Any computer people here??

We have toshiba's and they have been very durable my latest one is very light, battery lasts for hours and it doesn't get hot like my previous one. I also have heard good reviews on the Asus. It seems like a new brand but actually their parts have been around for a long time in many other laptops.

 

ASUS Is it's own brand. But they make parts for all of the other manufacturers. Good moderate priced brand. Check prices and features since they seem to have a gazillion versions.

 

Toshiba here too...love it.

 

Ken, love the analogy...never thought of it before as an appliance that needs replaced.

I've always thought of computers as a necessity for survival, first for the kids as they were growing up and off to college, then/now for us. Don't know how we would survive without our devices anymore, we each have one plus the ongoing list, ipad, ipod, as of yet no iphone but thinking hard about that one. I'm an avid reader, so I love my ipad as I can get all the apps (nook, kindle, ebook, etc...)

 

Times have made these devices wonderful. My first computer was a 64k typesetter (1970 - I taught Graphic Arts). The 64k typesetter was bigger than our 550 Camp-Inn and it cost $64,000. It replaced the hot metal typesetters in the newspaper and publishing business. Now I have a laptop, ipod and iphone and soon a ipad. Love learning new technology and exploring apps is great fun and not very costly. Recently I found I could connect to my work computer via my iphone useing VNC. The image on the iphone is tiny but works. I will use VNC mobile on my soon to be ipad to connect to work (school) while camping this summer - can't wait. The days are getting longer so summer can't be too far off.

 

Buy a Mac, and I'll help you as long as I own one. Buy a PC, I'll help you one time. Intell everyone who asks me about a new computer.

Ironically, the number of calls I get is exactly the same. I'll never own a PC again, unless it's runningn Linux. I'm DONE with Mickysoft.

 

Very one sided. There are a lot more pc's than mac out there and a lot of people don't need to spend the dollars for an over priced Mac, especially since most people use them for basic programs.

You can get a pc fixed in most places and are easy to work on try that with your mac.

Dave

 

Dave

Good thing that you can get a pc worked on everywhere since they seem to breakdown and have more problems than Mac's. Simple supply and demand issue. More of anything needed the more sources to supply the need. Said with a big smile on my face

From an iPhone, iPad, Mac Book Pro, Mac Pro Tower (16tb on line) kind of almost 560 owner.

 

I guess you must of ordered your trailer with your Mac as you are getting yours ahead of mine as I order mine on my s l o w P C Dave

 

I guess my pc must of broke down in the middle of the ordering process but at least I could fix it myself try that with your mac. LOL Dave

 

Carol and I are both IBM retirees so it took me a long time to buy my first Apple product. But when I started converting all my analog videos over to dvds, I just couldn't find the right combination of software, hardware, storage and "knowledge" to get the job done. Everything in the PC world seemed to depend on something else to add on and I was never sure of the compatibility issues. But with the MAC and it's imovie program it was almost a plug and play solution. Of course once you have the first Apple it was easy to justify the macbook, iPhone and iPad. Kind of turns into an addiction. Smart marketing....
Mike

 

Mike

I switched for the same reason. Back in '82-83 I was started selling the first IBM PC and also the Apple Lisa. I got hooked on Mac's for their simplicity. Later switched to all PC's for a long time since that was the only thing that ran some retail business software that we used.

I was using a lot of Photoshop and other photo programs along with Pinnacle Studio for video.

About 5 years ago I switched to HD video for filming the my hot air balloon flights. I was using SD tape, attach a camera to the basket uprights, shoot the flight and then edit a 5 minute clip to DVD to give the the folks that took the ride with me.

When I switched to HD, even with a fully loaded video card, maxed RAM, latest vid program I was unable to scroll through the video to do the edits. Had lots of tech calls. In frustration I took the camera and a cable to an Apple store and asked if I could plug it into an iMac and see how it did with iMovie. Plugged in, transferred a 5 minute clip and even the lowly iMac on the floor had no problem with the video.

It IS more expensive than the PC world as Dave points out. But it is a tool and in my case it was the only tool that did the job at that place and time.

