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UPDATE:
I've already purchased a Samsung R480. It was $600 comes with Blu-Ray and Core i3. 4GB RAM. it runs well and so far i've been very happy with it. Could a mod please lock/close this? or it can just turn it into a buying a laptop discussion thread. Thank you for all the replies!!! 
the old news.
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Okay first off.
Do not just blow me off as some jackass trying to start an argument.
Here's my issue. I'm heading off to university and going to get a laptop. I would like to be versatile, easy-to-use and as convenient as possible. So here is the debate. Mac or PC?
I will be studying Mathematics/Chartered Accountancy program, 5 years 1 BMath and Masters in Accounting and a CA designation. I know there is programming and the software is DrScheme.
I am not a hardcore gamer i prefer talking to friends, playing sports.
Most of my friends are all yelling "PCs SUCK" , "They crash on me".
Of course they all have shiny iPods. (I used to have one till it somehow fell out of my pocket in the airport).
So EVERYBODY (about 3 in 4) are buying Macs, Macbook pros. (i live in a city where mummy and daddy buy you stuff). Probably why Apple is now the second largest company on the S&P 500 after Exxon Mobile according to the finance thing i read the other day.
Mac's have this elite "once you buy a mac you never go back" slogan which i keep hearing. I am coming into this debate on BOTH sides. I've actually written this on my Macbook and also use a PC regularly.
Everything i've come up with is for the 2007-08 Macbook.
The PC stuff is from my bro running his lenovo and HP computer, also our XP desktop which is still running BW great and SCII fine. great for day to day usage
This is what i came up with for Macs
Pros:
Decently fast startup
Good support (if you drive to the apple store)
Looks cool, you get to be trendy and fashionable?
User Friendly
Great battery life
Cons:
Processing power (I cant run iTunes, Safari, Msn together)
**NOTE** People seem to have an issue with my arguement, i honestly try to watch youtube talk on msn and have itunes as well as limewire to download music and it freezes up. im not sure why maybe ill take it into the apple store **
Awful heating problems because its all one big case
Crazy fan (if i run a flash game the mac sounds like its taking off a runway)
Awful compatibility
Expensive
From my limited knowledge of PC laptops (i dont have one myself however many other people i know are running them)
Pros
Also fast (Windows 7)
Very compatible
Cheap
Great graphics and gaming
Google for any fix related to software
Cons:
Awful tech support for hardware issues (try calling HP)
Bad battery life
So bottom line what should i get? Can TL help me?
Also if your answer is PC could you give me some suggestions under $1000 please?
tl;dr is the poll
Poll: Mac or PCPC (632) 83% Mac (129) 17% 761 total votes Your vote: Mac or PC (Vote): Mac
(Vote): PC
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I think price overwhelms all other factors in your case.
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What are you going to be studying? There's a chance that one would be more convenient than the other depending on your major.
edit: and by this I'm talking about if there's some software that everybody in the field uses.
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On June 07 2010 12:07 Babel wrote:
I think price overwhelms all other factors in your case.
i think you can easily find a good laptop under 1000.
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Are you AT ALL tech savvy....(If you can google computer problems to fix and don't do retarded shit like delete system32) I would def vote PC...its going to be much faster and more compatible for the same price. I have owned both macs and PC's for years, Macs are user friendly but you pay a HUGE premium for that little bit. I love my pc to death and it has never given me even a hint of problems.
PC unless you are a tech-tard
btw-I have no idea where you got the idea that pc's have bad battery life.
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macbooks have terrible keyboards
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I was in the exact same situation as you (going to college, everyones moms buying them 2000$ macbooks) two years ago.
Got my custom sager laptop @ xoticpc.com and am soooooooo fucking glad i did. I got a better screen, processor, graphics card, i can actually play games, memory (which i can upgrade if i want, unlike macs), and hdmi all for like 1/2 - 2/3 the price. At least once a week my roomate for the last two years would say "fuck why did i get a mac" I will say that it is lighter(prob because its 2 inches smaller screenwise) and has a MUCH better battery/trackpad.
