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| Thread ID: 90338 | 2008-05-31 00:16:00 | new laptop wanted | Thomas01 (317) | PC World Chat |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 674158 | 2008-05-31 00:16:00 | I have just been asked for help in choosing a new laptop for somebody (not computer literate). I have owned 5 or so laptops and use one almost daily but that does not make me an expert. The person in question needs a light weight job. She is mobile. I thought of the AZUS EEE of course but that really needs another computer as the main one. So I went to Noel Leemings and Bond & Bond to have a look, and was immediately grabbed by a salesman who tried to convince me the latest Apple lightweight job and a new financial system (which can be offset against Business Income Tax) was the way to go. It was BAD advice - really bad, but frankly I have been disappointed lately to see that most laptops are getting bigger and heavier. At the moment a large heavy beast of a laptop, and the AZUS EEE as her mobile device seems logical and would cost considerably less than the Apple alone. What do you lot think? Tom |
Thomas01 (317) | ||
| 674159 | 2008-05-31 02:01:00 | Depend's on your "somebody"'s use of the laptop. If he/she is going to be using it at home the majority of the time then those small ones are not great. Small screen, small keyboard, small everything. If he/she is on the move a LOT then the small one might be better. But, if he/she wants to do flights and wants to watch a movie, particularly with the Apple then they would also have to take along the external CD/DVD rom drive to play it on. Best to get more info from your "somebody" first. The Apple MacBook or Macbook Pro seemed fine to me when I did this same exercise for a friend recently. Alternatively I would have gone Toshiba or IBM. |
Bantu (52) | ||
| 674160 | 2008-05-31 02:57:00 | Depend's on your "somebody"'s use of the laptop. If he/she is going to be using it at home the majority of the time then those small ones are not great. Small screen, small keyboard, small everything. If he/she is on the move a LOT then the small one might be better. But, if he/she wants to do flights and wants to watch a movie, particularly with the Apple then they would also have to take along the external CD/DVD rom drive to play it on. Best to get more info from your "somebody" first. The Apple MacBook or Macbook Pro seemed fine to me when I did this same exercise for a friend recently. Alternatively I would have gone Toshiba or IBM. The Apple is definitely out. Too pricey, and of course she would not be able to communicate with the other people she works with, or the programs they already use. Some years ago I was in terrible trouble with the local Polytechnic - one of their seniors was hopping mad because they had found any students who had been trained on Apple completely failed their computer tests and had to be retrained. I had protested vigorously at the school I worked at, about the choice of computer but made no impression on the then principal (the infamous Marion Hobbs who of course knew far more than anybody else about everything.) The Apple looks nice though. |
Thomas01 (317) | ||
| 674161 | 2008-05-31 04:07:00 | The person in question needs a light weight job. She is mobile. I thought of the AZUS EEE At the moment the ASUS eee is Linux only with a small flash drive. She OK with that or will she want WIndows? If so, look at some of the other ASUS models, or wait till June when ASUS bring out the 20GB HDD WIndows version of the eee. |
pctek (84) | ||
| 674162 | 2008-05-31 04:16:00 | needs another computer as the main one. So I went to Noel Leemings and Bond & Bond to have a look, and was immediately grabbed by a salesman who tried to convince me the latest Apple lightweight job and a new financial system (which can be offset against Business Income Tax) was the way to go. It was BAD advice - really bad, but frankly I have been disappointed lately to see that most laptops are getting bigger and heavier. At the moment a large heavy beast of a laptop, and the AZUS EEE as her mobile device seems logical and would cost considerably less than the Apple alone. What do you lot think? Tom The MacBook Air wouldn't be her best choice even though she is mobile and they are lite as we don't have enough Wifi spots to justify it. The price for the MBA is still too steep in NZ. Either the 13" MacBook or 15" MBP would be better as it is lighter than the 17" MBP and there are plenty of accounting packages that will run on the Mac like Xero. These day all communications are done via email. What is her budget? |
vitalstatistix (9182) | ||
| 674163 | 2008-05-31 04:33:00 | The Apple is definitely out. Too pricey, and of course she would not be able to communicate with the other people she works with, or the programs they already use. How so, they can run windows and windows apps just like your PC. Even without windows apps they can run Mac Office and the files are interchangable with a PC. I do not personally have one, but have Mac OS-X and WinXP installed on this PC. Apple is not "Too Pricey" they are priced competitively now and sell as well as your average Toshiba or IBM. |
Bantu (52) | ||
| 674164 | 2008-05-31 04:38:00 | How so, they can run windows and windows apps just like your PC. Even without windows apps they can run Mac Office and the files are interchangable with a PC. I do not personally have one, but have Mac OS-X and WinXP installed on this PC. Apple is not "Too Pricey" they are priced competitively now and sell as well as your average Toshiba or IBM. They don't need to run Office Mac - iWork08 is absolutely fine for general Excel stuff and much cheaper ($109+GST) - it works with MS Office. I would agree with Bantu on laptop pricing, I just checked out Noel Leeming and their prices are pretty close. Also web based accounting software Xero runs on Mac and PC. |
vitalstatistix (9182) | ||
| 674165 | 2008-05-31 05:51:00 | At the moment the ASUS eee is Linux only with a small flash drive. She OK with that or will she want WIndows? If so, look at some of the other ASUS models, or wait till June when ASUS bring out the 20GB HDD WIndows version of the eee. there is also an xp version |
plod (107) | ||
| 674166 | 2008-05-31 06:04:00 | The Apple is definitely out. Too pricey, and of course she would not be able to communicate with the other people she works with, or the programs they already use. Some years ago I was in terrible trouble with the local Polytechnic - one of their seniors was hopping mad because they had found any students who had been trained on Apple completely failed their computer tests and had to be retrained. I had protested vigorously at the school I worked at, about the choice of computer but made no impression on the then principal (the infamous Marion Hobbs who of course knew far more than anybody else about everything.) The Apple looks nice though. As it is said..."Apple is made for people with a high need of styling but who are not in need of practicality. Vitalstitistix will deny this no doubt, but we all know it is impossible to have an intelligent conversation with him. Ken |
kenj (9738) | ||
| 674167 | 2008-05-31 06:36:00 | How so, they can run windows and windows apps just like your PC. Even without windows apps they can run Mac Office and the files are interchangable with a PC. I do not personally have one, but have Mac OS-X and WinXP installed on this PC. Apple is not "Too Pricey" they are priced competitively now and sell as well as your average Toshiba or IBM. All fairly true - but the client is not computer literate - to have two OS running on the same computer would really puzzle her. Apple, well at least the ones I have seen, are still too expensive but there are lots of people around who are prepared to pay the price because they like the things. A point I failed to mention was the salesman also reckoned NEC were the up and coming computer and he recommends them. My only experience with NEC was a laptop I bought a few years ago from Noel Leemings and even they suggested they give me my money back. It was that bad. How about that? It really was terrible and of course has left me with a dislike of them. I warned my own family off them so of course two of them have since then bought NEC. One has been nothing but trouble but the other works perfectly. Now I wonder if my dislike is outdated and I should forgive them? What is the experience of other people. I really do not see that they could have continued selling if they were anything like mine! Tom Tom |
Thomas01 (317) | ||
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