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Miscellaneous laptop discussions : Should I go Mac or stay PC?
Should I go Mac or stay PC?
by dilasluis - 2/20/09 7:52 PMI have an almost 3 years VAIO PC. It's a VGN FE-31M and I believe it was the worst laptop I ever bought in my entire life (and I had like 6 laptops in the last 10 years...). As I was very disappointed with Sony I end up being disappointed with PC's in general and I put in my mind that I should just go Mac. The time for buying the new laptop is approaching but I'm not confident with my decision because I've always been a PC.
Overall, I need a reliable system, one I can depend on because I'm entering in my PhD research phase where I'll need a good system that allows me to program in C++ and MatLab & Symulink, use ANSYS and other FE Software, use Adobe family products including Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver and Flash.
Also I want a really portable computer. I was aiming for the 13'' MacBook (2.4 GHz and 4GB ram).
So can anyone advise me? Is this a good choice for what I need or should I just stay PC? Microsoft has a lot of bugs in it's software but I've heard some nasty stuff about Apple...
RE: Should I go Mac or stay PC?
by DComander1 - 2/20/09 10:05 PM In reply to: Should I go Mac or stay PC? by dilasluisI would stay PC, ive seen some nice Used IBM thinkpads and new Lenovos that are very rugged and come with excellent support, not to mention they are very reliable, in my words, they are the "dark macs" with windows rather than mac OS X installed, as they look nearly the same from the outside, i would try to wait out till next year to get a Lenovo Thinkpad, as they will have Windows 7, which is starting to look better than Vista and XP combined, as im Beta testing it, and it performs a ton better than XP, and miles ahead of the failure Vista.
heres a few used examples of IBM and Lenovo Thinkpads from a site that i bought a used IBM Thinkpad from:
http://usanotebooks.com/moreinfo.php?id=1105
http://usanotebooks.com/moreinfo.php?id=1563
http://usanotebooks.com/moreinfo.php?id=2367
http://usanotebooks.com/moreinfo.php?id=2565
Thank you but...
by dilasluis - 2/21/09 1:31 AM In reply to: RE: Should I go Mac or stay PC? by DComander1My highly advertised but unable to deliver VAIO has better specs than those examples you proposed. And actually you didn't put it in convinced terms and explained why I should stay PC.
RE: Thank you but...
by DComander1 - 2/21/09 8:22 AM In reply to: Thank you but... by dilasluisThose Laptops are what the Professionals use, do some research before you complain how slow they are, honestly, IBM didn't make those for just the general public, or they would of been much weaker and have more of a home edition feeling, than what they are, they made them to do what businesses need them to do, and plus some,if you really want a mac, go ahead, but its certainly going to be harder to use than Windows XP, which 2 of the IBMs are preloaded with, and you will not be able to run windows programs on a mac either, ive tried Linux, which is twins with what Mac OS X is based on, and its 10x harder to use than windows, and 20x as hard to customise. Windows may be crappy, but mac is equally as bad, and most antivirus companies don't have a mac version of their programs yet, so its better you stick with windows, as everyone supports pcs and not everyone supports macs yet.
That it is not enough!
by dilasluis - 2/21/09 9:33 AM In reply to: RE: Thank you but... by DComander1It doesn't scare me the fact that Leopard OS it is less intuitive than Windows... I'm already prepared for that. So you gave me user interface quality vs user interface quality. 0 - 1 to Mac - PC. I was hoping someone would give me other arguments like performance vs performance, processor velocity, battery life, durability, system stability, system security...
The software you mentioned you want to use
by orlbuckeye - 2/21/09 12:54 PM In reply to: That it is not enough! by dilasluisonly run in Windows. I a developer and don't know of many people at all that use Apples to develop C++ programs. I could see if you wanted the laptop for graphic design where Apple has better software. You mentioned battery life which is lower the more powerfull a machine you get. The stats that most vendors make public is the battery life with no wirless and screen set to low contrast both of which most people actually use when they are running on a battery.
