Technology Better laptop for Med School? Mac or Dell

[jaybirdnascar]

Hey guys - I am in the market for a new laptop before starting school. Which would you recommend? I personally like the ibook and dells, so any input would be great to sway my opinion. Thanks.

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[Dart1516]

I've been an avid PC supporter. But I'm switching over to MAC in august. I've heard too many bad things about Vista.

 

[Critical Mass]

Dell notebooks invariably suck. I've tried twice with them, and I've wound up sending both of them back within 2 days of taking them out of the box.

I refuse to switch to Mac out of principle. I recommend Sony Vaio.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

Hey guys - I am in the market for a new laptop before starting school. Which would you recommend? I personally like the ibook and dells, so any input would be great to sway my opinion. Thanks.

the ibook isn't made anymore...

I just bought a macbook a few weeks ago and I couldn't be happier. little things like the magnetic power adapter, a user-friendly OS, and the fact that I paid only marginally more for it than I would have for a dell make it even sweeter.

If you need to run windows, you can install it on the intel based macs, so its really a hardware situation. Apple simply puts out better built laptops.

 

[menaniac]

Hey guys - I am in the market for a new laptop before starting school. Which would you recommend? I personally like the ibook and dells, so any input would be great to sway my opinion. Thanks.

Love my new Mac! Fast, light and virus- (and Vista-) free! I just got it a few weeks ago, and its totally great. Its my 1st laptop, always had a desk-top before, but its really super. I currently work on both Mac and PC desktops, and I greatly prefer the Mac system. Just my personal preference...no flames required! I would say figgure out what system you prefer, and go with that system.

 

[njbmd]

Moving to Technology where the knowledgeable Geeks reside. Others can follow, post an answer and join their ranks.

 

[tscottturner]

Hey guys - I am in the market for a new laptop before starting school. Which would you recommend? I personally like the ibook and dells, so any input would be great to sway my opinion. Thanks.

Go the mac route. If you don't like OS X, Apple hardware is (ironically) still considered the most reliable to run Windows XP or Vista on. Or you can run both on it, which has come in very handy for me on several occasions.

 

[MR. C]

yeah you cant go wrong with the mac.. You have OSX and can still use windows IF needed.. but I rarely use windows.

iBook isnt made anymore, the macbook replaced it and the macbook pro replaced the powerbook.

the only drawback is the price, but I feel its worth it.

 

[Sprite]

I know I'm going with Mac. I don't want to waste my time trying to fix my PC or re-activate my system because Microsoft Windows Genuine Advantage's Licensing decides to have a beef with my computer.

 

[alwaysaangel]

Once you go mac you'll never go back.

All the crashing problems, reformats etc just don't happen on macs. I'm switching as soon as they update the macbook pros. Most of my friends have macs and the only time a program crashes or lags is when its a Microsoft based program that they're running (eg. Office).

They're well built machines, the OS is far more stable, there are no viruses (and some people will claim that they don't exist simply because not enough people use macs and no one has bothered to make a virus for it - this is not true and no one with any clue what they were talking about would claim it. OS X is based on a different system than windows making it more secure).

I think you would be very happy on the mac once you spend a day or two getting comfortable with the features.

 

[paceylp]

After playing around with my friend's macbook I kinda fell in love. I like the simplicity of it all. With regards to not having too much trouble with viruses on a mac, do most people run anti-virus protection software on their mac anyway? Also, I have quite a collection of songs on itunes on my current PC, anyone know how easy it is to switch my collection over to a mac?

 

[alwaysaangel]

After playing around with my friend's macbook I kinda fell in love. I like the simplicity of it all. With regards to not having too much trouble with viruses on a mac, do most people run anti-virus protection software on their mac anyway? Also, I have quite a collection of songs on itunes on my current PC, anyone know how easy it is to switch my collection over to a mac?

They make Norton anti-virus etc for Macs, but I don't personally know a single person who actually uses it.

As far as switching it over - you just need to back it up somewhere. I would recommend just getting an external - putting all your music, etc on that. Then once your mac is set up you can just pull it off your harddrive onto the Mac.

 

[Dr Who]

They make Norton anti-virus etc for Macs, but I don't personally know a single person who actually uses it.

As far as switching it over - you just need to back it up somewhere. I would recommend just getting an external - putting all your music, etc on that. Then once your mac is set up you can just pull it off your harddrive onto the Mac.

Following Alwaysaangels's advice you can also set up an external hard drive such that you can share files between OS X and windows. I believe if you format the hard drive using FAT 32 then you can readily share the hard drive and transfer any files between your mac and windows.
There is a great program I use called macdrive which basically lets me read and write between windows and OS X, even if the windows partition is using the NFTS format. The OS X partition (or HDD) appears as a hard drive icon which you can readily acces in either operating system. It works great. I believe the next version of OS X will have this feature built into it, as Apple seems to be looking for ways to integrate OS X and windows in a more user friendly way. What better way to market a product you deem superior than to permit it to work side by side with the competitor's product which you deem inferior.

 

[tscottturner]

With regards to not having too much trouble with viruses on a mac, do most people run anti-virus protection software on their mac anyway?

I don't know of anyone that actually runs any type of anti-virus software on a mac. Like others have said, it's out there but no one uses it.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

I'm a PC-lifer....but may be another mac convert. I've had all sorts of laptops for biz and personal use....and I have been underwhelmed by most of them (the exception being the ThinkPad....T series, i think?) I've had 4 separate hardware issues with my Dell 700m, all in the last year.(albeit the 3rd year of use) The latitude (I think that is the one) is built more solidly, but $$. For the same money...get a mac.

-t

 

[Moderation]

I've been a PC user for years, but when vista came out I knew it was time for change. I bought a macbook a couple of weeks ago and haven't looked back since. Everything is just better on a mac, plus it's easier to use. Take a test run at your local Apple store and you'll see what I mean.

 

[crazy_cavalier]

Neither. Sony Vaio.