IMO there's no reason to go with a mac over pc unless you
a) Shit money every morning when you wake up
b) have some specific use for it
c) are very trendy and hip
What i would do and plan to do by the end of this summer is build a sick desktop for 600-800 and get a netbook for 100-200.
edit: http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/35060/alienware-m11x-notebook-intel-core-2-duo-su7300-1.3ghz-4gb-ddr3-160gb-hd-11.6-wled-1366x768-w-webcam-1gb-geforce-gt-335m
gaming pc and netbook in one. can play sc2 in a pinch if you don't mind the 11 inch screen and is portable as fuck for how powerful it is.
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For everyday tasks macs are superior.
For gaming you can't beat a windows computer (I'm not calling them pc's because macs are pcs too)
Windows laptops generally have worse battery life because they have faster (and thus more power consuming) processors and graphics cards.
As far as tech support is considered; if you buy a computer from a retail store and buy their warranty it usually isnt so bad. Long term it will be much more expensive to fix a mac because there are less people that can do it. Most brick and mortar stores will not service them or will service them at a premium.
Mac compatability is horrendous. And things that work with mac still don't run as well as they do in windows (read the mac client complaints from people previously using bootcamp)
I use a macbook and have a Windows computer i built myself and spend 90% of my time using Windows but its nice to have one of each.
TL;dr if its a primary computer i'd get something with windows.
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On June 07 2010 12:11 decafchicken wrote:I was in the exact same situation as you (going to college, everyones moms buying them 2000$ macbooks) two years ago. Got my custom sager laptop @ xoticpc.com and am soooooooo fucking glad i did. I got a better screen, processor, graphics card, i can actually play games, memory (which i can upgrade if i want, unlike macs), and hdmi all for like 1/2 - 2/3 the price. At least once a week my roomate for the last two years would say "fuck why did i get a mac" I will say that it is lighter(prob because its 2 inches smaller screenwise) and has a MUCH better battery/trackpad. IMO there's no reason to go with a mac over pc unless you a) Shit money every morning when you wake up b) have some specific use for it c) are very trendy and hip What i would do and plan to do by the end of this summer is build a sick desktop for 600-800 and get a netbook for 100-200. edit: http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/35060/alienware-m11x-notebook-intel-core-2-duo-su7300-1.3ghz-4gb-ddr3-160gb-hd-11.6-wled-1366x768-w-webcam-1gb-geforce-gt-335mgaming pc and netbook in one. can play sc2 in a pinch if you don't mind the 11 inch screen and is portable as fuck for how powerful it is.
I live in a town where people park BMW 5s and 7s outside because the maserati and ferrari are inside and they dont wanna get a bigger house because they like the "neighbourhood"
Thanks ill go find that computer.
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A lot of students can get discounts on Macs, so that might make it worth it. I'd personally prefer a PC, but if the Mac price is cut for some reason then it may very well be worth it.
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On June 07 2010 12:09 sob3k wrote:
Are you AT ALL tech savvy....(If you can google computer problems to fix and don't do retarded shit like delete system32) I would def vote PC...its going to be much faster and more compatible for the same price. I have owned both macs and PC's for years, Macs are user friendly but you pay a HUGE premium for that little bit. I love my pc to death and it has never given me even a hint of problems.
PC unless you are a tech-tard
btw-I have no idea where you got the idea that pc's have bad battery life.
PC's have awful battery life compared to macs you must plug it in often. i plan to use my pc for over a year. after 1 year PC's need to recharged every 2 hours. macs last 5-6 after a year
im not a tech tard im saying the tech support is awful when you need your PC itself fixed. not the software
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Meh, my parents got me a mac for college. Honestly, I don't like it any better or worse than I would've liked a windows. As a result, I'd say stick with windows since macs are way more expensive. Also, I have to dual-boot to play starcraft which is kind of a pain sometimes. (You can install bw on mac, but there is a lag between clicking and the computer responding which is really annoying. Also, no anti-hack.)
