New Computer Question!

[Ari]

Hey guys.  I'm in the market for a new computer, preferably a laptop, to replace my slow dying desktop which I've had for quite a while.  A lot of people have told me that Apple Macs are better than Windows based systems, but I'm still a little reluctant to change because I am used to Windows and a little worried that I would have a problem transferring old files over that I would still like to work on.  For a Windows based system, I have been told that HP is probably the best with Dell second.  What do you guys think?  Any info would be appreciated.  Thanks.

[EagleEye]

The new macs are simply pc's that are running a different operating system.  You can install the mac operating system on a pc now, but you will have no help if something goes wrong.  You can install windows on a mac now too, and you will have help.

If you feel you need the help, and want both operating systems or the Mac Operating System, then a Mac is the way to go.  Just my opinion.   I personally feel I don't need help, I understand computers, and I don't see a use for the Mac operating system at this point.

[MARINO]

I have an HP comp it's great and was about $1100 with all the trimings at BestBuy!

[Ehud]

Mac is overpriced garbage.  You should buy a Mac if you want to seem fashionable, or you think it's worth it to pay double the price for a machine that does the same thing as a PC.  There's no need to switch to a Mac OS if you've been using WIndows and might have compatibility issues with a Mac, there's simply nothing that a Mac can do that a PC can't that would justify that sort of a switch.  Why buy a Mac if you're just going to run Windows?  I see people with Macs in law school who run Windows, what's the point?  Macs are much more expensive than PCs and they do the same thing.  Of course if you like spending more for something that does the same thing because you like to seem like you're fashionable or "different than everyone else" by all means get a Mac. 

I just bought an Asus laptop and it's got a lot of bang for its buck. 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220167

I looked around a lot before I got my laptop and I would advise you to stay away from Dell's, most of them are pieces of junk.  HPs are supposed to be very good that's what I would have gotten if I didn't get my ASUS. 

Here's basically what my ASUS has:

15.4 widescreen bright display
AMD 64 bit 1.8X2 GB processor
2 GB of DDR2 ram
GeFOrce 7600 256 MB video card
160 GB SATA HD
Bluetooth, webcam
awesome build display, really rigid keyboard
DVI and S video out

I got it for 1030, the link I gave you is basically the same thing but with a 17 inch widescreen display for around 1100 bucks

Personally for me the 17 inch is too big and I think the 15.4 widescreen is perfect

[Ehud]

Of course if you want to save a lot of money, you can get a top of the line desktop PC for much less.

[Lubab]

But it seems to me that PCs are good for about 6 months and then they get slow and everything needs to be reinstalled or get a new one.

Macs I understand last a heck of a lot longer and don't crash as much if at all.

I'm thinking of making the switch.

[jdl4ever]

I'm using a 8 year old pentium II 366 mhz laptop with 256 megs of ram right now that I built myself.  It still works very well.  Runs almost as fast as my brand new computer.  The trick is you got to never use internet explorer (use firefox only as the default browser since IE is a magnet for spyware and viruses) or install any unnecessary programs or get any spyware.  Then the computer will run brand new.  Also I stick with windows 98se on the laptop since XP crashed too much.   My new computer with XP has too much spyware and viruses on it from internet explorer that it runs sooo slow and crashes all the time.  I got to spend a whole day removing all the stuff but so far I don't have the time to waste with it.  I hate Microsoft's programs but I need them to navigate as I only ever used windows.  I really hate windows XP by the way and love windows 98se since in my experience it is much more stable and runs faster since it doesn't use as many resources. 

[Ehud]

But it seems to me that PCs are good for about 6 months and then they get slow and everything needs to be reinstalled or get a new one.

Macs I understand last a heck of a lot longer and don't crash as much if at all.

I'm thinking of making the switch.

This is a common misconception.  There is no such thing as a computer "lasting longer"  COmputers aren't like piece of salmon that get old and rots.  The reason that people's computer seem to get older is because they don't maintain them properly.  It's true that Macs don't get viruses as much but if you use an anti-virus program on your PC it shouldn't be a problem.  You should also be familiar with maintaining a PC, searching for adware, cleaning out the needless crap from your PC and defragmenting your hard drive.  By the way those are all problems that happen with Macs too.  I'm using my PC that I made myself 5 years ago and it's still as fast as the day I bought it.  There is no such thing as computer parts "wearing down" and slowing down performance.  That's just one of the big myths about computers that isn't so.  If it were so, it would happen with Macs as well, by the way.

