Advice on Laptop

4Xcut

Looking fo radvice for a friend for a laptop for college.

Basically it'll be his laptop for college and also used as the family's computer. He'll be bringing it in each day so it can't be a tank.

He'd prefere an apple but if a windows based comp is better he'll go with that.

Main uses will be projects/presentations for college. Some light office work, word processing, maybe presentations. As well as the standard email/surfing/instant mnessaging/music/etc.

Want to try and steer him away from just buying the most expensive thing he can find as it would be overkill.

Many thanks for any and all responses,
Ciarán

Tom Dunne

The Dell Inspiron 1300 is what he needs. 600 Euro for the 512Mb, Celeron model, including wireless.

Basic, but cheap.

Hugh_C

4Xcut wrote:

Looking fo radvice for a friend for a laptop for college.

Basically it'll be his laptop for college and also used as the family's computer. He'll be bringing it in each day so it can't be a tank.

He'd prefere an apple but if a windows based comp is better he'll go with that.

He should look at a MacBook on the Apple Store, for less than 1200 euro inc VAT, plus an additional student discount - not sure what price it would be in the end.

It would be simple to set up multiple accounts - one for him, one for his family - great for music via iTunes, and any word processor or spreadsheet software is free (NeoOffice, OpenOffice) - no viruses to worry about, automatically joining whatever network he needs to join and a slew of other advantages. 2.36 kg.

Tom Dunne

4Xcut wrote:

Want to try and steer him away from just buying the most expensive thing he can find as it would be overkill.

:rolleyes:

TerrorFirmer

Another vote for the 1300 here. Basic, but designed exactly for the jobs you described.

And jeez, what is it lately with people pimping expensive Macs?

Hugh_C

HavoK wrote:

And jeez, what is it lately with people pimping expensive Macs?

Simply put, they're better. Expensive? Compared to a 1300? You're not comparing like with like, sonny.

tywy

a 1300 is 3kg

Tom Dunne

hughchal wrote:

Simply put, they're better.

That's a very sweeping statement. How do you define better?

hughchal wrote:

Compared to a 1300? You're not comparing like with like, sonny.

Nobody is comparing anything. 4xcut asked for a basic machine to perform some basic tasks. He didn't ask for a pimped-up, desktop calculator that costs double what he needs to pay.

TerrorFirmer

hughchal wrote:

Simply put, they're better. Expensive? Compared to a 1300? You're not comparing like with like, sonny.

The guy asked for a basic machine, for which the 1300 is better then a Mac for the simple reason its 600 euro cheaper and in the tasks described, would perform the same. I doubt you can argue that point!

Even if he DID want a better machine then a Dell 1300, unless you plan using OSX exclusively, for the same price you'd get another machine that'd beat the Mac hands down spec wise.

Oh, and to the OP - with the 1300, its worth it to get the screen upgrade - its only a few quid extra and it takes it from 14.1 to 15.4 - it looks strange when left with the 14.1 as the laptop shell is bigger then the actual screen.

Hugh_C

tom dunne wrote:

He didn't ask for a pimped-up, desktop calculator that costs double what he needs to pay.

What gives you the right to be such a rude, arrogant eejit?

The OP asks for advice, I give it. It's up to him whether he wants to take or not, not up to you to diss someone else's preferences for a useful notebook. The OP mentions that his mate would prefer Apple, so it isn't a wholly unreasonable suggestion he look at a MacBook, which, as I stated earlier would be cheaper than the price I quoted.

In answer to your question, it's better because:

1. No spyware, malware, viruses
2. More intuitive OS

I notice you don't have much success with windows yourself:

If I can quote:

tom dunne wrote:

Ok, the usual story - laptop riddled with spyware and virus crap. Now that I have cleaned them up, Windows update refuses to work. I did see stuff in Spybot regarding Windows update, but it got rid of them (all scans are now clear).

I tried going to the Windows update site via internet explorer and it also fails. System is XP, service pack 2.

Any ideas?

'Nuff said.

Tom Dunne

hughchal wrote:

What gives you the right to be such a rude, arrogant eejit?

Well, 'sonny', if that is what you call rude an arrogant, then ROFL.

hughchal wrote:

The OP asks for advice, I give it. It's up to him whether he wants to take or not, not up to you to diss someone else's preferences for a useful notebook.

I didn't 'diss' anyone's post, I merely alluded to the fact that the OP doesn't want to go overboard paying for a laptop. As Havok correctly pointed out, a lot of people ask for a basic laptop, not costing the earth, and a lot of other people seem to think a cheap laptop is a Mac that costs over a thousand Euro.

hughchal wrote:

In answer to your question, it's better because:

1. No spyware, malware, viruses
2. More intuitive OS

I am not going to start a flame war, but if they are the only two reasons you can claim a Mac is better than a Windows machine, then again ROFL.

hughchal wrote:

I notice you don't have much success with windows yourself:

If I can quote:

'Nuff said.

So I fix other people's laptops? I really don't see the relevance to this discussion.

gutta

tom dunne wrote:

I am not going to start a flame war

looks like you already did.



Macs are for geniuses, Windows for the rest of us.

Hugh_C

HavoK wrote:

The guy asked for a basic machine, for which the 1300 is better then a Mac for the simple reason its 600 euro cheaper and in the tasks described, would perform the same. I doubt you can argue that point!

I dunno, look at the prices:

basic MacBook with edu discount: 1,051.49
Dell 1300: 659

With the Dell you need some sort of security so add a 36 month sub (best value for money on Dell site) to McAfee - OS X doesn't need protection from viruses and has a built-in firewall.

