[MustangLouver]

Well, my laptop battery will not hold a charge, and today the computer itself cashed. I reinstalled windows, lost all my recent music, managed to save my pictures from christmas, and all my music is backed up to my external HD except the past few weeks I have put probably 100 new songs on and didn't have them backed up, no big deal. Now that I've installed a fresh OS I had to manually download the drivers for my wireless card and webcam. I have been looking for a new laptop for the past few months, as I need a laptop little better suited for the engineering program at school. The program we use is ProEngineer, which is like Photoshop CS5 on steroids and requires more memory and processor than an average computer has. It runs a tad slow on the laptop I have now.


So, I've been thinking, and reading a good many reviews. I have gone through 2 laptops in the past 2 years, and I have a desktop I built which I gave to my brother when his died.

I'm leaning towards getting a MacBook Pro. I go through computers pretty quickly, and like to upgrade every year or 2, and it seems that Mac are not only stable and faster, but they hold their value very well.

I've been wanting to get a credit card and just start paying for my gas with a credit card and paying the monthly payments just to get some credit built up. Today my dad threw out the idea of getting a best buy card and buying my new computer with it, as it has no interest and I have about $500 already saved for a new one. Plus best buy gives students a discount, I think it's $100, or $100 store credit or something, which isn't bad at all.

I just want some opinions on some new laptops, and I want to see if anyone has a Mac and what their opinions are of it.

PLEASE DO NOT START AN ARGUMENT ABOUT MAC VS PC. I'm about 90% sure I want a mac, but this is based off of reviews from bestbuy, newegg and some other site.

So, I would like some advice about what computer to get. Any PCs out there that aren't going to be outdated in 6 months? I paid $900 for the one I have now, and it was fine for the past year and a half worth of schooling, all we have done thus far is papers, speadsheets, and one class on ProEngineer, but I was able to get by (even though the program ran like shit) with my laptop.


So tell me guys, what computer do you use and what do you use it for?

[Mineral_Grey_Gt]

It sounds to me that your mind is already made up. I personally believe it's maddening to drop that much coin on to a Mac which is built from the same components as a pc.


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[98FireyGT!]

I personally love the Macs, and if price is not a deciding factor for you and you aren't getting the comp for gaming, then I would definitely go with them.

[mustangkid87]

The only issues with macs are you aren't paying for the specs of the computer, you're paying for a great LOOKING laptop with an apple on it.

That being said, I'm buying a mac hopefully early next month. Wife has always wanted one so I figured if she's gonna get one, so am I. They are great computers over all, just overpriced for the hardware.

If you do go the mac route, your probably going to need Boot Camp or VM Ware Fusion (virtual machine) and a windows license to run windows apps. Unless whatever programs you use have mac support.

[flounderlipps]

Here is my advice. I had a HP laptop and the battery went bad. So I plugged it in to the wall outlet thinking it would turn on, but even plugged in it would not turn on. So if you have a bad battery the laptop is usless even if plugged into the wall outlet.

So go to Best Buy find the laptop you want, plug it in, turn it on, remove the battery if it shuts off dont buy it.

[AnotherS197GT]

Get a credit card from another company. Best Buy is very stringent with who they give credit to. I applied for a card there early this year. At the time I applied I had a paid off car loan, 2 years on my current credit card, and a low balance on that card. I have never missed a payment or been late. I applied for a credit card from Citi and was was approved for much more than I was looking to best buy for. My citi card had no interest for 6 or 9 mos, I can't remember which.

[graystang01]

Originally Posted by flounderlipps Here is my advice. I had a HP laptop and the battery went bad. So I plugged it in to the wall outlet thinking it would turn on, but even plugged in it would not turn on. So if you have a bad battery the laptop is usless even if plugged into the wall outlet.

If you plugged it into the wall and it wouldn't turn on, it wasn't your battery.

[brokenweasel]

I have a macbook pro I got over a year ago and the main reason I got it was because I wanted a full-sized laptop with good battery life. I like it, but you have to get used to using everything mac or run windows on it.

I'm a very light home computer user (internet, open office and music is about as far as I go) so the battery life and "stable" OS was what I wanted - a good portable computer that will last me a few years. So far so good.

And actually now that I think about it - do you have an ipod or iphone or use itunes already? I never hear about people using other music programs on macs although I'm sure you can. I've gotten used to itunes since I've had ipods for years now.

[Flynnster]

I love my macbook pro. It just flat out works, no matter if I paid for a brand, or for it to look good. I love my solid metal case, and I have not been let down one bit in 2 years.