I'd give you suggestions, but I don't really know anything at all about computers; just that macs are way more expensive and not that much better.
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On June 07 2010 12:04 Mykill wrote:
This is what i came up with for Macs
Pros:
Decently fast startup
Good support (if you drive to the apple store)
Looks cool
User Friendly
Great battery life
Cons:
Processing power (I cant run iTunes, Safari, Msn together)
Awful heating problems because its all one big case
Crazy fan (if i run a flash game the mac sounds like its taking off a runway)
Awful compatibility
Expensive
From my limited knowledge of PC laptops ( i dont have one)
Pros
Also fast (Windows 7)
Very compatible
Cheap
Great graphics and gaming
Cons:
Awful tech support (try calling HP)
Bad battery life
eh, the user friendlyness of macs depends on the individual. i started using a pc and never thought it was difficult to navigate or get stuff done. i've used macs a couple times (my friends') and i didn't like it (well i'm used to using a pc). but they like using macs. this is something you have to decide if you're deciding between mac and pc.
battery life - i dunno much about macs, but my dell laptop has around 5-6 hours on max performance and around 7 or 8 hours on power saver; it has a 9v battery. i just use this in my room, around campus, and in class sometimes and i've never had it die on me in a place without an outlet.
looks cool - meh, personal taste again. i don't really like its look. do YOU think it looks cool?
based on these and the cons you listed for macs, i don't see why you wouldn't want a pc over a mac.
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On June 07 2010 12:15 Melancholia wrote:
A lot of students can get discounts on Macs, so that might make it worth it. I'd personally prefer a PC, but if the Mac price is cut for some reason then it may very well be worth it.
what kind of discounts?
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It depends entirely upon how much you are willing to spend. I would not recommend buying a Macbook Pro that is not 15'' or above.
But as a Macbook Pro user (Using the original 15'' Aluminum body) there are some major complaints I have with the design. Not sure if you will be annoyed with them as well, but here they are:
1. Aluminum Body: Apple markets this as a 'feature' because the aluminum serves as a heatsink (a place where heat gets dumped). No idea why they did it because the laptop still gets extremely hot, and if you try to put it on your lap, it hits 70C or so and becomes very uncomfortable to use. I don't want a heatsink on my lap.
2. Keyboard: The keyboard is absolutely terrible, but I hate 99% of all laptop keyboards so this normally isn't much of an issue.
3. USB 2.0: There are only 2 USB ports. If you are somebody like me who likes to be able to use a mouse and keyboard, you will not be able to connect a printer/flashdrive/etc without disconnecting one, and it gets very annoying very quickly. They are also spaced about 2mm apart which means that the larger USB devices will conflict with each other.
4. Poor battery life: I'm not sure why, but this laptop gets around 3 hours just with browsing the internet and using IRC (not even using music). Not impressive at all to me. This could just be a problem with my Macbook Pro though.
As far as your cons go:
CPU power is not a problem. All of the current macs provide plenty of processing power that will suit your needs easily. Maybe not good for their price range, but they will run programs absolutely fine.
Support has honestly been so-so for me. Last year my HDD died, and after making an appointment with the Apple store, I still had to wait for a long time, and then it took them a week to get my Macbook Pro back to me.
Compatibility is one of the biggest issues with the Mac. You're really stuck with 3rd rate replacements most of the time when it comes to software, and unless you only plan on playing Blizzard games, you will not be able to game at all really.
As for the Pros of the mac (which there are quite a few)
1. Weight: It's actually a fairly light laptop and I like how slim it is. Makes it more portable
2. Visuals: Scoff all you like, but despite the flaws of the functionality, looking at it is a joy (unlike looking at ugly gaming laptops or something). Though ASUS and HP have improved greatly on this front.
