laptop advice.

rezin · Post by **rezin** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 12:19 am

im gettin a laptop soon.

not sure exactly what im gettin yet, so i thought id come here and ask for some thoughts, as i know alot of you dudes know some things.

i dont need anything too outstanding, 650-800 range probably.

music and photoshop will probably be main things im gonna use it for.

maybe some video editing stuff if i can get my hands on it.

i see alot of you guys go the mac way and i really dont know much about them, so fill me in.

thanks lovers.

and poopdeflex has new songs up on his myspace page.

http://www.myspace.com/poopdeflex

echosauce1 · Post by **echosauce1** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 12:42 am

My 2 cents

I am a big fan of macs. The iMovie program that they all come with is a great entry level video editing program. They also include garage band as an entry level recording program and are widely supported as an audio machine by most music software companies. Photoshop works as well.

The only problem is the low end laptops start at around $1099, which is above the range you said you are looking at. If you could find a used ibook that is only a couple of years old it would probably work well in the range you want to dish out.

Other than that, a new pc laptop is probably going to be easier to find in your price range. Also, even though I find Apple's way of doing things very intuitive (personal preference I guess), it sounds like you are more familiar with a windows based machine so that may be another pc bonus as well as price. I can't give you any recommendations on a pc brand but I'm sure someone else on here can.

rezin · Post by **rezin** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 1:03 am

yea, i looked up macs and they are a little out of my range.

bwohlgemuth · Post by **bwohlgemuth** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 7:43 am

Would $899 be more in your range. Aplle has refurb'd models which are just like new....

I second the recommendation of a mac. This MacBook I have has lasted over two years and is still kicking butt.

Krieves · Post by **Krieves** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 8:40 am

I know several people that have bit the bullet and switched to Macs. One compelling reason is that most all new PCs ship with Vista. I have Vista on one of my notebooks and am completely unimpressed with it. Software compatibility is still a major issue and it's a memory hog. Get at least 2gig RAM if you are going to run PS.

If had it to do over again, I'd serious look at a Mac.

deek · Post by **deek** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 8:46 am

One thing to keep in mind, if you end up going really cheap (like I did a while back, at Dell), is that most are pre-loaded with Vista. And when you are on the cheap, you skimp on RAM...and Vista needs a lot of RAM.

The laptop we received, brand new, was basically unusable, with 512MB of RAM, until I set it up with XP.

I'm also a Mac advocate, got a couple older one's myself, and I use them more often than my Windows machines at home. They are pricey, but I believe TCO is going to be lower. You're gonna keep it for longer and have less problems, IMO.

Refurb, or even looking around in the used market, may not be such a bad idea, for what you are looking at needing and your price range.

Garr · Post by **Garr** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 8:47 am

I know this is an unpopular view, but if you're looking for budget, Dell is likely the way to go for a new purchase. The Inspiron line are cheap, but functional. I've had mine for about 5 years now and not upgrading the RAM is my only complaint. I can run just about any app I need and some low power games. For a 5 year old laptop that I paid $500.00 for new, that's not too bad.

It's worth a look, anyhow.

deek · Post by **deek** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 11:19 am

Yeah, the Dell budget line is what we bought as well...and I agree with Garr, they work just fine, I'd just either get a ton of RAM or plan to downgrade to XP on your own (as Dell won't do it for you).

Ours was under $450 a year or two ago. My wife uses it all the time for blogging, picture editing, email and web browsing. Plus with the wi-fi, she can take it anywhere in our house and be connected.

While I would have liked a more expensive laptop (better specs and features), this one does a fine job for most uses...

Oliver's Army · Post by **Oliver's Army** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 11:33 am

Dell still has new laptops with XP.

I just bought one.

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/ ... WKA1&s=dhs

bwohlgemuth · Post by **bwohlgemuth** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 11:36 am

You won't have too many problems with Dell, but get rid of Vista ASAP. I honestly do not know what Microsoft was thinking in releasing that piece of crap Vista.

A decent Dell laptop will put you out $500. A Refurb Mac is around $900. The Mac will come preinstalled with iLife which includes GarageBand and iMovie.

If you are going to buy any audio/video editing programs in the future, get the Mac.

bassjones · Post by **bassjones** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 12:56 pm

I just got a macbook last night! With a copy of MS Office for Mac there's no need to ever buy a Windows machine - ever - again. You can pick up a refurb macbook or one of the older powerbooks with a G4 for within your budget. You'll be glad you did.

bwohlgemuth · Post by **bwohlgemuth** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 2:05 pm

Use Open Office instead of MS Crap. I used MS crap for a year and found Open OFfice to be vastly superior.

Also, iWork is a good investment.

WBOB · Post by **WBOB** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 4:21 pm

biggest complaint for me on a Dell laptop is the lack of the extra number keys on the right....not sure if that's
common to other mfgs.

Garr · Post by **Garr** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 5:13 pm

I haven't owned many laptops (only 3) but none of them had a 10-key pad on the side.

Many of them have a feature that allows you to use the main keyboard for 10-key use, though.

The_Dude · Post by **The_Dude** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 5:20 pm

Don't wear sweats.