I am taking a survey. Here is my question:
What kind of computer should I buy? I want a laptop, and I despise Macs. Hate them with the fire of a thousand suns. You will not change my mind about this. I know all about how "wonderful" they suposedly are for any manner of things, including the fact that fewer/no viruses are designed for them. But I hate them. I prefer PCs. Also, I am highly skeptical of Dell these days since nearly every person I know who has a Dell hates their Dell.
I will be using it for graduate school (assuming I am able/willing to go this fall) and for grant writing work. It doesn't have to do anything too fancy, but I would like enough memory to be able to download some music. I'm planning to go for tech writing, so I'm assuming it's going to have to have some powerpoint and publisher, etc. capabilities. (Maybe this whole conversation is mute if they use Macs at the school I'm looking at.) Also, I want a floppy drive, but that can be external. And I want a bigger screen than what I have now.
Other than that, I have no idea. I haven't purchased a new computer since 1998, so I have no clue. I'm pretty sure I want the intel pentium processor, but I don't know the benefits/drawbacks to having/not having that feature versus a Celleron or if those two are the same thing and I just don't know it.
Also, I am really hoping to keep this purchase under $2,000.
Fire away with your suggestions in the comments.
Posted by LoWriter at May 13, 2006 08:21 PMLenovo is now the maker of the venerable IBM ThinkPad. They pretty much kick ass.
http://www.lenovo.com/us/en/
Posted by: jeff at May 15, 2006 09:25 AMYou could buy an intel mac and put windows on it. They are rather expensive, though.
Toshiba used to produce some pretty rugged laptops, as long as it's a model designed for business, not home use. Whatever you for a processor, make sure it's got a mobile chip in it. Some really cheap laptops use desktop processors in them, which are power hungry and produce absurd levels of heat requiring lots of noisy fans as well as basically limiting your laptop's life to a year and a half tops.
Get a warranty if you can. You will use it.
Posted by: schdav at May 15, 2006 09:58 AMI would stay away from bottom of the line gateway and dell computers, that is where most of the problems come from.
Posted by: 10lees at May 15, 2006 10:00 AMMy sister's got a Dell Inspirion 7-something and it's given her nothing but trouble.
I had a WinBook and liked that. It lasted four and a half years and I even dropped it on the floor and it still worked. It was kinda crappy at the end there, though. But I liked it while I had it.
Posted by: Lo at May 15, 2006 10:19 AMI'm glad you've been forwarned about the Dells. They are nothing but crap. I call my laptop the Dell from Hell. The only company i might possibly hate more than Dell is Cingular. And you know how much i hate Cingular.
Also, don't let anyone talk you into buying way more than you need. Computers have some neat-o features on them, but if you aren't going to use them, don't waste the money. That is my simple, non-computer expert opinion.
Posted by: mel at May 15, 2006 01:01 PMWhat about "dual-core processing" from Intel? What is it/is that what I want?
Posted by: Lo at May 15, 2006 03:55 PMI second schdav's comment about the Intel Mac running Windows if you really are set on Windows. It's unfortunate they don't have the Intel iBook replacements ready. Lenovo Thinkpads are good as well. Is for the dual core, given what you list, unless you plan on doing a lot of video with your powerpoints or high resolution publishing, it's probably more power (and cost) than you really need.
Posted by: Jeremy at May 15, 2006 11:48 PMHere are the programs I am likely to use (just got off the phone with the peeps from the program):
Adobe Publisher
Macromedia
In Design
How much memory do you think I need?
Posted by: Lo at May 16, 2006 02:28 PMScratch the availability thing - today they added the 13" MacBook. On the RAM, I'd recommend 1GB as a good base. More if you're gonna be running those programs simultaneously.