Really getting tired of replacing laptops!!!!

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
OKLAHOMAN

OKLAHOMAN

Member
Joined
May 17, 2006
Messages
10,228
Location
Costa Rica
Over the years I've bought 6 laptops and over these years each one of them had to be replaced in my opinion prematurely , usually less than 2 years. All have been Microsoft based . I'm thinking of switching to Apple and my question is will the wireless router from my PC in my office interface with a Apple laptop in my living room? Also knowing that Apples cost much more which laptop model would you Apple users recommend.
 
Last edited:
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
We've always gotten Toshiba Satellite laptops and so far they have been quite solid. The first one my wife bought is maybe ten years old and still running.
I'm pretty sure the router is not going to care what machine you are sending the data to as long as it gets the right security codes.
What's the history on those laptops?
 
I LIKE and use the Airbooks (MacBook Air). They do very nicely on everything I do, EXCEPT some CAD programs. And that COULD BE because I learned to use AutoCad on a PC and very familiar with the setup.

All if the Apple products I own have been built well and durable. AND don't get me started on the Apple advantages when it comes to virus protection! The new Airs give a legitimate 7 hour use time on the battery.

Both Apple and MS products are good, and it comes down to user preference. Microsoft JUST MADE UP MY MIND FOR ME with the release of Windows 8. SO FAR, I can't find ANYTHING that this program does particularly well.
 
Last edited:
I've gotten to buying small business systems from HP. The company I work for is a value-added reseller. I also check the remanufactured list and get some good bargains. The small business systems are more durable to meet the traveling needs of business. The one I'm using now is 3 years old and going strong.
 
I'm reading this post on a 10 year old Dell. The only problem I've had is two disabling viruses that came in with emails. :eek:
It is almost as fast as my HP desktop that is only two years old.
I guess this is one of my few lucky experiences. :confused:
 
I recently asked for help on which laptop to purchase for my wife. I got good advice on what I was considering BUT should have listened to my son about Win 8 !
It goes back this week!
Microsoft is great for fixing issues in the NEXT OS. Finally had things pretty good with Windows 7 .... Then they do THIS! Terrible!
 
As a retired computer security executive who used Windows machines for over 20 years, I enthusiastically endorse Macs. I have an original MacBook Air and a MacBook Pro (my main machine). I have not had a single security issue with either of these - or my wife's iMac - in the five years since I bought my first Mac. I do know what to look for when it comes to malware but with the controls built into the Mac OS, you have to deliberately violate common sense to get infected. Apple systems are true Plug-n-Play unlike MS which just pretends it is.
 
Yes Roy the Apple will work just fine with your router. We have been using PS since I built my first 8088 in 1986. Linda and I both have desktops that are less than a year old. Our printer is 6months olf. The printer has been one of those that will work only when it wants to. Last month we bought a MacBook Pro. The printer connected wirelessly in less than 30 seconds and has worked like a champ every since. We are now looking at getting another MacBook Pro and will phase out one if not both of the desktop PC. Very nice machine and has been worth the extra bucks. Kind of neat to be able to sync up the phone, the iPad and the MacBook. Just wish I had gone to Apple years ago.
 
You will basically only have to worry about a virus in WP and Excel files. Pretty darn rare to find an email virus that will effect your Mac, if at all.
 
OKLAHOMAN said:
My biggest problems seem to be viruses, either when surfing or emails
Click to expand...

That is because you likely run your PC under admin privilege (most home PCs are configured that way). Viruses and other malware look for this and when they get into your system, they have full privileges to do anything. With a Mac, a program or app must be granted explicit permission to run. That is why Mac OS has not seen as much malware as Windows OS. So, drive by infections from surfing and email viruses cannot infect a Mac unless specific authority is granted.
 
Last edited:
thewishman said:
How many Microsoft engineers does it take to change a light bulb?




None. They declare darkness is the new standard.
Click to expand...

Microsoft is quickly becoming to computers what Lucas Electric was to Brittish sports cars. You may recall that Lucas was referred to by British Layland as "the Prince of Darkness".....Great Automobiles.....UNLESS you needed working headlights:)
 
IPD_Mr said:
You will basically only have to worry about a virus in WP and Excel files. Pretty darn rare to find an email virus that will effect your Mac, if at all.
Click to expand...

I beg to differ.

