<p>I’m sorry to not go thru every post on here but has anyone mentioned the issue of viruses? The advantage of the Apple laptop is, of course, that you are largely immune to that sort of cyber nastiness but you are very much vulnerable with a windows based machine.</p>
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<p>My computer is almost four years old. $2,700 MacBook Pro 17 inch. My
daughter’s is 4.5 years old. $2,200 MacBook Pro 15 inch. My son’s
laptop is 1.5 years old - $1,800 MacBook Pro 15 inch (prices came
down). My wife’s is 3.5 years old - Dell XPS M1330. They all are
running well. I’ve done quite a bit of work on mine - upgraded the
hard drive from 260 GB to 1 TB (this took me a few hours), added a
solid state disk, upgraded the RAM from 2 GB to 4 GB, installed
multiple partitions and operating systems so that it runs Linux,
Windows and Mac OS X.</p>
<p>Computers can break - good brand or bad. Computers are made from a lot
of components and a supplier may have a bad batch of components or
something can get damaged in transport or assembly. This stuff usually
shows up quickly within the warranty period so there’s usually a free
repair available. Some things can get damaged with time and use and
those you have to deal with yourself if you’re outside of the warranty
period.</p>
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<p>The thing is that you don’t necessarily know what it will cost to repair
it until they look at it and they usually charge a fee for that.</p>
<p>I get asked to look at computers from time to time to diagnose problems.
I also people that come up to me and describe symptoms and ask me what
I think. I’ve never charged anyone anything for this kind of thing - but
sometimes I ask for a favor back in the future. All of my brother-in-laws
are the same way - they can generally diagnose problems and fix many of
them.</p>
<p>It can make life easier if you can identify someone like this in your
network.</p>
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<p>Computer repairs remind me a lot of cars.</p>
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<p>True, but at 2 1/2 times the budget…</p>
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<p>Unfortunately this is no longer true.</p>
<p>Widespread use of layered software like Adobe products, Java and web
browsers have resulted in Mac OS X becoming more vulnerable to malware.
Apple now recommends running Anti-Malware products.</p>
<p>There are, of course, far fewer viruses compared to Windows but with
Windows, there are multiple anti-malware products and a rich community
of security researchers constantly looking for Windows malware.</p>
<p>In my opinion, the safest way to operate is to use Virtual Machine
appliances where you throw away the application with every bootup.</p>
<p>BCEagle, Son’s problem was a physical hardware problem - a port needed to be replaced and the exterior needed to be tightened.</p>
<p>If you run the proper anti-virus, anti-malware software on a PC, viruses are not a big problem. I have used PCs only for many years and have had only one virus problem. I was able to get rid of it without a repair cost, but it was a nasty one that caused some people to give up and buy a new computer. </p>
<p>My D has a Mac and loves it. If money were not an issue, I’d go with a Mac too.</p>
<p>I have two toolkits for MacBook Pros (they require specialized tools) and various other toolkits for working on computer hardware. A port could be easy or hard to replace - in some cases, soldering on the motherboard may be required.</p>
<p>I like to check screws on laptops from time to time as they can work loose.</p>
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<p>I asked for basic and inexpensive, but I guess “inexpensive” is relative. Maybe the title of my thread should have been:</p>
<p>Do any of the cheap laptops shown in the newspaper inserts (CompUSA, Target, WalMart, etc.) not suck?</p>
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<p>The newer transports are Java, Flash, and Acrobat Reader in addition to the browsers. There have been numerous zero-day vulnerabilities discovered in the past year in these types of products. A zero-day vulnerability is malware that hasn’t been discovered by the anti-malware companies so that there are no countermeasures for it. Vectors can be banner ads, PDF files that get emailed at work, Office files, etc. I generally run multiple scans on my system at least once a week using different anti-malware problems.</p>
