Laptop question for the masses!
Do any of you have recommendations or anti-recommendations for laptop brands? I'm looking to buy a new computer, for the first time in a good while, and I'd love to hear if you have any words of wisdom to share.
What I want:
- What I want it for: my primary computer around the home. I want it to be a laptop, so that I can carry it from room to room, but heaviness and size aren't much of an issue. I have a netbook for when I want to just do some writing at a coffeeshop or bring along on a trip or whatever.
- Things it should have: a reasonably large screen. (Again, for tiny, I have a netbook.) A cd/dvd drive. (I have an external I could use if that's going to be a legitimate problem to find, but... seriously, using an external drive every time you want to watch a movie or burn a mix cd is a pain.) The ability to run Photoshop or a similar image editing program without slowing way the hell down. The ability to... run word processing and Firefox with a zillion open tabs and Photoshop simultaneously, and play movies, and stuff? I dunno, guys, I don't do a lot of gaming or video editing or anything fancy like that. I'm not all that demanding as a computer user. Durability would be nice on general principles, though.
- PC or Mac: Definite preference for PC. It's what I'm used to, it's what my mental approach to troubleshooting and file organization is based on, and I do a lot of navigating by keyboard shortcuts; the Mac interface throws me, and even if it's a Mac running a Windows OS, the keyboard's different command keys throw me. Also, Macs are expensive. If anyone wants to make the argument that there's a strong reason for me, specifically, to look into a Mac despite all this, I'm willing to listen.
- However, OS: I have heard dubious things about Windows 8. I want my computer to behave like a computer, not like a tablet with a keyboard. And I don't want my computer to helpfully arrange things in ways I don't want them and refuse to let me rearrange them in ways that make more sense to me. I'm not a programmer or a DIY-from-the-ground-up person, but I don't want my computer to act like I'm a kindergartener who needs parental protection software enabled to stop her from deleting the root file.
- Other considerations: I get a discount through work for Apple and Dell. However, I haven't heard great things about recent Dells, so I'm inclined to ignore that fact, unless you guys have contradictory information.
Thanks!
This entry is also posted at http://genarti.dreamwidth.org/155128.html. You can comment on LJ or DW, whichever you like.
comments at DW.
What I want:
- What I want it for: my primary computer around the home. I want it to be a laptop, so that I can carry it from room to room, but heaviness and size aren't much of an issue. I have a netbook for when I want to just do some writing at a coffeeshop or bring along on a trip or whatever.
- Things it should have: a reasonably large screen. (Again, for tiny, I have a netbook.) A cd/dvd drive. (I have an external I could use if that's going to be a legitimate problem to find, but... seriously, using an external drive every time you want to watch a movie or burn a mix cd is a pain.) The ability to run Photoshop or a similar image editing program without slowing way the hell down. The ability to... run word processing and Firefox with a zillion open tabs and Photoshop simultaneously, and play movies, and stuff? I dunno, guys, I don't do a lot of gaming or video editing or anything fancy like that. I'm not all that demanding as a computer user. Durability would be nice on general principles, though.
- PC or Mac: Definite preference for PC. It's what I'm used to, it's what my mental approach to troubleshooting and file organization is based on, and I do a lot of navigating by keyboard shortcuts; the Mac interface throws me, and even if it's a Mac running a Windows OS, the keyboard's different command keys throw me. Also, Macs are expensive. If anyone wants to make the argument that there's a strong reason for me, specifically, to look into a Mac despite all this, I'm willing to listen.
- However, OS: I have heard dubious things about Windows 8. I want my computer to behave like a computer, not like a tablet with a keyboard. And I don't want my computer to helpfully arrange things in ways I don't want them and refuse to let me rearrange them in ways that make more sense to me. I'm not a programmer or a DIY-from-the-ground-up person, but I don't want my computer to act like I'm a kindergartener who needs parental protection software enabled to stop her from deleting the root file.
- Other considerations: I get a discount through work for Apple and Dell. However, I haven't heard great things about recent Dells, so I'm inclined to ignore that fact, unless you guys have contradictory information.
Thanks!
This entry is also posted at http://genarti.dreamwidth.org/155128.html. You can comment on LJ or DW, whichever you like.
comments at DW.