I've been a PC person from DOS3.0 and I have used everything up to and including Windows 8. Good backup routines have saved me from the two viruses that struck my windows machines. Recently I was given a Powermac G5 and I started from scratch, wiping the disk and reloading the operating system from the original system disks and then getting all of the apple updates to bring my system up to 10.5.8 (the highest I can go on the power pc without the intel processor). Somewhere along the line it was infected with a virus called "flashback" or "flashfake" and I had to start from square one. I grant you that there are many more viruses for the PC than for the MAC but I find it very interesting that back in June of this year apple changed their website from saying "doesn't get PC viruses." to "It's built to be safe." and they changed another part of the same page from saying "Safeguard your data. By doing nothing." ( A statement that sounded ludicrous to me) to "Safety. Built right in"

http://sophosnews.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/mac-osx-before-after.jpg

There are things about Mac's that I really like, for example their GUI is really nice and since there are very few apple clones, they don't have the issues of flaky drivers and poorly designed peripherals like the PC does. However you do have to pay a premium for that luxury.

The debate will go on forever with each side claiming that theirs is the best system and I doubt we will ever get around that but there are some facts that cannot be disputed.

1) There is viruses for both the PC and the Mac.
2) As mac gains a bigger share of the market it will also become a bigger target.
3) A good backup routine is a must if you cannot afford to lose data.
4) Most viruses can be avoided with a good antivirus program and common sense.
5) A false sense of security will bite you in the butt every time.
6) Follow the Boy scout motto "Be Prepared".
7) Learn from your mistakes or you are doomed to repeat them.

Although I don't use the Mac as much as the PC I have not had another virus since I installed a good antivirus program and became more leery of what I install.


P.S. As to PC laptops, I have always had very good luck with the IBM thinkpads and Lenovo laptops. I still regularly use an older X31 laptop that I purchased in 2004, It's not the latest and greatest but it is a reliable workhorse.
 
I've been using PC's since 1978, before there was really such a thing as a PC. I was hard core and swore I would never use an Apple product as long as I lived....until I got my first Ipad 4 yrs ago, and my Iphone 2 years ago, along with my first Mac Pro Notebook....because....I was replacing those danged PC laptops every two years without fail. The average life of a MAC from all I've researched and read is that if you treat them reasonably they will last a minimum of 8 - 10 years. Besides that, I bought and installed a huge hard drive (as far as storage space, not actual size) and partitioned it so I run the MAC OS and programs on half of the hard drive and Windows 7 and it's programs separately like it's another computer from the other half of the hard drive. A PC can't do that!

Spend the cash get the Apple!

Rick (mtgrizzly52)

<img id="ums_img_tooltip" class="UMSRatingIcon">
 
A big culprit on notebooks is heat and dust. A lot of times dust gets on the heat sink in the notebook and causes weird stuff to happen. My Dell Latitude used to have to be cleaned once a year or so.

I have an older Mac Pro that I like a lot. Presently running a Dell XPS 720 with dual boot Windows 7 and Ubuntu.

Joe
 
Just bought a brand new HP Laptop with all the bells and whistles. Got it hooked up and started trying to use it and discovered that the new windows 8 is not windows at all. It should have been called tiles 1.0. It is not made for non touchscreen computers, and is about as clumsy as dos used to be. It leaves in the mail in the morning as a returned item. It reminds me of the whole Vista fiasco. I reccomend that you avoid windows 8 unless you either really like tinkering, or are into frustation and stress.
 
I don't want to wade into any Mac/PC arguments. I'm a mac guy but I support Windows computers for a living. They both can work well -- but right now, with a mac, you'll have less work to do to make that happen.

Also, Apple makes a great laptop. Buy the cheapest one they sell and you'll have a nice machine that will last years. I have three mac laptops here, one over 6 years old, and they all work fine.

Also, Windows 8 is horrible. If you want a PC laptop, if you hurry, you might still find one with Windows 7.
 
I am told by geeks that the biggest reason my PCs and laptops fail so often is because of the elec. power surges in my area of VA. We seem to have a disproportionate amount of construction going on all the time and power is often cut off during these projects. I believe a Uninterrupted Power Supply would help ease the problem so I have been reading up on those items and will soon fork out the $$$ to install on in my office.
 
I have a MacBook Pro 17" laptop, a Toshiba Satellite laptop, two 24" iMacs, a 20" iMac, and two custom built Windows PCs. My main computer I use is a Windows PC because I have too much software that only runs on Windows. I have almost no problems with viruses on my Windows machines because I'm smart about what I open and where I visit. I like to have the rest of the family use the Mac's because after reformatting my son's PC 3 times I switched him to an iMac and haven't had a problem since. After 3 years (he's now 13) he now knows more about the Mac than I do. He hates having to boot into Windows and says Windows sucks...lol. When he has a Windows only program he will use VmWare. He helps me sequence the christmas lights and he discovered the playback timing wasn't right unless he rebooted the machine into Windows. With Mac's you can now use BootCamp to dual boot into the MacOS or Windows. My biggest complaint was I always felt like I was stuck with the hardware inside the Mac and had to buy a whole new one to upgrade. Thats why there ended up being several in the house.

