argh! Help, Internets!

[electricland]

It is time -- in fact, it is past time -- to buy a new computer. I have put it off longer than anyone would have thought humanly possible. I am using an ancient desktop PC with two hard drives that are 6 GB each. (It's OK, go ahead and laugh. I'll wait.) Plus my work laptop, which is fine, but not mine.

I want a laptop. Unfortunately, the world o' laptops is CONFUSING and I'm not even totally sure what I should be looking for. I need basic web functionality (including Gmail), MS Office or reasonable equivalent, Quicken, iTunes, and the ability to download and manage photos. And an optical drive, because I'm still not finished ripping my CDs to iTunes. And probably some stuff I haven't thought of. I don't download massive quantities of stuff from the Internet because we have the cheapest possible broadband connection, and I don't really watch movies on my computer. Not too huge would be nice, around a 13" or 14" screen. Doesn't have to be super portable as I am unlikely to take it with me everywhere. I will want it to last a fair amount of time (as witness my current setup) so presumably being on the high side of memory, performance etc. would make sense. And I don't want to pay a fortune. Fortunately in that respect, I prefer PC to Mac!

Dell has the pretty, and some models have media card readers which seems nice. But adding options rapidly gets expensive. I have a spreadsheet. I'm just not sure how to prioritize the various features available out of the MILLIONS of possible models. Any advice would be much appreciated!

Comments

[briasoleil.livejournal.com]

Avoid Dell, HP and Acer. They are crap. I threaten to dropkick my Dell (work) computer out the window every single day. And sometimes, it's hourly.

I have a Sony Vaio. I like it. I also looked at a Toshiba, which had 100 gig more memory and was slightly cheaper, but was noticeably heavier. I wanted my laptop to be portable.

I did some comparison shopping online then I went to Best Buy and spoke to the guys there. And, in the end, I think I got a fairly good deal.

[raithen.livejournal.com]

I have had a Vaio which was MASSIVELY unstable, and HP that lasted 5+ years of hard work, and my current Acer is stable and lovely. I guess the point is, mileage varies.

[lietya.livejournal.com]

Yeah, we have owned four HPs so far, and all were stable, reliable, and long-lasting. (We upgraded due to new-technology lust after 3 years; the original pair are five years old, still capable of running fine, and one is now seeing regular use as Shash's Linux laptop.) I can't argue with the original assessment of Dell, though. All my work machines have been and I've wanted to drop-kick them too. :)

HP also offers a nice line of laptops that are basically low on extra features, high-powered, and cheapish [as laptops go, anyway]. Shash's current one is a mid-range of theirs that's actually multimedia machine, meaning it came with more graphics and video capability than we necessarily needed, and a built-in card reader, and went for $800.

[electricland.livejournal.com]

hmmm. Thanks! *sigh* to the Dell thumbs-down. SO PRETTY.

[lietya.livejournal.com]

It's true - they really do make the prettiest of pretties right now.

(Not my work machine, alas, but I've drooled over some of their more decorative offerings too.)

[life-on-queen.livejournal.com]

I prefer PC to Mac!

You are dead to me. Dead.

[raithen.livejournal.com]

heee. you can hang out in the artsy fartsy corner with my sister ;)

[life-on-queen.livejournal.com]

You mean the affluent, trend-setting, culture-making, user-friendly corner?

Ah, cool then.

[(Anonymous)]

Thbttttt!!!!

R

[electricland.livejournal.com]

It's not like this was a secret.

[life-on-queen.livejournal.com]

Alas, no. The reports of your death are frequent. And recurrent.

[raithen.livejournal.com]

let's plan a chat -- I just did this and can offer insight.

[electricland.livejournal.com]

ooh, that would be very helpful!

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

One fairly stable option would be a Lenovo ThinkPad. You can get those set up with most of what you want, for decent prices.

I'm on a Dell now, and it's been solid. I went to gotapex.com and checked coupons till I found one that worked for the price range I wanted. I ended up with a 15in. wide screen, perfect for running two docs side by side (I do a lot of that when editing). Smaller screens may not make you happy if you're used to a desktop. I wouldn't get anything smaller than a 14.

Coupons are the way to go. You can get huge deals if you find the right ones.

[electricland.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. Work laptop is a ThinkPad, I believe a 15" (hence why I want something just a leeeetle smaller).

Thank you!

[jenlev.livejournal.com]

Due to my technology curse I don't dare recommend anything because...well, you know me. ;)

I hope the process of getting the new laptop go well and happily.

[ozreison.livejournal.com]

Ummm. No Mac. OK. Got it. *is sad* What do I know about PC laptops, hmm....

Before my Macs, I had a Vaio that I liked a great deal. It lasted quite sometime, and survived several patchy upgrades I forced onto it (it was pre-WiFi, but I had it on WiFi once it got reasonable, and it worked).

My Dad and husband had good luck with Dell desktops, but the laptop has been driving Dad crazy ever since he got it. If you're reasonably intelligent their tech support is not helpful either.

Before work decided to can the lot of us, the other Canadians had HP laptops. The main issues they had was our company tech support kind of sucked. Then again, they spent 4 months thinking I had a laptop when in fact I had a desktop. But the machines themselves seemed to be ok.

I'm really refraining from my "why Mac isn't as bad as you think it is" speech. If you want to hear it you can ask, but I will refrain from offering it independently. *twitch*

[electricland.livejournal.com]

Oh go for it! I am willing to be convinced (although it will have to be a hella convincing speech to get me to pay double what I otherwise would). And I hate to see a fellow creature suffering. ;)

[ozreison.livejournal.com]

Oooo. :D

I've found that yes, you pay more for the initial machine. Although you can get refurbs at a discounted price with a full warranty and an up to date operating system, so it balances out that way.

However, I've also found that any software purchases I have had to make (and there haven't been many) are much much cheaper than MS. On my G4 I purchased the Appleworks package (which was Apple's answer to Office at the time) for $69. When I upgraded the operating system to Snow Leopard, it cost me $75.

The operating system is stable and requires little to no maintenance. It just works, No defrags, no hunting down temp files, no rebooting to clear problems, etc. It doesn't have the neat uninstall that Microsoft has, but I have purchased a good one... for $12.

I have a free AV software that is mainly for scanning files so I don't pass the MS people I know viruses in emails. There's only 1 known Apple virus in the wild atm. But it pays to be cautious about these things.

Apple support costs a little extra, but is well well worth it for any assistance you may require. It's quite comprehensive, and the people on the phones rock.

Overall, after using a wide variety of operating systems, I have found Apple to be the most stable, reliable, easy to use, functional computer I've ever seen.

I think that more than makes up for the price. Don't you? :)

[pretentiousgit.livejournal.com]

No Mac generally means Yes Lenovo, although reports are trending that they're not as good as they once were (what is). Toshiba sells too many parts to other people.

I had a Fujitsu/Siemens Lifebook in university which I loved until the backlighting on the monitor gave out. Acer is also shiny. I would very much recommend the ThinkPad, though, because really - it's the toughest thing in the world that isn't military spec, they go for days, and I like mine. The x200 is a small one, still selling at Computer Systems Center over at Spadina and College.

Highly recommend. Cost about $500 less than Apple.

To be honest, though, I really just hate using PCs these days. A lot. All of them are deeply flawed one way or another, mainly in the OS, because Windows 7 is _fine_ but still not as good for what it wants to do as OSX. YMMV.