If I have to buy a new laptop (or desktop) which ones should I AVOID and why?

Don’t buy Lauren’s, nor Giampaolo’s.

They’re underpowered with low screen density and terrible battery life.

Aviod crApples.

My girlfriend recently bought a toshiba and its quite nice.

I don’t really have anything to contribute, but I’ve been saving up for a laptop and want to follow this question.

Well, you already know not to buy another Sony. I would stay away from Gateway, Compaq, and HP laptops, although their desktop systems are all right.

I like Dell, Lenovo, Toshiba, and Asus, in pretty much that order, once again talking laptops. If you’re talking desktops, anything with an Intel motherboard will suit you. All the other parts can be changed out to suit your preferences.

And as always – if Mac is the answer, you don’t know what the question was.

The mention of “new software” got me wondering about total cost of ownership. As it turns out, Macs are consistently reported as costing you less money over time.

Now, if you have a bunch of old software bundles laying around that you don’t want to re-purchase, then I want to remind you that a Mac can indeed slum it and run Windows, either directly via Bootcamp or through virtualization, like VMware Fusion.

Point is, I don’t think you should discount a Mac based on price alone.

Now, if you want a laptop with a Firewire port for $1,500 or less, then you’re making an informed choice based on available features and a particular price point.

I have a gateway laptop and its good for what I do with it. I play games, for the same money I could have build a much nicer desktop but I wanted to take it from my Mom’s house to my Dad’s house. Gateways build quality of their laptops is not the greatest but they have some good deals. Stay away from gateway if your going to travel a lot. I would stay away from Compaq they make terrible things. Hp should be a last resort, Dells are much better value and Acer always surprises, Asus too. For the price your looking at I would recommend a dell XPS, or load up something from Lenovo. Also most companies employ people in India for tech support, you may not get them the first time but try calling again.

Oh, and in terms of support: Apple has over 200 stores worldwide where you can take your product in and have an expert look at it right there.

Where’s an HP store, Dell store, Gateway store, Toshiba store where you can do the same?

I would avoid Toshiba laptops. They are known for having overheating problems.

i have a compaq, and it is great!

@robmandu You know that most of what a mac has a PC can do for much less, and both need anti virus but their are very good ones for free on the PC, the Mac is more expensive.

@tehran, no, it’s not obvious. And Apple’s official position is that Macs do not need anti-virus.

Even a PC loaded up with equivalent technical functionality to a Mac still cannot do everything a Mac does.
– Macs can natively run every major desktop OS. PCs cannot (legally).
– Apple’s new unibody laptops are comprised of highly recyclable aluminum and glass and reduces use of many non-enviro friendly materials. Dell’s weak-ass attempt at the same is so expensive and so poor in performance that it’s just laughable.

You confusing quality with bargain basement. They are not the same. Macs consistently come up as good value when compared to PCs: 1, 2, 3.

I’ll let @robmandu handle @tehrani625. :) He’s doing just fine making the case for Apple. I wonder where all the hostility comes from?

If you just want a PC, stick with Dell or Lenovo. MSI has some great, cheap little machines coming out, and the build quality and hackability of my MSI wind is great.

If you want the most options for software and the most operating system flexibility, Macs are the way to go. I use both “closed” OS’s on most of my computers, and rarely do I boot into Windows. Only when absolutely necessary. It’s nice having the option, though.

@tonedef, brevity ≠ hostility.

@robmandu, I was placing the hostility on people who say things like, “Aviod crApples.”

oh, that’s just his way. ;-)

who me???? :P

@tonedef The hostility comes from iTunes being mean and not playing well with the music that I bought from it. Its also from my mac book’s HD dieing and loosing all my stuff, I had most of it backed up but I lost A LOT. I have PC fan boy tendencies and most people have PC’s and the rest are running some variation of Unix.

If you’re not backing it up, then it must not be important. Sorry you got burned, @tehrani625, but I’m not sure how that’s a failing of the Mac vs. any other vendor.

As far as iTunes goes, no idea what kind of problems you encountered, but it likely had to do in some way with the DRM… and Steve Jobs is famous for leading the charge to remove DRM. The RIAA has their rules, though… so again, I’m not sure the blame is well placed.

So all the PC software I have, I could run on a Mac? The different hardware could be invisible?

Yes, indeed!

Using VMware Fusion, you can run Windows in a window and copy & paste between your Mac apps and your Windows apps and everything.

Homeless Frank got it right! Hahahaha!

Dell

Don’t buy an Acer!!

@robmandu you will need at least 2gig of ram though, I attempt to use it on my mac book but with a gig of ram you may consider suicide, its that slow. To do this you also have to have a legal copy of windows, if you pirate it then you would be better off buying a PC in the first place, and putting OSX on it that is only questionably legal, not proven to be illegal. Also iTunes looses files at random, paid and ripped music.

PS: congrats to the iTunes store for dropping DRM on everything, I still think they are Nazis.

a very good computer that would last a long long time is Compaq and another good computer would be Dell

Get a Macbook pro and never look back trust me i been a Windows Power users since 2000 with windows the maintenance is too high plus dam viruses suck MAC i know they are expensive but they are the best true 7+Hours of mobile battery life also no virus and they work just turn it on your ready to go!!

The thing to consider is i once purchased a toshiba m200 tablet laptop for £1700 direct from toshiba 5 years later i came round to sell it all i got for it is £200 what a joke then after that i purchased a macbook pro intel core 2 duo model picked that up for £350 sold 6 months later £500 the pointing im making with Mac you will not lose your money with PC you will and thats a FACT?

Look for a used intel COREi7 Macbook pro for around 800 bucks ??? if you dont like it sell it and trust me you will get your money back :) and if you where to do that with pc no bloody way you will get your money back!!