I love the MacBook Pro laptop but mainly because I love how it's built. The housing is machined from a solid aluminum block and the keys feel like soft gel keys. I love typing on it. I almost exclusively boot into Windows 7 on the Macbook Pro. Most of my astronomy control software only runs in Windows.

The main reason Macs will never overtake Windows PCs? Because most people that come to me for advise on buying a computer start out with a statement like "Hey I want a computer that is super fast, has awesome video, and comes with a nice monitor, but I don't want to spend much for it." I just say..."You're talking to the wrong guy...my PC was $2400 with another $1000 for the monitor and my laptop costs $3800." The other reason Macs won't take over is because of video games. Most video game companies don't produce versions that run on a Mac and there is no Mac than can outperform the video I have running in my dual video card water cooled PC. But if you just need to surf the net and do email....Macs are great.
 
Last edited:
My kid made it through middle and high school on a "bottom of the line" macbook, complete with all of the abuse a teenager throws at a laptop... got him a new one for college and have not had any problems that the "genius bar" couldn't solve quickly AND FREE. I have a Lenovo laptop and am happy with it, but would recommend the Macs to anyone.
 
One thing I'll add is the only reason I have a 20" iMac is because I got tired of fixing my inlaws computer so one day after telling them it time to abandon their windows 95 computer they said they couldn't afford a new one. So I went out the next day and bought them the 20" iMac. I bring it over and they've already gone out a bought a PC. I was like...but you told me you couldn't afford one? So I said well keep the iMac anyways and try it out. They ended up boxing it up and giving it back saying they couldn't figure it out. So a Mac is probably better for a young one to start out with. Someone older that is used to Windows can easily get frustrated trying to figure out a Mac. Or maybe it's just my inlaws...lol.
 
The best anti-virus program I have found is ESET. 4 computers, 5 years, no problems. A computer guru friend of mine recommended it.
 
Hmmmm! Pause for thought as I'm not a spring chicken:frown:, and not computer literate.
Gilrock said:
One thing I'll add is the only reason I have a 20" iMac is because I got tired of fixing my inlaws computer so one day after telling them it time to abandon their windows 95 computer they said they couldn't afford a new one. So I went out the next day and bought them the 20" iMac. I bring it over and they've already gone out a bought a PC. I was like...but you told me you couldn't afford one? So I said well keep the iMac anyways and try it out. They ended up boxing it up and giving it back saying they couldn't figure it out. So a Mac is probably better for a young one to start out with. Someone older that is used to Windows can easily get frustrated trying to figure out a Mac. Or maybe it's just my inlaws...lol.
Click to expand...
 
I work as an IT tech and have to be fluent in both. My personal machine is a 13" Macbook pro, why did I go with this? Well other then the fact that I like the way that the operating system and that the machine will last me 2-3 years, I can run Windows, Mac and Linux all on the same machine with built in software. I can hook up and do work on any network or software that I need to with one machine.

No bias, different machines and different OS's have different jobs.
 
Lenny said:
I recently asked for help on which laptop to purchase for my wife. I got good advice on what I was considering BUT should have listened to my son about Win 8 !
It goes back this week!
Microsoft is great for fixing issues in the NEXT OS. Finally had things pretty good with Windows 7 .... Then they do THIS! Terrible!
Click to expand...

I got a new PC for my son for Christmas and opted to get one that still had Windows 7 as the OS. Not only so we'll all be familiar with the OS, but also got a great deal on it due to discounted pricing because they're clearing them off the shelves.
 
I'm in IT as well, and only have Windows or Android based devices, my laptop is from 2005, I only upgraded memory to be able to run Window 7, and still works pretty good, I don;t go with the trend of new machine every two years, if you use it for your business productivity, office, internet and photo processing, you don't need a top notch machine every 2 years, now if you are a hardcore gamer I can justify your comment, because games is the only thing that evolves every year, but this is just my personal opinion
 
I have had the same experience with Windows based PC's. My two sons have Macbook Pros without a problem. No slowdown, no viruses. They are solid machines, though pricey. Apple support blows away any we've had on other machines as well. We bought them for them refurbished from the Apple website, which saved a few dollars.
 
