Speak to me about computer/laptop, please!

[tammybean04]

My computer is dying a slow death. I'd love to know what everyone recommends or uses. I hate buying electronics.

We currently have a Dell Alien, that's about 4 or 5 years old.

[Sherri Tierney]

I'll be watching for laptop recommendations. My desktop is fine, but it is in the basement which isn't always my favorite place to be. We have two OLD laptops (a Dell Inspiron and a some kind of Toshiba) but neither of them are fit to use to scrap. I'd LIKE a macbook pro but they are just so cost prohibitive. I use Mac at work and PC at home, so I'm flexible... but can't justify a huge amount of money considering that these days PC and mac are pretty much made with the same parts and I'd just be paying for an operating system.

[nietis]

Well, I am probably of no help here, since my Mac is 4 years old itself. However, I do love my iMac and probably will never go back to PC again, if I could.
I love the size of it, the clean and simple look. I do hate the price of it though.

[Sherri Tierney]

Originally Posted by nietis

Well, I am probably of no help here, since my Mac is 4 years old itself. However, I do love my iMac and probably will never go back to PC again, if I could.
I love the size of it, the clean and simple look. I do hate the price of it though.

At work we replaced our iMacs with iMac minis and a separate monitor, so my computer at work doesn't look much different than mine at home other (unless I think about the size of the tower on my PC), the monitor is actually some off brand monitor. I liked the look of the iMac but the ones we had were getting older and couldn't update to keep up with the software we use for grades and such, so they were replaced with the iMac minis instead. IF I were to get one for home, I'd probably go that route as they are less expensive. However, I'd really prefer a laptop if I get a new computer since my desktop is perfectly fine.

Today I hate mac though. The ones at work have been ridiculous. I don't know what's up with them but they are locking up all the time and the Macbooks that we use for the students keep booting up to a set-up screen asking me to choose a language. They are just getting old, but it is so frustrating! Each laptop is probably used by 20 kids a day, that's a lot of abuse.

[nietis]

Ah yes, my hubby has mac mini and he loves it. It does come in a cheaper price and you can always maximise the configuration of the mac mini and it still comes out cheaper. He has an off-brand monitor too.

[ChristineF]

I'm another one who'll vote for a mac. I've had one for the last 12 years and never felt the need to go back to a pc. I've had macbook, macbook air, macbook pro and imac. I love the big screen of the imac, but the portability of a laptop is so much more important than a big screen. I loved how easy it was to bring my macbook air with me, but spilled coca cola on it so now have an macbook pro and it's great. Also, if you buy from the apple store (physical store) when they release a new model, you can often get an older version for a lower price.

[Txcorey]

I bought a new laptop last year. I'm not a Mac girl at all, they just don't make sense to me. I bought a Dell Alienware. I got the biggest screen they make and I've enjoyed it. I don't have any problems with lagging and I usually run ACDSee, Lightroom, and PS Elements concurrently.

[Sherri Tierney]

Originally Posted by Txcorey

I bought a new laptop last year. I'm not a Mac girl at all, they just don't make sense to me. I bought a Dell Alienware. I got the biggest screen they make and I've enjoyed it. I don't have any problems with lagging and I usually run ACDSee, Lightroom, and PS Elements concurrently.

You know, some things about macs don't make any sense. If you've used mac a lot those things probably don't stand out, but coming from PC to Mac I was like 'how is this supposed to make sense?' I'm just used to those things more now but I've been using Macs at work for 6 years now and been dealing with them as a tech person for 4.

The Alienware is one I've looked at...

[Tronesia]

I built my desktop last Spring and couldn't be happier. I was a Dell girl for the longest but it always bothered me that they gave you just enough power and just enough cables and just enough room to fit everything in there. I wanted to be able to change out my graphics card or power supply or add some fans without worry if it will fit in my case.

No matter what you choose, just look at the specs. Make sure it has the RAM you need to run the programs you use often, get the best processor you can afford and if possible, get a solid state drive for start up (at least). Graphics cards.. since you will be in Photoshop find one with memory (6 or 8 GBs) and that way Photoshop won't need to use all of your computer's RAM to run it.

I actually tried an Alienware laptop for a couple of days, but for what I wanted I could build a desktop with more of everything. Plus, Dell's customer service sucks especially when most of the team working with Alienware left and now all they have is script readers answering the phones who give you the run around.

I know nothing about MACs. I used one in college and that's about it. I like being able to play my PC games with having to run a Windows environment. So,I would say that's something else to think about... if all of the programs that are important to you are available in each platform and how much extra effort will you need to go through if not.