pc laptop or mac?

bnev

hey,

just want some people's advice. I'm looking to get a laptop(as small and portable as possible) to use for college work. Just typing out projects and the likes. No games or anything, i have a home computer for that!! Was leaning towards a powerbook. But I'm not too sure how easy it is to change over and use them with the college PCs.

I will also be buying it in an apple store in the US too. Does anyone know if there would be to go with the warrenty in Ireland if it is bought in the US and I have a problem??

thanks
bnev

rainbow kirby

Well if you want small and portable, then a 12" iBook would be good. It only weighs 2.2kg.

sceptre

bnev wrote:

(as small and portable as possible)

How much do you have to spend?

bnev

I'm planning on spending up to 1600 max. But i dont mind paying more after for software like office and the likes!!

uncle_sam_ie

For what you want to do an iBook would be much better value. As far as I know Apple laptops and iPods are the only products that have world wide warranties. Just remember to take it out of the box before you go through customs or you'll get hit with an import duty. My brother has an ibook which he uses at Uni and has had no problems integrating. Try having a look at Openoffice( its free) instead of Microsoft office. Also, unless your being forced to by your school don't bother wasting your money on virus protection, you don't need it.

maidhc

Apples do seem really really awful value. I know they look nice and all, and OSX looks lovely, but it seems like they make up random prices for their stuff. Even if you go into an apple shop everything is off the scale - even non apple bits and pieces.

You will probably get a much nicer, more reliable laptop with a superior service to Apples for significantly less. Toshiba, Dell and IBM all make lovely ultra portable machines. And if you hate Win XP, you can always run Linux.

Make sure you get the student versions of Office if you won't have the benefit of a college site licence.

SouperComputer

linux is great, but it is nowhere near as ready for most end users as OS X, Windows 98, 2000 or XP!

@ OP: Seeing that your usage is not very resource intensive, and you seem to want to go apple, why not pick up an older machine?

I have a G4 500 Powerbook, runs tiger with no hassle. Neo Office is worth a try, it can be slow to start and randomly freeze though. Maybe try to pickup a copy of office on ebay, or your laptop for that matter.

uncle_sam_ie

maidhc wrote:

Apples do seem really really awful value. I know they look nice and all, and OSX looks lovely, but it seems like they make up random prices for their stuff. Even if you go into an apple shop everything is off the scale - even non apple bits and pieces.

You will probably get a much nicer, more reliable laptop with a superior service to Apples for significantly less. Toshiba, Dell and IBM all make lovely ultra portable machines. And if you hate Win XP, you can always run Linux.

Make sure you get the student versions of Office if you won't have the benefit of a college site licence.

Well, I don't use a Mac because it looks nice. I use it because OS X Tiger is a better operating system. I'd rather pay a little more and not have to worry about my system crashing all the time and getting infected by spyware and viruses. As far as Apples service, I haven't found it less superior.

maidhc

I agree OSX is a good operating system, but really you are paying an awful premium for it.

Dont get me wrong, I seriously considered getting a 12" Powerbook (cant stand the whiteness of the iBook!) last October, but couldnt justify it when I could buy a well configured Dell Latitude x300, or Toshiba for far less. Both PC laptops looked nicer and were smaller and lighter too.

Although I run a dual book with Fedora, XP isnt a bad OS at all. In 3 years I have never got a virus, and it doesnt crash often.

Having said all that the Powerbooks are very well finished, and look expensive in a way a Dell never will.