Help. Need a new computer. What to buy?

[IngridN]

........ After all, lots of people pay a $10K premium to get a big gold "L" on the grill of their Toyota. To each, their own.

I do think Mac's are good machines and they are well suited for certain types of people. But the price premium for the same hardware/functionality is unjustified, IMO.

You get what you pay for. Having purchased my first car with that 'L' on the grill 2.5 years ago, the premium I paid is well worth the fact that in those years the car has NEVER once been in for anything other than routine oil changes . I can't say that for any of my other cars. In fact I get to wait for the $550 driver's side door repair on my 8 year old not very cheap car tomorrow. All of the other doors also need to be repaired, however, I refuse to do so at $400/door. This is very frustrating as we buy good cars to last 15-20 years. This one will definitely not and based on my experience with the Lexus, that is what the next car will be, albeit a certified used one. The quality of the workmanship is outstanding and that's what I hear about the Macs.

Ingrid

 

[Elan]

I converted from PC to MAC a few months ago and love it. So easy and seamless. My reasons...I had nothing but ongoing problems with resulting workarounds for my last 2 IBM/Lenovo PCs. I also purchased the 1 year one-on-one training sessions for $99 as well as the 3 year phone support for $349 and have used both as I'm not one with patience and reading instructions. For me, the decision-maker after taking to several people with Macs was the support they offered. I am not familiar with Costco's PC support, so depending on exactly what that is, it's worth looking into if going the PC route and customer support is important as the OP states.

As they say you get what you pay for.

Ingrid

Yes, Ingrid, I remember your thread. I think you made a great choice buying an Apple.

 

[Elan]

You get what you pay for. Having purchased my first car with that 'L' on the grill 2.5 years ago, the premium I paid is well worth the fact that in those years the car has NEVER once been in for anything other than routine oil changes . I can't say that for any of my other cars. In fact I get to wait for the $550 driver's side door repair on my 8 year old not very cheap car tomorrow. All of the other doors also need to be repaired, however, I refuse to do so at $400/door. This is very frustrating as we buy good cars to last 15-20 years. This one will definitely not and based on my experience with the Lexus, that is what the next car will be, albeit a certified used one. The quality of the workmanship is outstanding and that's what I hear about the Macs.

Ingrid

I'm glad you like your Lexus. And, hey, if you're hearing Mac's are better quality, then it must be true. Best of luck with both!

 

[Mosca]

You get what you pay for, and both choices are valid. It depends on what you want, and there is no point in imposing your goal on another. You can spend a lot and get quality hardware running the OS of your choice, or you can spend a pittance and get cheap hardware running Windows. Do the one that makes you happy.

 

[bogey21]

You get what you pay for, and both choices are valid.

I agree. What it comes down to is two things. First, will your choice do the job you want done? And second, will the longer lasting item be cheaper than multiple purchases of the cheaper alternative. Personally I think it may be different depending on the item you are dealing with. With cars you may make one determination. With toasters, maybe another. With laptops another variable may be the obsolesence factor.

George

 

[Mosca]

Toshiba 15" laptop $270 @ BestBuy, today only, free shipping

Just to prove I like both solutions. If I needed a laptop for light use in a second location, this is probably what I'd do.

 

[IngridN]

I agree. What it comes down to is two things. First, will your choice do the job you want done? And second, will the longer lasting item be cheaper than multiple purchases of the cheaper alternative. Personally I think it may be different depending on the item you are dealing with. With cars you may make one determination. With toasters, maybe another. With laptops another variable may be the obsolesence factor.

George

You are exactly right. There are many other products where my choice would be otherwise based on my needs, however, in these 2 cases, my decisions were the correct ones for me.

WRT the Mac vs. PC, I had initially planned to purchase a PC as I was familiar with the product and hesitant to change, however, after much research, I decided the Mac was best for my particular needs and I am very happy with the decision. IMHO the OP is on the right track doing the research to determine what will best meet her needs.

