluating my choices like any frugal college student would.</p>

<p>I have been using PCs since I can remember (I got my first machine in 1998). Since then, I have had very interesting and aggravating experiences with them. I have had to wipe my hard drive clean multiple times. I have also experienced multiple hardware problems, including a fried motherboard, a power supply that stopped working, and driver issues the night before projects were due. Recalling these stressful memories serves as the primary reason that compels me to switch to Mac.</p>

<p>My question is this: are Macs much better? I think the most valuable opinions would come from people who were (at some point) in my position, where they used PCs all of their life and just switched to Mac a la college laptop choice. Do you think it is way better compared to your prior experiences with computers? Is it worth the steep price difference?</p>

<p>I am thinking about purchasing the MacBook that retails for $1299 and upgrading the RAM. Good choice? </p>

<p>Other info: I am not into gaming at all. I am really just looking for a reliable machine that can run multiple internet windows/tabs, iTunes, photo albums, MS Word or Powerpoint, etc. smoothly. Can a MacBook do this for me?</p>

<p>(I’ll start this off by saying that while I’m not a computer novice, I’m by no means an expert, and don’t know anything about mhz, processors, or anything like that)</p>

<p>I’ve used Windows since '95, all the way up through Vista, and last year, I decided to buy an iMac. As it stands, there really isn’t much Microsoft could do to get me back.</p>

<p>I’m running the newest version of OS X, and have had such a smooth ride thus far. It took me a few days to get the hang of, but it’s a breeze after that. Apple offers video and .pdf tutorials helping people adjust.</p>

<p>I’m also not a gamer. I’m huge into music and photography, so I’m using iTunes and iPhoto a lot. Not sure if you’ve used them before, but they’re both very user-friendly. Windows Media Player had a terrible interface for my liking, and it seemed like there was too much going on. iTunes is clean, and fairly straight-forward. I’ve loaded my entire photo library into iPhoto, and tagged people using the new “Faces” feature, which is really rad. It’s a great program.</p>

<p>I’m running MS Office '08 (I think '08) right now, and everything is great. I find it easier to work with than MS Office '03 (what is on all of our PCs), although that could just be the age. You can save files in many different formats, so I’ve never had compatibility issues opening documents in both Mac and Windows.</p>

<p>Bottom line - My only regret is that I didn’t switch to Mac sooner! My parents offered to buy me an $800 laptop, and I’ll be ponying up the additional $500 for a new MacBook.</p>

<p>bump</p>

<p>any other opinions?</p>

<p>~$2,500 is an extremely flexible budget. </p>

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<p>Macs may have fewer driver issues than Windows, but they aren’t immune from fried motherboards and defective power supplies. It isn’t fair to blame “the PC” for these. There are many good reasons to switch or adopt Mac, but having bad luck with hardware isn’t one of them.</p>

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<p>The unibody Mac looks great and is a very capable machine for the price. Apple overcharges way too much for RAM, so upgrading it on your own is always a good choice.</p>

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<p>A unibody MacBook can definitely do all of this for you. But, a non-Apple laptop can also do it as smoothly.</p>

<p>This is going to turn into a rant, I can feel it. Basically what I’m going to get to is why you should give Linux a try.</p>

<p>I had always used Windows PCs for personal use, and Macs at work for the last couple years. I have found that Windows PCs are not more prone to hardware malfunctions than macs. I’ve seen many fried motherboards and have had to wipe many HDs and reinstall the OS many times on a malfunctioning Mac. They’re not perfect. The only advantage they have over PCs in my opinion is that there aren’t many viruses out there for them (they do exist, but the problem is quickly patched), and iLife is pretty cool (garageband, etc). Other than those two advantages, you’re just paying twice as much money for a pretty computer with the same hardware and a different operating system.
I don’t like Apple because I don’t feel like I truly own the product. They have always had restrictions on their products, like syncing iPods to computers or DRM on music from the Apple Store. They’ve gotten away from things like that a little, but only because they were pressured.
Now, you can buy a PC for 1/2 the price of an Apple computer and install Linux on it. Linux (which is free) is just as safe from viruses as a Mac, and comes with TONS of FREE programs like Open Office (MS office, word, powerpoint, excel, it’s very similar and FREE), Rhythmbox (itunes), the GIMP (like photoshop but FREE), Firefox, Pidgin (iChat), the list will continue to infinity.
It’s up to you. I suggest you do some reading on it, and maybe try it out first to see how you like it. You know how you have to register your name and enter a key code when you first start up your windows/apple machine? Linux won’t make you do that. Linux doesn’t care who you are, where you’re from, or what you’re going to do. It doesn’t care if you hand out copies to your friends. The basic motto of the Linux world is free and open source, and by “free” I mean free of restrictions AND money. Now you’re saying, “Oh c’mon, nothing is free.” You’ll wonder why you ever paid for anything, ever. It’s like a lifestyle change.
It probably will require some basic computer knowlege, but it’s not hard. I put Ubuntu on my parent’s slow computer which was running windows XP, and now it runs like a champ.
Ubuntu is the easiest to use in my opinion ( [Ubuntu</a> Home Page | Ubuntu](<a href=“http://www.ubuntu.com%5DUbuntu”>http://www.ubuntu.com) ).
The best part will be when you’re in class full of Mac people with your computer that says HP on the lid. One of them will poke fun at you for using Windows. When you say “I don’t use windows, I use Linux,” they will ST.FU quickly. haha.</p>

