Laptop Advice

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QofQuimica

QofQuimica

Seriously, dude, I think you're overreacting....
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I need some help from all of you IT-to-MD folks, and any other techie geeks or people who have recently bought a laptop are welcome to chime in too. My current laptop is five years old and not doing too well. I "chose" this one because it was what my med school wanted us to use. This is my long-winded way of saying that I have no idea what I really need in a laptop. But here are the things I'm looking for, more or less in order of importance:

  • Reliable for surfing the web, playing music/podcasts, running SETI as my screensaver, watching the occasional movie, and playing videos without crashing.
  • Enough storage space to hold my music collection; I got rid of all my CDs a while ago, so I have quite a bit of music on my external HD because most of it wouldn't fit on my current computer. It has a 60 GB HD, which is obviously too small, but on the other hand, do I really need one that runs in the TB?
  • Not ridiculously expensive--even though I'm making the big bucks now as an intern, I still need to reign in my technology spending urges to a non-insane level. 😛
  • Reasonably portable with decent battery life. I don't know how much I'll be carrying it around with me, but I'd like to have that option. I won't be doing a ton of traveling this year, but I do like taking the laptop with me when I travel.

Things I don't care about as much, or at all:
  • I don't have strong preferences for PC versus Mac, and for those of you who are Mac diehards, what is it about Macs that make them worth the extra cost?
  • Appearance of the machine. I don't care about having the the shiniest, coolest looking computer. I just want it to work.

Also, if it affects your advice at all, I will be receiving an Apple Itouch from my residency program within the next couple of weeks. I have never used one before (my smart phone is a BB), so I know nothing at all about coordinating these things, or if that's even possible.

Things were so much easier when the med school just said, "This is what you'll be using, and you'll like it." :d
 
Not really a tech person either, but I'm on my third mac laptop (ibook then 2 macbooks), and I'm pretty happy. I can't say I wouldn't buy a PC, but I can't see any reason not to keep on buying macs either.

Pros:
- reasonable price (not the cheapest, but largely because they don't cater to the bottom of the market)
- good battery life
- good construction/weight
- attractive (I know you don't care, but I had to throw that in there 🙂 )
- you don't have to worry much about viruses. Apparently there are some now but still nowhere near as bad as a PC.
- and lastly, it's got that intangible smoother just working better being better designed type of vibe.
 
prone2xl said:
I wanna hear more about this SETI screensaver. I googled it, and it appears that they took the original one away? what was it like?
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The screensaver is still available. You can read about it and download it from their website here. I was a SETI classic participant also, and I really didn't notice a ton of difference between the screensavers before and after they converted.

Thanks for the input, Bagel and Cheese. (Haha, that food combination was totally not intentional, which made it all the more hilarious!)
 
Ok...as a former hardware engineer, I will play "provocateur". 😀 I'll start by saying I have both Macs and PCs currently and have owned several in the past. I think you should go Mac.

As an up-and-coming resident, I think you need to put a monetary price on your free time, Q. You need to ask yourself if you need to spend additional time candy-dancing around, installing crappy software, scanning for viruses, etc. etc. I think the Mac provides adequate built-in backup software, slick design, good battery life, and good portability.

Furthermore, you are not doing Hyper-spectral analysis, and you are not an astronaut trying to do your taxes. So you don't need Watson. Stick with an out-of-the-box works-like-it-should platform. Plus Apple customer service is great, IMHO. Look into used Mac Airbooks and I don't think you will be disappointed.
 
Credentials: I use a Mac at home (have done so since '03) and a Dell at work (company-provided), where I have been a software engineer for the last 7+ years. I love my Mac for much of the reasons enumerated above, but I've had the chance to use Windows 7 for a month or so now.

My opinion: There's very little to distinguish the two platforms based on your stated needs except for cost. Windows 7 is on par with Mac OS X as far as typical consumer requirements in my experience, and iPods will get along just fine with either. I'd just get the Lenovo that Cheese suggested.
 
If you are getting an iPad, I think you would likely be happier with a mac.

While I loved my Lenovo, I have found recently that many of the pc-era laptops have been more and more cheaply made and it shows. You can definitely get a cheap laptop, but for compatibility, ease of use, speed, I would probably go with mac. The extra cost will definitely be worth it.
 
I've worked in the Windows software industry for 20 years and I won't buy another PC. I just got a Macbook Air and so far I dig it greatly.