Ingrid

 

[Big Matt]

This isn't answering your original question exactly, but I think that you are somewhat solving your issues with only one solution.

I would buy a real good laptop and use it both at home and in Florida. The key is that you need to back up your data regardless of how many machines you have. Folks have already mentioned that you can do this with a hard drive or on the cloud. I use the cloud with my Verizon subscription. I can get at the files from anywhere with any machine. I would also buy a USB or wireless mouse and take it with you.

Using this thought process, you will save on virus software, other software, etc. and you will always be used to the computer.

 

[Elan]

Hehe, you have to multiply by two because they last half as long....

I'm just being snarky. I've gone both ways and been happy with my choice. One of our HP laptops has actually defied the odds and is in its 6th year. When Windows started to get flaky I wiped it clean and now it runs Ubuntu.

Edited to add:


MacBook Pro, $1594

Comparable Sony VAIO, $2250


Comparable Dell, $1599


Comparable Lenovo, $1489

Quality hardware costs money and is independent of the operating system.

Seems odd to compare a 15" Dell with 8GB DRAM, 2GB VRAM and 256GB SSD to a 13" Mac with 4GB DRAM and 1GB VRAM and 128GB SSD. A 15" Macbook Pro similarly configured (to the linked Dell) is $3244 +/-, about twice as much. Just sayin'............

 

[Elan]

Good deal on a Lenovo Z470 14" laptop, $599 on sale (use coupon code USPZ4461110):

http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/...0000444F:&cid=us|cse|df|pricegrabber|102246U&


Comparable 13" Macbook Pro: $1494

http://www.macmall.com/n/macNavLinks-305?q=8899069&qt=8899069&skus=

 

[persia]

You get what you pay for. Having purchased my first car with that 'L' on the grill 2.5 years ago,

 

[persia]

If I were buying a PC I'd get this.

 

[Ann-Marie]

If I were buying a PC I'd get this.

Just what I ordered, thanks to the help of my family members putting their heads together. What did it was the lited key board, large screen and free shipping from Best Buy. Best Buy is only a few blocks away from us if we need help. Thanks everyone for helping.

 

[Cruiser Too]

I have never owned an Apple/Mac/I-Anything product and probably never will.
IMHO... They're too proprietorial.

Once you purchase a Mac (etc.) you're locked in, to buying only their products.

That's akin to buying a GE Toaster and from then on, having to buy only GE products,
because other manufacturer's parts, products, etc. will be "not compatible".

 

[Ken555]

I have never owned an Apple/Mac/I-Anything product and probably never will.
IMHO... They're too proprietorial.

Once you purchase a Mac (etc.) you're locked in, to buying only their products.

That's akin to buying a GE Toaster and from then on, having to buy only GE products,
because other manufacturer's parts, products, etc. will be "not compatible".

Sorry, but that's simply not correct.

 

[Cruiser Too]

Sorry, but that's simply not correct.

One of my friend has an I-Pod (Music Player).
He can only download music from "Big-Brother".

None of my thousands of songs will play on his "toy".
None of his songs will play on my player.
All music from my other non-Applers friends will play on my player,
and vice versa.

 

[Ken555]

One of my friend has an I-Pod (Music Player).
He can only download music from "Big-Brother".

None of my thousands of songs will play on his "toy".
None of his songs will play on my player.
All music from my other non-Applers friends will play on my player,
and vice versa.

iPods are personalized to the owner, connected to their iTunes app on their computer. They may transfer any music on the computer, either copied from a CD or bought from Apple or any other digital source (I buy from Amazon on occasion). Your friend may burn a CD with any of his music, even those bought from Apple, with certain limitations (I believe they still have a limit of 10 CDs of a specific track order, but there are obvious ways to still get the music beyond that). What you can't do is copy music (easily) from the iPod to another music device directly. My earlier post stands. You just don't know the details (understandably) about the way in which their products work. Regardless, the products are first rate and it's hard to find a better produced device.

 

[Kal]

...None of my thousands of songs will play on his "toy".
None of his songs will play on my player...

