Time To Buy a New Laptop

[Kimbos_Evil_Bread]

so I'm in the market for a new laptop, I have a Mac desktop but I want to get a PC laptop and since I've been a Mac guy for so long I don't know a good affordable PC laptop to get.  It's for music making and movie editing mainly.  

any suggestions fellow jacketeers?

[Penny Lane]

i would stay away from Dell and go w/IBM or HP--they'll probably last longer

[aMD]

I have an HP and it does the job.  If the purpose is music and movie making Mac is still the best though.

[Kimbos_Evil_Bread]

I have an HP and it does the job.  If the purpose is music and movie making Mac is still the best though.

that's true but I dont want to buy a PC emulator as well as the new laptop.  

[BH]

You can get a Dell cheap, but after two years I am already having problems with the battery/cord/connection that is about ready to render mine useless.

My work laptop is a Toshiba and I have been very happpy with it.  I've only had it about six months but I have heard other people say good things about theirs as well.  I think you can get the base model right now for about $550.  

I've always been a believer in buying the cheapest computer available.  It was the most expensive one just six months ago.

[Jaimoe]

I'd buy an Apple. Great quality, great software and hardware and excellent support service. Plus, the prices are very competetive with those knock-off computers like Dell that flood the market headquartered in India and China.

[Angry Ewok]

I went from a Mac tower to a PC laptop, and the motor blew out (and took the hard drive with it) in two years and I lost all of my work and all of my pornography. Be prepared for that kind of thing - it'll take some adjusting to.

[Angry Ewok]

I'd buy an Apple.

Bingo.

[Kimbos_Evil_Bread]

hmmm..I've been really satisfied with my Mac and it's going on 4 years with her now.  

[thatswhatshesaid]

i would highly recommend a macbook too. i switched to  one after dealing with PC's for years. i was shocked at how much more reliable they are. i couldn't imagine going back to a PC now.

[aMD]

I have a tablet PC for school.  It's pretty cool.  You can flip over the screen and write on it like a notebook.  If you write something in freehand it can convert it to text for ya.

[ManNamedTruth]

That new MacBook Air does look really sweet, just saying.

[tomEisenbraun]

I have an HP and it does the job.  If the purpose is music and movie making Mac is still the best though.

that's true but I dont want to buy a PC emulator as well as the new laptop.  

No need.

http://store.apple.com/AppleStore/WebObjects/EducationIndividualCustom.woa/9364006/wa/PSLID?mco=7E4EB91E&nplm=TN831LL/A&wosid=X64BMmqPNdQL2LqWPst1QISw7ov

If that doesn't load, then google Parallels Mac and it'll pull it up. Very cool program, but you need a new version of Windows to install on there. Or if you've still got a license awaiting an allotted household install from a different PC of yours, that ought to work, too!

[tomEisenbraun]

Whoops!

Definitely meant to post VMWare Fusion, rather than Parallels. Parallels looks alright, but the groovy thing about Fusion is the fact that you don't have to have the Virtual Desktop open to run the Windows programs. You can just open them up and run them from the dock. Very very nice. Comparing the reviews between the two on Apple's online store, Fusion looks to be a definite winner. Looks like it's very capable and doesn't bog your computer down.

What kind of Windows-only stuff would you be running?

http://www.vmware.com/products/fusion/


Plus, there's a great $20 rebate on the sucker if you buy it now!

http://www.vmware.com/landing_pages/fusion_rebate.html

[Kimbos_Evil_Bread]

Whoops!

Definitely meant to post VMWare Fusion, rather than Parallels. Parallels looks alright, but the groovy thing about Fusion is the fact that you don't have to have the Virtual Desktop open to run the Windows programs. You can just open them up and run them from the dock. Very very nice. Comparing the reviews between the two on Apple's online store, Fusion looks to be a definite winner. Looks like it's very capable and doesn't bog your computer down.