If you need or want a PC, I agree w/the Lenovo recommendation. But I also think that the $250 netbooks are surprisingly adequate.

Good luck!
 
Been selling and repairing mac's and PC's for 8 years now. Mac's and PC's are both great. For me though, Mac's are very similar to dial-up vs broadband situation; once you get broadband, there is no going back to dial-up. When I use my PC desktop at home at get really frustrated with it, not because there is something wrong with it, but just because it is missing some features that I use on a Mac all the time. Such as the amazing trackpad on the Mac that can let you do so much depending on the amount of fingers you use and the preview feature where you can open almost any file instantly and get a preview of it, open music, pictures, documents, movies, pdf's etc, without actually opening the program to launch the file. Now, mac's aren't immune to viruses, but it's very rare you will actually get one, it's so nice to not have to worry about buying antivirus software, and running scans. Mac's are overall a little bit faster, and last little bit longer in my opinion.

Based on what you said you will be using it for, almost any computer on the market will be fine for you, and the size that hard drives have gotten now, I would not worry about the storage space. Lenovo is a great brand for PCs, however, I don't think a netbook is a good option. Good luck!
 
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So it seems like it's coming down to a Lenovo versus a Macbook Air. I feel like I should put up a poll. I mean, people make six figure decisions about what med school to attend based on the opinions of random people on SDN, so why shouldn't I buy a computer that way??? :meanie:

All kidding aside, I really appreciate the input. Thanks. 🙂
 
Both options are somewhat expensive. Here is what I would be deciding between:
1. macbook. Small, compact, adequate.
2. macbook air. thin, light, really stinkin' cute.
3. Lenovo tablet. More like the size of the macbook. I found the tablet features to be absolutely fabulous and wouldn't do without 'em. Just too valuable in my eyes.

In terms of price:
macbook and macbook air. The air can be more expensive if you upgrade.
lenovo tablet if you get the regular x220 is about the same price. The multitouch is more expensive.
 
QofQuimica said:
So it seems like it's coming down to a Lenovo versus a Macbook Air. I feel like I should put up a poll. I mean, people make six figure decisions about what med school to attend based on the opinions of random people on SDN, so why shouldn't I buy a computer that way??? :meanie:

All kidding aside, I really appreciate the input. Thanks. 🙂
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I can't believe it. Q is trying to start a religious war! What is this, is she just nervous about starting her residency in July and needs something to distract her?
 
Based on the comments in this thread, I would venture to guess that hardly any of these commenters have used Windows 7 for any length of time. Apple has a nice product but they're really selling you a PC with a different OS for an incredible price premium. Structurally Macs and PCs are very similar. They use the same logical architecture. The only difference is Apple's OS vs Windows 7. For the price of a decent mac, you could buy 2 laptop PCs.

Also, Apple isn't inherently more secure, it has security by obscurity. If / when it ever really takes off, it will become a target of more virus producers.

My credentials? Various levels of I.T. (including security) for >10 years. I've been on the fixing end and I can guarantee that macs aren't any better than PCs in this department.
 
EdLongshanks said:
I can't believe it. Q is trying to start a religious war! What is this, is she just nervous about starting her residency in July and needs something to distract her?
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No, not a religious war; I'm just unfortunately replacing my old laptop about six months earlier than I had intended. Irreconcilable differences and all. 🙁

Are any of you familiar with the Lenovo IdeaPad Ultraportable? It seems like the major downside of it is that it has a relatively low battery life of around three hours. It also doesn't have a DVD drive. The former is about what I'm getting now, so it's not the end of the world for me. The latter may be somewhat of an issue, although I've started renting movies online now rather than using DVDs. But I do own some DVDs--I could just watch them on my old computer, I guess.
 
Price range, portability, software needs, warranty desires, and screen-size are all major factors. You should give more info, if you want a good answer.

I personally I have had experience with Dell, Alienware, and Mac and would recommend them for different needs, from reputation Lenovo would be a member of that club. However, I have had bad experiences with HP.

On a side note if you like/need Office check out the link below. It is a great deal for students.http://www.microsoft.com/student/en/us/office/default.aspx

Added

Check out Alienware M11x if you are looking at smaller computers. You can buy external DVD drives for around $40.
 
RNwantDO said:
Price range, portability, software needs, warranty desires, and screen-size are all major factors. You should give more info, if you want a good answer.

I personally I have had experience with Dell, Alienware, and Mac and would recommend them for different needs, from reputation Lenovo would be a member of that club. However, I have had bad experiences with HP.

