Should I buy a Mac or PC Laptop?

I have been a Mac person all of my life, so I'm going to be bias - Just warning you.

For what you want in a computer, I would definitely recommend that you get a Macbook Pro. Yes, they're expensive. Yes, they're not quite as customizable as PCs, but they're durable as hell. They have outstanding support, outstanding software, and outstanding usability.
Plus, you already have an iPhone, so your life'd be easier if you had a computer to go w/ that.

I've used Macs all of my life, and used PCs at school. I definitely prefer Macs.
Last August I bought the 15" Macbook Pro w/ Retina Display - great computer for medium-gaming, school, and your social life.
I just bought an iPhone 5s, so i'm enjoying having everything hooked up.

There are perks to both, but I'm a diehard Mac fan, and I definitely think you'd love one.

Also - I think they're coming out w/ a new Macbook Pro this year (you can probably check online). If they are, wait until that comes out. I heard a new one was coming out soon enough and it has some pretty cool new hardware.

 

Honestly, given what you've said, I'd suggest some flavor of MacBook. Yes, they are more expensive. But build quality is better than a lot of PC laptops. There are good PC laptops, but guess what? They aren't a hell of a lot cheaper than Apple, and they bring all the "fun" of Windows headaches. (Unless you are willing to try something like Linux.) Made even more fun by Windows 8: the new Vista/ME. :lol:

As for the screen size issue: you might be able to get by with less than you have now. One former Low End Mac writer did adapt to a smaller screen when he went from PowerBook to MacBook.

Also worth considering: I believe all MacBooks support external displays. If you don't need a big screen on the road, you might even be able to get by with an 11" MacBook Air...

 

This.

I love my Macbook Pro, not to mention it's extremely durable. I've probably dropped my Mac about 50 times and it still works.

 

I'd say get a smaller Windows laptop.
Could always try one of those Ultrabooks.

If you really want to cut the bloatware, HP do a 14 inch Chromebook, but you'd probably want to do more on it than it can do.

 

Not the most technologically-savvy person, so take this with a grain of salt. I own both a Dell PC laptop and a Macbook Pro. Bought the latter a year ago for school. I now use it exclusively, school assignments or otherwise. Dell has become an ungainly-looking paperweight. Conclude from that what you will.

 

PC. You can get Mac OS and install it on a PC. You can't really do the same on a mac without some special software and a willing to cut the amount of space of your hard drive in half.

Your problem with Alienware: It's a very fancy Dell. Not really that great.

You can go with Sony. You can go with Asus, or even HP or Toshiba. Those are all some great brands that offer some good PCs for a fairly low price.

But whatever you do, don't go with Dell. There is a reason Dell has been the laughingstock of computers, and it's their efficiency. Every other computer you can get for the same price as an Alienware (or even a good-priced Dell) is going to be much more efficient.

I personally have and use both, and there are a lot more advantages to having a PC. I personally carry around my macbook and treat my PC like a desktop (although it's a G74Sx Asus). I personally need all the screen I can get, considering what I do for my work. Still, I'd go with a PC because at the end of the day, the OS is always separated from the machine, where it's not so much on a Mac, unless you want to take some extreme risks.

 

Personally, I'm all for Mac. Always have been and I wouldn't dream of buying a PC. But at the end of the day it all depends what you want to use it for and personal preference. They're both pretty equal. Although I do prefer the user experience on a Mac.

 

Haha are you kidding, it's the exact opposite You can only get Mac OS on Mac hardware. You can, however, install Windows on a Mac really easily. Seriously, Mac OS's Bootcamp helps you through the entire process; you can choose how large a partition you want to give to Windows, it installs all the drivers you need for your it to work on the mac and it's really easy to switch betwen the two... You don't have to partition your hdd either, you can install windows only.

//

I'm biased. Go with a Mac.

