Category: Geeks r Us
hi,
thinking to get a new laptop soon cause Dell, my current laptop is started to giving me trouble with all sorts of hardware issues.
i'm tossing between this three options, first because of their mobility, second the prize, and i want something that will last me for at least few years.
the new macbook claimes that they have battery life that last 7 hours, but i'm bit worry about the software side of thing. i know it can run window OS, but, will it be able to run the voice over on the window OS, or i need to actually get another screen reader for windows? and can macbook pro actually run window vista or just xp? with the prize of mackbook, i really need to be sure what i get will be something that can last me at least 5 years, without any issue attach to it.
second option is get a normal notebook, with either 14, 15, or 16" screen. this however, will be an issue with the battery life, as most of them will only last up to 3 or 4 hours the mex. i'm a regular traveler, an, have days that require me to run the machine for more than 6 hours. on top of that, i'm not too sure which brand to go for, have the thoughts of Toshiba, Asus, and Linovo, but i'm not too sure about either of them, over all, they have huge range, too many models to choose from that will only cause confusion instead of any other thing else.
and of course, the last option will be netbook, which is probably most economical out of this 3, lite weight, and long battery life. but, will a netbook capable to handle multi tasking as well as handle some other task beside normal work processer?
can anyone that have experience with all three of this or any expert that can give me a thought of that?
thanks
Everyone will tell you different things on this.
My simple take:
You won't find a computer to last you 5 years, the evoution is too rapid, best to hope for 3 years. For general class work, note taking, seminars, all those things a Netbook will do just fine. You can Skype, msn, run office, even compile visual studio code and run word processing, you hve light weight thing you can take with you anywhere with decent battery life for $279 (for the Acer 10 inch at buy.com for instance).
Little enough money and leight weight enough to serve as your field computer.
Personally I would also want something a bitmore substential and my solution was to buy a desktop. It's cheaper, has almost inifite hard drie space, faster processors, very flexible and fairly cheap, $400 will get you a great one. My wife loves Macs so she has a MacBook as her stay athome computer, more expensive definitely, but she's bought a netbook for classes, why drag a 6 pound, expensive Mac around when you can take notes on a 2.2 pound light weight netbook. So if you want to go that way, MacBook and Netbook arenot a bad, if a bit expensive, combination. I choose Netbook and desktop combination myself, what what I wouldn't go with is a 13, 14, 15 and 17 inch laptop. They got very little on desktop, MacBooks are cooler for sure and may last longer, and they don't have the battery life and convenience of netbooks.
So, that's my 25 cents, I'm not claiming to be right or speak any ultimate truth here, but I think what I am saying makes a lot of sense and I really like my approach so far.
Cheers
-B
It all depends on waht you are planning on using it for in the field. Netbooks are agreat for all the things mentioned above, but if you plan to do any real audio recording or few other things that require some more horse power then a net book wont work. The new mack book pro 13" is nice and almost as lite as a netbook and gives you a slightly bigger screen than a netbook with some real computing hoarse power and the advantage of running windows and macs if that appeals to you. And yes you will need a seperate screen reader for windows as voice over is a mac screen reader only. There are also net books that can run the mac OS as well like the MSI wind (which you can buy with mac and windows pre installed on ebay, some one did ahackingtosh podcast about this on blind cool tech.) But unless you use some kind of screen magnifier and or can see enough to watch movies and do some gaming, there is probably no point to a 15" or 17" screen, in my opinion, they just add weight and bulk to something you gotta carry around. Also if you are doing any real gaming a netbook wont work. Netbooks and laptops can use 9 or 12 cell batteries that will greatly increase the battery life, and there is a company that makes a "battery pack" for the mac laptops since they don't have removable batteries anymore. Also if you are relying soly on a screen reader you can turn down the screen brightness and turn off radios that aren't being used like wi fi if you are connected to a wired internet connection or bluetooth if you aren't using it to get more time out of your battery. hope this helps shed some light on what you are considering.
As everyone has been saying above, the type of computer you purchase will depend on what you will use that computer for. This is how I made my choice.
Netbook: These are very light, very compact computers which usually have plenty of hard rive space and lately have been enhanced with a lot of battery power. They are also very inexpensive compared to the other choices. The drawback of these computers is that they are built with light use in mind; Internet, word processing, nothing too heavy, no gaming, no CD ROM, and so on. They are perfect if you need something cheap, light and
Small. These are very good for traveling.
Laptop. Anywhere from 13 to 15inch screens, which would be the ideal size for a travel computer, you will usually have multimedia features, great screen resolution, a good processor, CD drive and all you will need to have a traveling workstation and multimedia machine. You can now get laptops with better battery life, and also purchase extra extended batteries for these computers. The draw back is the price, which could get very expensive depending on what it is you are looking for, and size. Even a 4 and ½ lb laptop is pretty hard to carry when you compare it to a 2 and ½ lb netbook.
Now for the Mac: what’s great about the Mac is that you know that it is a great computer from the start, it is portable and light, and if you need accessibility features, they are standard with the OS. However, you are paying for what you are getting, which means that you will be paying much more for a Mac then you will probably pay for a inexpensive laptop, and a netbook combined. A Mac will last you a while, they are built sturdy, and you will probably be able to use it for the next 3 years, 5 years if you are one to upgrade your OS, and keep up with the Mac lifestyle.
For me, the choice was a laptop. I needed a bigger screen and decent processing power. I did not consider the Mac, as I would also be traveling and did not want an expensive device to get banged around or lost. Also, I was not looking for something to last me over 3 years. Just a mobile workstation in case my desktop fails.
thanks for all the respoinds, truely appreciated. for the prize of McBook, perhaps i should consider to get myself a destop and a netbook. i might wait a bit longer for a netbook, just to hang around and see what is coming up in the next few months. as netbook is getting more and more popular in the market, i bet, it will be only getting better. although Asus few newer EEEPC series have disappointed me in the weight wise.
cheers
I think not much is going to happen in net books in the next 3 or 4 months, in 6 to 12 we'll see some new processors and companies entering the market, I'd go with Acer or Samsung, I love my Samsung nc 10, Acers are even lighter, 2.2 pounds vs 2.6, but I got a 9 cell battery so battery life is better with mine.
I thnk netbook and desktop are a good combination, but that's may be just because I don't know the macs at all, after Snow leopard and if they come out with a smaller laptop I'll definitely look even more closely.
Cheers
-B
Well the mac tablet is supposedly just around the corner, will be i intresting to see if voice over will available on this out of the gate since its already on the iPhone and the full blown OSX as well. Given the standard affair that netbooks are now you most likely wont see anything new thill there is a new processor brought to that market. but since it does use standard laptop parts you can upgrade the ram and Hard drives in them fairly easily depending on your model. Either way depending on waht you are using your computer for any computer bought today should last you 3 to 5 years wtih out a problem.