New Laptop?!

[Nurse Wretched]

I bought a Mac a year and a half ago and absolutely HATE it. It is more difficult to do pretty much anything and crashes regularly. I may have got a lemon, but for that kind of money, I really hoped for better. Funny thing is, the Ipod touch I had bit the dust after 2 months of use, so I have very little faith in Apple. They did replace it, at least. I use my old Sony Vaio laptop most of the time. It's 5 or 6 years old, but is much easier to use than the Mac, and doesn't crash. So, in my opinion, Macs aren't worth it.

If you got AppleCare, they will figure it out. I've had incredible customer service from Apple, and am surprised that you have a crashy Mac. Did you install all the various updates? Also, if you're running Parallels, don't blame Apple for the crashes.

Edited March 12, 2011 by Nurse Wretched

[Oneko]

I use to work at a electronics store that sells computers and parts, so I have a lot of experience with a variety of brands. I also owned a couple different brands of laptops, so here's my two cents: (Warning: this is quite long)

Buying computers comes down to what you want it to do and how much you are willing to spend. For about $600-700, you can get a very good laptop that does above average work. As a grad student myself, I would shy away from $500 or below laptops because they are less than mediocre in what they can do. If you are looking at laptops in that price range, you are better off buying a high end netbook (which offers about the same features but has more mobility).

You can get a very nice 15-16" HP laptop that has its own graphic card, a decent fast processor, 2-3gb ram, and a good large HD for $600-700. HP is one of the brands I would suggest to get because their laptops are generally long-lasting. Dell laptops (similar specs) sell for a less than that but DO purchase warranty on them. Dell laptops can break down but their warranty customer service is excellent. I've had friends whose adapters melted 2x from heat, circuits shorted from spilling one drop of water, case cracking from putting in bookbag with textbooks, etc. But they had warranty and had their laptops fixed or replaced quickly. Like someone mentioned earlier, Acer, Toshiba, Asus brands are also good laptops if you purchase the higher end ones. Stay away from their $500 and under, deep discounted laptops because they are not very reliable.

If you are looking for a netbook (a powerful one and do not mind the $400-500 pricetag), consider getting the new generation ones with Ion 2 dedicated graphics. They also have the newer model processors that are faster and require less power.

As for Sony Viao and Apple laptops:

Sony Viao has many good laptops. The laptop casing looks sleek and is of excellent quality. I've had one of their professional series laptops before and I accidentally spilled a cup of water onto the keyboard and it leaked into the motherboard and ram (dripping wet). I left it alone for ~4 days on its side to dry, turned it back on and worked fine. Mind you, they are quite pricey. Part of the reason is for the look, quality, and also the weight. Their laptops are one of the lightest ones you can find for the same specifications. My 13" gaming laptop with all the bells and whistles is under 4lbs. They also have an excellent accidental warranty from personal experience. Overall, very pricey, but worth the investment.

Apple laptops..ah..where do I begin? If you want to look like one of the cool hip kids on campus, sure. If you prefer the Mac OS, sure. If you do not care about either of that, don't bother with them. To begin with, new gen Macs are using Intel chipsets, so they are essentially PCs running Mac OS. The point that they do not crash is not true. I've worked with the old IBook, new Macbook, and the new Macbook Pro. I've had crashing issues on all of them. Yes, I keep them updated and run checks on them. On multiple occasions, I had to help troubleshoot Macs (friends, family, coworkers, boss, you name it, I've done it) because a particular software would keep crashing or the computer itself would freeze. Macs also are not more stable and does not have less security problems than PCs. (How do you think people jailbreak iphone and ipads?) They have just as many, but not as many people work to find hacks. Its like a bank vault with its door open. No one walking in to take money from it does not make the vault secure. They also tend to have the problem of running hot. Setup is either a bliss or hell. Many installs and hardware are automatically found so you do not need to go through with setup customization screens, etc. However, if you ever have a problem, Mac settings are extremely limited so you cannot troubleshoot as easily. If you want to configure all your settings, forget it. For the average user, this isn't much of a problem. Just more of a nuisance. Also, the new gen Macbook power adapters is laughable because the connector cable shreds quite easily even with gentle use (don't believe me? Check the Apple store reviews on that). I personally dislike Macs because the same hardware on a PC is easily $500 cheaper and I prefer Windows 7. So, if you want to buy a Mac, make sure you have your reasons to (such as I like the Mac OS, I've used both Mac and PCs and I prefer Mac, etc.). Don't get a Mac because other people have one or just because you didn't bother doing your research.

