Laptops?

[PoltArt]

Well I am going to be starting college in April. And I am thinking of purchasing a laptop. My main idea was Sony because they are really good quality and last a long time. Only issue is they are so damn pricy!

I looked around and I found apple and dell.

Now this is where all of you lovely people jump:mod: in.

Here are some questions I have:

1.)What type of laptop do you use?
2.) How long have you had it?
3.) Have you had any hardware issues?


I really don't want to pay for something that will just break down on me and without a good warranty I will not be able to return it.

[Jabo]

1. I use an Apple MacBook from the last generation (2007). 2.16 GHz Core 2 Duo, 2 GB RAM and Mac OS X Leopard.

2. October last year.

3. None. It still runs as if I bought it yesterday. That's what Apple stands for (in most cases). High Quality, Yay.

[Elwell]

What school are you going to? Most schools, like most of the world, are primarily PC based, but many art schools are overwhelmingly Mac oriented. If you don't have a strong preference for one platform, then the amount of support etc. that's going to be around might be a factor.

[PoltArt]

What school are you going to? Most schools, like most of the world, are primarily PC based, but many art schools are overwhelmingly Mac oriented. If you don't have a strong preference for one platform, then the amount of support etc. that's going to be around might be a factor.

I will attend the online program at the University of phoenix. They give a discount for Dells but I am not sure how well they last. My dad had one at one point and he said it broke really fast.

[Jabo]

Well, Dells are generally rather good, but mine (no laptop) had tons of issues and I dialed the support about 3 times in it's 2 year life span. Also, you might want to check if you will be doing 3d stuff, because today, there is almost no 3d application out for Mac OS.

[Blue]

Gentlemen. The Modbook (http://www.axiotron.com/index.php?id=modbook).

[Blue]

Well, Dells are generally rather good, but mine (no laptop) had tons of issues and I dialed the support about 3 times in it's 2 year life span. Also, you might want to check if you will be doing 3d stuff, because today, there is almost no 3d application out for Mac OS.

3d max is (as far as i know) the only one not available for mac. I use maya on my mac often. If i need to use a pc, i just switch to the PC side of my mac. No problems.

[VulgarDragon]

I have a Compaq laptop...I brought it as a refurb over ebay, and have had it for maybe 5 years and it still works good. I guess either HP or Compaq are good for the price/performance ratio. I have heard a lot of complaints about Dell. Macs are good computers, but they are pricey. (And no, I don't want to get into a Mac-PC debate, thank you).

There are reviews for laptops and other computer parts at cnet.com, so you might want to check that out before deciding what to buy.

[Jabo]

Blue: Thanks for the correction. I never knew there were 3d applications out for Mac, probably because I've been using 3ds Max all the time since the beginning. Gotta look into that. And also, there's always the alternative of Parallels or Bootcamp.

[PoltArt]

Well I looked around on the dell website and I can get quite a powerful machine for a good price! I will keep researching though.

And nope I only do illustrations. But I mainly want the laptop for all the college work. I don't want to risk getting a virus on my pc and loosing all the stuff.

[FLenG]

I'm using 3 Dell laptops, 1 old inspiron, 1 2006 inspiron and another one is Dell XPS. Also using a small Lenovo. So far all havent died on me, the oldest dell was like 2004, still working fine. Worth the price too. Lenovo I use for programming tho.. since its really small and portable. All those Dell laptops are two 17inch and one 13inch respectively.

[HunterKiller_]

Sony laptop?
I lol'd.

I would go with a Mac laptop, just because pretty much all PC laptop brands suck, even more so now that you're forced to use Vista.

[Serpian]

Vista might not work that well, but it IS very shiny....

[TASmith]

I bought an HP laptop last spring, and it works well. The main thing is get a large hard drive. Also, Vista sucks. Any microsoft file you've ever made will only be viewable with vista - you won't be able to edit any of it. The second I could, I uninstalled Microsoft word Vista in favor of MS Word 2003. That way I can still edit notes and such - if you use Excell, this is even more important to do. Vista also has a couple quirks and crashes. It doesn't like playing quicktime movie clips. all in all, I'd say it's fairly reliable, but no improvement on XP - apart from visually. Vista also takes over what, 30 gigs of hard drive space? Total rip off, if you don't need Vista, don't get it.

One thing about my HP laptop - the volume's not that high. I try playing DVD's for classes, and people can't always hear well. For some reason, Quicktime doesn't play as loud as Windows Media Player.

[ArtZealot]

Gentlemen. The Modbook (http://www.axiotron.com/index.php?id=modbook).

Hows the battery on that? how long will it last running photoshop without a charge?

[Jabo]

Does it even exist? I mean, in a real persons life, not Joe Someone from Axiatron's expo staff? I've never heard anyone in any community respond to modbook related questions, which usually come up as soon as there is even the slightest sign that someone owns one of those bloody things.

[wassermelone]

Vista might not work that well, but it IS very shiny....

Vista works just fine.

[Kek]

MacBook Air (http://www.apple.com/macbookair/) will make you cool! It even has a USB port for your wacom!

[paberu]

I don't have one myself atm, but I'm eyeing something like the Asus F8Sn-C1 (good price for performance from what I can see/hear people say).

[Ashkitty]

I have a toshiba tecra m7.