3. Mac OS X: This is the biggest pro of the Macbook Pro imo. I honestly believe that Mac OS X is a great OS because while it does have its flaws, most of the most important system properties are easy to access and adjust. Most of the stuff is very straight forward, and unlike Windows, you never have to defrag your hard drive because Mac OS X is very good with HDD management. Though it does not give you as much power as Windows would give you since there are many settings you cannot change (mouse acceleration comes to mind)
4. Charger: I cannot express well enough how awesome the Macbook Pro charger is. There are so many times where I accidently trip over the cord, but it never results in a broken mac because it is comes right off. The magnet thing is one of the most awesome ideas I have ever seen in my life.
I have never really had many problems with my PCs, but I have never actually used Windows 7 extensively so I'll hold back here.
Edit: Another thing I don't like about the Macbook Pro is the connectivity. There is a firewire (largely useless), 2 USB (painfully small amount), Ethernet (obv required), Audio Jack (required), Microphone Jack (useless: disabled automatically by firmware), and a Mini DisplayPort. The biggest problem I have with it is the Mini DisplayPort. Apple expects you to pay $30 for a goddamn DVI-DisplayPort adapter which I find absolutely ridiculous.
And honestly, on a laptop that is so expensive, I would have liked it if Apple had supported USB 3.0 ports (and eSATA too please!) with their new line of Macbook Pros.
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Get a PC laptop. I recommend either Dell or IBM.
The primary difference between a Mac and a PC is that PCs are customizable. They allow you to do a lot of stuff that Macs don't give you the option to. The downside is that you can do stuff to screw up the PC. There's a lot of heat about how PCs crash, blue screen, etc, but these situations all pretty much all created from the user screwing something up. If you simply keep your drivers updated, remove corrupt files, and fix errors, you will rarely ever have any problems.
The advantage of a Mac is that it's restrictive. It restricts the user to a certain number of functionalities tailored towards the common user. At a higher price, a mac user can go on facebook and read email without the worry of screwing things up. If going on facebook and downloading songs onto your ipod is all you do, paying about 1.5 times more for a laptop may or may not be worth it, it's up to you.
In the end, a PC is worth it. If you are getting a lot of crashes or blue screens and you don't know what to do, get a friend from computing science, or make a post on TL and we'll get you fixed. If you end up getting a mac and you have problems, then the only advise we can give you is to get a PC, because there's nothing else you can really do.
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Uh, if you get a mac and have problems you generally don't need to go online to find help because you just send it to the Apple store anyways. It's a waste of time trying to diagnose a Mac problem on a forum when you can just send it to the Apple store and get it fixed/new computer...
Also, IBM doesn't sell laptops anymore. They sold their ThinkPad line to Lenovo, and I really would not recommend a ThinkPad. It's an overpriced computer with very limited graphics power at the lower to mid end, and with a very high price tag on the high end.
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On June 07 2010 12:15 Mykill wrote:Show nested quote +On June 07 2010 12:09 sob3k wrote:
Are you AT ALL tech savvy....(If you can google computer problems to fix and don't do retarded shit like delete system32) I would def vote PC...its going to be much faster and more compatible for the same price. I have owned both macs and PC's for years, Macs are user friendly but you pay a HUGE premium for that little bit. I love my pc to death and it has never given me even a hint of problems.
PC unless you are a tech-tard
btw-I have no idea where you got the idea that pc's have bad battery life. PC's have awful battery life compared to macs you must plug it in often. i plan to use my pc for over a year. after 1 year PC's need to recharged every 2 hours. macs last 5-6 after a year im not a tech tard im saying the tech support is awful when you need your PC itself fixed. not the software
The battery life generally depends on the quality of the battery, laptop hardware, and your usage habits. You can't just say "pc's have an awful battery life compared to macs." That's wrong. Some laptops will have better batteries than others just like some MacBooks have better batteries than other models of MacBooks.
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Do not get an HP laptop, the bloatware alone is enough for me to never use one again
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EPT