On a side note if you like/need Office check out the link below. It is a great deal for students.http://www.microsoft.com/student/en/us/office/default.aspx
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Price range: negotiable. I don't want to spend extra money needlessly, but I need a decent machine that I can use and that will (hopefully) last me 3-5 years. I'm not going to quibble over a few hundred dollars extra if I get what I need and want for the money.

Portability: I think most laptops would probably suffice. Basically, the one I have now is very bulky and heavy, and I'd like to go lighter. Don't need it to fit into the palm of my hand or anything like that though.

Software needs: very basic. Adobe, MS Office, virus software, firefox, itunes, nothing too fancy.

Warranty desires: I don't know. I've never used a computer warranty. Probably wouldn't buy an extended warranty, because at some point, it's less hassle and not much more expensive to just replace the darn thing rather than trying to repair it.

Screen size: don't really care that much. I definitely don't want to pay a lot more just to have an extra half inch of diagonal screen space.

I'm not a student anymore, so I can't get the student discount.
 
Been with IT for 15 years. Just got a m14x with coupons for 999. Love it to death. I get about 5-6 hours with internet turned off and around 3-4.5 internet on with browsing. Has the power to do some games, videos, encoding, 14" screen with dvd drive. Resale value with alienwares are high as I sold my m11x for 3/4 value I bought it for. The looks though don't scream professional.... 🙂 Also yes macs have the same guts as pc's. You can put OSX on current pc's if they are of the right build.

Good luck!
 
I think from the sounds of wanting a good experience, not shy to spend a little extra and good battery life. I would suggest any Alienware, Apple, or the premium models from Dell/Lenovo.

I am partial to Alienware if you don't mind the look, and weight. They have some nice extras like a lighted excellent keyboard, nameplate, ability to play high-end games. Get one on sale and they are are not to expensive.

To bad about not being a student you could have gotten a free xbox.
 
QofQuimica said:
Price range: negotiable. I don't want to spend extra money needlessly, but I need a decent machine that I can use and that will (hopefully) last me 3-5 years. I'm not going to quibble over a few hundred dollars extra if I get what I need and want for the money.

Portability: I think most laptops would probably suffice. Basically, the one I have now is very bulky and heavy, and I'd like to go lighter. Don't need it to fit into the palm of my hand or anything like that though.

Software needs: very basic. Adobe, MS Office, virus software, firefox, itunes, nothing too fancy.

Warranty desires: I don't know. I've never used a computer warranty. Probably wouldn't buy an extended warranty, because at some point, it's less hassle and not much more expensive to just replace the darn thing rather than trying to repair it.

Screen size: don't really care that much. I definitely don't want to pay a lot more just to have an extra half inch of diagonal screen space.

I'm not a student anymore, so I can't get the student discount.
Click to expand...

Battery life is incredibly important. You won't realize how important until you need it and don't have it. If you don't really care that much about screen size, then smaller screen both increases your battery life and decreases weight.

I love my HP TouchSmart tm2. The touchscreen is addictive. I find myself touching regular computer screens and expecting them to respond. The screen also flips around and the computer behaves as a tablet. I loved mine so much that I bought my son one also. I bought the 3 year extended warranty and already used it twice, so maybe the hardware is weak, but I love the instant desktop support, both software and hardware.
 
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Simplify said:
Structurally Macs and PCs are very similar. They use the same logical architecture.
Click to expand...

Computer architecturally, yes. But "structurally," that is, build-wise, the unibody construction of Macbooks is not matched by any laptop PC I've seen.
 
mauberley said:
Computer architecturally, yes. But "structurally," that is, build-wise, the unibody construction of Macbooks is not matched by any laptop PC I've seen.
Click to expand...

The closed-shop mindset of Apple allows them to build and maintain a tighter hardware and operating system. Solutions to problems are pronounced by the Apple nuncio and handed down as revelations from Steven Jobs. It is episcopal in organization. Apple is the Roman Catholic church of the computer world.

By comparison, the Microsoft world is like the Baptists. You can choose the Southern Baptists (XP) or Northern Baptists (Windows 7). The King James version programmers still write in DOS and run their command-line .bat files, but modern programmers write in the Good News for Modern Java sort of holy script. The programs fight for resources between each other or split into smaller threads at will.

As I said. It's a religious argument.
 