What kind of Windows-only stuff would you be running?

http://www.vmware.com/products/fusion/


Plus, there's a great $20 rebate on the sucker if you buy it now!

http://www.vmware.com/landing_pages/fusion_rebate.html

ahhh man this is killer!  thanks a lot for the links and everyone for your help, I think I'm gonna go with the macbook and get this program to interface with windows needed stuff.

Thanks again for all your help eveyone!

[tomEisenbraun]

Whoops!

Definitely meant to post VMWare Fusion, rather than Parallels. Parallels looks alright, but the groovy thing about Fusion is the fact that you don't have to have the Virtual Desktop open to run the Windows programs. You can just open them up and run them from the dock. Very very nice. Comparing the reviews between the two on Apple's online store, Fusion looks to be a definite winner. Looks like it's very capable and doesn't bog your computer down.

What kind of Windows-only stuff would you be running?

http://www.vmware.com/products/fusion/


Plus, there's a great $20 rebate on the sucker if you buy it now!

http://www.vmware.com/landing_pages/fusion_rebate.html

ahhh man this is killer!  thanks a lot for the links and everyone for your help, I think I'm gonna go with the macbook and get this program to interface with windows needed stuff.

Thanks again for all your help eveyone!

Very cool! Glad I could help!

I've got a G4 PowerBook from before the Intel processor switch. I thought my Mac was sweet. Then less than a year later they announced the upgrade. It's just gone downhill from there... if I'd known these suckers were on the way, I would've waited a year, no question. The Intel core Macs blow all the previous ones way out of the water. With the new update to the MacBooks last week, you'll hardly be out of luck on these suckers. If the the multi-touch trackpad feature is important to you, I might wait another month and a half or so to see if they work it into the MacBooks. However, I've survived three years on one of these machines without it, and while I'm sure it can make a few things easier to do, it's probably not essential?

[Kimbos_Evil_Bread]

Whoops!

Definitely meant to post VMWare Fusion, rather than Parallels. Parallels looks alright, but the groovy thing about Fusion is the fact that you don't have to have the Virtual Desktop open to run the Windows programs. You can just open them up and run them from the dock. Very very nice. Comparing the reviews between the two on Apple's online store, Fusion looks to be a definite winner. Looks like it's very capable and doesn't bog your computer down.

What kind of Windows-only stuff would you be running?

http://www.vmware.com/products/fusion/


Plus, there's a great $20 rebate on the sucker if you buy it now!

http://www.vmware.com/landing_pages/fusion_rebate.html

ahhh man this is killer!  thanks a lot for the links and everyone for your help, I think I'm gonna go with the macbook and get this program to interface with windows needed stuff.

Thanks again for all your help eveyone!

Very cool! Glad I could help!

I've got a G4 PowerBook from before the Intel processor switch. I thought my Mac was sweet. Then less than a year later they announced the upgrade. It's just gone downhill from there... if I'd known these suckers were on the way, I would've waited a year, no question. The Intel core Macs blow all the previous ones way out of the water. With the new update to the MacBooks last week, you'll hardly be out of luck on these suckers. If the the multi-touch trackpad feature is important to you, I might wait another month and a half or so to see if they work it into the MacBooks. However, I've survived three years on one of these machines without it, and while I'm sure it can make a few things easier to do, it's probably not essential?

I think they already did my friend!

http://www.apple.com/macbookair/features.html

[tomEisenbraun]

Oh I know! That's what I was talking about-- they just haven't ported the feature into the plain MacBook yet... MB Pro and Air are covered though... seems logical it would make it to the MacBook, but it's not there just yet...

[Ed_Wiser]

The MacBook would the logical choice as you can use a OSX and Windows.
I use Fusion when I need a Windows program which is rare.

[tomEisenbraun]

Hey Ed!

Can you give us any info on Fusion? You need a license for Windows to run it on there, right? Can you explain how you got it set up? I've never known anyone with it on there, and I'm pretty sure Kimbo is quite curious, too!