Originally Posted by sew12

If he decides on a PC I definitely wouldn't recommend a Dell.

I like my Toshiba a lot and you can get some great deals on them with huge hard drives and 4 GB of RAM for under $700.

Don't you have to send your Toshiba to a Toshiba dealer in order to get it fixed?

Any tips on one that would fit my needs?

Social Science and Humanities student

LCD screen
No Web Cam
SPSS (Statistics Software)
Microsoft Office 2007 (Office Ultimate)
Games: Civilization 4, Sim Societies, Chess, Hearts, InkBall, Minesweeper
Adobe
Utorrent
MSN
Some room for pictures and music, but not too much (500 of each max)

I like how Macs have multiple screens; it helps to keep you focused.

Originally Posted by Goce

Any tips on one that would fit my needs?

Social Science and Humanities student

LCD screen
No Web Cam
SPSS (Statistics Software)
Microsoft Office 2007 (Office Ultimate)
Games: Civilization 4, Sim Societies, Chess, Hearts, InkBall, Minesweeper
Adobe
Utorrent
MSN
Some room for pictures and music, but not too much (500 of each max)

I like how Macs have multiple screens; it helps to keep you focused.

If you want something simple that can handle that, I'd recommend buying an Acer.

Originally Posted by Goce

Any tips on one that would fit my needs?

Social Science and Humanities student

LCD screen
No Web Cam
SPSS (Statistics Software)
Microsoft Office 2007 (Office Ultimate)
Games: Civilization 4, Sim Societies, Chess, Hearts, InkBall, Minesweeper
Adobe
Utorrent
MSN
Some room for pictures and music, but not too much (500 of each max)

I like how Macs have multiple screens; it helps to keep you focused.

[offtopic]Did you know there is an add-on for firefox where it directly torrents in the browser?[/offtopic]

You'll have a lot more music once you start university XD. You can always get an external or replace your existing internal.

I opted for a non-gloss screen. No glare, no reflection, no fingerprints.

does toshiba provide a good backup? i have heard tht it doesn't!!

Originally Posted by jhan523

[offtopic]Did you know there is an add-on for firefox where it directly torrents in the browser?[/offtopic]

You'll have a lot more music once you start university XD. You can always get an external or replace your existing internal.

I opted for a non-gloss screen. No glare, no reflection, no fingerprints.

I never knew that about Firefox, but I really like Chrome so I will stick with that most likely.

As for the music, I don't know man, I am very picky about that. I dislike a lot of the popular stuff that gets played. Dance mixes are always fun though.

I am incredibly simple when it comes to computers. I hate how my HP has all this stuff on it that I will never use, like movie maker, web cam, Rhapsody, Internet Radio, CD Burner, etc. Is it possible to get the multiple screen feature on windows based laptops?

Originally Posted by Goce

I never knew that about Firefox, but I really like Chrome so I will stick with that most likely.

As for the music, I don't know man, I am very picky about that. I dislike a lot of the popular stuff that gets played. Dance mixes are always fun though.

I'm going to jump onto the Chrome Bandwagon once they finish up with extensions. Still waiting *sigh*.

Firefox 4 life!

I use Opera.

FF gets moody with me sometimes.

i think safari is the fastest among all...

i think safari's the fastest among all...

Originally Posted by goelk

i think safari's the fastest among all...

Yeah, people have done tests and safari is slightly faster. But honestly they are all like milliseconds apart, you don't even feel the difference.

Originally Posted by jhan523

[offtopic]Did you know there is an add-on for firefox where it directly torrents in the browser?[/offtopic]

Really? Whats the name of the app? That sounds great!


On topic, it really depends on how soon you plan on upgrading. If you think you'll be upgrading within the next 2-3 years, I would go with a PC. You tend to get the same specs for cheaper (and I'm assuming a lesser longevity). Macs tend to last longer, so it could be worth the investment if this is more of a long term purchase for you. Although, its really more of a variability thing with a PC. Some brands are cheaper, some are more durable.

Also keep in mind that many places are offering a free upgrade to Windows 7 upon its release if you buy a PC with Vista now. It has a pretty bad reputation, but I have personally not had a problem with about a year of use. A lot of the bugs have been fixed.

