<p>While I have just purchased a macbook for my daughter to replace her imac (still a great computer - she just wants the portability of a laptop), I am responsible for purchasing all the computer, servers, and laptops at my office. Whenever we venture from a dell purchase to some other company I am rapididly reminded why we buy dell. Dells are not "crap".</p>
<p>I do want to bring up the point that since macbooks also can run windows- there have been some incidents of viruses- being transmitted through bluetooth I think-
I haven't had problems- but I don't have a macbook
Just didnt want people to think that you never have any problems.
Also
always add more RAM- it is cheap enough that a 1gb is minimum & you don't have to have apple add it
Oh
don't forget if you go mac- you can get an education discount either online or through your school bookstore
I know I have mentioned all this before- but those of you will just have to deal!
wait till the last possible minute to buy a computer
They change and drop in price- and will probably do so as soon as you commit.
We rarely buy brand new computers.
I have bought refurbished computers from smalldog & from Apple.
As far as I can tell- identical to new.
They still have factory warranty and are eligible for extended warranty.
warranty important- especially with laptops.</p>
<p>Go with the Mac. Our laptop apple is the only problem free computer in the house, and has been for 5 years. (With a tech lovin H and S we have an embarrassing array of computers). We also love old Volvos. There's a pattern here: solid and dependable.</p>
<p>S is CS major, and likes his Macs. I use PCs, and have noticed real problems with customer service. Then again, when I called Delta (the airlines), the representatives were from Lithuwania. I had to call back because accent of first man was beyond my understanding. Dell was frustrating in that it took hours, difficult accents, children in backgrund 1x, no call backs, but then someone identified the bad part--a fan--which they didn't have. fortunately, someone on e-bay did.</p>
<p>
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Most of the people in the world use PC, so if you want to send a document from a Mac into a PC... it's not gonna be nearly as easy if you want the PC user to read it properly.
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</p>
<p>Wrong. Compatibility between Mac and PC documents is pretty much 100%. </p>
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In terms of virus protection, Macs don't get any of them because quite honestly, no one bothers to waste their time making viruses targeted at Macs simply because few people use them.
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</p>
<p>Only partly true. UNIX-based systems are also much harder to make good viruses for...</p>
<p>My daughter recently used her graduation money to purchase a new Macbook. This was to replace her 4 year old Toshiba, which her high school required all students to purchase. After a few hours learning curve on the Mac, she has never looked back, and loves the Macbook. We also took advantage of the free Ipod and printer, which made it very cost effective. We did purchase the Microsoft Office software to be sure there were no compatability problems. We also checked with her college tech support group to make sure there were no problems hooking up to their network - they enthusiastically endorsed the Macbook.</p>
<p>LaptopLover - you're right. Except I would list Dell in the list with all of those companies. I worked for IT for 3 years, I saw Dell Laptop after laptop after laptop (not just the inspirions) being brought to us with plenty of problems. (Most common problem - burnt out hard drive.) If you must buy a Dell laptop (of any kind) make sure you buy a 3 year warranty - chances are you will need it. Also i'd say 75 percent of my friends who have dell laptops have had hard drive problems.</p>
<p>I wouldn't recommend an HP/Compaq to anyone. Or an e-machine/gateway. Or Dell/Alienware.</p>
<p>I would say if you're buying a laptop either go with Mac or IBM/Toshiba if you want a PC based laptop. If you're buying a desktop, buy a Sony or build your own. They seem to be the most solid and reputable.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Quote:
Most of the people in the world use PC, so if you want to send a document from a Mac into a PC... it's not gonna be nearly as easy if you want the PC user to read it properly. </p>
<p>Wrong. Compatibility between Mac and PC documents is pretty much 100%.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Not everyone uses up to date systems. My lab is an excellent example. We have several computers running on Pentium IIIs, Windows 98, etc. etc. The most advanced system in our lab uses a a Pentium 4 (power hog, poor architecture, you name it).</p>
<p>When you work for an entity that doesn't quite fund what it determines is not as important (the government and some parts of NIH... everything seems to be going into biodefense for good reason... but some other labs are taking a real hit!), you notice it.</p>
<p>My currently laptop (very new system) can view Mac files no problem... my current boss has to send emails on one of his subordinate's computers because if he sends it from his mac (say, a revised scientific article he hopes to publish), chances are, the other guy will have trouble reading it.</p>
<p>Not everyone can afford some of these newer systems and will opt for a Pentium III mobile laptop that can still word process, access the internet, etc. etc. for 100 bucks</p>
<p>EDIT: I do agree with you that Macs and PCs are becoming more and more compatible with each other as the days go on. However, my new eMachines desktop (cheap machine, I know, but it does what I want it to do... and for 150 bucks i can't argue) purchased in late 2005 still has problems opening Mac documents</p>
<p>
[quote]
LaptopLover - you're right. Except I would list Dell in the list with all of those companies. I worked for IT for 3 years, I saw Dell Laptop after laptop after laptop (not just the inspirions) being brought to us with plenty of problems. (Most common problem - burnt out hard drive.) If you must buy a Dell laptop (of any kind) make sure you buy a 3 year warranty - chances are you will need it. Also i'd say 75 percent of my friends who have dell laptops have had hard drive problems.</p>
