<p>Wireless keypad. Wireless mouse. Computer is built into the screen. So it looks sleek and works like a dream.</p>
<p>Two days after Christmas, my computer had a power surge and fried and died. (Luckily DH’s iMac had not yet been set up.) I ordered myself a Dell laptop and now I’m regretting it.</p>
<p>Cancel the Dell order and buy yourself a MacBook. You’ll love it. :)</p>
<p>Seriously…send the Dell back if it’s too late to cancel the order.</p>
<p>Looks sleek.</p>
<p>I don’t really get the whole Mac thing. The point of paying a significant premium for something that “looks sleek” is a bit beyond me. My HP laptop is 8 years old and connected to everything by a bunch of wires all over my desk, and it still works just fine.</p>
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<p>What do you run on that dinosaur? Windows 98? </p>
<p>I think you have been incredibly lucky. It is also possible that 8 years ago, HP still believed in building quality laptops. Many of us remember --not so fondly-- the entire debacle of HP slick black laptops losing wireless then turning into bricks. </p>
<p>Fwiw, I do not get the Mac mystique any more than you do, but many love their Apple toys. My mother and my sister love theirs. However, I absolutely hate when they ask me “Hey, can you show me how to do that …” Using a Mac seems to be an acquired taste, but again many love their sleek computer even if it comes with programs such as Safari and the slew of wannabe programs that seem to populate the cute beasts. To me it all sound very cult-like … probably along the lines of whoever is still trying to pass an iPad as a business tool that could help one’s productivity. </p>
<p>In the end, it is nice for people to be different and find choices that express their singularity.</p>
<p>PS I wish families with Windows 7 and Macs the best of luck to install a network. :)</p>
<p>I use a Dell at work and Macs at home. The Dell is clunky to use, crashes all the time; I have to defrag weekly*, update software frequently to make sure viruses don’t infect my machine. I am calling IT all the time. The whole way of finding and saving files is not intuitive to me.</p>
<p>None of that has ever happened with any of the countless Macs I’ve owned since 1984. </p>
<p>It has nothing to do with how sleek they look, but how they run and how they work. I’m willing to pay a premium for that.</p>
<p>Veryhappy, if I were you I’d return that Dell as quickly as possible. I hate mine with a passion.</p>
<p>(* as a Mac person I was totally mystified by this whole defragging thing. Every time I talk to IT at work they tell me to defrag. I probably should do it hourly based on their advice. What a pain.)</p>
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XP SP2 with the unnecessary services disabled. It works pretty nicely with most of the Linux and BSD systems I’ve used too.
I think most brands have been going downhill. If I felt like dropping a big chunk of cash on a laptop, I’d get a Fujitsu. My dad has one and it seems well-made. Thinkpads used to be good, but I think the Lenovo acquisition did not improve their quality.</p>
<p>The only significant improvement I’ve seen is in fan technology - my 8 year old fan sounds like a 737 engine revving for takeoff.</p>
<p>I don’t think I’ll be taking this machine with me to college, but I don’t know what to replace it with.
I can’t imagine what you are doing on that machine that would necessitate weekly defrags. Even with a FAT32 file system that would be extreme, and it simply shouldn’t be needed with NTFS.</p>
<p>As far as security is concerned, a limited user account is really the only solution. Running as admin for daily use is a bad idea on any operating system.</p>
<p>My Dell is scheduled to be delivered tomorrow, so I don’t think I’m going to cancel it.</p>
<p>I looked at getting a Mac laptop – both my children have them and love them – but they cost twice – literally TWICE – what the Dell costs. Considering even the iMac wasn’t in the budget (he had had an old Mac for 10, yes 10, years, and I really felt he was overdue), the Dell laptop most certainly wasn’t in the budget. So, I made the purchase purely based on finances, and we’ll see how miserable I am.</p>
<p>"(* as a Mac person I was totally mystified by this whole defragging thing. Every time I talk to IT at work they tell me to defrag. I probably should do it hourly based on their advice. What a pain.) "</p>
<p>Mystified is an appropriate word. It does seem that your company is forcing you to work on a poorly equipped computer with inadequate memory and disk space. It also seems that your compaby has not hired very bright IT people, or given them proper resources. </p>
<p>As far as storing and finding files, it is all a matter of what we are used to. That is why we have different opinions on what is … intuitive. For instance, I have no love lost for the new Windows 7 organization and even less for the Mac file organization. However, given enough time, I probably will find positive attributes in a system based on libraries. We are creatures of habit. </p>
<p>PS Noimagination, Windows XP will be hard to replace.</p>
