Computer Advice

[Kit Kat P]

I don't have one and may be losing my computer in about 8 mo.s and am wondering if it wouldn't just be better to switch over to a laptop. I've always worked on a Microsoft OS but am considering the mac system for security reasons. I'm a horrible multi-tasker. I always have at least 3 things going at once. I would like to say I do a lot w/ pic.s but I tend to just use whatever photo software comes w/ whatever printer I have at the time and MS picture manager. I do have a ton of pic.s on a external hard drive and an additional external hard drive for our music. For music we use Itunes and don't do any editing or mixing. I'm not into computer games but do a lot of websurfing.

[Scary Guy]

Laptop sounds perfect, macs are pretty much proprietary anyhow (although much less these days). The only problem with a laptop is if the video card, network card, modem, sound card, etc... goes you have to replace the entire motherboard (or try shutting it off and using an external solution but sometimes that can cause issues with the damaged hardware still being attached).

If you really like multitasking get something dual core or quad core so you can do true multitasking instead of just one thing, really really fast.

Mac = pseudo-security since the WORST security threat is thinking your secure. Granted the Mac offers security through obscurity because windows has 85% of the market share, but some threats do exist.

If you really want super insane security go with http://www.OpenBSD.org As an added level of protection you can unplug yourself from the internet since that is the only way to get more secure than using OpenBSD.

[Msterbeau]

First question. What's your budget?

Like SG said... You can't ignore security completely on a Mac. But.... The fact is.. you do have a vast amount less to deal with.

For photos, on a Mac you can use iPhoto to manage them and get for editing them. (Open-source, freeware) For multi-tasking RAM is important. 2GB should be adequate.

If you really need the mobility, a Macbook is probably in your budget. If it's not, a lower end iMac probably makes more sense.

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

They make an iMac laptop?

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

Macbooks start at $1100 with a 13" screen... You can get an Acer America laptop for about $900 with a 17" widescreen.

[Scary Guy]

You can get an Acer America laptop for about $900 with a 17" widescreen.

AND PUT OPENBSD ON IT!

j/k

I would like to add though is that obscurity is only good if you don't need any programs that are windows only. These days that isn't a huge issue, but when you have 85% of the market share you tend to also have the most application support as well.

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

I've got Suse on my Acer.

[Msterbeau]

Macbooks start at $1100 with a 13" screen... You can get an Acer America laptop for about $900 with a 17" widescreen.

What's the rest of the hardware? Compare apples to apples.. Pun intended. :-)

Are Acer's quality ratings as good as Apple's? Do you get all the nice software Apple provides? Probably not.

Your kidding about not knowing Apple made laptops right?

[Scary Guy]

What's the rest of the hardware? Compare apples to apples.. Pun intended. :-)

Are Acer's quality ratings as good as Apple's? Do you get all the nice software Apple provides? Probably not.

Your kidding about not knowing Apple made laptops right?

He said iMac being the type of laptop, not apple. I have two iMac's behind me, one working. They're the ones with the monitors built in and all the pretty colors.

As far as I know they just call them iBooks, but I don't pay too much attention to Apple.

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

I know they make MacBooks and MacBook Pro's. Even Apple's website has nothing on an iMac laptop.

as for comparing...

Apple Macbook Pro (only one with 17" screen)

17" Widescreen, 1680 x 1050 resolution

2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

2GB DDR2

160GB HD (5400rpm Pata)

DVD Burner

Bluetooth

Wireless

NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 256MB of GDDR3 SDRAM

$2799

Acer Aspire AS9810-6829

20.1" Widescreen, 1680 x 1050 resolution

2.0Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo

2GB DDR2

320GB HD (5400rpm Sata)

DVD Burner (with HD DVD support)

Bluetooth

Wireless

1.3 megapixel webcam

TV Tuner supporting hardware mpeg compression

$2699

Acer as a company...

