Have $800 to spend on a laptop which one?

I've got no beef with Apple - as noted I own several of them.

I have a beef with people who carry on they like they are the "most fantastic thing" ever. They're good machines, but expensive, and the extra cost is highly questionable in the context of what this guy needs. I now do all of my music on Windows machines, and haven't noticed any difference in productivity due to hardware (there has been a productivity boost due to software, but that's unrelated). As I saved thousands on my hardware costs, I think that's a compelling case.

I've seen both the iPad and the iPad 2 and was unmoved. Yeah the screen is very nice, but um, so? I can't run Cubase or Logic on it, and if I want to watch a movie I have a TV (Of course, if the iPad had a Weiss AD converter in it, then I'd be going complete gaga about it).

As far as laptops with 1650 x 1080 res, yeah it's mainly Macs being made at that res. Most hi-res Windows laptops nowadays are 1920 by 1080.
Amazon.com: 1920x1080 - Laptops / Computers & Accessories: Electronics

"you can get a 1920x1080 full HD screen, on which Windows looks positively tiny, due to its unfortunate choice of default font size"

Huh? That's just bizarre. Windows looks just fine in 1920 by 1080.

Again I'm not knocking Macs, they're good machines - I still own five of them. I'm knocking this "Oh My God, Macs are SOOOO much better" mentality. They're not. (For the record, I didn't check the screen specs of the machine he listed, CPU, RAM and HDD are what matter the most for what I do).
 
The OP has $800 to spend and wants a new laptop now, and is being advised to wait until expensive Retina display Macs are on the market?

Aside from the fact that he wants to upgrade now, and that a Retina display Mac will be well over $800 when they are eventually introduced, that's great advice.

Any decent machine running Windows 7 (or even XP) would suffice for me. So far, I really like Windows 7. Macs are great, but like Manning, I can't justify the extra cost if money is an issue.
 
No, I'm not advising him to buy a Mac. There won't be any $800 Mac laptops anytime soon, if ever. I'm just saying that PC manufacturers will be forced to up their game sometime towards the end of this year, by, for instance, offering non-shitty displays in their laptops. And if they don't, PC laptop market will be truly screwed.
 
Wow! I never thought my question would get this many responses which I do appreciate. I still didn't get the laptop yet. A little further info for you guys. My current laptop is about 7 years old and I know its not going to run very well with the Axe Fx2. It's very slow now and I am running very little programs on it. This whole AX FX thing is completely new to me so your input really helps. I know once I finally get my unit I will more than likely be posting about a hundred questions within in the first week. LOL. Back to the original question. Please throw out some laptops that you recommed that are around $800. Thanks again.
 
jon said:
well I regularly use both pc and mac, all with several versions of the respective OS's - from win xp to 7, and various versions of osx (thanks to work)

Manning is right in the sense that 10 years ago there was a clear cut level of superiority with macs and PC's. Now, it's not as clear, windows has clearly come a LONG way.

I still see OSX as being quite a bit ahead of any windoze machine I've ever used tho. I'm no fanboi either - I use both platforms regularly, and OSX to me is still a pretty clear winner, but windoze is actually a contender these days instead of just getting TKO'd every rounds.

Take that advice as you will, doesn't really matter to me - I'm no fanboi - just a realist, and that's my take. You can get a refurbished or used macbook pro for about that price, or you can get a pretty good windows machine with that too...I'd go with the sony as well, even the dells, I have nothing but horror stories with HP laptops, tho I've heard their quality level has improved.

You can also get one of these machines and load up mac OSX, but it might lack the stability of a known mac build. If you can get the identical build, I'd go with that. best of luck!
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Not this again-Come on man-And what do you base this revelation on? Other Mac users comments> I use to use both-especially when I was in the Computer Network biz for my living-had to. The only real difference between the 2 is the inflated price of the MAcs .Period. There is NO proof to your statement "anywhere" except rants by others who just have to cling to this ridiculous claim.
 
plexi59 said:
No, I'm not advising him to buy a Mac. There won't be any $800 Mac laptops anytime soon, if ever. I'm just saying that PC manufacturers will be forced to up their game sometime towards the end of this year, by, for instance, offering non-shitty displays in their laptops. And if they don't, PC laptop market will be truly screwed.
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Yeah right. Jeezzz. And to think15 years ago I probably sounded like that-then I woke up.
 