<p>I wouldn't recommend an HP/Compaq to anyone. Or an e-machine/gateway. Or Dell/Alienware.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Very well then.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I would say if you're buying a laptop either go with Mac or IBM/Toshiba if you want a PC based laptop. If you're buying a desktop, buy a Sony or build your own. They seem to be the most solid and reputable.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>You forgot ASUS for laptops :p</p>
<p>Yeah, I'm an ASUS fan as you can tell...</p>
<p>I'm sorry, I'm just not very familiar with them.</p>
<p>^ that's allright, ASUS is better known for its motherboards and its OEM contracts</p>
<p>
[quote]
I do agree with you that Macs and PCs are becoming more and more compatible with each other as the days go on. However, my new eMachines desktop (cheap machine, I know, but it does what I want it to do... and for 150 bucks i can't argue) purchased in late 2005 still has problems opening Mac documents
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Except that most documents coming out of Macs these days are MS Office documents...</p>
<p>"I do want to bring up the point that since macbooks also can run windows- there have been some incidents of viruses-"</p>
<p>It is not the hardware that matters where a virus is concerned, but the operating system. If one connects to the Internet via windows, one is as susceptible as any other windows machine to a virus. However, it will not affect the mac os x side of the machine. What many do who need to run windows is to do their Internet work exclusively through os x. </p>
<p>The protection through obscurity argument has shown not to be true. Macs get attacked almost as often as windows, the difference is they don't succeed. There was and probably still is a, I believe, UWisc Mac that has no special protection that offers a $10,000 reward to anyone who can infect it with a virus. No one has collected. Even so, it is good to be careful.</p>
<p>Also, the new OS X 10.5 (Leopard) looks to be amazing. <a href="http://www.apple.com/macosx/leopard/%5B/url%5D">http://www.apple.com/macosx/leopard/</a></p>
<p>Once again, 3 cheers to CC for just existing. Since I have learned a lot from just 2.something pages here, surely other shoppers & current users have -- & far exceeding college students or those who thought they knew everything they needed to know for their next purchase. A ton of tips here. Halopeno, I love your screen name (from a jalapeno & chipotle lover!). Celloguy, be careful of the going-to-sleep-with-the-laptop syndrome. Younger D did the same. Laptop fell off bed, charger was crushed in the process, costing replacement $. She is now forbidden to do that, but haha she's under 18 & not living "away." EK is right about the bluetooth thing, but as someone said, the attempts & the vulnerability do not always equal success. Apparently bluetooth with PDA's & such have been more vulnerable than Macbooks. Thank you thank you for all these tips when I do upgrade in the near future. (And that's even from a serious Mac family.) I've used smalldog myself, EK. (And with success.) A reminder to add for students: for replacement accessories, go both to Smalldog & to the Apple page ("Store") first. Got younger D a cheap replacement charger from smalldog (new in package, one half retail price), but buyers can also click on "deals" on the Apple store site for similar discounts.</p>
<p>I also recommend added memory for anyone doing serious research and/or who is a pack-rat like moi-meme.:)</p>
<p>I don't know why everyone hates Dell. I just got the E1505 Inspiron I ordered for college last week. It's great. I was having a problem getting hooked up to wireless internet, but it was our router and not my laptop. We got a new router and now I'm online without problems. I wouldn't want to pay $1300 or $1400 for a Mac and MS Office, when I got my Dell for just over $1,000. ( A "free" IPod wouldn't be enticing since I already have one.) Over in the College Life area, lots of kids love their Macbooks, but there are Dell lovers too.</p>
<p>My small-business Compaq machine is absolutely indestructible. The HP/Compaq consumer machines may be sucky but their small business machines are excellent. However, I'm going mac. I prefer the operating system hands down (it's so much more flexible than windows) and the size and features right now are hard to beat.</p>
<p>That said, I am in the camp of dells are crap. I have never seen a dell consumer laptop survive a year without being so outdated or even broken that it's almost unusable. My father has been in computers since they were the size of rooms and he's forbidden me from ever buying a dell. Dell lovers must not know anything other than dell if they love them so much.</p>
<p>Bottom line- you get what you pay for. The cheaper you go, the crappier the computer, and dells are cheap. Cheaply made, cheaply configured. The $1,099 macbook is a much better deal right now. Spend more money for a computer that will last you longer.</p>
<p>frostburg, do me a favor. write down my name, on a sticky, and send me a message in one year and one month, and tell me how much you still love your dell. I am being 100 percent serious. I'll give you five bucks if you can honestly tell me you haven't had a problem with it. </p>
<p>And I don't mean a virus or anything like that, because that's the user and not the machine. Sure, there arent as many viruses on macs, however I've been using PC's since I was a kid and have never had a virus. You just have to watch what you do and not be dumb about it.</p>
<p>UCLAri:</p>
<p>Just checked Microsoft's website on Mac - PC compatibility...</p>
<p>All I have to say is I've really been behind the times when it comes to Macs! Thanks for your update!</p>
<p>LaptopLover,</p>
<p>I was pretty surprised as well. As a dedicated Wintel user up until 3 months ago, I've been nothing but impressed by my Apple experience and how seamlessly I've been able to move over.</p>