<p>p.s. but if you ever decide to get into gaming, stick with Windows.</p>

<p>Yikes. I have lots to say here…</p>

<p>@Bmop: I personally use Linux and BSD for all my computing needs. After 40+ distributions and 14 window managers, I have found the setup that works for me. However, I would be careful throwing around some of those generalizations. Some corrections:</p>

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<p>I am an OpenOffice user, and it is indeed a great suite. However, potential users should note that formatting can be messed up transferring between OpenOffice and MS Office. Also, some macros and plugins are MS Office only.</p>

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<p>iTunes users should note that playing their DRM’d music from Apple is going to be a challenge. This is one of the many reasons I don’t use iTunes, but it is nonetheless a factor.</p>

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<p>There is no way to know that unless the OP posts his/her hardware. Most hardware works great with recent Linux distros, but there are still some deal-killing items out there.</p>

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<p>I’m already ranting about this in another thread, so I won’t waste forum space on it here. Suffice it to say that security is a user problem and has a user solution.</p>

<p>@OP:</p>

<p>There is no right or wrong answer to this question. It ultimately comes down to personal preference and individual needs. My personal recommendation would be to buy a reliable PC, perhaps a Thinkpad. If Bmop’s sermon has sold you on Linux, you can set up a dual-boot and choose between Windows and Linux when you boot up. Otherwise, you will have a solid machine with a standard OS. If, however, you have recently tried out a Mac and simply love OS X, that is also a fine option.</p>

<p>Correction. Linux is safer than a Mac (talking about viruses).</p>

<p>Linux doesn’t seem like a good choice for someone who isn’t too computer-savvy.</p>

<p>The software you mentioned, there’s either the same titles, or similar titles, that are available on Macs as well as PCs, also for free. (Open Office can also have some possible compatibility issues, even if creating files with the same extension as Microsoft Office would)</p>

<p>The serial number argument - is that even an argument? I’ve never heard ANYBODY, other than someone using pirated software, complain about having to enter a serial number.</p>

<p>In my experience, you get what you pay for. That mentality has guided me through life thus far, and I couldn’t be happier. I took a basic beginner’s CS class in high school, and there were some computers loaded with Linux in the room, and it was not something I’d have voluntarily put myself through.</p>

<p>If you’re worried about DRM’d music, just burn it to a CD (from Apple’s Protected AAC crap), which gets rid of all the DRM crap. You can somtimes just convert it to an MP3 as well which also solves the problem. That’s what I did for transferring my music.</p>

<p>I’m pretty sure almost all, if not all of the music that is sold through iTunes these days is DRM-free.</p>

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<p>Yes, but is that applied recursively to music you may already have purchased?</p>

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<p>[Microsoft</a> Bob](<a href=“http://toastytech.com/guis/bob.html]Microsoft”>Microsoft Bob) ?</p>

<p>It’s all about what you want, really. In my experiences, a Macbook with AppleCare easily lasted me 3 years (and then sold for, get this, 80% of it’s original purchase price) while I was hard-pressed to squeeze 2 years out of a PC laptop (and no one in their right mind even wanted to buy a 2 year old PC laptop for any price).</p>

<p>I would advise you to research this decision thoroughly. I’m looking for a laptop too, and I was settled on a fully tricked out Dell XPS Studio 16 for a long time. Then, I went to the store and actually looked at the thing, and it was massive, far too big and heavy to carry around. On top of that, it was pretty ugly in person and it’s case creaked and gave way like it was cheaply made. They don’t exactly highlight these ‘features’ on product websites, so I wouldn’t buy anything sight-unseen. </p>

<p>Also, if you’re going to buy a mac, wait until after the WWDC keynote (June 8th) as they are most likely to upgrade hardware at this time. Also, the free ipod for back to school promotion is starting soon, and even if you already have an ipod, you can ebay the thing and pocket the cash.</p>

<p>^ You’re judging based on a store model? Every store model is going to have problems from people banging on them. </p>

<p>And as far as personal anecdotes go, I’ve had a Dell that is 7 years old and still runs cleanly. Everyone is going to have differing experiences with Macs and PCs.</p>