EdLongshanks said:
The closed-shop mindset of Apple allows them to build and maintain a tighter hardware and operating system. Solutions to problems are pronounced by the Apple nuncio and handed down as revelations from Steven Jobs. It is episcopal in organization. Apple is the Roman Catholic church of the computer world.

By comparison, the Microsoft world is like the Baptists. You can choose the Southern Baptists (XP) or Northern Baptists (Windows 7). The King James version programmers still write in DOS and run their command-line .bat files, but modern programmers write in the Good News for Modern Java sort of holy script. The programs fight for resources between each other or split into smaller threads at will.

As I said. It's a religious argument.
Click to expand...

Or, of course, you could go with Linux. Linux is like we pentecostals. Programs speak in tongues (Grep, awk, sed) and Linux makes the Windows world look organized. Everybody makes up their own standard and claims that this is the only true revealed standard.
 
When I was reading Q's post, I instantly thought of the X220 and am glad someone linked to it. Great price and a good balance of portability, battery life, and performance.

I would recommend against getting a netbook as your sole/main computer. It is very portable, but it will feel cramped and sluggish once the novelty wears off. Don't get me wrong, I have a netbook and love it, but I would personally hate to have it as my only computer.

Q, maybe instead of buying a 800 dollar laptop for all your computer needs, you might consider buying a 500 dollar desktop and a 300 dollar netbook. There is some free software that will let you sync your files between the two also.
 
I cannot begin to tell you all how much I am loving this thread. It is made complete by a bonus smattering of religious similes that even self-quote. 👍 :laugh:

Seriously, though, thanks again for all the input. I think I am going to go with the Lenovo, because I'm just not ready to convert to Mac-ism at this point. 😉
 
I say Macbook, I have a dell desktop, a dell laptop, an old macbook, and my husband has a new macbook pro. I like my Dell's there's nothing wrong with them, per se... but for most things I find I like the macbook better. Since mine is old, it's actually not as fast as my dell laptop, it runs just as hot, blah blah, but I like that I don't have as much worry about spamware, viruses, etc... Either way, it seems the NT forum is leaning to Mac...

best of luck... also, see if any of your schools have a discount program... it would be under "educational store" at the bottom of the apple store page
 
QofQuimica said:
No, not a religious war; I'm just unfortunately replacing my old laptop about six months earlier than I had intended. Irreconcilable differences and all. 🙁

Are any of you familiar with the Lenovo IdeaPad Ultraportable? It seems like the major downside of it is that it has a relatively low battery life of around three hours. It also doesn't have a DVD drive. The former is about what I'm getting now, so it's not the end of the world for me. The latter may be somewhat of an issue, although I've started renting movies online now rather than using DVDs. But I do own some DVDs--I could just watch them on my old computer, I guess.
Click to expand...

Make sure that it has a mouse pad. I bought my wife's Lenovo thinkpad sight unseen and discovered that it didn't have a mouse pad built-in. Very difficult to use without a mouse.
 
EdLongshanks said:
Make sure that it has a mouse pad. I bought my wife's Lenovo thinkpad sight unseen and discovered that it didn't have a mouse pad built-in. Very difficult to use without a mouse.
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You mean for an external mouse that you plug in, right? Because it's a touch pad. 😕
 
EdLongshanks said:
My wife's lenovo does not have a touchpad. It's very frustrating.
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I would imagine so. I've never heard of a computer coming with no type of mouse device at all. :eyebrow:
 
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Some ThinkPads come with a mouse "nub" which is why they don't have touchpads.

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another vote for a macbook pro or macbook air. in the end, it doesn't matter what you get - they'll pretty much all serve your function. just get whatever you like! i'm getting a macbook pro once school starts - it's surprisingly affordable unless you decide to upgrade everything and apple gives an education discount.


i should add that if you care about having the best specs for a certain amount of money, then don't get a mac. it's not exactly a "value" buy, and it's not designed or marketed to be.
 
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I am an avid gamer. By that I mean I play the toughest games to play. Buying laptops that tend to be able to play these games usually helps me end up with one of the fasted and most reliable comps for a long time. I am all about versatility and longevity. My home rig is made by me, and I would never ever ever buy a Mac desktop. To tell you the truth, I would never buy any pre-made desktop. I frequent newegg.com for all my parts. I can do so much more on win7 ultimate than I can on OSX. That being said, I know both systems like the back of my hand. I am currently typing from a macbook pro (fiances) and I find this machine (the newest and beefiest model you can get today) is so slow. I almost can say this thing is unusable by me.