He obviously doesn't know how to upload songs onto his iPod from your player. If all of his songs have been purchased from iTunes, that will present a bit more challenge, but songs from any other source are very easy to upload and download. Do an internet search on downloading (or transferring) music from an iPod and you will get step by step instructions.

With very little effort you can get ANY song from the internet and upload it onto any iPod or MP3 player at no cost.

 

[Cruiser Too]

Thanks for your responses Ken555 and Kai.

Why bother going thru all that effort ???
Using non-Apple hardware/software makes the effort intuitively simple.

I guess it's like religion and politics...
I can't convince you and you can't convince me.

Peace !!!

 

[Ken555]

Thanks for your responses Ken555 and Kai.

Why bother going thru all that effort ???
Using non-Apple hardware/software makes the effort intuitively simple.

I guess it's like religion and politics...
I can't convince you and you can't convince me.

Peace !!!

You incorrectly assume this is an onerous task. It's actually quite simple. But you're not really interested, so it doesn't matter. Sweeping statements such as the one you made earlier that are incorrect is why I responded...simply not accurate.

 

[Cruiser Too]

You incorrectly assume this is an onerous task. It's actually quite simple. But you're not really interested, so it doesn't matter. Sweeping statements such as the one you made earlier that are incorrect is why I responded...simply not accurate.

Ken, Ken, Ken:

Let me repeat myself for the very last time:

• I guess it's like religion and politics...
• I can't convince you and you can't convince me.

 

[Kal]

I have a stack of MP3 players on the shelf doing time until I throw them away. I have 3 flavors of iPods and they are light years ahead of any MP3 players I have seen. And yes, loading tunes is different but iTunes does the work. Just point to a tune you want and bingo, it's on the iPod. Moreover, depending on which flavor of iPod one owns, it has an outstanding number of options to do far more than play tunes.

I have exported any and all tunes from my iPod and imported tunes from absolutely any source. I even purchased one tune from iTunes just to see how it works. Lesson fee was 99 cents.

 

[PigsDad]

Ken, Ken, Ken:

Let me repeat myself for the very last time:

• I guess it's like religion and politics...
• I can't convince you and you can't convince me.

Doug, Doug, Doug,

You completely missed Ken's point. He was not trying to convince you on why an iPod is a superior device. I (and Ken, evidently) couldn't care less if you like an iPod or not. But posting blatantly incorrect statements regarding an iPod, such as:

He can only download music from "Big-Brother".
None of my thousands of songs will play on his "toy".
None of his songs will play on my player.

could lead others to think that those statements might be true (which they simply are not).

I'm w/ Kal -- I have never seen an MP3 player that comes close to the level of an iPod. They cost more for a very good reason.

Kurt

 

[Ken555]

Doug, Doug, Doug,

You completely missed Ken's point. He was not trying to convince you on why an iPod is a superior device. I (and Ken, evidently) couldn't care less if you like an iPod or not. But posting blatantly incorrect statements regarding an iPod, such as:

could lead others to think that those statements might be true (which they simply are not).

I'm w/ Kal -- I have never seen an MP3 player that comes close to the level of an iPod. They cost more for a very good reason.

Kurt

Thanks, Kurt. Exactly correct.

 

[Cruiser Too]

I need a laptop for our second home in S.C.. We will NOT be traveling with it, so size and weight does not matter. However I need a laptop, as opposed to a desktop, so we can just bring it back and forth by car with us when we leave our SC home and when we leave NY. I might use it in NY as a second computer once in a while but primarily use my desktop. This way we have all our documents with us in both places. I am not a wiz on computers at all. The main specifications we want are that it is fast, has a CD/DVD to play movies and also a 17 in. screen for failing eyes. I need some office software, but I do not use much more than excel and word processing. I would also like to purchase one that has customer support. Any suggestions?

Bottom line Ann-Marie is to buy what you feel is "right" for your needs/desire.
Something "universal" or something brand restricted.

Don't be Mac'alized or PC'alized.