I use Windows Vista daily and my laptop hasn't crashed once.

[jdl4ever]

Yeah, once you get the spyware and adware it's almost impossible to get it out.  I still haven't got all of it out of my computer.  That's why my 366 mhz laptop is more reliable than my Pentium 4 PC.

[ItalianZionist]

Hey guys.  I'm in the market for a new computer, preferably a laptop, to replace my slow dying desktop which I've had for quite a while.  A lot of people have told me that Apple Macs are better than Windows based systems, but I'm still a little reluctant to change because I am used to Windows and a little worried that I would have a problem transferring old files over that I would still like to work on.  For a Windows based system, I have been told that HP is probably the best with Dell second.  What do you guys think?  Any info would be appreciated.  Thanks.

I bought an epensive HP with all the trimmings and I had to send it back no less than 3 times. And as for award winning service....They had some guy in India who could barely speak English tell me to open up all kinds of hardware inside the machine for hours. I had to threaten him before he would take the computer back to HP for service, even though the computer was 2 weeks old.

GET A TOSHIBA LATOP!!!
I have one. My brother has one for 7 years without one problem. The only thing is that if you go wireless, the wireless antenna built into my laptop is a little slower than one that you can go out and buy and install. Maybe it's just mine.

DON't Buy Sony , whatever you do......ONe probelem after the next.

[Mishmaat]

Hey guys.  I'm in the market for a new computer, preferably a laptop, to replace my slow dying desktop which I've had for quite a while.  A lot of people have told me that Apple Macs are better than Windows based systems, but I'm still a little reluctant to change because I am used to Windows and a little worried that I would have a problem transferring old files over that I would still like to work on.  For a Windows based system, I have been told that HP is probably the best with Dell second.  What do you guys think?  Any info would be appreciated.  Thanks.

I bought an epensive HP with all the trimmings and I had to send it back no less than 3 times. And as for award winning service....They had some guy in India who could barely speak English tell me to open up all kinds of hardware inside the machine for hours. I had to threaten him before he would take the computer back to HP for service, even though the computer was 2 weeks old.

GET A TOSHIBA LATOP!!!
I have one. My brother has one for 7 years without one problem. The only thing is that if you go wireless, the wireless antenna built into my laptop is a little slower than one that you can go out and buy and install. Maybe it's just mine.

DON't Buy Sony , whatever you do......ONe probelem after the next.

I'm typing from a Toshiba Satellite laptop.

[mord]

wow you can post from anywhere

[JewishTeddyBear]

wow, we can ask computer questions here?  how convenient for computer semi-illiterates like me. 

until recently, i was able to play musical cd's on my PC computer.  then i let somebody use my computer to do some job hunting, and when he left, i noticed that i could no longer play cd's on my computer.

i am sure it is easy to restore this capability onto my computer, but i just do not know how to do that.  if anybody does know, please let me know, either on this forum, or in a private message. 

[Lisa]

Now that we're on the subject of computers, I have a question.  I have a Sony Vaio laptop and use Windows XP.  Recently, the computer has been slowing down in a big way when I go to shut it down.  I checked in the help files and it said to reset you PC to a previous date.  But how do I know which date in the past to reset it to?  And is there any other way to get the laptop to shut down quicker short of manually turning off the machine?

And Ari, when you get a Mac, you need to take into account software compatibility issues.  Most software that comes out now is usually made to work with Windows.  Then the Mac version will come out later.  When I used to work with a Mac, I remembered having trouble downloading files.  But that's just me.

[New Yorker]

Depends on your budget, under $1000 I recommend the Asus laptops, it's a solid performer and you get a lot of bang for the buck. I have one, got it here http://www.newegg.com

Over $1000, can't go wrong with a Dell laptop, very nice features and good customer service if you have problems. http://www.dell.com

[Ehud]

wow, we can ask computer questions here?  how convenient for computer semi-illiterates like me. 

until recently, i was able to play musical cd's on my PC computer.  then i let somebody use my computer to do some job hunting, and when he left, i noticed that i could no longer play cd's on my computer.

i am sure it is easy to restore this capability onto my computer, but i just do not know how to do that.  if anybody does know, please let me know, either on this forum, or in a private message. 

