new laptop advice

http://dealnews.com/HP-Pavilion-g4-t-Core-i5-Dual-2.4-GHz-14-LED-Laptop-for-505-free-shipping/541668.html

Check dealnews out for anyone else looking. Here is an i5 for $505.

Seriously, if we’re all looking at this reasoning logically, let’s break it down.

2 years ago, I bought a Dell that was similar to what Scotty just got. 4GB Ram, Intel Dual Core processor, 500 GB HD. I paid 480 TOTAL…signed sealed delivered. A Mac of the SAME EXACT SPECS: $1750, before shipping.

So, by your argument, you’re saying it’s worth paying 1270$ to not have to worry about ‘losing a file’ or seeing a blue screen, or needing IT help (I’ve never lost a file or needed IT help but I do have a software degree). I have seen the blue screen, but I ran a diagnostic that took about 3 mouse clicks, 10 minutes, and the problem was fixed. If it wasn’t, I could have bought another one and STILL come out $790 less than buying that ONE similar Mac. So if I had more problems I could still have bought two more and come out to the price of that one Mac. This isn’t considering the fact that the computer came with a manufacturer’s warranty, so if anything happens that doesn’t amount to consumer stupidity, it will get replaced.

Again, I have a software degree, and I sell computers. I’ve sold many Apple products, and I really don’t have anything against them…it’s their customer base that does things like this, that make no sense, from any standpoint, whatsoever. I get it. Some people are less experienced/don’t know their way around computers as much. Here’s my advice. Buy a PC and read a book. You’ll save 1200$ and you won’t look completely inept when you try to explain why you paid that much more because you didn’t want to ‘lose a file.’ It’s literally just hard not to take that as a complete joke. If you produce music/media/photos for a living, you might want to look at a Mac. If you are an average person using your computer to watch movies, surf the web, listen to music, etc etc etc ANYTHING that isn’t a career in media production, and you buy a Mac, I PROMISE, you got jipped. If you like it, more power to you. Happiness is a big part of the computer using/buying experience. But again, it goes on the list of things NOT worth 1200 MORE than another option.

I’m not a Mac or a PC. I shopped around a ton and I do like some of the interfaces/OS/etc that Mac uses. I just wasn’t going to pay 1200$ more for the exact same computer for reasons that monetarily are irrelevant. Forgive me for not understanding why others are willing to, but don’t make that argument…it’s impossible to argue.

Put two computers in a room and blindfold someone and tell them:

This computer is 480. If you take 10 minutes to learn about backing up files and then another 10 minutes on either reading troubleshooting guides or maybe 100$ for yearly Technical Support if you can’t use google or read, you won’t have problems.

This computer is 1750. You won’t have problems.

Think to yourself about what you would do in this situation.

You don’t get it and that’s ok.

This is a steaming pile of crap. Macs use the exact same hardware as PCs now and have for years. Whatsmore, almost all laptops are made by one a few Taiwanese or Chinese companies that all sell to multiple “brands”.

Major relationships include:[sup][4][/sup]

[ul][li]Quanta sells to (among others) HP, Lenovo, Apple, Acer, Toshiba, Dell, Sony, Fujitsu and NEC[/li]
[li]Compal sells to (among others) Acer, Dell, Toshiba, Lenovo and HP/Compaq[/li]
[li]Wistron (former manufacturing & design division of Acer) sells to Dell, Acer, Lenovo and HP[/li]
[li]Inventec sells to Toshiba, HP and Lenovo[/li]
[li]Pegatron (former manufacturing & design division of Asus) sells to Asus, Toshiba, Apple, Dell and Acer[/li]
[li]Foxconn sells to Asus, Dell, HP and Apple[/li]
[li]Flextronics (former Arima Computer Corporation notebook division) sells to HP[/l][/ul]

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_laptop_brands_and_manufacturers

Apples have two “advantages”

  1. Small niche for their OS means that hackers rarely bother to hack Apple OS
  2. The machines are so damn homogenous that troubleshooting them is like troubelshooting a console

Those advantages are dwarfed by their massive price premium, lack of flexbility, modification, and upgrade capacity. They are cutesy appliances, except for the very high end ones that cost as much as a decent used car.

A home built PC running Windows 7 x64 will stomp the hell out of any Mac for hundreds, if not a thousand dollars less, and look just as good doing it.

A PC laptop can be (and are) built, in the exact same maufacturing facilities, to the exact same specifications as an Apple Laptop, except for the OS, and I’d rather use Win 7.

I get it, I just dont agree with it, at all.

Here’s my PC, that I built myself:

Core i5 2500k @ 4.2GHz (Scythe Big Shuriken) | Asus Maximus IV Gene-Z | 2x4GB GSkill Ripjaws X 1600 | Asus GTX 560Ti DirectCU II TOP | OCZ Solid 3 120GB | Seagate Barracuda 7200 1TB | Samsung SH-222AL DVD-RW | OCZ ModXStream 600w | Silverstone Grandia GD05 | Dell 2007WFP 20.1" (S-IPS 6ms) | Logitech Z-4 | Logitech G11 | Logitech G5 | Windows 7 Home Premium x64

I also have an old Seagate external HD that I used for a 2nd backup, monthly.

