Who makes the best laptop for me?

Hey econsult1 - Thanks so much again. I was going to run out today a possibly pick one up, yet I was hoping for your response first to my previous post so I guess I’ll just wait. :-) Tell me as you may have well already figured out being a PC user for so long I have so many important documents done in MS Word, so what is my process and what exactly is entailed to convert them to the MAC PRO? Also and believe it or not :-) I am not at all into downloading music so dialup works just fine for me for what I do & need so is there a standard modem on the MAC PRO and if not what about PCMCIA slot for an external one?

Well, let me suggest an Apple Macbook Pro, or a plain Macbook.

It pretty much has all the points you want. In essence you get what you pay for.

• Built in camera, speakers and mic
• Gorgeous screen
• All the programs you need for photos, movies, music, internet already there
• No crappy programs that come with the system for “trials”
• It just works

As the founders of this site, we’ve moved away from windows laptops a long time ago, as we all just really want to get our work (graphics, programming, managing the site, surfing, emailing, letter writing, etc) done without any fuss or muss.

Prewty much all of the major brands will have similar laptops. Just shop around and see what you like.

Naturally a bigger screen will make it more expensive.

However there are ways through Windows (or other OS) to make readability on the screen larger and more easy to read etc through bigger icons, larger text etc.

Just go shopping one day looking for what you want and compare.

My dad just bought a Dell laptop and he absolutely loves it - I don’t know much about laptops but I highly recommend the brand.

my first laptop was a macbook pro (paid a lot 5 years ago) and have had 2 dell laptops since

I would go with the macbook and add extra memory.

also, since you mentioned photography, you will love the software called Aperture!

Hey Thanks both for the very quick reply it’s greatly appreciated, yet maybe my question & I are just a bit too technical. :-) Well first in answer to Stephanie; I would never want to burst anyone’s bubble, yet I have just heard so many horror stories from people who have bought Dell laptops and unbelievably from techs as well that I just could not believe my ears and that in turn has made me extremely & very leery looking their way since. As for Nzdaniel; First I’m thankfully not to be in the visually handicapped stage yet :-) so I don’t need 6” icons or text :-) yet what I want is a pure clean great graphic screen where photo’s look as real as they can get, yet I also do not want a screaming & whining one as well, as loud laptops just drive me nuts. :-) Yes I did go check out some laptops and I wish you could see the bottle of Advil I have next to me now :-) as looking at all the brands available can drive someone Truly Bonkers. :-) I know someone who just bought a brand new 17” HP DV9700 and has it only 2 months and already his keyboard keys don’t work all the time and his speaker grill literally keeps rising up on a daily basis where he constantly has to push it back down and that to me turns me off greatly to looking HP as well, as if it does that in only 2 months use what does someone have to look forward to in a 6 months or a 1 year. Also he has a WSXGA display at I believe 1680 x 1050 pixels and quite frankly that is a bit too small for my eyes and I’m really not sure if that is the best I have seen in viewing photo’s as well. To me all laptops from face value all look aesthetically very pleasing, yet I know looks are definitely very deceiving and that’s the reason for my technical question, as I am looking for a computer that will run quickly, stay quiet, give me the Best possible crystal clear graphics I could want and be very reliable as well. Yes I would lying if I said it wouldn’t be nice to get some bells, buttons and whistles, yet my main preference is a laptop that can run multiple screens without freezing up, a quiet running unit with a crystal clear top notch graphic display and of course with a DVD/CD burner so I can backup, backup & backup, which we all know how important that is. :-)

Hey Thanks so much, yet even though I GREATLY agree with you find me cheap DSL for $14.99 a month in Marion County FL and I’ll sign-up NOW :-) as all there is EMBARQ, Brighthouse and The BIG boys and they all want much more then $14.99 a month and there’s unfortunately NO AT&T in my area. As far as checking out the MACBOOK PRO’s I most certainly did as I went to my local BestBuy, yet what turned me completely off to purchasing from them was their STUPID 15 % restocking fee for returns & exchanges, as I really did not know which one I should go with the 17” or the 15” and it’s just so Hard to really get a GOOD perspective in the store with all the lights, commotion & distractions, so I was going to try the 17” at home in my own peaceful environment, yet I definitely wanted the option to exchange it for the 15” if it didn’t work for me and their policy just turned me off. I want a Top Notch crystal clear graphic display as I view many photo’s, along with the occasional web surfing and of course emailing and document writing, yet I just did not know which one would give me that, as it was just too crowded to make a real good decision on. My good friend has a brand new 17” HP laptop with a WSXGA display of 1680x1050 resolution and although photo’s look real nice on it, I just think the display is just too dim and I just want to turn up the brightness more which you just can not as he has it adjusted to maximum already and I’m just hoping that the MACPRO displays offer greater brightness? So as you can see I’m frozen right now on which one to get the 17” or 15” and until I can see it in my environment or someone can shed GREATER light on my dilemma, no pun intended :-) I’m at a stand still. Thanks, SD

Hey Thanks so much, I’m chowing down some breakfast so I’m a bit late on my reply. :-) Well I heard so many GREAT things about MACS, yet I have just been so leery being a PC guy for so long and with PC people just BASHING them left & right it truly is confusing, yet I am definitely computer literate or should I say sometimes illiterate :-), so seriously what MAC PRO model do you recommend for me and where should I buy it so I can get all those nice features you mentioned and the much needed service and warranty if need be?

I’d just head into any Apple store and check all of them, see which one works best for you. Nothing beats feeling the harware. I know I’ve gone into the store with the intention to buy one product, and after looking around, bought something else that better suited me.

In terms of downloading, I’d strongly urge you to get at least the slowest DSL, which is many, many times faster than dialup, and almost the same price!! AT&T is offering their basic DSL (786K download, versus 56K dialup download) for only $14.99 per month.

You may not be downloading music, but video is where everything is now, and its almost impossible to browse the web these days without consuming some video. Trust me, its the best step to take, you won’t regret it.