• More than 30 editorial product awards during the past year

• Ranked in the top 100 in Business Week’s listing of the world's top IT companies

• One of the top-five branded PC vendors worldwide

• Ranked #1 - LCD’s in Western Europe

• Ranked #1 - Taiwan in overall PC shipments

• Ranked #1 - EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) in mobile computing solutions

• Ranked #1 - LCD’s in Western Europe and Canada

[Hellion]

I also use Firefox,which keeps pop ups from occuring,let alone they have their own firewalls,also AVG is an excellent anti virus,and its free to install,it does suck that Windows has most of the market in the world.Apples are very nice,just too expensive.

[Kit Kat P]

I do need mobility and am a multi-tasker (10 windows and 3 apps open right now)

I was hoping to keep it under a grand, but there currently isn't a time constraint so that may change, (unless my gf kicks me out)

I am aware that I would need a security program and the only real security is to unplug, soo not going to happen

I currently use firefox, what is the ease of use w/ OPENBSD?

I'm not a techie but have never had turn my computer over to a repair center for a fix, if I go for a MS then I'd format it and load XP

[SuZQZ]

I do need mobility and am a multi-tasker (10 windows and 3 apps open right now)

I was hoping to keep it under a grand, but there currently isn't a time constraint so that may change, (unless my gf kicks me out)

I am aware that I would need a security program and the only real security is to unplug, soo not going to happen

I currently use firefox, what is the ease of use w/ OPENBSD?

I'm not a techie but have never had turn my computer over to a repair center for a fix, if I go for a MS then I'd format it and load XP

What do you have up in the windows? What applications do you run simultaneously? These are the things you have to keep in mind. Some applications use more RAM than others. If I run MS Word, Adobe Photoshop CS and Illustrator CS all at once, my system bogs down noticably. If you just have 10 browser windows open while surfing, that doesn't pull as much RAM. If you are using graphics programs or heavy office programs you need a lot of go-go juice so you can multitask easier. I don't see you getting something that will work for what you need it to do for under a grand. Notebooks under that are generally good for checking email and composing an occassional letter, not much more.... IMO, anyway.

[Scary Guy]

what is the ease of use w/ OPENBSD?

Hah, now that's funny. I should mention only go with OpenBSD only if you have time to dedicate to learning.

Otherwise Lindow...spire.... Linspire, might be more your speed. Or Desktop BSD. Do some research on GNU operating systems and pick what you would like best.

[Kit Kat P]

What do you have up in the windows? What applications do you run simultaneously? These are the things you have to keep in mind. Some applications use more RAM than others. If I run MS Word, Adobe Photoshop CS and Illustrator CS all at once, my system bogs down noticably. If you just have 10 browser windows open while surfing, that doesn't pull as much RAM. If you are using graphics programs or heavy office programs you need a lot of go-go juice so you can multitask easier. I don't see you getting something that will work for what you need it to do for under a grand. Notebooks under that are generally good for checking email and composing an occassional letter, not much more.... IMO, anyway.

Good point, right now I'm running MS picture editor, excel, word, firefox, 3 of our company's web pages, outlook and itunes

the computer i'm working on (at work) has

Intel Pentium 4 CPU 3.40GHz

3.39 HGz 0.99 GB of RAM

[Fierce Critter]

Check out Craigslist.

We got our last 3 laptops from there. Or was it last 2, and we sold 3 of them...

You can get a hell of a system at a great price.

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

Notebooks under that are generally good for checking email and composing an occassional letter, not much more.... IMO, anyway.

Acer Aspire AS9300-5005

17" Wide XGA+ 1440 x 900 resalution

AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-50(1.60GHz) (64bit dual core)

1Gig of Ram

120GB hard drive

DVD/DVD-Ram/CD Burner

56k Modem

10/100/1000 Network card

802.11b/g Wireless

1.3 mega pixel Webcam built in

5in1 card reader

4 USB 2.0 ports

full sized keyboard

Geforce 7300 Go video with 128mb of dedicated video ram

$900 on Newegg right now.

You can do just about anything you want with that.