Choosing a new computer...any advice?

[temujin]

True, no computer is infallible. I have a lot of experience with both Macs and HP and Dell PC's, but I won't tell all the stories here. My take on it is that, if you really similarly configure a PC and a Mac, the price difference is not that big. But it is true that Apple does not make cheap PC's.

My suggestion is to go to a store and try out the computers you are thinking about buying, and if you decide to switch to a Mac take advantage of any courses or help the Apple store near you (presuming there is one) offers.

I agree with going to a store to see and try the computer you are thinking about buying.

Regarding price difference, it depends what you consider significant.
On Apple's site, the base Macbook is listed at $999 with 2 GB RAM; that might be enough for Mac OS.
On Dell and you can find a laptop with similar or better specs for ~$800. Example 4 GB RAM (recommended for Win 7), bigger hard drive. And that is list price. There are lots of sales and you could get it for ~$600 without much searching. If you are patient, you can get a lenovo laptop of similar spec for $400 on sale now. Competition is good for the consumer.

I would really recommend avoiding a single core computer especially if you intend to keep it for a long time. Older dual cores are not that much more than single core, and even if you don't multitask the second core can run service apps behind the scene and your computer will be noticeably more responsive. In the future more programs will be multi-threaded and the advantages of more cores will become greater. Any single core machine will be a very low end machine that you will probably be disappointed in. That is one reason you hear more people complain about Windows computer than Mac. Some people expect a $400 Windows laptop (not on sale) to be as fast as a $1000 Macbook.

Regarding Asus, they are the premium motherboard manufacturer and their other products are generally quite good.

[Really]

I have an Asus mini and it's great. I installed an extra gig of RAM and put Windows 7 on it, and it runs just fine.

My Dell laptop is currently set up with another monitor because the one on the laptop doesn't work. This machine is about 3 1/2 years old, and it has had a ton of use in that time.

We have HP's at work (both desktops and laptops) and they've been mostly okay too -- the desktops better than the laptops.

I just splurged and ordered an HP Touchsmart -- it should be here early this next week. It had pretty good reviews in a variety of places I looked.

Good luck with your decision!

[Simone411]

Really, sorry you had the trouble with your monitor. My Dell laptop was 4 year old this month and it's still working fine. I use it a lot to work on videos, photos, browse the web, etc. I've had two operating systems on my Dell. It came with an upgrade to Vista which I took in 2007. When I had Vista, I increased the memory to 2 GB. After 2 years of Vista, I had to reformat because the UAC became corrupted (no more user permissions). I went back to XP SP3. With the 2GB of RAM, it's very fast as far as performance goes and Vista was the only problem I had with my Dell.

Dells now come with Windows 7 Home Premium. I would preferably use Windows 7 Professional with the XP mode, and that's the OS I will choose when I purchase my next Dell. That will probably be in a couple more years when the lifetime warranty runs out on my laptop.

[Nickel]

Thank you all so much for sharing your experiences and knowledge! A lot of what you've shared reinforces what I've read in articles and reviews. I've learned a lot in just a couple days! I've decided to get a laptop since our current desktop is still working fine. We'll probably get a new desktop in a year or so.

I am leaning towards getting a Dell but still need to get out to the stores and do some 'hands on' and query the store folks before I make my final decision.

My next learning event is going to be routers and wifi. I assume we will need a router so we can have internet on both computers at home. While travelling I presume the thing for internet any more these days is wifi but I have no experience with it at all.

[tarotx]

Talk to you internet provider-ours has routers. Routers can be as cheap as $19 though you usually get what you pay for. I think because you have an older desktop it may limit your choices security wise though. The one thing to make sure is that your laptop has built in wi fi capabilities(I think all or near all of them do now but make sure) and then you can hard wire your desktop to your router if it doesn't have a wireless card/antenna installed.

[Ajax]

If you're choosing between HP and Dell, get an HP. The Dells we have at work are pitiful. The one I currently have is 17 months old. It does not hibernate properly--when you close the lid, it doesn't hibernate, it waits until you open the lid to do so. Then you have to manually shut it down and restart it to get it turned on.

My laptop has the same problem... and it's an HP Also the Mute button on mine doesn't work. Basically it has a whole bunch of tiny little problems, none of which are too annoying, but when you combine all of them...

[Nickel]

Just wanted to send out a big THANK YOU to all of you for the information you passed along. I am enjoying my new laptop immensely. I was leaning towards getting a Dell but in the end got an HP as the price was better with more memory, etc. We also got a new desktop a few days later as, after we saw how much faster a new computer ran, we decided we were done with all the problems we had been dealing with with our old Compaq desktop. We got an Asus for the desktop. It has way more memory than we'll probably ever use but again, it was a good price for what we got. Setting up the router was a breeze and I am amazed at having Wifi capability now and that I can take the laptop anywhere in the house and still get on the internet.

[manhn]

I am loathe to buy a new laptop, but my laptop is soooo slow nowadays. But depending on where Canadian Nationals will be held, I think I can find the $ in my budget for a new laptop. I am thinking of making the switch and buying a Mac but it costs $1250! In the US, the same Mac costs $1000. Have any Canadians bought computers across the border, particularly Apple-related? Does their customer service still work even if you bought the machine in another country?

[DORISPULASKI]

I'm sort of late to the party but a few things to think about when purchasing a computer:

1. At some point, you are likely to become farsighted and a bigger monitor than you need now will be really, really nice.

2. The cheapest Dell 2 years ago used part of the RAM to provide memory for the video card. As a result, later software updates caused IRQ problems and the blue screen of death. (My neighbor had this problem. Very annoying. She bought some more RAM, which solved the problem.). The cheapest of any line is often asking for trouble in the 2nd or 3rd year you own a computer. Make sure you have the max RAM offered with the computer you buy. If necessary, upgrade it yourself. It's generally quite easy to do. RAM is cheap these days.

3. My son has a 3 yr old Lenovo laptop. I have a 5 year old Lenovo laptop (Lenovo owns the old IBM Thinkpad franchise). They upgrade easily and the maintenance manuals are on line. Son hates his wife's MAC because he is always having to pay for operating system upgrades. The last straw was when he got a fancy Ipod and found out that it was not compatible with wife's 1 yr old MAC, but worked with his 5 year old Lenovo. He had to buy the new MAC operating system upgrade to make the fancy Ipod work, which is why he replaced the 5 year old Lenovo with another Lenovo.

4. When you buy a laptop, be sure the hinges and latches are built solidly. One thing that keeps the Thinkpads going is that the hinges are extremely solidly built metal hinges. (Other son had a Dell laptop before buying a used Lenovo-the hinges failed twice. He does not purchase Dell at this time.)

[Really]

I am loathe to buy a new laptop, but my laptop is soooo slow nowadays. But depending on where Canadian Nationals will be held, I think I can find the $ in my budget for a new laptop. I am thinking of making the switch and buying a Mac but it costs $1250! In the US, the same Mac costs $1000. Have any Canadians bought computers across the border, particularly Apple-related? Does their customer service still work even if you bought the machine in another country?

I saw some guy from Bellingham, WA on the news a couple weeks ago talking about the iPad and how Canadians were trying to get them down there. He advised against buying down there because he said the warranties were null and void in Canada. I'm guessing that probably also applies to customer service.