A laptop is like getting into a long-term relationship. You will be spending a lot of personal time with it. Make sure you know and are ready to accept its plus AND minus.

If you guys want additional info (to hear more of my ramblings...), feel free to leave certain features that you are interested in and I'll see if I know about them.

[lil kiwi]

I have a Sony Vaio which has been working well for the 2.5 years I've had it. However, there is one thing that will prevent me from getting another Vaio. They don't have very good heat dispersal mechanisms so tend to get really hot. During the extended warranty period, I got a replacement fan because it had broken, and even with the new fan, it can still get rather hot. Having done a few searches online, I think I'm not alone in having found this problem. Just thought you might like to know.

[michpc]

Also, the new gen Macbook power adapters is laughable because the connector cable shreds quite easily even with gentle use (don't believe me? Check the Apple store reviews on that).

is that the new new ones, or all the magnetic ones? My cat has used mine as a chew toy repeatedly and it's still going strong after almost 2 1/2 years, haha.

[Oneko]

is that the new new ones, or all the magnetic ones? My cat has used mine as a chew toy repeatedly and it's still going strong after almost 2 1/2 years, haha.

Its the newest magnetic one. The one that is sold in stores right now. The previous gen magnetic power cable works fine. The newer one has a straight design that makes the cable have to bend in a bad way so it breaks easily.

[Oneko]

I have a Sony Vaio which has been working well for the 2.5 years I've had it. However, there is one thing that will prevent me from getting another Vaio. They don't have very good heat dispersal mechanisms so tend to get really hot. During the extended warranty period, I got a replacement fan because it had broken, and even with the new fan, it can still get rather hot. Having done a few searches online, I think I'm not alone in having found this problem. Just thought you might like to know.

Yea, problem with Vaio comes down to the particular product. One of the older models I bought ~4 years ago had a bad design flaw that placed the motherboard and the ram too close together. So whenever the laptop bumped against something, the chips might touch and end up turning off the computer. Some of their other models has heat venting problems while one particular one (SZ series) has a graphics card that was defective in that it can melt under high temperatures (although this was rare). Every brand has their problems. That's why I always suggest getting the warranty on mobile computers.

[hkswan]

Don't do Acer, check out ASUS Eee PC instead. Great reviews on their netbooks. I bought one for under $400 from amazon and it has been amazing. If you are only using it for writing papers, web stuff, and nothing needing major computing power, this is the way to go. That way, you can take more time deciding what you do want, before laying down a couple grand on a mac (sigh. I wish I could afford a mac, but it's not in the cards right now. :-) )

Don't do it! I bought a Asus Eee PC netbook when I went to Africa. I bought it just to dump photos on, write papers/research, and so my full size laptop would not get ruined or stolen. The netbook is nice because it is small and lightweight., but I have had lots of problems with my Asus Eee PC. It is VERY VERY slow and yet I have hardly any programs on the computer. Asus also came with preinstalled settings that I cant seem to change. In my opinion not worth it. Next computer I get will be a Ipad.

[Strangefox]

Oh, well, it really seems that there are as many opinions about computers as there are people of these boards!

And may be even more...

[runonsentence]

My MacBook might be more expensive than a PC, but my last one lasted 5.5 years before I finally upgraded it because it was starting to run pretty slowly. Worth the investment, to me.