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<p>I love Macs too but I like high-spec machines and the only option there is the Mac Pro which starts near $3,000. I can usually build something comparable for about $1,200.</p>
<p>It probably helps that I work from home and am not networked so I have control over what my PCs are exposed to. I also run more than one scan per week.</p>
<p>missy - we got a Lenovo G560 for under 400$. H loved it so much that we got the same one for S. Comes up with a camera and we do skype with it. </p>
<p>I am not sure if your “inexpensive” would be 400$ - but we thought it was a great deal. Often available for this price on the buy.com website. For the stuff that you want to do, this would work just fine…</p>
<p>Our D2 (high school senior) still has a Toshiba laptop we bought her 3 years ago for a bit less than $400. Next fall when she leaves for college H promised her a new computer and D2 said she would like a Mac. This kid only gets on Facebook, watches movies, surfs the web and of course writes papers for school. H told her she did not need an expensive Mac for what she does on a computer.</p>
<p>My H is an engineer and has put together many computers for our family so I trust what he has to say. You should be able to find a good laptop for $400 or less.</p>
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<p>She has probably used a friend’s Mac. After my D got her Mac, I made the mistake of using it a couple of times. I should have stayed away. It is so much nicer than any of the PC laptops I have had that it is hard not to want one.</p>
<p>cartera45 - What I neglected to say above is that D2 also has a second computer which is her sister’s old Macbook. </p>
<p>D1 has a new Macbook that she had to pay half of and grandparents helped with the other half. D1 is a musical theatre major and uses her Mac all the time for school. D2 likes the Mac, but does not NEED one according to H!</p>
<p>My D is a music theater major and also finds her Mac to be best for her school work. I used my PC to make a movie of her junior recital and then used the same footage to make a movie on her Mac - no comparison. I know I could download expensive software for the PC to rival the free software on the Mac and still come out ahead, but I chose to get a Mac for her instead when she started college. I’m still on my lowly Dell, which has been a workhorse, I’ll admit.</p>
<p>To give you an idea of how much technology my husband uses, he has had an iPhone since early July and has never gone on the internet with it, never used an app. On this lap top he will do some web searches and we will skype. I will do basic word processing. That is really truly it.</p>
<p>You should be able to find something in the $400 range - less if you’ll trust refurbished.</p>
<p>[Lenovo</a> ThinkPad Edge E420 1141-55U Notebook PC - Intel Core i3-2310M 2.10GHz, 4GB DDR3, 320GB HDD, DVDRW, 14 Display, Windows 7 Professional 64-bit at TigerDirect.com](<a href=“TigerDirect Sunset”>TigerDirect Sunset)</p>
<p>This will last you for a very long time and will treat you will.</p>
<p>We wanted a minimal portable computer for e-maioling, web searches, to take for travele, with the capability of doing some light word processing. </p>
<p>No DVD/CD drive, has Skype, powers the sounds in our kitchen with Pandora, has a little music on it, works wirelessly, small size, streams wireless music from the house server . . . we affectionately call it the “craptop.”</p>
<p>We have an ASUS with 1 gig RAM, 250 meg hard drive, cost about $250, has worked for 2 years and running with no problems.</p>
<p>Wife has a laptop for work, an Ipad2, etc . . this remains our go-to for e-mail, web surfing and and skype machine.</p>
<p>OP, your post #56 in this thread says “go minimal” to me . . . most of the recommendations above go well beyond that . . not that there is anything wrong with that! </p>
<p>For us it’s the Craptop.</p>
<p>I am about to buy this:</p>
<p>[Acer</a> AO722-0473 11.6" Netbook - Black : Target](<a href=“http://www.target.com/p/Acer-AO722-0473-11-6-Netbook-Black/-/A-13821981]Acer”>http://www.target.com/p/Acer-AO722-0473-11-6-Netbook-Black/-/A-13821981)</p>
<p>Acer Aspire One AO722-0473
$280 11.6" netbook with a full-size keyboard, HMDI out, 0.3 megapixel webcam, Win7, 2 speakers, 3 USB ports and a multi-card reader.
Read the reviews on Amazon for this model; they’re more thorough than the Target reviews. So is the spec listing.</p>