If you want a pretty brick, get a mac. For most, yes, they are the best out of the box buys you can get. Toshiba makes really good gaming laptops that trump any mac though. And for a fraction of the cost.

Another option is Sager. They allow you to custom build a laptop to your specs. Very upgradable. The only thing you can upgrade on a mac will be ram... For 2k, I would want much more than the option to up the ram... jmho.

Sager laptops allow videocards, processors, and ram to be upgraded. The more expensive ones come with really nice cosmetic features. I am a bit biased though, because I happen to like the transformer muscle look in my comps.

This link is to sager's find your comp at a price range page.
http://www.sagernotebook.com/index.php?page=category_browse&selected_cat=10

The MOST powerful laptop up to date
http://www.sagernotebook.com/index.php?page=category_browse&selected_cat=special&mid=NP7282 price ~$2200

The BEST laptop Mac offers, which doesn't even marginally compare to the above link.
http://store.apple.com/us/configure/MC725LL/A?mco=MjEyOTY3MjA
price ~$2500

Hope this helps,
Ivan

ps: any Toshiba Qosmio above $900 will give you a great bang for buck. 18.4 inch screen and beat out a macbook (pro, air) anyday.
 
Lenovo x220 or Alienware m14x would be my recommendations, hands down.

The Dell Studio lines are pretty nice, as well, though you are looking at shorter battery life and increased weight because they are designed as consumer-level machines. Their Latitude line is nice, as well, if you are looking for something you can really pump the specs up on, but the cost can run away from you quickly on them.

Toshiba makes a solid system, as well, but I feel you pay a bit more for the 'form over function' side of things with them, which isn't a bad thing, just not how I prefer to spend my money.

You couldn't give me an HP laptop unless you told me I could sell it to buy something worth owning. I wouldn't trust one for critical applications as far as I could throw my house.

16 1/2 years IT, all on the technician side. Have worked with every major brand over that time, currently doing on-site warranty repairs for all of the major manufacturers except HP (refuse to touch them unless it's a close friend who bought it without asking for advice) and Toshiba.
 
I think you will love the Lenovo, I bought my wife one not that long ago.

One thing she likes, is that most now have a fingerprint scanner. It seems like a little thing but being able to secure your PC and not have to type in a password (or remember one) is pretty handy.
 
Ok, so this is such a weird coincidence that I just have to post it.

This morning, I go to turn on my old laptop, and....nothing. Totally dead. Talk about good timing with ordering the new one!

I'm right now typing on my ten-year-old laptop from grad school that is not even wifi compatible. :laugh:
 
I think one thing that is missing is your price point. What is the most you will spend? What were you hoping to spend?
 
As the owner of two Macbook Pros and one new 11" Macbook Air, I vote you get the 13" Macbook Air if you can spend the $ - I think you'll be ridiculously happy with it for a long time.

7 hour battery, light as a feather, timeless design that will still look really facking cool 5 years from now (if that matters to you), OSX, Apple support, beautiful screen. Great keyboard.

Oh and the Air is totally silent and it runs very cool to the touch - I never realized how noisy the fans are in my MB Pros until I used my Air side-by-side.

Silence is golden.
 
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The Air is so good for most people's needs that it is replacing my MB Pros and I'm selling them. It really is that good.
 
One other thing to factor in - what is the cost per hour of use?

If you spend a few hundred dollars more on a great notebook that you love to use, how much more per hour, over the life of the machine will that cost?

Answer - not very much. If you use your computer one hour per day for 4 years (my oldest MB Pro is the first one they made with Intel chips, and it's at 4 years now and still running) that's almost 1,500 hours of use.

If you spent $500 more on it than a cheaper one to get the notebook that you *really love* - that's 30 cents an hour more to use.

For me it's definitely worth it. I save $ everywhere I can, but not on my computers because they get so much use.

I think you can use the same logic on expensive mattresses and cell phones.
 
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OTOH if you must have Windows and you don't want to run an emulator on your Mac, then I've always loved Thinkpads, even after Lenovo bought the brand from IBM.

Panasonic's Toughbook line are incredibly well built machines also - still engineered AND manufactured in Japan. I had one of their semi-rugged sub-notebooks for several years and treated it like garbage - it took so much abuse. I am much more careful with my Macs because although they are well built, they're not built to the same standard as the Toughbooks.
 
