Everyone I need your help

[EWC88]

Hey everyone, its time for me to get rid of the PC cause it is extremely old, extremely slow, and is really not what I need. Now I'm not getting a PC I'm switching to a laptop because I don't have the space really, I'm a college student that will be moving out soon and dorms aren't spacey.

Now I haven't done much research on any laptops yet because really I'm not that computer smart ( meaning, I don't know whats a good memory to have or hard drive etc ) I'm hoping that this site can help me with that..

What I really want out of this laptop is: to last me awhile, be fast, not loud, and not crappy lol

To give you guys a idea what this laptop would be used for is : School work (essays, things in that nature) email, AIM, music, ipod, reasearching online, and I'd like it to have a dvd player so when I do travel I can bring it with me and watch a movie on the plane..

Now I've been looking at 2 brands: HP and Mac...Now I know some brands aaren't the greatest like Acer and such...

So basicaully I'm asking everyone on what brand and model would you suggest for me? And any info would be great to give about on what things to look at with laptops compared to others.

 

[Sir Travis D]

How much are you willing to spend? You can get a cheap, and expensive config on a pc. A pc can come with better overall specs depending on how much you're willing to spend. You could think about dell's inspiron notebooks, or Hp pavilion dv6700t with intel processors. The dv6700t can be configured good with an intel core 2 duo 2.1ghz processor, 3gb ram, and a good graphics card. Make sure you get the 8400/8600/8700/8800 graphics cards if you want good performance for vista.

 

[EWC88]

When you say PC are you refering to a Desktop?

Also money wise I was looking at spending the $1000-$1500 price range since I was looking at a Mac

 

[Sir Travis D]

For $1000-1500 you can get a better config from a pc. A PC is any laptop or desktop that runs microsoft windows as an operating system. This includes hp,dell,acer,lenovo,ibm ect.

 

[EWC88]

What do you recommend Sir Traves D? If you were me and needed the laptop as I said what would you go for? Brand and model?

 

[PHATSPEED7x]

Sony vaio series are some pretty nice laptops. I got a old vaio and it still works great.

 

[EWC88]

Also what does blue screen of death mean?

 

[PabloTeK]

Just to clear a small thing here, a Mac is a PC - they use standard parts, very similar to your Dell/Alienware Travis and your Sony Adam. They also run Windows.

Asus, Dell (Latitudes) and Apple are personal favourites but you'll have to sacrifice some performance with the Mac for the same price. The Latitides are business machines but they are good for work, although the speakers are awful, headphones are needed really. Asus also have a small premium over HP and Dell etc but they do build their own laptops, which is actually quite rare.

EDIT: A blue screen of death (BSOD) is when some OS' suffer an irrecoverable crash so they shut down to prevent more issues. The screen contains an error code and sometimes the name of the file at fault.

 

[Sir Travis D]

@op - sorry about that I thought your post meant "i'm getting rid of my pc for a new computer" not "i'm getting rid of the pc brand"

@op, I still think the reason you dislike windows is because of the computer you have. If you don't have a good computer, you can't run windows how it should be run. That's the problem with people these days. They don't understand that windows vista is better than xp, they just say their computers can't run it and give up on it. I still think you should stay with microsoft windows if "its time for me to get rid of the PC cause it is extremely old, extremely slow, and is really not what I need".

If you get a new computer in that price range, it will run xp or vista well.

Also, a blue screen of death or BSOD is when windows crashes and the screen turns blue. Mac supporters base this on a reason to dump windows, but i've only had it once in 7 years. It usually comes from the owners misuse like the wrong kind of ram, overheating due to cheap psu ect.

 

[EWC88]

Sorry I should of stated what I was saying clearer...

I have a Desktop PC right now thats extremely old, slow, and just crap.. Because I'm a college student and will eventaully be moving out space is a big thing, so a Laptop will be best for me..

I have by all means no problem with Windows..My mom runs XP on her Dell laptop and on her HP Desktop ( I use the desktop alot ) and I like it alot..Vista I never touched before, I have no problem with trying out new things so that doesn't matter..

The only problem I'm having is if I should go into the Mac world or stay with the Pc world...

I don't really know what are good brands, I mean Mac I know is and HP is too..Dell I'm a little iffy with myself because of past computers in my house that have been problems right from the start and there support sucked..even though my moms new laptop is good and so far nothing..

This laptop will be used for AIM, Email, school work, Ipod, reasearching etc..

Hope that clears everything up alot better!

 

[N3crosis]

You can get a decent one from HP or Alienware, but try to stay away from Mac, trust me, bad experiences.

 

[EWC88]

I'll tell you what, I just came back from Best Buy to check out some laptops and the one thing I don't like at all about the Mac was the screen size..13.3"! I don't like how small the screen was at all..

But the fact that you can run windows and mac was nice and how they don't get viruses but I don't know if thats enough for me to say Mac cause the screen is gonna make me blind cause I'll have to be litearlly glued to it

 

[Sir Travis D]

only ignorant people would get a mac "because it doesn't get viruses". Unless you're viewing -well dirty things- or you download random email files from random people, and you don't have a virus program for like $50, you will not get viruses. Windows was made for a pc. Mac's feeble attempt at gaining market share by running competitor's programs is sick and childish.


