I'm going to buy a new computer. This one is driving me crazy, with the whole keyboard freezing-taking forever to boot up-strange noises etc that it's been doing lately.
The question is: what to get?
Should I go with the PC? And if I do, which kind? Sony, Dell, HP? PCs are cheaper, and I know how to use them.
Or should I go with the Apple? I can get an education discount and get a macbook for $999. But do I want to learn a whole new system? And can I live without the right click???
Thoughts??? Please comment.
1 Comments:
hey hannah! i don't think i've ever posted a comment to you here, but thought i'd give you my 2 cents. being a powerbook user, i'd personally recommend a Mac. however, there are some obvious, and some not-so-obvious, trade-offs. the pros: the Mac OS is much more stable than windows. i don't know much about Vista, but from what i've heard, so far it sucks. MS will continue releasing service packs, and you will continually have to install said service packs if you got a PC. while the UI on a Mac is different from Windows, the learning curve is quite short, so you should become pretty proficient in no time. also, Mac's don't NOT have a right-click. it's just you have to hold a key on the keyboard to access the right-click menus, or, you can get an third party mouse WITH a right-click, and it should work. now, the big thing to consider is how you'll be using your computer. for everyday, general computing use: surfing, email, word processing, etc., there isn't a huge difference functionality wise. where the differences do appear are in the availability of specialty software. if you are going to be using things like Lexxus or Westlaw...you'll want to make sure that they have a Mac version available. though, with the recent iterations of Macs, this may not even be that big a deal. in the last couple years, Apple has started using Intel chips for their Macs. what this allows is for a Mac user to run a program (which i think is called BootCamp), that will let you run Windows (and Windows specific applications) on a Mac. however, if you already have a boatload of programs for Windows, it'll probably be easier for you to just to with a PC. if you do end up getting an Apple, i think i have an extra copy of MS Office for Mac.
moving on to hardware, if you go with a laptop, the upgradeability of either PC or Mac is pretty limited so that's probably a moot point, whereas if you were getting a desktop, PCs will generally offer cheaper and more extensive upgradeability.
pricing is another issue, as you may have gathered, you're going to pay a little bit more for a Mac than a PC. i've seen PC laptops on sale for like $500-600. though comparably spec'd, the difference, while apparent, isn't huge.
so with all that said, my recommendation would to be to research the software compatibility issues that might come up, borrow a Macbook from a friend who has one, play with it for a few hours, and go from there. i've had my powerbook for a few years, and other than the battery life not quite being what it used to be, it's still goin strong.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home