[flounderlipps]

Originally Posted by graystang01 If you plugged it into the wall and it wouldn't turn on, it wasn't your battery.

Yes it was, I got another battery put it in then the laptop worked. The HP I have will not turn on without a battery in it.

[graystang01]

Originally Posted by flounderlipps Yes it was, I got another battery put it in then the laptop worked. The HP I have will not turn on without a battery in it.

That's weird lol. I usually run my laptop without the battery in it.

[JakeM]

On a tight budget? dell.com/outlet Myself and my girlfriend both have Inspiron 15R's from the Dell Outlet. I got mine for $667 shipped last year. Core i5, 6 GB ram, 1GB ATI Videocard. Etc etc. She got a Core i3 with onboard video and 4GB of ram for under $500 shipped.

Not on a tight budget and want a PC? Asus or HP. Only two to even consider in my option unless you are looking for a "desktop replacement". Even then Asus has a few that would fit that bill.

Want a Mac? If you can afford it, Mac Pro. Hands down. I woudn't own any other Mac. I dislike the desktops because they are, in my opinion, overpriced and under performing.

[MustangLouver]

Originally Posted by 98FireyGT! I personally love the Macs, and if price is not a deciding factor for you and you aren't getting the comp for gaming, then I would definitely go with them.

Money is not an issue. I do no gaming, and I'm mainly looking for a computer for school, and as I will be away from the apartment most of the day 5 days a week, I need a computer that has a good battery life and is reliable.

Originally Posted by mustangkid87 The only issues with macs are you aren't paying for the specs of the computer, you're paying for a great LOOKING laptop with an apple on it. That being said, I'm buying a mac hopefully early next month. Wife has always wanted one so I figured if she's gonna get one, so am I. They are great computers over all, just overpriced for the hardware. If you do go the mac route, your probably going to need Boot Camp or VM Ware Fusion (virtual machine) and a windows license to run windows apps. Unless whatever programs you use have mac support.

The main reasons I was looking at MAC is because our engineering department uses them, they seem to be really reliable, and I shouldn't have to upgrade in a year. I have a fresh copy of Windows 7 I bought from the school because it was really cheap (Like $40? I think). It's just Windows 7 Home edition, but this should suffice for whatever programs I need to run solely on windows.

Originally Posted by flounderlipps Here is my advice. I had a HP laptop and the battery went bad. So I plugged it in to the wall outlet thinking it would turn on, but even plugged in it would not turn on. So if you have a bad battery the laptop is usless even if plugged into the wall outlet. So go to Best Buy find the laptop you want, plug it in, turn it on, remove the battery if it shuts off dont buy it.

My computer right now works fine when just plugged into the wall without a battery.

Originally Posted by AnotherS197GT Get a credit card from another company. Best Buy is very stringent with who they give credit to. I applied for a card there early this year. At the time I applied I had a paid off car loan, 2 years on my current credit card, and a low balance on that card. I have never missed a payment or been late. I applied for a credit card from Citi and was was approved for much more than I was looking to best buy for. My citi card had no interest for 6 or 9 mos, I can't remember which.

Thanks for the tip! I was just looking for something to get some credit on. I mean I'll only have like $300 on the card and I can pay it off in less than a month if need be.

Originally Posted by brokenweasel I have a macbook pro I got over a year ago and the main reason I got it was because I wanted a full-sized laptop with good battery life. I like it, but you have to get used to using everything mac or run windows on it. I'm a very light home computer user (internet, open office and music is about as far as I go) so the battery life and "stable" OS was what I wanted - a good portable computer that will last me a few years. So far so good. And actually now that I think about it - do you have an ipod or iphone or use itunes already? I never hear about people using other music programs on macs although I'm sure you can. I've gotten used to itunes since I've had ipods for years now.

I have an iPod classic that I've been using for 4 or 5 years now, and my iPhone that I bought a few months ago. I have yet to have a problem with either my iPod or my iPhone. Another reason I like MAC is their resell value. I bought my current laptop a year and a half ago for $900, and it was one of the top of the line then for Windows, now it's outdated and I can get the exact computer for $350 shipped new, whereas the MACs that are a few years old are selling for $600+ used, which is about half their original cost. I like the fast that most mac users get 4-5 years out of one laptop whereas I would go through 2-3 PCs in that time easily.

Originally Posted by Flynnster I love my macbook pro. It just flat out works, no matter if I paid for a brand, or for it to look good. I love my solid metal case, and I have not been let down one bit in 2 years.

That's what I wanted to hear. I wanted to know how it lasted through time, and the more I hear them lasting this long without problems the more I seem to like them. What software does the MAC come with? I've heard that it comes with something that would replace MS Office, or am I still going to have to buy MS office separately?

