Just out of curiousity, what notebook do you use or prefer for home and office? Mine is Asus N81v, reliable brand and excellent customer support.
Thinkpads. They have the best keyboard for a notebook, sturdy and timeless looks too
I have a MacBook Pro 15" aluminum unibody as my main machine. I have it on a riser and hooked up to an external keyboard and mouse, so it’s more like a highly portable desktop. Recently, I also bought a new Asus Aspire 1410 for less than $500. It is roughly the size of a netbook, but it has a 1.4 GHz core solo processor (more powerful than typical netbooks) a full sized keyboard, a tiny form factor (11.1" screen, 3.1lbs/1.4kg). The main reason I got it was to run some windows analysis Programs I need to run without having to use up all my Mac’s RAM for virtualization, but I think it will also become my travel laptop too because of long battery life, its small size, light weight, and the fact that I am out substantially less dough if it gets stolen. I do notice that the processor does max out a times, and I would like to go get a Bluetooth dongle and mouse to use with it, because the trackpad is a little crunched for me. I love my Mac though. Using windows always feels as if I have chewing gum stuck to the bottom of my feet.
Thinkpads are good for work-related stuff - I’ve owned three of them. For home use, if it’s going to be your only computer, I would recommend something with more multimedia capabilities and a nicer LCD screen. I’ve had ok experiences with Ideapads (Lenovo’s regular consumer line), though they’re not the most powerful machines available. Asus makes good low-end machines if you only care about web-surfing or email. Toshiba is a good brand, and Dell has some decent lines nowadays. And of course, there are Macs if you’re into those.
Mac-Personal Windows-Work I have serious problems using Mac Excel. Bchadwick put it the best, it really does feel like everything is annoying.
Yeah, my single greatest problem with Mac is that Mac Excel is not fully compatible with Windows Excel. That’s really the ONLY major issue I have. For simple stuff, Mac Excel is fine, but for a finance guy, where Excel is an industry standard tool there are a few issues: 1) if you need plug-ins for things like downloading data (e.g. Bloomberg), they don’t typically run in Mac. In fact, for whatever reason, Microsoft actually disabled VBA in Mac Excel 2008, so you can’t even write your own VBA code anymore (I use an older version). 2) The date system is not fully compatible. If you do a file in Mac Excel and send it over to a Windows user, you will find that all dates are either 4 years early or 4 yeas late. There is a setting in preferences where you can change the date system, but more often, you end up forgetting to switch it before mailing and the guy on the other end calls back wondering why your dates seem all screwy. 3) The fonts don’t match up right, so some kid who has spent hours making the excel spreadsheet look super pretty on his/her computer shows up on your screen with the text in some strangely sized font, and half of the words not fitting in the cell sizes, etc. To be honest, the main program I bought my little Asus for was to run Excel with plug-ins on a windows machine. The other two are, AAII’s Stock Investor Pro data, which I use for fundamental screening, and MSN Messenger, so I can videochat with a few friends abroad who use MSN messenger (Mac’s MSN doesn’t do video).
Replaced 2001 HP Omnibook 500 (wonderful machine but dated in capacity) this year with 13" MacBook, which is pure heaven and light enough for easy travel. I feel sorry now for people I see booting up PC laptops. I have heard Mac Excel may disappoint power users so if you have that need for the particular laptop PC may still be way to go. Before looking at Mac my first choice for a PC laptop had been something in Ideapad/Thinkpad line, but did not want Windows Vista (new Windows O/S I believe available now and supposed to be big improvement).
I have a ThinkPad T60 for work and a ThinkPad T400 for personal
What are y’alls thoughts on buying refurbished? I know more an more people doing this to save money… Seemed silly to me at first, but they all are very happy with their purchases.
I’ve bought a number of refurbished machines over the years. I don’t think any of them have ever done anything that made me regret the choice to save money by doing so. I’ve had hard drives fail occasionally, but never right away, and I have no evidence that buying a new machine would be any different or safer in that regard.
I think refurbs are fine as long as you buy them from a reliable source, as opposed to some random third-party on the internet. I like ThinkPads because they’re reliable and extremely durable. I’ve been very happy with the T400 – it has the intel core 2 duo processor (2.66 GHz), 250GB HD, 14.1" monitor w/ backlight, CD/DVD writer, bluetooth, and all the other typical bells and whistles. The computer is pretty much built like a tank and there are never any problems with overheating (as there sometimes are with some of the more personal laptops). They built the unit from scratch and were several days ahead of schedule in terms of construction and shipping. It only cost me $1,100 when I bought it this summer…even cheaper now, I’d imagine. I was very happy with my experience with Lenovo and would recommend them to anyone. I’m not a computer expert but this is good enough for everything I do, which is primarily application-based. I’ve had good personal experiences with Lenovo in both the professional and personal settings, and even though they cost more than some of the other makers, I have a lot of peace of mind with Lenovo. Would be curious to hear opinions from some of the other more computer-savvy folks here to see if they agree or disagree.
