Looking to buy a laptop - advice desired

[UndraftedFA]

I currently have a desktop that is over 4 years old and starting to give more grief than is worth fixing. I'm looking to get a laptop this time around. I'm going to school for Mechanical engineering part-time, and I'd like to make this thing be useful for 4-5 years.

 

I've been thinking about getting a Mac, because almost everyone that has one seems to love it. My roommate is the only one who kind of pushes me against it. He has one, and had a couple of minor issues. I really don't need a computer for much at this point other than watching MLB.TV, writing reports for school, internet, photos, and music. I'm not into games, so I don't need anything that special. I know as I go along in school there may be some programs that I will want to add to it.

 

I'm not dead set on getting a Mac or another Windows computer. My roommate said his runs pretty slow when using Word and other Windows programs. His is less than a year old, so that worries me some. I'm not sure what model he has, and he won't be back for a month or so.

 

What I'm looking for is advice from people who have recently bought a laptop, or started looking into getting one. The price shouldn't matter too much if it last the time I am hoping for. At the same time, I don't want to overpay for something that really isn't any better than something cheaper.

 

Any help or shared experiences would be appreciated.

 

 

(added tags --1992)

[pretendastronaut]

I think it really just comes down to a matter of preference these days. Long gone are the days of which is faster, especially when you're talking about things like typing a paper, using the internet, etc. Pretty much any computer on the market can handle those things in spades now. And if you're worried about using MS products on your Mac, you can also run Windows on your Mac now, so there's no loss there.

 

I tell a lot of my friends who have looked at switching that I think the Mac OS beats Windows hands down. Mac OS X is just so much more intutive for the user, in my opinion and more stable too. And that includes Vista. I have a PC and a Mac for different reasons, but I use the Mac 95% of the time.

 

I have had 2 friends switch to Mac this year and they've enjoyed the transistion a lot.

 

Also, FYI, you can get a student discount on pretty much anything at the Apple store with your student ID.

[pitchleague]

DO NOT GET AN ALIENWARE!

 

That's all that I'll say on that front.

[BucketheadBrigader]

Too strengthen pretendastronaut's point, I bought a laptop for college next year and decided on a MacBook Pro, just as his friends did. I've been a PC guy all my life, but the transition is seamless and Macs seem to be much more user friendly. If you need Windows that badly, as he said, you can dual-boot and install it on this processor.

[DHonks]

just wanted to suggest...if you truly want a computer for 4-5 years, your only real solution is a desktop. For some reason, Every desktop I've used has given me 5-7 years. Every laptop 2 years. I'm amazed, because the laptop specs can be very good, yet for some reason (and not spyware), the laptops begin slowing after a few months. I was just hired for a teaching job, so I'll find out soon if I like Macs. I've always been intrigued, but never wanted to change since I'm very familiar with Windows.

[pitchleague]

hey, DHonks, Congrats on getting a teaching gig!

 

Where you going to be at?

[UndraftedFA]

Thanks for the advice so far. I think I'm going to give a laptop a shot regardless of the durability. It would be nice to hook up the computer to the TV when watching Brewer games and just loaf around on the couch!

 

I've looked into the Macbook Pro's a little more, and they do seem pretty nice. Did you get the 15" or the 17"? I'd probably go with the 15". It is the same as my current monitor, which is big enough for me.

[bjkrautk]

About the only real buying tip I can give is that it's generally cheaper to buy RAM and install it yourself than it is to have additional memory pre-installed. (I recommend Crucial.com personally.)

[sbrylski]

I prefer desktops simply for ease of upgrading. My computer is just a year and a half old and already a bit out-dated, yet instead of laying down $900 bucks for a new one I could spend just ~$250 and its good as new.

[logan82]

I can see wanting a laptop if you are a student. Laptops are getting pretty common for students, at least that is what my brother says. Last time I bought a desktop the equilvalent laptop would have cost twice as much for the same thing and a smaller hard drive.

[DHonks]

I can see wanting a laptop if you are a student. Laptops are getting pretty common for students, at least that is what my brother says. Last time I bought a desktop the equilvalent laptop would have cost twice as much for the same thing and a smaller hard drive.

 

In college I had a kickass desktop from Micron, but also a second-hand laptop from my family company. The advantage to the desktop and it's huge tower chasis (and 17" CRT) was that for anyone to steal it, it was a 2 person job, and they couldn't move quickly. So I was comfortable keeping my dorm room unlocked. I didn't know anyone whose laptop was stolen, but I heard of a bunch of people who had that problem

[DSFastball55]

I don't know guys...I repair laptops of various manufacturers and the Macbooks have their fair share of problems...if I had to choose between either PC or Mac it's not a question since Apple parts and service are far more expensive once the machine is out of warranty. I like the Mac OS too and I own a Mac as well but I use it for the fun stuff only like music and creating videos. That kind of stuff Mac's are great for. However, I don't save anything important on my Mac because I simply don't trust it. In my work, I have learned that Apple has significantly more unrecoverable data situations. It's not that the hard drives they use are bad, it's software problems that prevent you from even reading the disk.

[ajgodson]

I'm a pretty loyal PC guy myself. I know how to use them and how to fix them when something goes wrong. Plus, with engineering software, it may be good to have a PC. I know you can run some Windows stuff on Mac, but I've never had much success with it, though it's been years since I've tried.

 

I've bought a few laptops over the years (for work and pleasure). You can get a decent deal on new Dells. You can find coupon codes all over the net or just wait for sales (usually at the end of the quarter). I got my last (personal) laptop for $688 18 months ago and I'll probably have it for another 2 years before I replace it.

 

Just my two cents.

[giffted1]

I'm also a PC guy. I've never had any major problems with them, so I never had a reason to switch to a Mac. Like ajgodson said it might be better to have a PC for engineering software. I'm pretty sure Matcad is only available for windows, but there are other programs that probably run on Macs.