You mean you had the ability to put a CD in your CD-rom drive and play it directly from the CD?  If you're not able to do this, he could have changed the settings on the inside of your computer, although this doesn't seem likely.  If you feel like you want to open up your computer and take a look, your CD-rom drive should have a small cable (it will be the smallest one) going straight to your motherboard, or sound card if you have one.  If that's not connected then I would try to reconnect that.  You would have to look at the manual for your Mboard or sound card to see where to connect it, but it should be easy to spot where you have to connect it into the CD-Rom drive.  If it's connected and it's still not working, it's either a hardware issue meaning that your CD-rom drive broke and isn't able to output sound anymore, or it's a software issue.  Go through and see if he installed any software that could conflict with your previous settings.  Uninstall them if you find anything.  Also, open up the sound settings start--->control panel---> sound and audio devices and mess with the settings there. 

You don't necessarily need to have your CD-rom drive connected that way to play a CD though.  Try downloading winamp and playing a CD that way if nothing else works.  Hope this helps

[Ehud]

Depends on your budget, under $1000 I recommend the Asus laptops, it's a solid performer and you get a lot of bang for the buck. I have one, got it here http://www.newegg.com

Over $1000, can't go wrong with a Dell laptop, very nice features and good customer service if you have problems. http://www.dell.com

You got an Asus too?  I got the F3 with the GeForce 7600.  It was much cheaper than all similarly configured laptops, those Asuses are really good deals.  I'm extremely happy with mine. 

[jdl4ever]

Yacov, what we're saying is that the reason why your computer won't run fast with a pentium 4 is due to all the clutter you have in your hard drive.  If you were to have just a pentium III computer with windows XP, erase the entire hard rive and reinstall the operating system it will run just as fast as a $7,000 computer.  Trust me, I've built and sold used laptops on ebay for a short time.  I've even gotten pentium II laptops to run decently fast on windows XP.

[Daniel]

I have a Dell Insiron laptop and I'm very satisfied with it. The customer service is very good (if you don't mind being helped out by Indians )

Apple is really a superior computer compared to the PC. It's just that Bill Gates was wise enough to allow other companies to clone his system. That's why Bill Gates and Microsoft ended up making a fortune and Steve Jobs and Apple became less purchased and used. The problem I've experienced when I used an Apple is that most software is only compatible with PC and it was very difficult with Mac. I guess if it's now possible to install a PC system onto a Mac, perhaps the software would be compatible now. I'm not sure.

The ironic thing is that Windows is really just an imitation of the Macintosh desktop. So installing Windows on a Macintosh is like installing an artificial version of its own desktop onto itself

[jdl4ever]

If you copy all the important stuff to CD, erase the entire hard drive and reinstall the entire operating system and then copy your documents back it will run brand new. 

[New Yorker]

Depends on your budget, under $1000 I recommend the Asus laptops, it's a solid performer and you get a lot of bang for the buck. I have one, got it here http://www.newegg.com

Over $1000, can't go wrong with a Dell laptop, very nice features and good customer service if you have problems. http://www.dell.com

You got an Asus too?  I got the F3 with the GeForce 7600.  It was much cheaper than all similarly configured laptops, those Asuses are really good deals.  I'm extremely happy with mine. 

Yeah, I like my Asus very much, the F3? You got the high end model, nice! Yeah I spent $800 on it and it's great, 64 bit, 100gb HD. And, if it ever gets destroyed by accident or whatever, I didn't spend so much on it that I'll be crying over the wreck. I have a friend that spent over $2500 on a laptop, and he treats it like a priceless brittle ceramic archeological artifact, I don't with mine, I whip it out on the plane to watch a movie, Starbucks, what have you. 

[New Yorker]

Now remember, when you're shopping, see if you can us them down on the price! 

[Ehud]

If you copy all the important stuff to CD, erase the entire hard drive and reinstall the entire operating system and then copy your documents back it will run brand new. 

I was at my cousin's house and her computer was so fast and I thought it was new but her husband said it was only a Pentium 3.

If you have the money, buying new RAM is the cheapest and easiest way to noticeably speed up your computer.  Ram is very inexpensive now, you could do an upgrade for 30 bucks.  If you only have 128-256 MB of ram installed, that's probably slowing down your computer considerably. 

[Ari]

Thanks for the help.