Thinkpads are generally a safe choice, unless you are picky about specific features. The “nipple” and keyboard are the best that I have used. They’re also very well-built and have features like airbags (!) that deploy if you drop it. There are some cons, of course. If you play games, you might find the graphics capabilities to be lacking. Lenovo also installs lots of bloatware which is annoying but can be removed with some effort. I’ve also experienced a couple of hardware issues, particularly with my old T42 whose hard drive would stop working periodically. This turned out to be a common problem with that model.
Hello Mister Walrus Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Thinkpads are generally a safe choice, unless you > are picky about specific features. The “nipple” > and keyboard are the best that I have used. > They’re also very well-built and have features > like airbags (!) that deploy if you drop it. > > There are some cons, of course. If you play games, > you might find the graphics capabilities to be > lacking. Lenovo also installs lots of bloatware > which is annoying but can be removed with some > effort. I’ve also experienced a couple of hardware > issues, particularly with my old T42 whose hard > drive would stop working periodically. This turned > out to be a common problem with that model. exactly the thing with computers is you always have to figure out what are u going to use it for …no pc is the one size fits all …but im partial to hp models for multimedia …the new envy is overpriced and fails to me cuz it lacks an optical drive when its supposed to be comparable to the macbookpro (same price range~ target consumer) …not too sure bout the dells …the dell xps 16 looks sweet but heard it has overheating issues ( my brother in law jus bought one so i will get a first hand account soon)…i could go on but back to pretend work
I always go refurbished and spend the $ saved on extended service. My hubby is in design so we have a house full of MAC products and have never had any issues but it does provide assurance that you won’t be putting more money into it. I’m thinking of upgrading the IMac this year.
I’ve always been impressed with the Dells I’ve owned - good components, sturdy construction. The Sony VAIOs have glam, but too often they start to fall apart structurally after about 9 months of use.
bchadwick Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I’ve always been impressed with the Dells I’ve > owned - good components, sturdy construction. The > Sony VAIOs have glam, but too often they start to > fall apart structurally after about 9 months of > use. im principally opposed to sony as a tech company …they always ddefy the market convention in an effort to segment the market makes good business sense but also ends up pissing off the consumer ie me ( eg memory stick)…they do make nice lappies tho
I owned a Sony Vaiao laptop about eight years ago while I was in college, and overheating became a real problem with the computer after a couple years. Sure, it was very portable at around 3.5 lbs. And 12 inch screen, but it wasn’t the most durable and heat circulation left a lot to be desired. My next computer was a Dell Latitude D600 - also a pretty crappy computer, as experience proved over time. Performance was pretty mediocre all around, and I actually find Dells to be fairly fragile - the hinges of the monitor actually wore down completely after a few years. My girlfriend used to have the same computer and experienced the same problem. After owning it for a few years, I realized it would be more expensive to hire a technician to fix it or even replace the broken parts myself, so now I just use the Dell Latitude as a doorstop when I want to leave my bedroom windows open at night. That’s pretty much all the computer is good for at this point.
Dell’s quality has improved tremendously over the past few years. I think you might be pleasantly surprised. They’re still not on the same level as Lenovo, but they’re far from the P.O.S. that Walmart was hawking when I was in college. The next PC I get will likely be a desktop, btw. Easier to play around with.
I see that lots of you guys prefer Thinkpads because of their robust build, but I heard that the old IBM thinkpads were way better before Lennovo got their hands dirty? Personally, I’d go for a screen size of 14.1" or 15.4" max to enjoy light weight and portability.
chelseace Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I see that lots of you guys prefer Thinkpads > because of their robust build, but I heard that > the old IBM thinkpads were way better before > Lennovo got their hands dirty? > > Personally, I’d go for a screen size of 14.1" or > 15.4" max to enjoy light weight and portability. I have T61 - and it’s been almost 3 years and still going strong. Lenovo built the laptop and I think they do all the right things with the brand. In fact, now some of their cheaper lines (ideapads) also carries several features previously only available to business-class thinkpads.