I built the above machine for about $1100 out of pocket. It also has Office 2007 on it ($25).

Spec me a Mac that can hold a candle to that. I guaranty you it will cost around $4,000, and still be slower because AFAIK, you cannot overclock a k series Core i5 on any Apple hardware whatsoever (“overclocking? huh? who would want 40-50% performance gains for absolutely free??”).

Do it just to amuse me. Or someone else do it. Hell, my rig isnt even top of the line, but it’s like a Bugatti Veyron next to any Apple tower. And even better, mine is in a super slick HTPC case - you cannot buy an Apple in a case like that.

http://www.buy.com/pr/product.aspx?sku=221326465&sellerid=20000791

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[quote=“ninerball49, post:26, topic:26212”]http://www.buy.com/pr/product.aspx?sku=221326465&sellerid=20000791

lololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololol[/quote]

Massive Fail.

That thing doesnt have an SSD (the best performance upgrade you can give any computer right now, and very expensive), it has a crap vid card (a 6770M vs a factory overclocked 560Ti??? funny!), a slower HD with smaller cache, half as much RAM (slower too), the display is a cheap TN panel instead of MVA or IPS, which are far superior (mine is an S-IPS), and it has a locked 2.7 GHz cpu. My Core i5 is stock clocked faster than that thing, and runs anywhere between 4.2 and 4.5 GHz under load, or 67% faster than that massively inferior piece of crap.

Is this where I go:

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?

What you don’t get is that they always work and that your operating system is a different experience. If you are a computer geek that likes to tinker or gamer in a man’s body, a pc might be for you. I am an engineer and a problem solver. I don’t want my computer to be let me down as it is a key part of my work. Mac’s are always smaller, slower and more expensive on paper and that is easy to bash if you have a simple view. However, people generally know these things when they buy their first and following macs. Macs users Used to be 1% of the population and 99% of the weird. Now they are up to about 15% and climbing, but lead in customer satisfaction despite being up against paper champions that are half the price. Once you commit to using a Mac, a PC becomes a painful experience. The only way for a pc maker to compete is to flood the market with cheaper paper champions. Not saying don’t buy them, just saying most Mac users never would.

I get that you like Macs, but Please understand that I have owned and worked on both, and we currently have one in our house, which I maintain but do not use.

The simple fact of the matter is that a mac is just an always more expensive, typically slower PC with a different OS and a trendy case.

That’s it. That is the only difference. A long time ago they used different hardware and this was a real debate. Not anymore.

In fact, you can dual boot a PC/Mac with both Windows and Mac OS.

PS - as far as support and presentation, I would put a Dell PC against any Mac. The use the same suppliers,including those labor camps at Foxconn.

They do not always work hence the MAC technician. Buddy of mine bought a MAC desktop all in one and his speakers went out. Had to send it to Apple for two weeks for repair. Sure would’ve been nice to run out to Best Buy and grab some new speakers. As an engineer you should know that hardware fails, and I am very surprised by your “I just need it to work” mentality. I work in an engineering firm and we all hate MAC’s because when they break we can’t find the parts easily to make them work again. Also, Steve Jobs is a big reason for the growth of Apple. Remember they let him go a few years back and Apple almost went out of business. They bring him back and you get the Iphone and Ipad. Now that he is gone the 1st thing that happens is the new Iphone is delayed. Very bad news for Apple. Also, Apple is invested very heavily into the education sector in recent years with their lease and learn programs. This accounts for part of the uptick to your 15%. The other part is the young people who have only worked with a MAC (In school) who go out and overpay.

The bottom line is that you are not paying for the hardware. You are paying for the software. Let’s say you want a new computer. $2000 gets you a decent MAC. The hardware may be $1000 for that computer, and the rest is the MAC OS. For a windows computer I’ll pay $1200 for hardware, $300 for Windows 7, $500 for MS Office, and $0 for Anti-virus because why pay when AGV Free is one of the best out there. For an Ubuntu (Linux) computer I can spend $2000 in hardware, Download Ubuntu for free, It has OpenOffice for free, and I don’t need Anti-Virus because the Hackers wrote Ubuntu and made it secure for themselves.

Being a MAC user is like buying an expensive car from only one manufacturer that runs at an average pace and looks good getting there. You never have to due maintenance, but when it breaks it can be a pain in the ass. On the other hand I can get a cheap fast car from any manufacturer. All I have to do is some routine maintenance, but any shade tree mechanic around the corner can do it. To each his own, but I prefer the speed of my Windows/Ubuntu monster.