Don't get one.

It's my second Toshiba laptop. The first one had fan troubles and eventually died completely on me after about a year. This one here, meh. Though the whole tablet thing is nice, it isn't as pressure sensitive as a wacom. The lappy weighs a ton, and also has fan problems, even after extended hours off to cool. Freezes all the time, amongst other annoying things. Tech support is a load of crap.

Bleh, I want a new computer. When I have the money, I'll make another desktop PC. The portability of a laptop hasn't been needed at all for my college work, so I'd rather just spend more money on power.

I'm not a mac fan, so I won't throw my two cents in on that.

[PoltArt]

Well I did research, and I think I will go with a macbook. It seems more safer and vista just sounds very unstable to even temper with. So I will pay $100-200 more but get something I think is a better laptop to relay on.

[AlexC]

I have been researching laptops too and a friend of mine said that dell screens are poor.
Toshiba looks like a good bet, decent power and price range

[Brendan N]

PoltArt, I'm looking to get a MacBook Pro myself.
Be warned though, last I heard the MacBooks claim to have displays supporting millions of colours, but the fact is they only have 6-bit screens with 2-bit dithering to make it look like 8-bit. Apple are currently facing a lawsuit over this I think. If colour accuracy and photoshopping on a professional level is a big deal, you might want to look at getting a more professional monitor, depending on how fussy your are about this.

Other than that Apple's new range of macbook pros and macbooks look pretty superb. Not to mention Leopard - after about 30 minutes of test-driving it, I almost went from cynic and skeptic to proponent and iVangelist.

[PoltArt]

PoltArt, I'm looking to get a MacBook Pro myself.
Be warned though, last I heard the MacBooks claim to have displays supporting millions of colours, but the fact is they only have 6-bit screens with 2-bit dithering to make it look like 8-bit. Apple are currently facing a lawsuit over this I think. If colour accuracy and photoshopping on a professional level is a big deal, you might want to look at getting a more professional monitor, depending on how fussy your are about this.

Other than that Apple's new range of macbook pros and macbooks look pretty superb. Not to mention Leopard - after about 30 minutes of test-driving it, I almost went from cynic and skeptic to proponent and iVangelist.

Oh wow! Thats something they wont be proud of lol.

Well I am mostly going to use it for typing and doing homework. As I am going to get my associates as an art teacher I wont be doing much illustrations on it. I just want something that I wont get a virus on and loose all the school work.

But thank you very much for that tip!

[GriNGo]

I'd recommend getting a PC. Cheaper overall. I'd suggest getting one of the top of the line Gateway or HP models with 17inch screens. Anything bigger than that just won't fit on your lap anymore. As it seems (from making configs online from their stores), they have the best prices I have seen anywhere, and look pretty slick (if you want your laptop to look good that is). For about 3000 dollars you can get the best config (with intel xtreme dual core processors - which mac doesn't have, 3-4 gigs of ram, lots of hard drive space), as well as an additional 24 inch lcd monitor (from the same company), which are the same or better than what apple's displays offer. Gateway has the better monitor compared with HP though. Do not underestimate the additional screen space I have recommended You WILL need an aditional monitor, extra space for digital artists is very essential, and don't hesitate to make a good investment in a top of the line machine early in your career. This will guarantee that your machine will have the sufficient horsepower for about 3-4 years, so you won't need to change it. I'd also recommend getting Windows Vista Ultimate, as it has all the bells & whistles you'll ever need in a computing environment, at least until WIndows 7 arrives.

One tip: don't get too excited with Mac's. The only good thing about them in some sense is their OS. The hardware is the same as Sony, HP, Gateway, etc, put in their laptops. Their high prices are simply not worth it. I had a friend, who bought a PowerMac G5 (3 years ago, kick ass computer back then), and just 2 years later he bought one of the new macbook pro's (which has almost the same capacity, or faster than the older G5). Macs are great if your put all the top stuff on it (but that would make it even pricier, which sucks). I'm assuming that in another year or so he'll have to buy a new comp. Macs aren't at all problemless... just check out google "macbook pro problems" to see the list of things that happen. Apart from that, Major OS upgrades, each year will cost you about 100$. Vista Ultimate will come at $150 or so if you buy it preinstalled, with free upgrades later on (until Windows 7 comes). Windows has a bunch more software, and exactly the same software the mac has, specially digital arts software. And if you're into games, getting a pc laptop is simply a no-brainer. Good luck on your choice!

[Zord]

I was in search of a notebook about 3 years ago and used this site (http://www.notebookreview.com). There's lots of reviews of current laptops on the market, as well as older ones. Hope it helps :)

[PoltArt]

Hey guys, Just wanted to come back and say thank you for all your posts and helping me out. I was going to buy a dell but ended up getting a macbook pro.

Although the air would have made me look cool and sexy!!!! I chose the pro :P


Thanks again for all your help!
I actually got it in the mail today, I love it! :D

[biscuitninja]

Lots of good deals... for me i'd either get a
Gateway M-1625
or a
Asus EEE PC

with the Asus, you kinda need to be somewhat of a software dweeb as the operating system is Linux based. This means you can run almost anything in the universe, but it may need a little bit of adapting. Anyways good luck and don't work too hard.
-bix