plexi59 said:
No, I'm not advising him to buy a Mac. There won't be any $800 Mac laptops anytime soon, if ever. I'm just saying that PC manufacturers will be forced to up their game sometime towards the end of this year, by, for instance, offering non-shitty displays in their laptops. And if they don't, PC laptop market will be truly screwed.
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No doubt Bill gates is shaking in his boots. Sometimes you folks are almost laughable. They are NOT better, they are simply more expensive. That does not equate to Better.
You folks bought into the Mac hype and now you argue with everyone (with no basis of fact) because you need to justify in your own minds the ridiculous prices you pay for everything Mac. They are nice, not better-just nice.
 
Manning-you are missing the point. On a MAc you can "see" the audio so much better. Decibals look fabulous.
 
Stratman68 said:
Not this again-Come on man-And what do you base this revelation on? Other Mac users comments> I use to use both-especially when I was in the Computer Network biz for my living-had to. The only real difference between the 2 is the inflated price of the MAcs .Period. There is NO proof to your statement "anywhere" except rants by others who just have to cling to this ridiculous claim.
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I made the original comment and it was just based on my experience. As I recall, running music software on Windows 98 was a hassle and it crashed regularly. Getting drivers sorted out was cumbersome as well. The Mac OS of the time (um... OS8?) was a lot easier to configure and a lot more stable.

I ran Logic v5 under XP (2002 version) for a while and it was better than 98 but still a bit troublesome. I didn't use XP SP2+ or Vista for music so I can't comment on those.

Now under Windows 7 everything is just fine, stable and configuration is just as easy as on a Mac. Hence I'll be staying out of personal preference, as I've always found the Mac OS awkward. (Some people love the Mac OS and find Windows awkward, which is fine)
 
Stratman68 said:
Not this again-Come on man-And what do you base this revelation on? Other Mac users comments> I use to use both-especially when I was in the Computer Network biz for my living-had to. The only real difference between the 2 is the inflated price of the MAcs .Period. There is NO proof to your statement "anywhere" except rants by others who just have to cling to this ridiculous claim.
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?
I stated that in my opinion I saw that mac OSX was still ahead of windows 7, tho the gap has closed considerably now. You go bashing without even reading. Typical.
Just as manning stated - some people like windoze, some like osx. That's all there is to it.

I don't really need to read internet forums to state my opinion on it - in my different fields of work I use different iterations of mac osx, as well as every version of windows from 98 till 7. I also use linux and unix based severs. I find that generally I keep wishing I had a mac when I was on a windoze machine. Linux is also much better than windoze in my opinion.

If you want to flame on without reading as usual, go right ahead. I prefer osx, manning prefers windoze, and we've found no reason to argue about it, so what's YOUR beef brah?
 
Manning said:
Apart from what I'm guessing is your personal preference for Mac, can you provide any reason why someone should spend $1130 on a refurbished Mac (presumably with a Core Duo processor) when they could buy a brand new Windows machine with a faster processor and equivalent (or better) RAM and HDD for several hundred less?
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Yes, because Mac is a better product imo and my experiences. This doesn't mean they are better it just means they are better for me and based on this I would recommend them. I've run my mac book pro against several windows machines touting twice the speed and it blows them away (again my experience perhaps not yours and that's cool). I have nothing against windows and you are correct in that the acquisition cost is much more attractive but I got away from windows and have since been freed of all the associated problems with windows to include pesky viruses. I found a way to get a killer mac machine at a less expensive price than new yet it is still like a brand new machine. I was just offering the OP an option not trying to shove anything at anyone. And what do you say we all try and help this guy out and get away from the Mac vs Windows debate. There are plenty of other forums for this.
 
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jon said:
?
I stated that in my opinion I saw that mac OSX was still ahead of windows 7, tho the gap has closed considerably now. You go bashing without even reading. Typical.
Just as manning stated - some people like windoze, some like osx. That's all there is to it.

I don't really need to read internet forums to state my opinion on it - in my different fields of work I use different iterations of mac osx, as well as every version of windows from 98 till 7. I also use linux and unix based severs. I find that generally I keep wishing I had a mac when I was on a windoze machine. Linux is also much better than windoze in my opinion.