Macs also generally look nicer. On the other hand, I find their OS incredibly counter intuitive. (Possibly because I mainly have experience with Windows).

And while security through obscurity has served Macs well so far, the more people who use it, the greater risk of a good virus being created. They also had the worst showing at Pwn2Own, for two years running.

Windows also has some very shady practices. It installs things without permission (although this has only happened once where it installed a Firefox add on). If you're on the ball you'll notice stuff like that right away, but the process to get rid of it was (possibly intentionally) tricky. And some brands of PC's come with unneeded software that can bloat your machine. It isn't much, and its not hard to get rid of, but it can be a concern if you get a Dell or Acer.

And though it probably isn't relevant, if you want to use Google Chrome, it isn't available for Macs yet.

All that said, I am a Windows user. The Pros are much greater than the cons for me.

Originally Posted by A.Marlowe

Really? Whats the name of the app? That sounds great!


On topic, it really depends on how soon you plan on upgrading. If you think you'll be upgrading within the next 2-3 years, I would go with a PC. You tend to get the same specs for cheaper (and I'm assuming a lesser longevity). Macs tend to last longer, so it could be worth the investment if this is more of a long term purchase for you. Although, its really more of a variability thing with a PC. Some brands are cheaper, some are more durable.

Also keep in mind that many places are offering a free upgrade to Windows 7 upon its release if you buy a PC with Vista now. It has a pretty bad reputation, but I have personally not had a problem with about a year of use. A lot of the bugs have been fixed.

Macs also generally look nicer. On the other hand, I find their OS incredibly counter intuitive. (Possibly because I mainly have experience with Windows).

And while security through obscurity has served Macs well so far, the more people who use it, the greater risk of a good virus being created. They also had the worst showing at Pwn2Own, for two years running.

Windows also has some very shady practices. It installs things without permission (although this has only happened once where it installed a Firefox add on). If you're on the ball you'll notice stuff like that right away, but the process to get rid of it was (possibly intentionally) tricky. And some brands of PC's come with unneeded software that can bloat your machine. It isn't much, and its not hard to get rid of, but it can be a concern if you get a Dell or Acer.

And though it probably isn't relevant, if you want to use Google Chrome, it isn't available for Macs yet.

All that said, I am a Windows user. The Pros are much greater than the cons for me.

FireTorrent: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/10931

Originally Posted by jhan523

[offtopic]Did you know there is an add-on for firefox where it directly torrents in the browser?[/offtopic]

Opera had this way before firefox made an extension for it.
This thread is going towards browsers. Firefox is the best, just for the extensions alone. FF3.5 and Minefield are fast too.
Safari/Chrome are quick and the Webkit engine is efficient and follows standards well, but no extensions.
Opera has extensions, but not as many as Firefox.
IE8 is okay... don't know how good the extensions are. I don't use it.

Back to laptops.
Macs come with OS X installed. OS X is a decent operating system, it gets less viruses than Windows, but it is not compatible with everything. e.g. if you wanted to run another program, you'd have to either run a windows virtual machine, or dualboot. This is kinda tedious if you just have one app you want to run.
If you just installed Windows you can run every app there is (except mac ones, but there are windows equivalents usually).

Macs look nice. If you want to be trendy, buy one. Hot girls buy macs (from what I've seen in class).

Macs are overpriced. case and point, macbook air. Netbooks are 1/10 of the cost (exaggerating the price difference a bit) and have better specs (just shape and design are different).
The same goes to the other macbooks. Compare them to comparable laptops and the macbook would cost more.

What laptop you get depends on what you're going to use it for.
if gaming, get a high-end laptop ($1500-$2000) which would act as a desktop replacement. But you're gonna get owned with the battery life.

Most everything else, you can get away with a medium-range laptop ($700-$1500).

If you just need it for internet and MS Office, then low-end would be fine too ($500-$700). netbooks ($200-$500, I think) might be good too, not sure about how they well handle office programs though.

Laptops should last you as long as possible (until it breaks from wear and tear). 3-10 years is a fine range. but it really depends on your preference.

Do not get Alienware or anything that costs over $2000. Unless you have the money.