Looking for a New Laptop

[yamafitter]

This old laptop has seen better days and will hardly run a YouTube video anymore without going into the blue screen of death. It is an old Acer Aspire 5680 running VISTA and has served me OK for a number of years but I'm afraid it is about to die completely. I've been looking since before Christmas but the more I look around the more I just confuse myself. I use my laptop for both photo & video editing with a decent monitor plugged in.

I thought I wanted a Toshiba 13" Ultrabook but the new laptops are built so flimsy they will never stand up to being hauled around on the bike. I need to go to at least a 15" PC to get a decent processor and graphics card and was looking at an Asus N53SV-DH51. At least the Asus uses a metal frame and won't flex like a piece of taffy. None of the 13" PCs I looked at have the durability or processing power I'm looking for. I also found a reconditioned Asus G74SX which is a kickass laptop but damn is it big. At 17.3" and will fit in my Givi M55 but I doubt it will fit in the bags of the BMW F800ST I am renting in Germany this summer.

The other option is to chuck it all and join the dark side as in MacBook Pro. A 13" MacBook Pro will do everything I want and is very well built and packs nice and small. While I have a lot of PC software (Photoshop & PowerDirector to name a few) my software is older and should be updated anyways so now may be the time to make the jump. I just don't seem to make the final step off the edge to leave all my old software behind.

I would like to know which software you Mac users are playing with for photo & video editing since the base versions of iPhoto & iMovie seem somewhat limited to me after using Photoshop & PowerDirector but to be honest I have not had the time with either Mac product to make a proper evaluation.

Suggestions or comments are welcome.

 

[Geezer]

I just bought a Lenovo Edge E420. I was looking for something small and light to pack on the bike, yet reasonably powerful. I didn't find a netbook or tablet that was powerful enough at a reasonable price. I never look at Apple machines just because they are very different from PCs and I am not familiar with them. I normally buy Lenovo because they are durable and generally trouble free.

 

[Burnspot]

I've been using Macs for years and I don't think you could go wrong with a MB Pro; they are exceptionally well-built machines. I have an old black MB that's been running strong since 2007 and it's not as sturdy as the newer aluminum unibody stuff. Of course, with the Mac, you can always use Bootcamp to run Windows on it or run VMWare or Parallels in OSX to get Windows. I'll not buy another PC if I can help it.

iPhoto really isn't all that bad and it seems to be getting better as time goes on, but I think Aperture is what you'll want for more serious photo editing. The nice thing with most Mac software is that it tends to be cheaper than the Windows stuff (not always the case, but usually). Aperture, Adobe Elements, and Photoshop are there (PS is friggin expensive). There's also things like Pixelmator and Acorn, which I use a lot for website images and structural components. On the video side, there's Final Cut Pro ($299), iMovie (free). I'm not that big on photo/video editing, but I do play around with the stuff sometimes when doing web development projects. Of course, for just about every paid piece of software, there's plenty of freeware out there.

 

[Old Michael]

...The other option is to chuck it all and join the dark side as in MacBook Pro. A 13" MacBook Pro will do everything I want and is very well built and packs nice and small....

You've figured it out for yourself.

Go Mac, old man. And get the fresh Photoshop Elements.

And....................Go Leafs.

 

[beemerdons]

Well you know Bill, Bungie has had great success with his Magic Etch A Sketch laptop. Steve drew this beautiful picture and Etch a Sketch also makes his Magic GPS.

I love my MacBook Pro 17" and my only regret is that I did not get the 13" for ease of bike packing; but the 17" will fit in my Givi 55 liter topcase. Apple Macintosh Rules!

 

[beemerdons]

I just bought a Lenovo Edge E420. I was looking for something small and light to pack on the bike, yet reasonably powerful. I didn't find a netbook or tablet that was powerful enough at a reasonable price. I never look at Apple machines just because they are very different from PCs and I am not familiar with them. I normally buy Lenovo because they are durable and generally trouble free.

Well Greg, sleeping with Halle Berry or Eva Mendes would also be very different, but you would still give them a high hard one wouldn't you? jes' sayin' and nuff' said!

 

[beemerdons]

...The other option is to chuck it all and join the dark side as in MacBook Pro. A 13" MacBook Pro will do everything I want and is very well built and packs nice and small....

You've figured it out for yourself.

Go Mac, old man. And get the fresh Photoshop Elements.

And....................Go Leafs.

Uh Brother Mick, I know that you were not a Mathematics Major; but, 2012 minus 1967 equals 45 years!

 

[Bounce]

I've made a career out of fixing people's PC ailments. A year ago last November I bought my first Apple since my Apple //e; a 27" iMac (essentially a Macbook Pro wedged in to a 27" cinema display).

I kick myself for not switching back sooner. Since Jobs returned to Apple (bringing his NeXT tech with him) and they switched to the Intel chipsets, the equipment is at parity. If you spec out a PC with the same equipment as a Mac then the price will be the same. The lower cost systems on the PC side are accomplished with lower cost components.

The differences are the OSs and that Apple controls the production so their OS can target a limited number of components and fine tune their drivers and OS for those parts. Without the muddled mess that is the commodity computer marketplace, they can "build-to" consistency and trim the baggage of "backward compatibility" (that whole Apple ][ era for example).

The things that are included with OS X and the addition of LibreOffice and you're set at no additional cost. I did pay for the Mac version of my long-used Photoshop; jumping from CS3 to CS5.x was a nice win anyway.

The jump to my first Mac was easy. I use Firefox and Thunderbird for my browser and e-mail. The Mac versions are identical down to the add-ins I use. The transition was pretty anti-climatic except that the screen quality rocks and I've never had a lock-up, crash, reboot, etc. since.