Originally Posted by JakeM On a tight budget? dell.com/outlet Myself and my girlfriend both have Inspiron 15R's from the Dell Outlet. I got mine for $667 shipped last year. Core i5, 6 GB ram, 1GB ATI Videocard. Etc etc. She got a Core i3 with onboard video and 4GB of ram for under $500 shipped. Not on a tight budget and want a PC? Asus or HP. Only two to even consider in my option unless you are looking for a "desktop replacement". Even then Asus has a few that would fit that bill. Want a Mac? If you can afford it, Mac Pro. Hands down. I woudn't own any other Mac. I dislike the desktops because they are, in my opinion, overpriced and under performing.

Like I said, money isn't an issue but I'm not going to buy the top of the line MAC nor top of the line PC. I just need something that's going to last through 5 more semesters of school. The only issue with buying a lower end would be running the AutoCAD software for school. It ran terrible on my laptop now, and I do not want to have this issue again. I also thought about getting one with a solid-state drive since I don't really need a lot of storage space and I have an external drive already.


Honestly, for $1000, what is the best PC I could get?

Anymore MAC users care to share their opinion?

[dr.gonzo!]

Originally Posted by graystang01 If you plugged it into the wall and it wouldn't turn on, it wasn't your battery.

This.

My compaq (basically a cheaper HP) battery failed and I used it plugged into the wall for a long time. The power port on the laptop was probably the culprit.

[MustangLouver]

Originally Posted by dr.gonzo! This. My compaq (basically a cheaper HP) battery failed and I used it plugged into the wall for a long time. The power port on the laptop was probably the culprit.

I had a dell laptop previously and the first power port was replaced under warranty and in less that 6 months it stopped working again.

[dr.gonzo!]

Originally Posted by MustangLouver Honestly, for $1000, what is the best PC I could get? Anymore MAC users care to share their opinion?

Do refurbs scare you off? This one has a pretty decent graphics card and should handle autocad better. Can macs run autocad? I have only messed with land desktop on regular PC's.

Newegg.com - Recertified: ASUS G73 Gaming Series G73SW-BST6 Refurbished Notebook Intel Core i7 2630QM(2.00GHz) 17.3" 8GB Memory 750GB HDD 7200rpm DVD Super Multi NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M


EDIT: Guess they do.

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet...&siteID=123112

[townaj]

I have a Toshiba Satellite I got for college this year, and I like it. I use it for music, photos, internet, and school. It has windows 7, and I haven't found any issues with it yet...

But if had the money, I think I would get a mac...

[Flynnster]

In response to your software question, you can get microsoft office for mac installed, and that is what I did. Mostly because I didn't feel like learning the Mac programs. They do however have a replacement for PowerPointe, Word, and the likes. Only think I am not sure about is excel. Which I use often.

[MustangLouver]

Originally Posted by Flynnster In response to your software question, you can get microsoft office for mac installed, and that is what I did. Mostly because I didn't feel like learning the Mac programs. They do however have a replacement for PowerPointe, Word, and the likes. Only think I am not sure about is excel. Which I use often.

I need excel too. I guess I need to dig through and find my MS office 2010 disk. I went to BestBuy today about an hour away because thats the closest location, only to find out that they don't sell MACs. Sold out at BestBuy online too. I will be making a trip tonight when I go out to eat to the next closest store in hopes of finding one. I do know now that they sell macs. I just have to look for the best one for me. Looking at one with a 13" screen with a 500gb hd and 4gb ram. On the future I may upgrade it to 8gb ram, the hard drive will never be filled. The processor should be enough no matter what Program they throw at us senior year.

macs can run autoCAD because that's what they used at school. It's not "AutoCAD" its actually "ProEngineer" which is like autocad on steroids. You can add animations into the drawings and make videos showing assembled Parts.

[MustangLouver]

Well guys, I took the hit today and bought a MacBook Pro. Charged it fully and just browsing the internet my battery life says 9 hours and 31 minutes. Hell yea. Startup time is insane compared to my old laptop, love the backlit keyboard, love the screen (If that makes any sense) its just good. I have yet to put any programs on it, and I'm till trying to get use to the keyboard spacing being different than my old computer. Overall for the price, yes I could have bought a PC with better specs, but the question is, how long would the PC last versus the Mac. Another awesome feature of the macs is the touchpad gestures. I LOVE IT. PCs should have something like this. It's so easy to browse the forums using the touchpad gestures. I'm glad I went with MAC so far, I'll see how much I like it in the next year.