Need a new laptop....PC or Mac?

[Ed Rooney]

Originally Posted by Brunotheboxer

K, you are officially awesome.

Took you long enough.

[mikey]

PC are cheaper and virus software is expensive which means macs are better value in the long run.

[Atl]

Originally Posted by Ed Rooney

Done, on a 7-year old pc.

You can't, just the new ones with the new OS.

[Green Sub]

Originally Posted by Atl

As to repair costs, I don't know, but I do know when my iPod broke, and was out of warranty, I went to the Apple store, and they just gave me a new one on the spot! And speaking of Apple stores, if you need to install stuff from your old computer to the new one, or have a problem, or a question, the Genius Bar is fantastic! And their help is always free! Try that with a Dell or HP. Nothing for them is free. Comp USA wanted to charge me $100.00 just to transfer the old stuff from my old computer to the new one, as I said, Apple does this for free.

I do have some experience with broken Macs while out of warranty. It isn't pretty to toss a machine in the trash that costs twice as much as it's Windows counterpart. I love my Apple products, but they still break.

As far as build quality, a lot of HP, Dell, and Apple equipment is made by Foxconn in China http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxconn

[Ed Rooney]

Originally Posted by Atl

You can't, just the new ones with the new OS.

I can't?

[Mockingbird]

If you do end up going with the PC, and just build your own. Honestly it's no that hard, and you can get the quality of a 3k or so computer for around $600.

Really, it's just like legos and it's a fun experience to build it. Anyway, as soon as it becomes slightly outdated you can just upgrade a part and it'll be the fastest computer on the market again!

My friend is in graphic design, and he only uses his own built computers, so this advice is basically coming from what I've heard from him. (I built one once, but now I gave it to my younger brother (18) as a graduation present from highschool)

[Ed Rooney]

Originally Posted by mikey

PC are cheaper and virus software is expensive which means macs are better value in the long run.

AV software is free (AVG, Avast).

[rsg]

Making the transition from PC to Mac in our home. Both of my kids now have Macs and they love them, the wife will get one next.

[Ed Rooney]

Here's my question:

All of the mac people say that they use OS X because it is more secure than Windows, no viruses, etc.

So why are you using iphones over Blackberry? Blackberry is without question a more secure platform.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/mobile/....html?iref=NS1

[scdavid]

Please remember that you can run Windows applications on the Mac!

David

[t e x]

Have two desktops I have built, the first one around '98 with upgrades thru the years, March of last year I built my newest i7 build which screams, run them both via a kvm switch...I had the iphone 3g now have the 4. Was given an ipad by my company two weeks ago today and sold it for retail price the next day. Currently in the market for a lappy and looking at a relatively good i7 with a gig of ddr5 vid card...i'll run endpoint for protection, nuff said on the virus protection Haven't a virus in years...even using free protection.

Of course this post and many others done on the iphone

I'm sure you'll love mac joe!

[Cujucuyo]

Go for a Windows based Laptop [just don't get a Dell!], Macs are not that bad, they look pretty but are lacking... the No Virus thing is old, not to mention I haven't gotten a single virus for more than 12 years now, and whoever said anti-virus software is expensive, it's not, I use Avast [Used to have McAfee] and it's free and had better scores than most paid for AV's... besides that you just have to be smart where you surf.

I'm a gamer so I guess I pretty much hate Macs for their incompatibility with a LOT of games and programs... plus the idea that Apple are a bunch of idiots trying to be unique, pretty much screwing the user in many ways doesn't help.

Here are good sites to get great custom laptops with excellent specs:

http://www.xoticpc.com/index.html

http://www.powernotebooks.com/index.php3

http://www.cyberpowerpc.com


I got my 17" Gaming Laptop [Xplorer X7] from CyberpowerPC back in 2007 for $1,490 [I travel a lot, so I need to have my gaming fix wherever I am, lol]... it left even the most powerful and expensive Macbook Pro feeling like a Fisher Price laptop.

When I return back to the US in a few months I'm buying the ASUS G73JH-A1... it's a MONSTER for the price:

http://www.powernotebooks.com/ASUS-G...-sys-3345.html

I'd love to see anyone find a Macbook with better specs than this beast for the price! LOL

[t e x]

Of course I may hold off for one of these
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7H0K1k54t6A

[TheDude]

Originally Posted by Ed Rooney

Here's my question:

All of the mac people say that they use OS X because it is more secure than Windows, no viruses, etc.

So why are you using iphones over Blackberry? Blackberry is without question a more secure platform.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/mobile/....html?iref=NS1

Great point!

I refrained from dragging SmartPhones into the mix earlier when we were talking about "unmanaged" devices in corporate environments.

Even some of the best-secured enterprise environments aren't policing SmartPhone usage well enough. The rate of mobile device loss/theft is staggering. The numbers would blow your mind. If an enterprise isn't at least doing full disk crypto (iPhone doesn't count because it's so easily circumvented), it would be very foolhardy to put anything sensitive on a mobile device.

As you say, the most secure SmartPhone eco-system out of the box is Blackberry. Symbian can come close with 3rd party enhancements though.

[Ed Rooney]

Originally Posted by TheDude

Great point!

I refrained from dragging SmartPhones into the mix earlier when we were talking about "unmanaged" devices in corporate environments.

Even some of the best-secured enterprise environments aren't policing SmartPhone usage well enough. The rate of mobile device loss/theft is staggering. The numbers would blow your mind. If an enterprise isn't at least doing full disk crypto (iPhone doesn't count because it's so easily circumvented), it would be very foolhardy to put anything sensitive on a mobile device.

As you say, the most secure SmartPhone eco-system out of the box is Blackberry. Symbian can come close with 3rd party enhancements though.

Yes, as much as I dislike paying for BES, it is a tight system. I've read about a few corporate execs losing iPhones and it wasn't pretty. It's basically a race between the people who find it to pull the SIM, vs IT to remote wipe the device.

[TheDude]

Originally Posted by Ed Rooney

Yes, as much as I dislike paying for BES, it is a tight system. I've read about a few corporate execs losing iPhones and it wasn't pretty. It's basically a race between the people who find it to pull the SIM, vs IT to remote wipe the device.

Well, fortunately the remote wipe is self-service via OWA - but most users don't realize they have that ability.

If the Apple AES 256 implementation wasn't something that was easily circumvented it would be fine, however it's trivial to side step it.

My last company disallowed any email attachment downloads to SmartPhones regardless of handset crypto (and we had some very robust 3rd party options).

Sadly, most Exchange admins don't make full use of the security options available when building EAS profiles.

[t e x]

No business conducted thru my iphone 4... scary stuff