Possibly buying a new laptop

Only if you've cheaped out and bought a cheapo PC from Dell or HP. The cheapest Mac laptop is $1000....spend $1000 on a PC laptop from a good company, and it'll last just as long.

The only reason a PC will bite the dust in a year or less is because you're doing something wrong with it. If it's a hardware issue, its typically under mfg warranty. If it's software, you messed up, plain and simple.

I love Lenovo, btw. Like has been said, they can be a bit pricey (but not relative to a Mac), but are definitely worth it in build quality.

 

On on my 3rd year on my WINXP desktop and the thing still rocks. I don't do much for maintenance, the real kicker is I don't install much nor do i tinker with it much I use the heck out of my machine doing graphics, video, audio, etc and i rarely encounter a hick-up.

Saying that, I'm eyeballing a MacBook Pro.. mainly because in my line of work, its 99:1 MACC and despite what everyone says, there are issues with cross platform graphics. I'm just sick of having to deal with those issues so when I just did my CS5.5 upgrade, I paid a little more and got a multi-platform license. Now I just need my work get the MAC for me

 

Also, my Mac friends.. Macs do NOT have the same power as a PC when comparing apples to oranges (sorry for the pun) LOL... Windows is a resource HOG, thus requiring more processor, video, RAM, & storage. Lets grab a notebook that is lets say 5 years old & load Linux on it & compare it to a new Mac. Your test results for the most part will be very close & in come cases the PC will still be a bit faster.. Forget a new PC, it will blow the doors even on the fastest Mac.

 

My son just bought this one :
Newegg.com - Recertified: HP Pavilion dv6-3025dx Refurbished NoteBook AMD Phenom II Dual-Core N620(2.8GHz) 15.6" 4GB Memory 500GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi ATI Radeon HD 4250

from New Egg to use for music editing. He has a Maschine and a bunch of other devices running through it with no problem. He has a 7200 rpm drive for it, but didn't bother installing it because the computer is fast enough with the standard 5400 drive.

We have had Dell laptops for a number of years for business use, but the last two that my wife and I have purchased are also HP Pavilion dv6's. Very happy with them as a whole.

 

Good point. Picking it up by the screen is bad. Also, leaving it running on a couch or bed will restrict the airflow. Excessive heat will shorten it's life span greatly.

 

iPad?

 

I've seen a couple times where laptops would shut off randomly on people. I'd open them up, and there'd be very thick piles of compacted dust on the heatsink. They'd overheat from the dust, which was drawn in from being used on the bed for long periods of time, and never cleaned out.

Beyond that, if it's the software ("Windows isn't running as fast anymore!"), it's probably also something you installed or did that messed it up. My Windows installs run just as fast at 4+ years as they did on day 1, because I don't install crazy toolbars, I avoid installing most programs in general, I don't use internet explorer, and I disable startup services (among other stuff). I keep an updated antivirus, updated spyware scanner that I run regularly, and *gasp* I perform backups of the system partition weekly.

All this is coming to Mac at some point. If you think you're immune, it's not true. There are Mac viruses (a big one was in the tech news lately), and Macs even have a built in virus scanner for the past couple years - but under Apple's infinite wisdom, its presence not easily visible to the user, and the "Geniuses" at Apple stores won't even tell you that you have a virus if it's causing you problems. They're not as big of a target because they're such a small segment of the market (under 8% IIRC), but if you keep recommending that all your friends buy them because of how great they are, all of the supposed advantages will disappear.

 

I have had about every PC there is and now I would not purchase anything other than a Lenovo. I think they are great. I would try a MAC but Im so use to PC's and learning a new operating system would be frustrating for me...

 

The operating system isn't that much different in all honesty, Just using different keys in place of others. And most macs are convertible to windows operating systems now.

You all can sit and bash apple products, and bash other microsoft using brands. But it comes down to preference.

Ill stick to my Macbook. I went through 5 various computers all gotten from bestbuy and told they would run photoshop. Photoshop kills those computers. Honestly. Ive saved more money in buying a macbook in the long run. My 1st macbook only died cause I dropped it a billion times and finally did something to it. AFTER 3 years. My new Pro is doing grand .

HP was probably the longest lasting microsoft computer I have had.

 

I wasnt bashing apple products at all, I have an iPhone... I have nothing against MAC, my lack of knowledge of the product has kept me away from it and I am not one for change when I have found no need for it. My last Lenovo I had for nearly 4 years and I still have it and still use it ever so often. The only reason I purchased a new Lenovo is because I wanted a larger screen.

How do you mean that PhotoShop kills those computers? I have 3 different versions of PhotoShop on mine and it runs like a champ.

Again, I have nothing against MAC and realize they offer the best product on the market when it comes to dependability. I just have never made the switch.