<p>Very Happy – Send the Dell back. They have a terrible reliability record and their service is the pits. Yes, they are inexpensive but even the Best Buy guys roll their eyes when you ask about them in the store. I’d stay away from anything with Toshiba on the case as well. </p>
<p>Lenovo used to build computers for other companies and now has their own badge. They seem to last.</p>
<p>Though we belong to the First Church of MSDOS, my daughter is an apostate who has left the fold for the Temple of Apple. Alas. (They are cool…but don’t tell Bill I said so!) I don’t like laptops of any kind because they fry my wrists. But if I were to get one…it would probably be a Mac. However, with phones catching up to computers every day, I’m waiting til either the phones get really expensive or the computers get really cheap.</p>
<p>Very Happy - I own a small business and have purchased Dells for the last 9 years - right around the 3 year mark, every laptop that we have purchased dies (hard drive or fan unit)…I am talking abut 6-8 laptops having one of two problems within a month of each other. The first time it happened we thought hmmm weird coincidence, the second time we thought no - this can’t be, we are now approaching year 3 on the third round and two have already started to have problems…</p>
<p>We are converting to Macs this year…</p>
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<p>The only reason for this is that since Macs are still a teeny portion of the population (maybe 5% or less), there’s no money in making viruses that target Macs. If the population of Mac users continues to increase as it has been, Macs will soon get viruses just like PCs do.</p>
<p>My mom and sister, and several of my friends, have HPs and love them. I have a Compaq and have never really had major problems.</p>
<p>My only problem with Mac is that the users are generally really snotty about how much better their Mac is than every single PC. And then you put them in front of a PC and they have no idea how to use it. </p>
<p>If I had an extra $1,500 to shell out for a shiny white computer with an apple on it, I might. But I don’t really want to spend that kind of money on something just for the name.</p>
<p>^^ The HDDs in Macs and the HDDs in ‘PCs’ are from the same small number of HDD manufacturers so don’t get too excited about increased reliability in this regard. Apple doesn’t make HDDs.</p>
<p>The role of software development
Because software is often designed with security features to prevent unauthorized use of system resources, many viruses must exploit software bugs in a system or application to spread. Software development strategies that produce large numbers of bugs will generally also produce potential exploits.</p>
<p>it isn’t necessarily the # of users that makes malware on PCs more prevalent- it is sloppy writing.</p>
<p>My only problem with Mac is that the users are generally really snotty about how much better their Mac is than every single PC. And then you put them in front of a PC and they have no idea how to use it.</p>
<p>youve got to be kidding. 
many folks use both- after all Windows basically copied the Mac OS so how different could it be?</p>
<p>Even if you don’t get the mac, send the dell back and get a different PC. We used to swear by them but no more. The last five or so computers we’ve purchased have been complete crap.</p>
<p>I have 5 Dell laptops dating as far back to 2000 and they all still work. I’m very careful in picking the models and the specs though. I have on HP/Compaq laptop from around 2004 and it still works fine. I have a few HP Desktops that came out later that were dogs.</p>
<p>I have a friend that works at HP and they’ve been in cost-cutting mode for year after year after year. At some point you’re shipping crap and that’s my feeling on HP. I won’t buy another.</p>
<p>I was at the Sony Style store looking at Sony Vaio Z systems. 3 pound laptop, 1920x1080 resolution, 512 GB SSD, lots of ports, CD, Verizon Broadband, Core i7, 8 GB of RAM. $4,700. A friend has one of these and loves it though he wishes that battery life were better.</p>
<p>I’m pretty happy with my 17 inch MacBook Pro. Three years old and still works great, day-in and day out. I have no need for a replacement but I would like to do some architecture experiments with the Sandy Bridge processors that will be out next week. I’m hoping that Apple has iMacs or MacBook Pros. I’d like to replace my home desktop (5-6 years old) with an iMac.</p>
<p>EK-that really is the experience I’ve had. A lot of my friends are constantly ribbing me about how great their Mac is/how crappy my PC is. Sometimes our school does things that we need to use PCs for (eg, we have to use Internet Explorer for certain programs), so they’ll ask to use my computer…and the entire time they’re going, “Where is this? How do I do that?”</p>
<p>I do know that lots of people can–and do–use both. But it’s like others have said; it’s like a cult.</p>
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<p>Windows users do the same thing. It’s hard to go counterculture.</p>
<p>It’s not like there aren’t many other operating systems that you could use too. Some use Linux, Solaris, VMS, etc.</p>