 

I vote for Mac. I know they are on the expensive side, but I have owned many mac computers going back 15 years or so. I have never had any mechanical problems with any of them. In fact, I have a mac laptop from the late 90's/early 2000s that would still works (though it just collects dust now.)

---------- Post added 26th Apr 2014 at 07:08 AM ----------

I run Parallels on my macbook pro. I can and do run both mac and windows together at the same time. It works with no problem on my machine.

 

Although my Macbook is only a few years old (bought it refurbished), I've worked on Macs at my job for years. Never had a single problem with any of them.

By contrast, my brother has owned a number of PC's over the years. Supposedly only buys "higher-end". Yet, seems like every couple months he has to blow it away and reinstall everything. He's gone through I don't know how many motherboards.

 

You can get the MacOS to run on generic PC systems. This is the so-called "Hackintosh." But, the last I heard, it can be difficult to get working properly, and there is a chance of something breaking during an OS update. While perhaps things have gotten better, I have to think that if one really wants the MacOS one might as well just get a real Mac unless there is a good reason to do otherwise. But then...I'm getting old and lazy. :lol:

And yes, it's easy to run multiple operating systems on a Mac. You can set things up to run natively, or you can run the other OS inside the MacOS (virtualization). Important, but obvious note: when you run another OS you have the problems of that OS. (Yes, I'm thinking of you Windows, and all your six billion virus problems. :lol:

---------- Post added 26th Apr 2014 at 10:13 AM ----------

Chromebooks are really interesting. But they do have limitations with what they can do. They aren't quite as bad as "no Internet you are SOL" as a certain OS maker in my state would like to claim. But they don't have the full power of a Mac, either, and some feel uncomfortable with Google products.

But they have some real strengths. Reasonably cheap. No Windows to deal with. And the ones I've seen are really amazingly nice computers even though they are cheap. If I were buying a new laptop they'd be a strong contender just as long as I also could keep/have something to fill in the various gaps. (And for that, my current desktop computer would be enough. I don't, for example, need page layout software when I'm at Starbucks.)

 

The thing with Bootcamp, is that in order to get it working well with as few issues as possible, is that you have to let it take up at least a decent size of the hard drive. And you have to restart the computer EVERY time you want to switch from one to the other (or at least to go to Windows). And then, everything's extremely tiny and barely noticeable. And yes, you do have to partition the hard drive. That's part of the whole process of installing Windows on it in the first place.

And with things like Parallels, that's true, but from what I remember, it was quite expensive. And Rakkaus is definitely looking at price tags.

 

Parallels isn't the only choice. VirtualBox should do the same thing, and its free.

But one question worth asking before even worrying about Windows is: do I really need to run it?

 

I am a Windows whore. i love android and I love my PC.

I got a Macbook air for my birthday and can't stop complaining about how un-user friendly it is.

but... it is reliable. there is virtually no lag, theres no hiccups, theres no issues, no malware or problems with boot time or all the other issues you run into with PC. It doesn't heat up and cook your lap either.

but it's not user friendly and it's annoying to find program conversions to use on a Mac.

 

My current computer is a 2010 Macbook Pro. I gotta say I love it (it's my first mac). I have a windows 7 ultrabook at work (it's probably 200-300 cheaper than the cheapest mac). It's runs just as well my personal Mac. Macs are really good machines I just don't think there worth the extra cost. I'm not really not a Apple fan anymore, so I probably will get a tablet/chromebook next since I have my work computer to do all my boring work tasks. You could get a windows pc around 800 that would more than suit your needs and pocket the savings.

I am also android/google fan now.... I traded in my iPhone for the Galaxy Note...

I don't think Chromebooks would suit you, but if do go that route, I would wait, Samsung is releasing new ones that have higher end specs next month.

 

I wouldn't want to encourage any abuse of the system, but this is how it works:
• You click the education bit on Apple.com
• Select your school
• Enter your (sister's) school email address
• You gets an email with your bill to that address
• You can pay with credit card

It's not necessary to pay her.