And for support Apple in my opinion can't be beat. They are the Camp-Inn of computer hardware. When the iPad 2 was announced I had an iPad 1 that was given to me as an award gift. I had it about 4 weeks. On a chance i went into an Apple store, asked whether I could return it thinking what a long shot. First question, did I have the box or receipt? No I live in Denver and was standing in the Bellevue, WA store. All I have is the power adapter and USB cable. She says, "Not a problem. Do you want it back on your credit card or an Apple gift card?"

The topper to that was "I see you have the iPad slip case. Would you like to return that also?" The case was already scuffed up. I asked if it was usable with the new iPad 2 and the answer was no. End of story I got a full refund on an Apple card for all of it. No hassle, nothing. Got my replacement iPad 2 about a couple of months later. Stood in line at 5:30am. Haven't stood in a line to get something since high school!

So for the same reason you see people looking at tear drops, going through the buying process, reviewing the price and then seeing the value, well, that is why I stick with Apple. Great products, great tools, great service.

 

Sweeney is so right about this. Bite the bullet, spend a bit more money and get yourself a Mac laptop or IPad, you won't regret it.

 

Heheh, I tried a MAC, iMac (just a monitor and keyboard) or whatever it was called back then for UW Video... apparently it was too intuitive as I couldn't really figure out how to work it... sold and went back to PC. Not that I'm in love them, shutter to think about the next one with Win-8 but at least I know some of it and can find the file system/folders I need..

I have a big ole Dell 17" Alien, works great, but now looking for a 13-14" and looking for the Lenovo (IBM) ones...

I use two PC for home use and too old to mess around with a new op system... so sticking with PC ... sigh for now anyways... heheh
fun..

 

I'm an Information Technology Manager and have over 25 years of computer design, build and software experience. I've worked on very many types of computers including HP, IBM, Dell, Clones and Apple.

Short answer. If you can afford it, get a Macintosh.

If you can't afford it get an ASUS. HP and Dell are good, but you would pay at or near the price of the Mac. So if you have the money for a Mac, get the real deal.

In the lower cost 'clone' Window/Linux world there is not any hardware that can match the ASUS. If you plan to get an Intel i7 system that is a 'clone', ASUS is the only hardware that can hold up to the extra heat generated by the CPU. Others will burn up or break down in an unreasonable time frame. If ASUS is still cost prohibitive at least get an ASUS based ACER.

If anyone has any questions about computer stuff I'd be glad to try to answer any questions...

 

Ah, the old Mac vs. PC debate. Having worked in the tech industry 20 years in my previous company as a technology provider for the PC OEM industry including Apple, Asus, HP, Dell, Lenovo, Samsung, Toshiba and virtually every vendor out there, I will add my own .02 cents.

Both PCs and Macs have their advantages and their flaws. Macs are no better nor worse than a PC. The hardware that Macs use is the same h/w that PCs use. The CPU, the graphics cards, the wireless chips are all the same. The only major difference is the OS. Now, with that said, Apple has done some pretty good stuff with the OS. However, the one big advantage Apple has is that they are a niche supplier running only about 10% of the PC installs. This is important to understand because it makes them significantly less of a target for malicious hackers that want to inflict harm to the widest audience possible. Therefore, they target Microsoft PCs. If Apple had such a large audience, they would be equally targeted by idiots that write virus code.

Now, in the PC space, you have a range of good designs and bad ones. The more you are willing to spend, the better the h/w you will get. I currently use the Asus UX31a and it is a great laptop but it also cost $1K. I also have an HP Pavillion laptop that I spent about $500 on...the quality of the experience is night and day.

On a side note, I also have a side business building mobile apps. To service this, we also have Macbook Pros. The Mac is a good PC but I would not say it is any better than the Asus I have. Quality of h/w, construction, s/w experience is about the same between both machines.

The advantage of the PC space is that the abundance of s/w available and the installed infrastructure is huge.

Therefore, in the end, both are good platforms but you must be willing to spend the money to get to the nicer h/w specs. Lower end PCs are exactly that, lower end PCs.

Regards,
Jay T.
JavaJack

 

Well said, Jay.