<p>I need to buy a laptop for use in College. Maybe you can give me good advice.
A lot of people were convincing me to get a MAC, but for financial and other reasons I wanna stick with Windows.
I wanna waste around 1400 dollars on it. I would go from 1400 up to, lets say, 1600, only if it was really necessary and an excellent investment.
I was thinking bout getting a DELL or IBM from a college store, but lately a lot of people are tellin me the Sony VAIO laptops are the best fot the price range Im aiming for. So Im planning to get the VAIO FS or FE series (online).</p>
<p>I've pretty much had enough of windows and their relatively low quality software. I'm done with windows, I'm going with mac. I might get screwed over at Stern (if I get in) but oh well.</p>
<p>futurenyustudent, why the hate for Windows? Maybe 5-6 years ago I would agree with you, but XP isn't as bad as people make it out to be these days.</p>
<p>Well I had my hard drive replaced 7 times and my computer was reimaged 9 times in the three years I owned my WINDOWS-based laptop. It freezes countless times per day. It gets viruses, worms, bugs all the time. It crashed more times than I could ever count. I paid $2k for my piece of **** computer. Now tell me I don't have the right to hate windows.</p>
<p>"Well I had my hard drive replaced 7 times and my computer was reimaged 9 times in the three years I owned my WINDOWS-based laptop."</p>
<p>Tough luck, the fault relies solely upon the hard drive MANUFACTURER (IE: Western Digital, Maxtor, Seagate), not the company who developed your OPERATING SYSTEM. These companies manufacture hard disks for both Windows based machines as well as Mac.</p>
<p>"It gets viruses, worms, bugs all the time."</p>
<p>Cool, install Windows Defender + one of the many free AV solutions and don't open omgpr0n.exe email attachments and you won't have these problems.</p>
<p>How is Microsoft in any way at fault for the faulty HARDWARE in your computer? That's like blaming Fox for your TV having a bad tube...</p>
<p>nfl2k2,</p>
<p>Buying discount computers is always a gamble. Build quality is always suspect, and you see serious cuts in quality. The scant 512 MB of PC 2700 RAM in the HP you linked to is going to be an absolutely AWFUL bottleneck for many applications. A 5400 RPM drive is also not exactly good for "teh performance." Moreover, the Turion is a decent processor, but it's not going to be nearly as future proof as the newer AMD builds or the Core Duos. </p>
<p>well I'm going to go against the grain. I own a Macbook and while it runs a bit hot, with bootcamp, I can run both Windows and Mac OSX. It's 5 lbs, pretty cool looking, and has a dual core processor. Price may be a bit more but it fits the bill, especially since I like the iLife apps.</p>
<p>Well I'm not getting a windows-based laptop.</p>
<p>Now try to blame the fact that my computer crashes countless times per day on the hardware manufacturer. I'm mad at microsoft for not overhauling windows entirely. And you know what, those anti-virus things take money to subscribe to and effort to install. And to be honest, I have NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER seen a windows-based computer that's ready to go straight out of the box. Frankly, I hate windows and there's nothing you can do about it. I'm getting a macbook pro and paying the $700 premium over a comparably equipped windows-based laptop (I'm permanently boycotting windows-based computers) for the convienience of getting it out of the box, not having to fight a flood of viruses, put up with countless freezes, crashes, and spyware, and whatever other inconvienience that Microsoft has to offer. All I need to do on a macbook pro is install microsoft office, which I need to do on a windows-based laptop (among a zillion other things) anyway.</p>
<p>Actually, I wouldn't be too sure of how "virus free" your Mac experience will be in the long run. With a fairly large increase in the user base with the MBPs, a number of people are predicting a virus increase as well.</p>
<p>And I'm not a huge uber fan of Windows either, but lemme tell you something that might just blow your mind- I've had my Mac crash as well. It's rare, but it does happen.</p>
<p>Sure viruses will pop for Macs but is it worth it to virus makers to create the thousands that exist for Windows machines? Macs do crash. Macs will get viruses. But it should be about the overall user experience and if someone has had a bad experience with a windows machine, why would you buy another?</p>
<p>Oh, listen, I'll probably not go back to Windows for a long time. However, I think a lot of people exaggerate the absolute perfection of the Mac experience.</p>
<p>While I do absolutely believe that the premium I paid for the Mac was well worth it (I'm not a benchmark junkie), I think that people shouldn't build it up into something it isn't.</p>