I haven’t done it but I like the idea of buying something scratched or refurbished directly from the manufacture.

http://www.dell.com/us/dfh/p/d/campaigns/why-dell-outlet-usdfh

You can get a PC and 1/2 a Green FSL for the price of a comparable Mac.

I’ve owned both and either will do everything that I need. There is no question that Apple charges a big premium–some might be true performance, but some of it is the cachet of having a Mac. Let’s face it, the cool kids that spend all day surfing TMZ in Starbucks all have Apples. A laptop is an appliance to me and I would rather spend less on them, so I can replace them more often. That said, I still expect my personal laptop to last 3-4 years.

There are reasons people buy BMWs, Swiss watches, and eat in 4 star restaurants instead of Kias, Casios, and Bob Evans. Nothing wrong with spending your money on a better life. For me a Mac just isn’t important, but I am not eating at Bob Evans.

[quote=“Nugget, post:32, topic:26212”]You can get a PC and 1/2 a Green FSL for the price of a comparable Mac.

I’ve owned both and either will do everything that I need. There is no question that Apple charges a big premium–some might be true performance, but some of it is the cachet of having a Mac. Let’s face it, the cool kids that spend all day surfing TMZ in Starbucks all have Apples. A laptop is an appliance to me and I would rather spend less on them, so I can replace them more often. That said, I still expect my personal laptop to last 3-4 years.

There are reasons people buy BMWs, Swiss watches, and eat in 4 star restaurants instead of Kias, Casios, and Bob Evans. Nothing wrong with spending your money on a better life. For me a Mac just isn’t important, but I am not eating at Bob Evans.[/quote]

Doesn’t anyone find that many laptop manufacturers now are not quality controlling their products? I’ve had a host of pc and Mac products, and seems the pc laptops are the ones that predictably fail more often than not. Yes, almost all components can be the same. But what the the qa boards at many pc companies do?

My hp envy had a battery short problem in 6 months. My Fujitsu life book had a burnt motherboard in six months. My Dell XPS had the same issue. Lenovo, various models and have had an assortment of problems (from failing hardware to just the CPU overheating). And what irks me the most is that I google these problems, and they are well known for those models.

The only computers I have never had a problem with is my MacBook, a $200 Great Quality laptop, and a $300 msi book.

clt says just go to circuit city and ask them what to buy. the staff is very wise and never tries to up sell.

Geez. Some of you guys have had some shi**y luck with your computers. I was like Chisox. Had a Dell Latitude for 5 years, with practically no issues.

Actually, really the only problems I’ve ever had with any computer was more because of viruses than with hardware. I did have a monitor burn out once. The virus problem is more attributed to the fact that attackers have historically only attacked Windows products, because there are more of them. But I recently read where Apple specific viruses are on the rise.

[quote=“Normmm, post:35, topic:26212”]Geez. Some of you guys have had some shi**y luck with your computers. I was like Chisox. Had a Dell Latitude for 5 years, with practically no issues.

Actually, really the only problems I’ve ever had with any computer was more because of viruses than with hardware. I did have a monitor burn out once. The virus problem is more attributed to the fact that attackers have historically only attacked Windows products, because there are more of them. But I recently read where Apple specific viruses are on the rise.[/quote]Normmm, stay away from those websites and you won’t have those problems. :stuck_out_tongue:

[quote=“Nugget, post:36, topic:26212”][quote=“Normmm, post:35, topic:26212”]Geez. Some of you guys have had some shi**y luck with your computers. I was like Chisox. Had a Dell Latitude for 5 years, with practically no issues.

Actually, really the only problems I’ve ever had with any computer was more because of viruses than with hardware. I did have a monitor burn out once. The virus problem is more attributed to the fact that attackers have historically only attacked Windows products, because there are more of them. But I recently read where Apple specific viruses are on the rise.[/quote]Normmm, stay away from those websites and you won’t have those problems. :p[/quote]

I thought it was because of that poor guy in Nigeria I helped out.

[quote=“Normmm, post:37, topic:26212”][quote=“Nugget, post:36, topic:26212”][quote=“Normmm, post:35, topic:26212”]Geez. Some of you guys have had some shi**y luck with your computers. I was like Chisox. Had a Dell Latitude for 5 years, with practically no issues.

Actually, really the only problems I’ve ever had with any computer was more because of viruses than with hardware. I did have a monitor burn out once. The virus problem is more attributed to the fact that attackers have historically only attacked Windows products, because there are more of them. But I recently read where Apple specific viruses are on the rise.[/quote]Normmm, stay away from those websites and you won’t have those problems. :p[/quote]

I thought it was because of that poor guy in Nigeria I helped out.[/quote]

I thought it was because those “adult” sites don’t have your best interest at heart.

Why do the Mac towers always get left out of this conversation about performance? They’re retarded expensive, but aren’t they faster than desktop PCs?

No. They use the exact same hardware.

How you doin sideshow? Been a while.