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New Laptop Recommendations
Gafoto
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So I'm in the market for a new laptop. My current laptop is a 2007 Macbook pro and it's having all kinds of hardware issues (battery is dead, logic board is terminal, trackpad is marginally functional and the screen has seen better days). I've used macs my whole life but I'm having a hard time justifying plunking down 1400+ bucks for a new Macbook Air, no matter how fantastic they look. I have a friend who runs OS X off of his built desktop for photo processing but I'm guessing that isn't an option for a laptop from say, Lenovo?
Honestly my needs aren't too extreme. Like everyone else my computer gets used for web browsing, music and movies 90% of the time. I take a lot of nice photos, edit them with Photoshop and up they go on Flickr or sometimes get printed. Obviously I need a computer with enough processing power to handle that, which isn't too terribly much. So what do you recommend I look at? I'd prefer to spend less than a grand.
Honestly my needs aren't too extreme. Like everyone else my computer gets used for web browsing, music and movies 90% of the time. I take a lot of nice photos, edit them with Photoshop and up they go on Flickr or sometimes get printed. Obviously I need a computer with enough processing power to handle that, which isn't too terribly much. So what do you recommend I look at? I'd prefer to spend less than a grand.
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http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac/macbook_pro/13
Otherwise a second hand machine is still going to be great and not break your budget.
What is your typical workflow in photoshop? That app is one I'd consider to need a goodly amount of processing power, but I could process a few pics here and there on an ultrabook with little issue.
I was looking at this compooter
Even composing this post on my ipod touch is making me insane.
It's pretty easy to get OSX running on a laptop, but getting all your drivers working is another matter. It's a lot easier with a desktop, but still sometimes requires some hardware swapping because driver coverage is spotty as hell.
I like Lenovos. They don't break often or in spectacular ways like Dell and HP laptops (stay away from HP - the blinking capslock of death is basically their RROD, and it's been a huge problem for years. I see 2-3 of them a month and quite a few repeats). Most of them have the power socket soldered directly to the motherboard, which can turn a $45 repair into a $200 one really fast - I see a lot of broken sockets, but that's because a lot of people are stupid. Toshiba and Acer are the only brands that consistently have the power socket on a separate board or attached by wire, but I'm not a huge fan of either brand other than the parts are usually cheaper. They are generally unremarkable laptops, though, nothing bold enough to be really great or really bad.
Repairing lenovos is also fairly cheap. Aside from the logic board (no real analog I can price), I could probably fix the rest of the issues you mention in a Lenovo for under $200-$250, you could do it yourself under $100 with some moderate technical knowledge. All Apple products are a nightmare, though, the parts alone would probably cost you that much, plus the special tools, plus a few parts like wifi antennas that are almost guaranteed to get broken in the disassembly process. Most laptops are not built to be taken apart, but apples are built to not be taken apart. You can keep a Lenovo running until ebay runs out of parts, though, just a couple annoying pieces of tape to watch for in there.
Edit: Oh yeah, I WOULD recommend Sony since their laptops have really treated me fantastically over the years (including spilling liquids into one twice and having the thing still work), but you definitely need to find a refurb/open-box laptop from them because there's a major tax on the brand name.
The big PC brands (Lenovo, Dell, HP) have consumer and business lines. The business lines are usually built better and have some technologies (usually having to do with remote management/administration or security) not present on consumer lines, with a price premium. Think Edge line is really more a consumer line they've badge with Think to make it salable to SMB. The ones that seem best built are T-series, X-series, and W-series ThinkPads. Not sure if level of build quality is worth the premium, but I'd say T/X/W-series Lenovo's are on par with build quality of Apple MBP's.
Also if doing photo-editing I'd want 1600x900 or 1080P for the display.
http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-IdeaPad-15-6-Inch-Laptop-Metal/dp/B00ATANVLQ/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=19V1C4JCLU5FI&coliid=I8VM2ZZLJIT9M
seems pretty amazing considering the specs and pricepoint. Just remember, it has a swapable drive, and it comes stock with two graphics cards, so no optical drive, but you can get the optical drive seperately and swap it out if you want, although why you would need to at this point... *shrug*
To get a hackintosh running with all the devices working and graphics acceleration (QE/CL) working from parts you just pick out yourself can be a considerable hassle and may not even be possible. If you really want to go down that path you find the resources where people have done it before, you pick hardware from those who've gotten that hardware working, you follow their procedures in getting the software installed (you'll need to obtain files they refer to, but elect not to distribute), and henceforth you run System Update at your own risk cause it can bork your machine.
Personally it's not worth the time investment IMO. Maybe if someone had a post that said buy this, this and this (and they were parts I liked), and also posted complete instructions in how to get it working (along with support for future System Updates), and also posted any files I'd need to do the install, then maybe, but I'm not an OSX guy.
Well, maybe. Feature for feature comparisons and the importance of good design aside, most people buy a Mac for the software, and not having to deal with Windows. If you don't mind that, then Lenovo is a good option.
Windows and OSX have converged so much that there's very little to choose between them in terms of actual functionality (at least with Windows 7 as the comparison point - Win8 is a different ball game) and most people who don't want to "have to deal with Windows" haven't used a version of Windows since XP or 98.
From what I've seen the business lines are even worse for the blinking capslock of death. I've never been able to figure out if it's overheating or what, and HP's silent on the issue, but it seems the higher end they are, the faster they eat their motherboards.
I disagree. Yes, Windows has got a lot more like OSX, and a lot better in recent iterations, I use both on a daily basis, and have done since Win95 and System 7. I still wouldn't have a personal laptop with Win 7 on it, although the margin has closed since Win ME. It's a personal thing though, I know some people who love Windows, and that's ok. I was just pointing out that the reason a lot of people buy a macbook is not addressed by feature for feature value comparisons, it's for OSX.