If i was the one making the choice it would be windows and wouldn't even look at Apple.
And then again...
by dilasluis - 2/23/09 11:47 AM In reply to: The software you mentioned you want to use by orlbuckeyeI had a change of heart. I want to know why do you say lenovo is the best choice for me because from the specs I can't see that it is a great laptop.
RE: And then again...
by DComander1 - 2/23/09 11:56 AM In reply to: And then again... by dilasluisthe specs may not seem like much, but Lenovos are used by big business, ever since the thinkpads were made by IBM, which made them well, and they can do a ton of stuff at once time, more than any apple available as they were tailor made for businesses, which require windows comps that can withstand drops, spills, and vibration, they also require very powerful processors, which the more expensive lenovos have, the clockspeeds may not seem like much, but its the design of the internal hardware inside that makes it very powerful and very reliable.
You want specifics from us...
by fbbbb - 2/21/09 3:18 PM In reply to: Should I go Mac or stay PC? by dilasluisBut you're not specific in where your VAIO went wrong for you. I think you'll have to sort that out. You also seem to have already decided that Apple is the way to go from the tone of your responses.
So that I'm not wasting my time, I'd also want to know that you're actually open to responses from a satisfied flagship VAIO owner, and a somewhat less satisfied Apple owner (of which one of the two 2.4 Macbooks comprises the sole non-Applecare'd machine this year, but probably only because it's relatively new and hasn't had enough time to have something happen to it).
Where did my VAIO went wrong?!
by dilasluis - 2/22/09 1:29 AM In reply to: You want specifics from us... by fbbbbIt is not a reliable or stable system: it crashes a lot, the battery from the start lasted less than 45 min and now about 25... the dvd/cd drive most of the times destroy dvds and cds even after SONY declared they had changed it for a new one (I don't record dvds and cds anymore...).
But I am really open to your opinions on MAC vs PC. And I don't know if C++ works on MAC but MatLab does work, but again I can install windows (although that would not be what I first intended...) to run app's that don't work on Mac OS.
As I said,
by fbbbb - 2/22/09 3:28 AM In reply to: Where did my VAIO went wrong?! by dilasluisYou're going to have to be a little more specific. 'It crashes a lot' could be social media marketing spam, etc.
How does it crash? What BSOD's does it throw up? How many times has it been in support? etc. Part of the process of understanding what computer you should have is whether the issues you've had is down to ignorance, abuse or a lemon.
... and as I said
by dilasluis - 2/22/09 3:45 AM In reply to: As I said, by fbbbbIt crashes. No system suppose to crash at anytime when you are performing operations so I don't know how can I be more specific.
And for "ignorance, abuse or a lemon" there is also another hypothesis: bad system!
Sorry bub.
by fbbbb - 2/22/09 4:03 AM In reply to: ... and as I said by dilasluisYou're beyond my ability to help. Enjoy your Mac.
So you just give up?
by dilasluis - 2/22/09 7:00 AM In reply to: Sorry bub. by fbbbbI didn't quite understand your attitude...
I bought a used Vaio cheap for the same reason
by tinman1275 - 2/27/09 7:17 PM In reply to: Where did my VAIO went wrong?! by dilasluisThe owner got tired of issues so I decided to risk it and it's been great. I decided to wipe the HD completely and install an OEM copy of XP. No issues since, this has never crashed, although IE has hung a couple of times in the last 3 years, but that was due to malware.Since I switched to Firefox, no more problems.
The bonus to wiping the drive of it's recovery partition was that now I have the full 100gb, not the 55 I had at the start, and no bloatware.
I did have a little trouble finding the drivers on Sony's website but they are there, you just have to dig around a bit.
All in all I think the hardware is solid, but the software that comes preinstalled is the problem.
Might be worth a try, if not, how much do you want for the Vaio?
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