Dell total 766.81

I'm getting a difference of 285 euro, not 600, and to be honest, I'd happily pay that extra for the better hardware and the OS. And it's a half kilo lighter!

So yeah, I guess I am arguing the point!

cornbb

hughchal wrote:

I dunno, look at the prices:

basic MacBook with edu discount: 1,051.49
Dell 1300: 659

With the Dell you need some sort of security so add a 36 month sub (best value for money on Dell site) to McAfee - OS X doesn't need protection from viruses and has a built-in firewall.

Dell total 766.81

I'm getting a difference of 285 euro, not 600, and to be honest, I'd happily pay that extra for the better hardware and the OS. And it's a half kilo lighter!

So yeah, I guess I am arguing the point!

better hardware? Mac hardware is rubbish. Incredibly overpriced too. I use a G5 in college, half the keys on the keyboard don't work, the only USB port on the front of the machine doesn't work, and I've wasted 5 or 6 DVDRs as the burner never works. If you want a two button mouse (thats been stubbournly engineered to look like the typical Mac single buttoned mouse) you need to pay €69 (!!!). Not to mention the dozens of esoteric system crashes I've experienced.

On the other hand, my €800 Dell laptop has never given me a hint of trouble.

Macs are many things, reliable, they are not.

Hugh_C

cornbb wrote:

better hardware? Mac hardware is rubbish. Incredibly overpriced too. I use a G5 in college,

Could be that some of your problems in college are due to it being mistreated by multiple users, and nobody knowing how to set it up - in my experience it happens a lot. On the other hand, I'm using (on a daily basis) a 4 yr old TiBook and a 7 yr old G3 Apple laptop, both problem free. I guess it's how you look after them... all the paint has fallen off the TiBook now, I'll admit and the trackpad is a bit dodgy, but I use a mouse anyway.

Also a bunch of G4s - the only problem I've had with one of them is a fsked up drive which I repaced in about 5 minutes. No big deal to replace it.

cornbb wrote:

If you want a two button mouse (thats been stubbournly engineered to look like the typical Mac single buttoned mouse) you need to pay €69 (!!!). Not to mention the dozens of esoteric system crashes I've experienced.

Nothing stopping you using 3rd party mice - I'm using a logitech yoke I picked up for about 20 quid some years back. works a treat with the scrollwheel. No drivers needed.

As regards crashes, yeah I get them: maybe twice a year I get a kernel panic. Sometimes applications just sit down for no apparent reason. Generally due to badly written software with leaky memory.

Do you ever get BSODs on yer Dell?

On the other hand, my €800 Dell laptop has never given me a hint of trouble.

Macs are many things, reliable, they are not.

See my positive experiences with the ancient laptops above.

cornbb

Got a BSOD once, when I accidentally pulled out my pcmcia soundcard at a bad time. But viruses, spyware etc. needn't be a problem if you take reasonable precautions.

I like macs for several things, Apple's Logic software is excellent for example, and there are a lot of things about OSX that I like, although I'd argue over it being more intuitive than Windows. Thats down to what you're used to I guess. But you just don't get as much bang for your buck. The Apple marketing material is geared towards style much more than practicalities, and that disturbs me. I might buy a mac (a really good one, not a 12" macbook) if I had plenty of spare cash alright.

Edit: then again, I wouldn't go for a bottom of the line Dell either. Thats where they cut most corners. OP, apologies for helping this thread into yet another win vs mac war, if you want my 2 cents I'm recommending the Dell Inspiron 6400 for value and future proof-ness.

Or just have Free Antivirus provided by AVG....

Hugh_C

cornbb wrote:

But you just don't get as much bang for your buck. The Apple marketing material is geared towards style much more than practicalities

I don't agree. Generalised sweeping statement.

As they say in Wikipedia: citation needed

TerrorFirmer

Heh, 36 month sub to McAfee?

I'd rather the lifetime sub to AVG Anti Virus, which I use on all of my computers and laptops and have yet to experience a single problem, for 0.00c.

So yeah, 600 euro difference...:D

And actually, I'm not arguing Macs are crap. They aren't, and they have a great place within laptop users, for certain users. Somebody looking for a cheap and basic machine though, does not need a mac and will end up paying alot more then they need to. I still think they are overpriced, regardless.

Each thread in Computers and laptops = Mac Vs. PC


the fight is old....

Zapho

Deleted User wrote:

Each thread in Computers and laptops = Mac Vs. PC


the fight is old....

What about linux? Linux is da sh1t!!!

Anyway OP, it depends on what your friend can afford, and what he actually prefers. Dell are good for cheap affordable laptops that do the basics of net surfing and wordprocessing. There's one or two that are less than €500 on the site, but be warned, there's are reason they're so cheap!

If he's got a few more quid to spend then there's plenty of beefy laptops or macs out there. Have a look at adverts.ie, there's loads of people seeing good ones!

tonyboy247

Well tell your bud that in my experience you will find that the mac setup will hold its value better than most and should take this in to his mathamatical equation i.e. if he spends say 200 on his mac when hes finished his likley to get say 125 back..unlike his pc which will get him a bag of rice if he is lucky.

Hugh_C

HavoK wrote:

Heh, 36 month sub to McAfee?

I'd rather the lifetime sub to AVG Anti Virus, which I use on all of my computers and laptops and have yet to experience a single problem, for 0.00c.

So yeah, 600 euro difference...:D

Was unaware of AVG, never having had to worry about viruses:D

<SPILTTING HAIRS MODE> Do the maths again Havoc, I think you'll find it less </SPILTTING HAIRS MODE>