What new computer should I purchase?

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northwindman
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Joined: Thu Apr 09, 2009 8:03 pm
Location: traverse city mi.
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Hi newbie from northwest lower Michigan. I was just wondering if anybody is using a mac PC and if anybody had an opinion on there performance. :?: I was thinking of buying the mini mac and was wondering if anybody had any thoughts on a comparable sub.
environmentalist
DigitalDreams

I've owned almost every generation of pc ever sold or built from the
sinclair to the quad core from the lisa to the imac and heres my take.

I will say tho if you plan to make it a pc stay away from e-machines they like to put power supplies that are just big enough to run whats in them in the computer, and if you add components it tends to shorten life of the supply, and they tend to take out the motherboard when they die.

Ask or look at how many watts the power supply is when you buy it cause the new machines should have at least 450 watt supply to be capable and I myself won't buy one under 600 watt.
Just remember every time you plug in a device usb or card it uses 5
volts and 1-20 watts don't take long to add up to 450.

If you just want to surf the web,chat with friends and basicly play cheap games buy a cheap of the shelf pc.

If you are a power game world of warcraft and such then buy a quad core pc with mega video and ram and a monster hard drive.And spring for the cable modem connection.

If you use it more for business spreadsheets and graphics editing ect
the mac is the way to go.I know more publishers that use mac than
anything else in fact I have one related to me that swears by mac for his newspaper.
northwindman
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Apr 09, 2009 8:03 pm
Location: traverse city mi.
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Thanks for your input, much appreciated especially the power supply requirements
always better to hear from non bias source.
Have a good one.
environmentalist
garypely
Posts: 19
Joined: Tue Mar 10, 2009 8:58 pm

I have had an emachines w3609 with Vista and we love it. In fact, it was my wife's and I liked it so much that I bought me one of ebay. I do not however upgrade my systems so I can not say how the power effect would be.

We also have purchased two dell laptops recently. My wife has the Inspirion 1315 (i believe) and she likes it. I bought the inspiron 13. It is a smaller laptop but I like it.

My suggestion is before you buy something take a look at what is around and then you can always go to a rental place and rent something for a week and see how you really like it. I would not rent it for longer then the week because otherwise you are generally going to pay 3 times what it is actually worth.
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TonyPa
Posts: 87
Joined: Wed Apr 01, 2009 7:58 am
Location: Pgh, Pa.
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I have only owned HP's. I do have a Compaq laptop also, but they are made by HP. I have always had luck with them.
topcat
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Joined: Mon Mar 30, 2009 10:31 pm
Location: Salem, MO
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build your own. if you're not quite up for that task, go for a Dell. Avoid vista like the plague, staying with XP pro.
'If you tolerate this, then your children will be next'
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bell30655
Posts: 58
Joined: Wed May 14, 2008 4:11 am
Location: Monroe, Georgia
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There are several Mini Macs at my office. Everyone loves them. My daughter uses a MacBook (which can be booted in Windows or OS-X). Macs have many advantages. The biggest disadvantage to a Mac is the price.
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TonyPa
Posts: 87
Joined: Wed Apr 01, 2009 7:58 am
Location: Pgh, Pa.
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I really like my Vista. I hear a lot of folks say they don't like them. I make my living on the interent, and since I got my laptop, and it has Vista, I have been very happy with it.
Although my wife hates it, and uses the desktop with XP.
topcat
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Joined: Mon Mar 30, 2009 10:31 pm
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I've been in the PC/IT field for 15 years, vistrash is an absolute abomination of code and bloat. There's no excuse for the resources it sucks up. It will bring good hardware to its knees, quickly!! If you think a system performs well with visturd, toss XP on it and you'll never look back!
'If you tolerate this, then your children will be next'
DigitalDreams

Not exactly political correctness topcat but must admit, so true couldn't have put it better myself.
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bell30655
Posts: 58
Joined: Wed May 14, 2008 4:11 am
Location: Monroe, Georgia
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Any Intel Mac gives you the option of which operating system you want to use today. How many virus, worms, etc are written for the PC? How many for OS-X
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codyBane
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Joined: Thu May 14, 2009 1:38 pm
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How many for OS-X
That certainly doesn't make it safe. Mac's are great but when you do get one of the few viruses written for mac things tend to go very wrong - as in, back to the manufacturer we'll send you a new computer wrong.

Mac's are generally the better tools if you're into high end photography and video editing. Audio editing there's no advantage to a mac over a pc. For day to day usage it's personal preference but you get more bang for your buck with a pc. Mac's are expensive.

Mac's used to have a major performance advantage back when they still used the IBM PPC processors based on the motorolla assembly language. But since IBM stopped making these and Mac did not want to go with the Cell processor (joint venture by Sony, Toshiba, and IBM) and went with the Intel processor, you're getting very close to the same hardware now in a Mac as you do with a PC. Mac just streamlines it a little, limits your upgrade options so they can optimize their system for specific hardware, and nearly doubles their price.

So buying a mac is like buying a BMW or Mercedes when a Honda does just the same. Except that you can upgrade the Honda easier but the Mac/BMW you got is already tuned to the 9's and there's not much room for improvement.

So when it comes down to it - Mac vs PC - forget the commercials, just look at your budget, your needs, and your personal preference.

Good advice about power supplies and about staying away from cheapo brands like e-machines.

Even your decent off the shelf HP's and the like will skimp on components a little bit.

Also keep in mind if you go to buy a "faster" computer that even if your computer has a very fast processor that processor is still limited by how fast it can access that information from both ram and from your hard disk. Most manufacturers like to slip in cheap crappy hard drives which become the biggest bottleneck in your computers speed. Whatever you get off the shelf - I recommend upgrading the hard drive immediately or getting it with a faster hard drive put in by the store. Even better is to get a custom pc from a geek if you know what you're doing.

I've had poor lifespans with my compaq laptops, seen good lifespans from Dell but horrible customer support unless you buy from the business end and not the home user end.

As much as I hate windows Vista and have stuck with XP - the people I know who have Vista ultimate have been VERY happy with it. I'm willing to put my Vista hatred aside and give Windows 7 an unbiased try when it comes out. It just might be worth using.

Also if you're just an everyday user and don't need more than word processing, a web browser, chat programs, and you're willing to tinker a little bit... try Ubuntu Linux. It's free. I used it at work for several years.
DigitalDreams

Just set your budget and shop around like everyone
here has said no one computer is right for ever person.

But do keep on mind that the salesman
at some of the superstores may not be a expert
(wow have I discovered that many times when I
needed parts for mine)
and asking a few friends who have had good luck what they bought can reap rewards and help you avoid the bad ones.

And Mac versus PC is really not a war it's more like a lifestyle.
On the other hand Windows versus Linux now thats a war.
I mean Macs can run windows, thats kinda like putting Toyota
emblems on your BMW!
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