If you want to flame on without reading as usual, go right ahead. I prefer osx, manning prefers windoze, and we've found no reason to argue about it, so what's YOUR beef brah?
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Please point out where you cleverly hid the "IMHO" part? You "SAID" Macs were ahead of windoze (nice spelling, it's Windows) I am out of here. You people make a statement and then try to backtrack and say something else. You said what you said. Read your own post.
So long "Brah"? Couldn't find that in the Webster
 
jetspeed747 said:
Yes, because Mac is a better product imo. I've run my mac book pro against several windows machines touting twice the speed and it blows them away. I have nothing against windows and you are correct in that the acquisition cost is much more attractive but I got away from windows and have since been freed of all the associated problems with windows to include pesky viruses. I found a way to get a killer mac machine at a less expensive price than new yet it is still like a brand new machine. I was just offering the OP an option not trying to shove anything at anyone.
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Yes, YOUR machines. Macs are not faster, they are what they are. Children still arguing this same old garbage. BTW-MAcs have been welcomed to the Malware world big time. Honestly, I do find that sad. I was hoping they wouldn't. Yup, I said that. I don't dislike MAcs, I dislike the false premise that they are superior. But most of that argument I thought ended years ago. When the kids grew up. But I guess the kids had kids :)
So Long-I'm gone now.
 
Stratman68 said:
Yes, YOUR machines. Macs are not faster, they are what they are. Children still arguing this same old garbage. BTW-MAcs have been welcomed to the Malware world big time. Honestly, I do find that sad. I was hoping they wouldn't. Yup, I said that. I don't dislike MAcs, I dislike the false premise that they are superior. But most of that argument I thought ended years ago. When the kids grew up. But I guess the kids had kids :)
So Long-I'm gone now.
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No worries and thanks for capitalizing YOUR in case there are any dumb people who couldn't clearly delineate that I was pretty clear in taking responsibility for what was mine (machine and experience) visa vi blanket statements touting the superiority or one brand over another. You seem more interested in arguing than you do helping the OP. Is this something I should get used to on this forum?
 
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Also, I admit that they are expensive - people often cite cases where they can build identical machines for much less. This is 100% true.

The DIFFERENCE (in my humble experience and opinion of course) is in the OS - Windoze is typically always buggy, inefficient at hyper-threading, and sucks up loads of resources (just the OS alone), and generally unstable. I have no personal beef with them tho - lots of guys use windoze (including myself) and get stuff done.

I've also found that workflow on the mac is MUCH better - on windoze it does not exist TBH. Also, I appreciate not having to deal with crashes and driver issues on a daily basis. Everyone is different tho.

Anyway, back to topic, you can also check out some often overlooked manufacturers, like acer and Asus - they typically have great builds and the prices are pretty good as well. I'd advise to stay clear of netbooks/notebooks, as they usually have cooling issues, and for some reason usually have very poor qa/qc as well.

Also, what about using a tablet? Don't underestimate the power that tablets these days are packing, and for the price, they are hard to beat! :eek: Much more convenient as well! ;)
 
Stratman68 said:
Please point out where you cleverly hid the "IMHO" part? You "SAID" Macs were ahead of windoze (nice spelling, it's Windows) I am out of here. You people make a statement and then try to backtrack and say something else. You said what you said. Read your own post.
So long "Brah"? Couldn't find that in the Webster
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well it's right here in my original post (which you clearly did NOT read without starting the typical bashing/attacking). I'd suggest you read occasionally BEFORE posting.

Do I HAVE to always explicitly include IMHO YMMV etc etc? Is the english language THAT hard to understand? :eek:

jon said:
I still see OSX as being quite a bit ahead of any windoze machine I've ever used tho. I'm no fanboi either - I use both platforms regularly, and OSX to me is still a pretty clear winner, but windoze is actually a contender these days instead of just getting TKO'd every rounds.

Take that advice as you will, doesn't really matter to me - I'm no fanboi - just a realist, and that's my take.
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jon said:
well it's right here in my original post (which you clearly did NOT read without starting the typical bashing/attacking). I'd suggest you read occasionally BEFORE posting.

Do I HAVE to always explicitly include IMHO YMMV etc etc? Is the english language THAT hard to understand? :eek:
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He's gone jon. Not surprisingly.
 
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