What To Look For in a New Laptop
Anyone who has seen a laptop crash and burn knows the pain of seeing their life go down in flames right in front of their eyes. It hurts! I recently lost the laptop that saw me through 6 years of undergrad, as well as the used laptop my mom gave me last year to replace it. I didn’t have an external hard drive, and I wasn’t in the habit of backing anything up to a jump drive or a disc. So everything that was on those laptops has gone to the same graveyard as the little hamster on the wheel inside of them. Trust me ‘“ more than a few choice curse words and a lot of tears have been shed as a result of their demise.
I managed to survive without a laptop for almost a year ‘“ which for a blogger is no small feat. But this summer I finally had enough money to buy a new laptop. The big question for me ‘“ Mac or PC? While I’m not a technological troglodyte, I’m far from being an expert. I don’t read techie magazines. But I do want to share my decision making process with the hope that it might help someone else make this really important decision.
I have owned 3 laptops in my lifetime ‘“ all of them have been PCs. The laptop that saw me through my undergrad years was a relic. It was a used 486 when I acquired it. But with a little bit of love, and a lot of luck, that dinosaur lasted me a long time ‘“ far longer than it should have. The laptop itself weighed over 10 pounds, so it wasn’t practical for traveling. Plus it was too old for a wireless card. But it worked. And as a poor undergrad, that was all that mattered.
The poor artifact died last Spring, just as I started my blogging career. So my mom generously gave me her old Dell to replace it. The screen burned out well before the hard drive. But I could still hook it up to a monitor and use the hard drive. Then one day last October, it just wouldn’t boot up anymore. Sez la vie!
After the loss of these 2 PCs, I decided it was time to consider a Mac. Macs are cuter than PCs, and they’re tré chic right now. But just like a car, a laptop is not a purse. I needed to have more information to make an educated decision. I called my tech friend Jerame. He said that without a doubt, Mac is the best thing since Jesus. I asked all of my Mac-owning friends if they had ever had problems with viruses or technical problems. Every single one of them said no. One friend even told me that she had dropped her laptop in the driveway, it was run over by a car, and that Mac still sent her a replacement. I think that story was a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point. Mac users are happy users. Most PC users I know have some gripe or another about their computer. And there are new viruses coming out all the time that PCs are susceptible to receiving. I spend my day blogging. I can’t afford to get a virus!
Nevertheless, I’m a price-savvy shopper. I went to Best Buy, Comp USA, and the Mac Store to compare prices. The Macbook priced comparably to the Sony Viao, which is the only PC that I was considering. (If you’ll remember from my article about buying a car, I am all about longevity and I have a penchant for Asian products.) Even with a Best Buy Rewards discount, it was still cheaper to get my laptop directly from the Mac Store.
As President Bush so wisely pointed out, ‘œfool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice . . . well, it’s not nice to go around fooling people.’ I learned from my past mistakes of not backing up my hard drive and opted to purchase an external hard drive for my laptop. With my student discount, I was able to get $100 off the laptop and $50 off the price of the hard drive. I also decided to get the extended 3-year warranty after Jerame validated my opinion that most computers (and especially Macs) are not going to give you trouble after only one year.
And just like buying a car, timing is everything when you’re buying a laptop. I had the money for my laptop in July, and I really needed it. But I decided to wait until the end of August so that I could cash in on the back-to-school sales. I’m glad that I did. I got a free HP printer and a free iPod Touch as part of the package. Two months into owning my Macbook, I couldn’t be happier. It weighs next to nothing compared to my old computer. And I’ve already figured out how to make my own home movies right from my laptop. Pretty cool for a gal who resisted owning a cell phone until just 2 years ago!
I’m not the expert, tho. What has your experience been with laptops? And what tips do you have that I didn’t consider?
Good for you! Macs are built very solidly (especially the new unibody ones — wait until you see) and you can always install Windows on it for any programs you still want to run.
Next time you’re buying a Mac, I recommend checking Apple’s online refurb store as well: they always knock off a few hundred bucks, and the machines are refurbed by Apple and come with the same warranties as new models. You need to wait a number of months for the newest models to get there, but if you’re trying to save money it may be worth it if you can’t get a student discount.
Good call, Joe. I bought my first iPod refurbished. I totally forgot that!
Most people I know at my tech school seem to have Thinkpads, and have advised me to buy a refurbished one when my Dell finally finishes dying. I haven’t used one yet, but they seem to think they’re well-made and will last a long time, while being cheaper than Macs.
Apple is also a very GLBTQ friendly company, which is something that matters to me. I didn’t see Dell or IBM contribute to stopping Prop8.
If nothing else, Apple knows one of their target demographics and treats it well. 🙂
Yes but for business purposes (if you use excel, word, email) a lot then I’d buy the damn PC
I have 2 laptops now
1. Mac for personal (although I haven’t used it much lately now)
2. Dell for business (I am using this one a lot more often)
Great point, Chris. I like supporting companies that support me.
FB, all of the Windows based programs are now available for Mac. Since you have to but the software either way, I still say go for the Mac. I use Excel every day as an expense tracker, and I don’t have any issues going from an old PC mindset to using Microsoft Office programs on my Mac.
Serena: Paula had a great post about her Dell laptop woes! It’s worth a read.
Great post. Thanks Nina for pointing out my old article. I might add I am STILL not resolved on this issue with my laptop. I now have a replacement as well (they finally sent me one – a refurbished machine of a better model) but the wireless doesn’t work. I am close to becoming unhinged already.
That being said – I don’t know if I could go cold-turkey from PC because of some of the work I do…but I would consider a MAC laptop next time or a gentle migration to MAC and I SWORE I never said that would be the case. Meanwhile I have ZERO ideas from whom I would buy my next PC after this whole experience. The guy I am working with now is doing his best, but 9 months later, it is pretty ludicrous.
Do you still have that old Dell laptop that won’t boot? Because the hard drive might still be good. See if you can remove it and take it to a local computer shop. For $75, they might be able to recovery the contents and burn them onto a CD-ROM or DVD for you. If you lost a lot of valuable documents/photos/music, it might be worth the cost.
I love my Macbook. Bought it last year at an Apple store on Black Friday – the one day they offer a discount ($100). And isn’t Time Machine just a blessing for backups? After years of being a PC (especially Linux) fan, I’m converted. Trannyliciousness!
Hi Danny, I do still have that laptop sitting in my closet, collecting dust. I hadn’t even considered the idea that I could do something like that. Thank you so much!
Time Machine is absolutely the best thing ever. I don’t have to remember to back up – it does it all on it’s own. Trannylicious, indeed!
Definitely get the Mac – it’s so much better and in the end, no more expensive.
The warranty isn’t totally necessary if you buy it with an Amex. Nonetheless, Apple Care is worth it for the less technically savvy.
In response to the guy using his Dell for work, you can buy the full Office suite for Mac and in many ways, it’s better.
The only problem with Office on Mac is the lack of VBA support on Excel. However, unless you are a real Excel jockey, you’ll never know the difference. If you are such a person, you can install Windows on the Mac for an extra $200 – which you should be able to afford with those skills 🙂
The best features are:
1. Hourly backup if you have an external hard drive or Time Capsule.
2. No viruses
3. Speed and Security
4. Simplicity with extensibility for power users.
BTW, if you are forced to buy a PC for some reason, Lenovo/IBM is by far the best for laptops.
Apple has a certified refurbished site. I got my black macbook, 1,500 new at the time, for 1,000. And it came with the most recent software. The warranty wasn’t for as long, but you could purchase a longer one, just like with a new computer. This also combined with my student discount.