PC + no dirty things/random email file downloading + virus scanner = no viruses

 

[EWC88]

That was going to be my next question if I get the PC type laptop whats the BEST virus scan to get?

I don't view dirty crap or download anything from emails..Just to let people klnow lol

 

[Vizy]

That was going to be my next question if I get the PC type laptop whats the BEST virus scan to get?

I don't view dirty crap or download anything from emails..Just to let people klnow lol

Go ahead and watch porn if you want to, lol.

anyways

AVG Antivirus is the best free thingy out there. AVG free is the correct name. i believe they recently came out with verison 8.0.

 

[tlarkin]

I'll tell you what, I just came back from Best Buy to check out some laptops and the one thing I don't like at all about the Mac was the screen size..13.3"! I don't like how small the screen was at all..

But the fact that you can run windows and mac was nice and how they don't get viruses but I don't know if thats enough for me to say Mac cause the screen is gonna make me blind cause I'll have to be litearlly glued to it

If your absolute price limit is 1500 and you can't leap to the 1999 price of a Macbook pro and that is a need for you, then you are stuck getting a PC. Mind you Apple does offer college students package deals and educational discounts.

You are correct that there are no known wild viruses for the Mac platform. There also likely will not ever be one, considering Unix by design is far superior to windows from a security stand point. Everything you listed for your uses a Mac would do just fine out of the box and you would not have any problems doing it. Tons of universities have switched over to Mac networks, and I am also a network admin by trade and I run a Mac network.

Unfortunately, this forum is filled with PC users who don't know a single thing about the Mac platform to begin with. I wouldn't really trust anything they really say or post, it is most likely biased opinions.

There are advantages and disadvantages to both platforms of windows and OS X. Ultimately it will be up to you to decide what is best for you. In my experience iTunes sucks in general and sucks a lot more on windows. If that is a huge factor for you then you may want to consider a mac. Remember it is all about what you want, so you make your own decision on the matter.

To give you some advantages of how OS X is better in some aspects I will list a few:

Unix POSIX compliant
No viruses
better security
command line application for everything (probably won't apply to you)
great built in software features
great built in hardware features
fast and reliable
way less of a resource hog
Unix memory management
less software bloat
can run windows if you absolutely need it
full EFI support
tons of free open source applications available

Now, some cons of the Mac (which may or may not apply to you)

Can't hardware profile anything out in the OS or firmware (n/a to you prob)
domain level configurations with windows domains can be tricky
lack of some video game support
lacks some third party support (however there is always a mac version of everything, you just get less choices sometime)
The Apple way (sometimes it just doesn't make sense why they do things a certain way)


Most of this can be applied to windows and linux a like. You will have way less of a hassle with a Mac because of the way lower chances of your machine being compromised. A virus or trojan would need your administrator password to install itself, which is untrue on windows via windows kernel hooks it allows apps, drivers, plug ins, etc access to the kernel.

Ultimately it comes down to choices and preferences. If you prefer to use OS X then buy a Mac, and if you prefer to run windows run windows.

 

[daisymtc]

So what you need is a small laptop with big hdd within budget?

$1400 ASUS F8 Series F8Sn-C1 NoteBook Intel Core 2 Duo T9300(2.50GHz) 14.1" Wide XGA+ 3GB Memory 320GB HDD DVD Super Multi NVIDIA GeForce 9500M GS - Retail

$1000 ASUS F8 Series F8Sp-X1 NoteBook Intel Core 2 Duo T5750(2.00GHz) 14" Wide XGA 3GB Memory DDR2 667 250GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650 - Retail

$600 lenovo 3000 Y Series Y410(59012585) NoteBook Intel Core 2 Duo T5450(1.66GHz) 14.1" Wide XGA 2GB Memory 250GB HDD 5400rpm Dual layer DVD Burner Intel GMA X3100 - Retail

 

[EWC88]

So what you need is a small laptop with big hdd within budget?

$1400 ASUS F8 Series F8Sn-C1 NoteBook Intel Core 2 Duo T9300(2.50GHz) 14.1" Wide XGA+ 3GB Memory 320GB HDD DVD Super Multi NVIDIA GeForce 9500M GS - Retail

$1000 ASUS F8 Series F8Sp-X1 NoteBook Intel Core 2 Duo T5750(2.00GHz) 14" Wide XGA 3GB Memory DDR2 667 250GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650 - Retail

$600 lenovo 3000 Y Series Y410(59012585) NoteBook Intel Core 2 Duo T5450(1.66GHz) 14.1" Wide XGA 2GB Memory 250GB HDD 5400rpm Dual layer DVD Burner Intel GMA X3100 - Retail

Not a small laptop, I really don't perfer having a small screen..

I just want a laptop thats fast, is great for everything I will be using it for ( listed on 2page )

 

[EWC88]

Can anyone give me any good ideas on what to get? I've been asking many people about this and I get mixed information. I know HP are great computers but I hear that there laptops aren't as great..is this true?

 

[Sir Travis D]

Acer laptops are bad. They have a bad build quality - don't get an acer even if they are cheap.

Some people complain about the customer service of alienware or dell. If that is a problem to you, you should read up on them, but I have only had good experiences.