Alex, its not that I'm upgrading every two years it's that it seems every two years or less something starts failing, take it to be repaired and after $150 more spent on it they never seem to work as good and always have small glitches. We have become a spoiled society and want things to run smoothly. Also I've had a virus or Trojan attack just by visiting a well know site. I went to visit Rod Stewart's (the singer)site and was directed to another site that looked Russian, went to leave it it within 2-3 seconds but my laptop locked up and now has a virus/Trojan. These are the things that frustrate me.
 
looks like the problem is how you use the computer not the computer. You are running it as an administrator not as a user with limited access so web sites can down load stuff with out asking. Not a good Idea as you found out.

Also every three years or so the good folks at Apple will make your computer obsolete so you will have to buy a new one to get any of their HOT new OSes to run on it.

You can burn through 4 $350.00 notebooks for the price of one Apple, but maybe you got enough money.
 
PenMan1 said:
Microsoft is quickly becoming to computers what Lucas Electric was to Brittish sports cars. You may recall that Lucas was referred to by British Layland as "the Prince of Darkness".....Great Automobiles.....UNLESS you needed working headlights:)
Click to expand...

A friend of mine is a British car nut - spotted a tshirt at one of his shows, the front said "Lucas Refrigerators", the back said "The reason the British drink their beer warm." :cool:
 
OK, what your saying is that I'm using my computers as admin and not as user, am i correct? If so what is the difference, and how do I change it. I'm using them as I buy them and as I have stated a few posts up I'm not the most computer literate person. Second if running as user will that limit usability?
 
Roy, Apples are great products. With a graphic design background, I couldnt type a MS word document to save my life, but I could do it in InDesign:rolleyes: I have been through three Mac laptops in 9-10 years. One was my fault as I dropped the charger and it hit and shattered the screen. 800-1000 $ to replace, so needless to say it is almost cheaper to just buy a new one! For your business, I use, and would recomend a macbook pro. It will handle all of your needs and some! I avoid apple care bcz when you need it it will have just expired :frown: Apple refurbs are a great cost saving route or even third parties like gainsaver.com, not affiliated, just a happy customer. Switched my father over from pc to mac that way, and he is super happy, still learning there is no right click, but happy none the less. Anyhow Great products, little to no maintenance, and you can always update them just like your iPhone, iPad, etc...Currently running mountain lion os 10.8.1 on a macbook pro, couldnt be happier!
 
Laptops are really not made to last no matter what brand you purchase. Laptops biggest nemesis is heat.. If you're at a desk the majority of the time with get a fan deck for laptop to sit on. You could also get some compressed air and blow case out every three months. Far as Mac Vs Pc the only thing your really paying extra for is brand name and a different OS. Hardware is basically the same. The 'macs' don't get virus is a myth as well.
 
Last edited:
Well I'm convinced that an Apple is in order and was looking at refurbed at gainsaver and found this:
http://www.gainsaver.com/Catalog/List.aspx?&MfrCode=Apple
the first on the page;
Macbook 13.3" 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Unibody. - Apple Computer MC516LL/A

My question is do I need to up date the OS to Mountain Lion/windows7, hard drive to at least 100GB, and memory to at least 2GB and the optical drive .
after these updates $747.00 shipped, is this a good price and machine?
 
Last edited:
Remember that PC manufacturers have consumer and business lines. The business line costs more but is much more robust and built to a higher standard. Get a $300 laptop and that is what it will be.

For Windows 8...get this piece of software and kiss Metro goodbye for the most part...
Start8 for Windows® 8 - Bringing back the Windows Start menu all for $4.99

In all my years supporting PC's, the number one way for a virus to get on a persons computer is......PEBKAC errors
 
Last edited:
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
One reason I see Apple soon replacing MS is simply because of the connectivity. All of the Apple products "talk" to each other. Your iPhone, iPad, iPod and your Apple all link up and make your life LESS difficult. Imagine a room full or people sharing the same information from one Apple source, THEN automatically updating everybody's calendars seamlessly. This is NOT "somewhere down the road", this was last week!

MS machines don't all seem to like each other, and MAY NOT even work together.......depending on which VERSION of Win8 you may be using.

In today's busy work environment where everybody multitasks, having to "deal" with uncooperative technology is simply NOT an option. I'm already seeing giant company's Sales Groups where EVERYONE ON THE TEAM CARRIES a company owned iPad because everyone can share the same information, in the same format from anywhere in the universe.

I've ALWAYS BEEN a PC guy, but MS has fallen seriously behind in the Techno curve. Doesn't mean PC & MS are not good products, just seriously behind.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom