So my sister is starting college come September and as such she needs a laptop, as such, I have been given the task of deciding what she will get. My first choice would be a Mac Book, but that would be a waste of money as all she is going to do is type reports, browse the internet and such.
I need help deciding which company to go with. I have already ruled out Dell (fuck their customer service) and Apple (usage doesn't justify the cost). Any other suggestions?
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MacBooks only run $999 with the student discount (and I imagine free shipping)...when compared to computers with similar specs you're not going to save all that much. Especially for the form factor (MacBooks are both thin and light compared to most laptops)...which is incredibly important if she'll be carrying this thing places.
And if she won't be, then why the hell not just get a desktop?
I'll just say what I say in ever "laptop for college" thread...the most important specs on a college laptop are size, weight, and battery life. Skimp on these, and you end up with a brick that basically just sits on your desk.
EDIT: I do know I saw some small-form-factor notebooks from Averatech(?) that were significantly cheaper than Apples. Can't vouch for quality, though.
I second the macbook. Plus, if you wait til the end of August, Apple might have that ipod combo deal they had last year.
However, this also depends on her major. If she's in science/engineering, she may find herself needing to run apps that won't run in OSX, and thus spending half her time in Windows anyway. Adding the cost of a copy of Windows to the MacBook changes the math a little bit. I know I ended up buying a separate Windows desktop to run a lot of apps for engineering courses...especially since I have one of the old PPC PowerBooks.
They have a ipod combo deal going right now - buy a macbook, get a free nano.
Yeah, I'm in engineering, but I haven't encountered anything so far where I've been hindered by using a laptop. Hell, most of the people I see these days have Macbooks in my CS classes and stuff. And on the offchance you do need an engineering app that doesn't work, and don't feel like installing XP through Boot Camp/VMWare/Parallels, computer labs are where it's at. I mean, most people don't buy the software for themselves anyway and work out of the comp. labs...
I hate saying this, but seriously, Macbook is win. There is a reason I saw so many other freshman with Macbooks last year...
EDIT: And the iPod deal isn't just a free nano, it's an iPod rebate, so you could get a bigger iPod if you want to, just minus the price of a nano.
There are super cheap laptops for well under the Macbooks $999, if all she cares about is a word processing machine and maybe watching movies and listening to music, then there are much cheaper options.
Have you been to HP? They have word processing laptops starting at $500. Granted they need a little bit of upgrading to make them decent, you could still get away with a laptop well under 1K.
World of Warcraft IS a drug, if you are playing it seek rehab immediately.
</shill>
Of course there are...and many weigh 7+ pounds, are upwards of 2" thick, and get maybe 75% of the battery life. If all she'll be doing is word processing and maybe watching movies/listening to music, and doesn't care much about portability, she'd get either more bang for the buck or a much lower price by just getting a desktop.
If you're shelling out for a laptop, especially for school, I recommend getting a portable one. If you can show me another laptop in the 5.1 pound range, no more than 1.1" or 1.2" thick, with a battery life of at least five hourse...all for significantly less than a MacBook, then I'd agree she should go with that. Oh, and that free iPod Nano that she'd get right now? She can sell that to defray some of that extra cost.
For comparison, the laptops I've finding on HP.com (that are in the price range you're talking about) come in at 1.4+ inches thick, and 6.6+ pounds.
Oh, and his sister would use its features...if she ever actually carried the thing across campus. Size, weight, and battery life are features, and the only ones that matter in a school laptop (IMHO, of course).
I'm speaking from experience here...I used to have a larger notebook that ran just shy of 7 pounds...when you carry it around all day on campus, that extra couple pounds (and size) starts to suck. Then suddenly you stop carrying it anywhere, and it sits on your desk. So you've paid laptop prices for what amounts to a desktop computer.
EDIT: And yeah, I'm not recommending a Mac for OSX or because it's a Mac...I really just think size/weight/battery are important for a laptop, and Macs happen to be very competitive with other brands once these are taken into consideration. If we were talking desktop, I'd say pick up the cheapest no-name one you could find.
Then I got my macbook 2 days ago, and realize why everyone recomends them. I actually looked into tons of other models, and luckily one of my friends had a macbook, and I couldn't find many models thats were cheaper than the macbook while at the same time being as portable/light. Also, after doing research I found out that alot of the smaller laptops didn't have a very good battery life. I so far been very pleasantly surprised with the battery life for my mac.
Then there's the OSX. Everything is so simple, so neat. It works like I would hope it would work, and there's tons of neat programs and features. I just discovered the use of Expose on it, and I love it.
Seriously, I didn't want to spend the extra money on the mac, thinking I didn't need to. But now I'm definately a convert.
I got me a beast of a laptop, with a decent gpaghics card and 2g of ram so mine was not cheap to say the least, one thing i did love it was soo much easier to carry that laptop between rooms to have small LANs than a desktop.
So in short i agree with the above post entirely, and the OP should find out if his sister really intends to carry this laptop arounds or not becuase desktops are a better value if she isn't.
World of Warcraft IS a drug, if you are playing it seek rehab immediately.
Yeah, the only reason I recommended a Mac after he said he'd ruled them out was because of why he said he had...the whole "usage doesn't justify cost" thing. Assuming she'll ever actually carry it around, it actually does. As I said, show me other laptops in a similar form factor that are significantly less...especially if you assume she can recoup at least $100 off that iPod.
If she's not planning on carrying it around often, then no laptop's usage will justify the cost. Just get a bargain-basement desktop.
Though actually some of the cheapest laptops (in the $450 range) compete decently against desktops w/ monitors...but then upgrades/repairs are a bitch later.
EDIT: Oh, and looking at notebooks on HP it seems that computers that compete with a MacBook on form factor start at $800. The model that runs $800 is arguably better than the MacBook...most specs are the same or comparable, but it also includes a DVD-RW drive (the base MacBook, at $999, includes only CD-RW/DVD-ROM). Doesn't give a battery life estimate, but weight/size are comparable. Don't know if their support will be any better than Dell's, though. My recommendation is that on any site where you're browsing for laptops, go to their "travel/mobility" section...that's where I found the one on HP.
Anyway, yeah at that point you'd be paying about the same (assuming you can sell the iPod) for the MacBook but not getting a DVD-RW drive. I'd say its' up to her if that's worth it...she'll be the one using it for the next 4 years or so. Personally I'm not that enamored with OSX, I'd probably take the HP. But Apple's support is better, which seems to be a factor. Basically I just want to impress on you that you're not necessarily getting a bargain by going with a cheaper laptop...if you're getting a laptop, expect to pay upwards of $1000 for something decent and portable...otherwise just go with a desktop.
EDIT: Oh, and while Apple's support is generally better (phone support, at least the two times I've talked to them, wasn't outsourced), it's only phenomenally better if you're within driving distance of an Apple Store. I'm not, which makes me bitter sometimes.
Thanks for backing that up with some real stats. I've got an issue of Consumer Reports right here that says MacBooks break just about as often as other laptops.
I'm going back to get some edumacations soon and have been considering a macbook, although i'd have to boot into XP for ~50% of my classes (Programming major)
On the other hand my generic no name brand laptop is still running fine. This is probably slightly biased since i actually defrag and format regularly, but it was still enough to make me be wary of Macbooks.
Also PS i hate their OS, so u might wanna make sure your sister can use it, its a pain in the ass to adjust to if you have been using windows all your life.
There's a portability factor to consider besides carrying it around to classes or whatever. Its a hell of a lot easier to take your PC home with you on breaks or between terms if its a laptop. As someone who has shipped a PC the whole width of Canada (BC to Nova Scotia and back), its a real pain in the ass. Compared to the ease of closing your laptop, sticking it in a bag, and putting it in your car/in your carry on luggage on the plane, moving a PC around sucks monkey balls. It also gives a student the option of taking their personal PC with them to work or study if they have a home environment thats not great for studying or writing essays. Like say, dorms. ;-)
Came with a Nvidia 8400 Mobile GS too, so I can game.
I payed $700
The coolest part was that I was able to get it with XP and there was absolutely no junk on it like laptops from the other manufacturers.
This is only with the Vostro line up since it's for business, by default the junk is still check marked to make sure to uncheck it.
Dell ships all their computers with actual Windows install disks, though...so getting all the junk off is as easy as a wipe-and-reinstall on delivery. Takes a few minutes, but not too bad. Then you just make sure you don't actually pay for any additional software.
First thing I've done with my last two Dells.
I'd save the cash and buy 2GB of RAM from elsewhere and put it in yourself. That'd probably net you better performance than the processor by far.
It's a pain in the ass to adjust to if you decide to feel stubborn and don't decide to look online for tips for switchers. As for the locking up and slowing down, go to applications -> utilities -> disk utility, and repair the permissions for her hard drive. Also, download and install Onyx, then run all the maintenance tools.
OS X is only difficult to learn if you're unwilling to learn; I used windows exclusively for 10 years, got a Mac for college, only took two days to adjust.
I'm planning on getting a new Macbook after Leopard comes out, and I'd suggest a Mac.
I like to game casually. If it can run BF2 or something like that? Awesome. I don't need shit running on high end or anything.
I want to do a LOT of video editing and the such for my major (Broadcast Journalism), and I'm worried about the amount of RAM. With the student discount and the laptop I want comes out to be $3000 instead of $2000 (for the Pro.) Would a removable HD be something I should look into (120 GB seems small, but right at the same time for music and stuff and a documents and such) and is 1GB RAM sufficient? I'm not going to be running a lot but it'd be awesome to have stuff run nice and smooth.
Do these come with the media drives?
RAM... you need 2GB. I don't know if the Pro is as easy to swap in the RAM as the regular Macbook, but if so, buy it not from apple. You'll save money. Just make sure it's the right kind of RAM that will work with the Apple.
And the pro could run BF2. You're good on that.
On the topic of customer service, I just checked, an apparently there is an Apple Store in the city her schools in, although, she wont have a car.
Unfortunately, shes not being very helpful, as all she will tell me is to just figure it out.
But the screen is 1280x800 and very clear, and personally I think this is a good size. Widescreen is nice too, but I guess most laptops are widescreen now.
I dunno, I got away with a 12" screen on my PowerBook for quite some time before my parents hooked me up with their spare CRT monitor. It's perfectly functional. And yes, in the same price range you can get 14" screens, even in roughly the same form factor. I believe that HP I was talking about was a 14.1" screen or some such, and again it wasn't much larger or heavier (though I believe with the extended battery you're adding upwards of a pound).
my averatec (12 inch model) has a pretty crappy buttons on the trackpad (little s-shaped buttony doodad broke pretty quick), otherwise alot of value for the money; i rarely use it because of the button issue. toshiba puts out quality machines, check out the U200, U300 and m200. fujitsu also puts out quality machines (fujitsupc.com). samsung also has good build quality but i don't think they export to the states. many of the internals of these machines are built by ODMs (e.g. clevo, compal, quanta) and rebadged by the branders.
Dell's customer service isn't so bad, all the major pc manufacturers have comparable records. you hear more grief about dells cause a fuckton of them are sold, and their frontline tech support often have accents. if you want good customer/tech support, invest in a manufacturer-provided extended warranty. if you want more bang for your buck, check out sager or winbook (OEM support may be iffy, have no data here).
I don't know about the Intel MacBooks, but on my 12" PowerBook it can be done. Yeah, I have to dim the screen halfway...also have to disable BlueTooth, Dashboard, make sure there's no CD/DVD in the drive, etc...turn it to low performance mode, and maybe dim the screen. But really, after doing all that, I used to be able to get 6+ hours (before my battery got a bit long in the tooth).
But all I'm saying is that in a portable form factor, MacBooks are pretty competitive (given student pricing). I did actually mention Averatech, as it's one brand I've seen with some seriously compact laptops that weren't expensive at all...only reason I couldn't give a strong recommend on them is because I hadn't used one personally.
Just ask her if she wants to take it with her to classes, etc, or not. That's probably the single most important factor for what you're looking at in this. I know a lot of college people get like 15" laptops just to save space/heat and for easy relocation, and also occasionally to use for private viewing movies/etc on the bed.
If she can't answer this quite simple question, maybe she should just get a $150 desktop until she knows the answer.
This next year I'm going to be traveling very frequently between Amherst, MA, Boston, MA, and Burlington, VT. I'm looking for a laptop for the sole purpose of being able to have the same computer in all three locations. Battery life isn't a big deal, I'll be able to plug it in wherever I go, maybe just a few hours while driving it won't be plugged in. I don't want the thing to have a screen so small I can't see it, but having a gigantic screen blows too, as far as weight and thickness go, the lighter and sleeker the better, and I don't need it to be a gaming rig at all. I'm looking for a word processor pretty much, with enough memory to hold a hefty amount of music (I work well with music playing,) decent speed and RAM.
The only real limiting factor is price. I'm looking for one as cheap as possible, I'm talking $450 or lower.
Any advice? Or should I have started my own thread?
For 99.99% of computer users, yes.