Get a Macbook Pro.
Yes its more on the Expensive side, but its clearly worth it. I just got my first Macbook Pro 13" i7, totaled around 1500 i think. You can get a 100 Student Discount also.

You can run Windows on either Natively through -> Bootcamp, so when you boot up the computer, it gives u the option to boot into Windows or OSX. Since some few apps only run on windows this would be a good option.

You can run Windows through virtualization, with something like Parallels, WHICH IS VERY EASY to set up. I used this in my accounting class, when we had to use an App that was only designed for windows. it worked flawlessly. As long as you dont play any crazy intensive games within the Vritualized Windows within the Mac, then this should be the best option. How it works is, you boot into OSX, and there'll be an icon like "Windows 7" click on it, it opens up a little window and boots up windows Right within osx. Its sick. I'll put a screen shot up for you.
 

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QofQuimica said:
I need some help from all of you IT-to-MD folks, and any other techie geeks or people who have recently bought a laptop are welcome to chime in too. My current laptop is five years old and not doing too well. I "chose" this one because it was what my med school wanted us to use. This is my long-winded way of saying that I have no idea what I really need in a laptop.
Click to expand...

I know you said further down that you were going with the Lenovo, but for future reference, I'll chuck in my two cents anyway. I am one of the IT-to-MD folks.

I used to swear by IBM Thinkpads. Wouldn't use anything else. Then Lenovo bought 'em out, and my then-employer issued me a new Lenovo Thinkpad. It was wretched. The construction wasn't as solid, the battery life was poor, it ran hot and made odd noises (yes, I'm a prima donna about that sort of thing.) Clearly I needed a new go-to brand.

I put it off for a long time by continuing to use my old IBM Thinkpad (my colleagues used to tease me about it being steam-powered, but whatever, I do 95% of my job on the command line anyway and you don't need a lot of horsepower for shell sessions), but eventually it died. So I had to start looking.

I did look at Lenovo's offerings, but the poor experience I had with the one work issued me ruled 'em out. So I narrowed it down to three manufacturers/lines:

  • Dell Latitude (the business-class line, not the crummy home machines)
  • Apple MacBook Pro
  • Panasonic Toughbook

As this was happening, I got a new employer. They issued me a Dell Latitude, albeit one of the lower-end models. I didn't like it very much, though the battery life was fine and all; it didn't have the solidity of physical construction I like, and the keyboard felt cheap (my big thing.) Plus it sounded like a jet engine taking off. So I ruled out the Dells.

It came down to the Apple or the Panasonic. I'm not a Mac person; I would have uninstalled MacOS and added Windows (yes, even though I'm really at heart a Unix Nazi.) It was solely a hardware thing. It wasn't a cost thing, either; the Toughbook was actually more spendy.

I went with the Toughbook, am typing on it right now, and am extremely happy with it.

With that said, I would and do unreservedly recommend to you the Mac.

My ex was a physician (runs her own solo practice), and, like you, Q, Just Wanted Things to Work. I told her to buy the Mac. She's been delighted. Because if you don't care about being able to tweak every little thing, they really do usually Just Work. It's worth the extra premium, particularly with the shiny hardware.

You'll be fine either way, though!
 
Dzerzhinsky said:
I used to swear by IBM Thinkpads. Wouldn't use anything else. Then Lenovo bought 'em out, and my then-employer issued me a new Lenovo Thinkpad. It was wretched. The construction wasn't as solid, the battery life was poor, it ran hot and made odd noises (yes, I'm a prima donna about that sort of thing.) Clearly I needed a new go-to brand.
Click to expand...
You really should take another look at the Lenovo offerings. There was a definite awkward period when they first did the buy out, but things have gotten back to the quality you expect from the Thinkpad name. I felt the same as you did for a while there but having spent some time with the more recent offerings I've gone back to trusting the brand again.
 
I'm too late to provide useful input but Lenovo is really good. My husband bought one of their desktops last year and it is awesome.

I have two macs and love them--they are worth the price premium to me. Though I always try to find a way to buy them on discount (refurbished or end of line). I saved a couple hundred bucks on the laptop and the desktop so it didn't sting quite as bad.
 
vc7777 said:
Q, just to clarify - you DID decide already, correct? 😛
Click to expand...
Yes, but the info might still be useful to someone else. Once I get the new computer and use it for a while, I'll let everyone know how it goes. But it seems like Ed was right. People either love Lenovo or love Mac. Like a religion. 😛
 
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