The inspiron is a pile of crap.

It will spend more time back and forth between yuou and Dell than on your desk.

 

My devotion to Mac stems from positive experiences with their products and customer service. I could call you an amazon ***** because of all the stuff you order from there, but why make negative associations just because of someone's preferred brand and referral based on positive experiences?

Apple is known for reliability, and in college instructors don't really care if you lost your 20 page research paper because your computer crashed, it's not there and you get an F.

 

I have a Stinkpad Lenovo (corporate issued) and it is mediocre at best. There are only a few things I like about it. The screen is brighter than my MacBook and it has an extra cluster of buttons (home, delete, which make excel easier... other than that, I don't like the laptop.

The mousepad and keyboard are pretty crappy, performance is average (honestly I can't give a fair comparison because I have to run a bunch of corporate programs that bog it down) and battery life is not consistent (one day it can last half the day and others only a few hours). Not to mention it looks like it got beat with an ugly stick

I would only recommend a Thinkpad Lenovo for the Excel/Outlook/Powerpoint warrior.

 

I think you missed the smiley face there

 

Besides, I've had worse luck with Mac than I have with Windows. So, it's a personal thing.

It's just Macfanics are always so anti everything else... Well, I'm not going to hold back on my hate for Apple. :-)

 

Reliability:

If you take care of it, it will last. Just cause something is of some brand doesn't automatically mean it's crap. Most of the time the issue is software related and usually due to misuse by the user (ie viruses, malware) and not even the OS or programs used.

 

If it weren't so much work just to prevent Windows XP from getting raped, I'd love Windows. However, this issue is mostly solved through the infrastructure of Windows Vista, which was a resource hog. However, Windows 7 combined XP's efficiency and Vista's bling bling, my next laptop's going to be a Windows machine. I'm still a Mac dude at home though.

 

Go here http://forum.notebookreview.com/forumdisplay.php?f=16 and make a post. Or you can just browse the ones already posted which is a better idea. Find someone who posted similar specs as you and you'll find a list of laptops.

 

Well my computer at home is a Sony Vaio and I haven't had any major problems with it. I am not a computer expert.

To make this clear. I am not a Mac or Windows fanboy in any sense. I just want a quality computer that won't fail me after a year. On my MR2 forum, someone said if I buy a $700 laptop now and another one for $700 in 2 years, I will be more worth it than buying a Mac now for $1400ish.

I really am torn on this issue, because there are some great deals out there for PC, but most laptops are built really cheaply, which pisses me off. I want something sturdy.

I relate it to my hatred for SRT-4's. Yeah it may be quick off the line, but who cares when it's a POS and the rear windows don't even roll down.

 

Ok, before you go buy one, go to a bunch or retailers, an apple store and test them out, open all the programs (pretty much use it like you would at home). You will be able to find the one you like.

 

toshiba
mac
dell

my favs in order. i am posting this on an 7 year old dell. my year old toshiba has been awesome. but it is shiny. i covered mine with stickers.

mac is a great option. dual boot OS is cool. as an IT guy, beaing able to go back and forth is key if you, say, need a command line all of a sudden.

but for what you are using it for, i still lean PC. win7 is a great OS and wis only going to get better.

and for what you need, a 700 laptop with a 2-3 year replacement-no-matter-what warranty is the way to go. i can spill coffee all over my toshiba, or drop it off the deck, and then walk into best buy and get a new one. it streams video, tv, music, etc. and its a year and a half old. and i'd defntly try to go intel on the cpu.

good luck, and as someone else said, go try them all. best buy has them all.

josh

 

I have both a PC (Dell) and a macbook. My first PC I had for 6 yrs and just got rid of about 2 wks ago because it wasn't capable of running AutoCAD. The macbook I've had for 4 years.
I feel that both are good computers. The only issues I've had with the PC were because there was too much pr0n on it. Just be careful not to download stupid stuff because the PC is a little more succeptable than the macbook (in my personal experience).

 

too much pr0n on YOUR PC?



So hawt

 

I was 18, I needed to see what the big deal with "One Night in Paris" was. After hours of downloading videos called that (but containing something totally diff), I discovered that it was all hype. And that I needed to reformat my hard drive.

 

lol... worst celeb sex tape evar...