I pay for my Mac with the money people give me to fix their PC problems.

And, if I want to run my Win7, I simply launch VMWare Fusion and Win7/64 runs in a window on the Mac screen. OS X supports Bootcamp multi-boot (win/linux/etc) but Fusion doesn't require a reboot to run either/or. I simply installed my existing license of Win7 from the disks. I used it originally for my Win software but, as I migrated my big-ticket items over to Native OS X, I use it less and less. It's a very affordable way to budget your migration.

 

[Gmann]

My 13" Mac Book Pro has travelled in my sidebag for over 30,000km on road trips without a hiccup. As a photographer I find the 13" screen size a little small but for reliability and portability it can't be beat. I am a PC guy but switched over to Mac for laptops as there is nothing comparable to the MBP.

If you want to make the MBP even better for road travel add a solid state drive (SSD) as drives are the weakest component in the laptop. As a bonus it makes the laptop a much speeder machine.

Yes the MBP is worth the extra bucks.

 

[Sharif]

I'd like a third option, something around "balanced realism." I switched in September to a loaded up MacBook Pro 15", and have found that I still run Win7 in Parallels for some PC-only stuff. Also, if you have to use SharePoint from work, you're going to want Windows.

Mac +:

* It just works. Goes to sleep, comes back, everything works, wonderful battery life

* Native VPN client works great

* UNIX! ssh to other machines is natural and native, no need for cygwin

* multitouch/multidisplay

* reboots are quick and brings back my entire workspace, all programs, etc

Mac -:

* No Win7-snap-to - I loved that for screen optimization

* No alt-tabbing between multiple windows of the same program - Word docs, Office 2011, Chrome, etc.

Whatever you do, get an SSD! It's worth the cost - it's a must-have. If you get a Mac, I'd also vote for the matte display, much easier to read at an angle.

No OS is a panacea, but so far I'm enjoying my Mac more than my Lenovo W510 which sits next to (and sometimes under) it.

Af for photo editing, PhotoShop! If you don't want to spend the bills, go with GIMP.

 

[Fred W]

Billy boy, I have a slightly different twist on something you may want to try. Unless you really need to have a powerful workhorse laptop while out on the road, buy yourself an inexpensive NetBook for that use. You can spend around $200 (certainly never more than $300) for a netbook and it will be the recipient of all of the unavoidable on-bike abuse. Plus these things pack very small. And then you can buy whatever you want/need to use for the rest of the time and will not be risking damage to your high faluten machine.

I have an emachines / Acer eM250 (don't laugh, it came recommended by Prof ionbeam) running Win 7 Starter edition, which I have been using on the bike for the past two years quite nicely. It is perfect for all of the stuff I need to do when out on the road (email, intarwebs, digital picture handling, GPS route manipulation, programming PCIII, etc.) I also have a considerably more capable Dell laptop, owned by my employer, which I do not use for any personal stuff at all. That keeps it pretty clean and running fast, and also keeps the nosy IT department spooks outta my personal bidness. My personal computer is a loaded up workstation (desktop) running XP that really flies. You can get a far more powerful desktop for the same money as a middle of the road laptop. But there ain't no dragging that desktop along in the saddle bags, nor do I really need to.

 

[AVGeek]

I have a Macbook Pro 17" that is 4 years old now, and its just starting to show its age in terms of running software. I have Final Cut Express (about $100) and iMovie, and prefer the Final Cut model (more like my old days of linear editing). There is also GIMP (a free "clone" of Photoshop) that works well for photo editing.

I was having issues with kernel panics (the Mac equivalent of the Windows BSOD), but did the upgrade to Lion which cleared all that up (there was some third party driver that was corrupted I'm sure; the upgrade was due, and faster than taking down the drive and reinstalling Snow Leopard). I also run Parallels for the (few) Window things I need for work. I also use Office for Mac 11, and there is an RDP client that works great with our server at work (necessary for billing and inventory tracking that I have to do).

I have found that Windows machines need a clean OS install about once a year to really keep things humming along well. Mac OS hasn't been that persnickety (it was closer to 3 years since my last OS change), so as a tool, it stays out of my way (my most important requirement) and lets me get done what I need to do. The hardware is also well built and will survive the rigors of the road (mine rides in a Targus backpack that just fits in my top box, or strapped to the back rack of the ST).

 

[Sharif]

running XP

 

[Fred W]

(snipped a bunch of applehead drivel)

I have found that Windows machines need a clean OS install about once a year to really keep things humming along well.

(sipped some more apple juice)

I've not reloaded my OS since I set it up 3 years ago and it is still smoking along. You just need to stay off all of those **** sites sending you viruses.

running XP

:lol:

I'm a big Dilbert fan. The reason it is so funny is because it is almost always completely true.

The reason I am still running XP is because it is so much less bloated than Win 7. I can't find a good reason to downgrade performance to 7.

 

[kamal]

Billy boy, I have a slightly different twist on something you may want to try. Unless you really need to have a powerful workhorse laptop while out on the road, buy yourself an inexpensive NetBook for that use. You can spend around $200 (certainly never more than $300) for a netbook and it will be the recipient of all of the unavoidable on-bike abuse. Plus these things pack very small. And then you can buy whatever you want/need to use for the rest of the time and will not be risking damage to your high faluten machine.

+1

For traveling I have an HP DM1 11.6" netbook. AMD E350 chipset, 8gigs RAM and an SSD with Win7 64bit. With the upgrades I spent around $500, but the fast boot-up and incredible battery life make it worthwhile. Used it in the UK last month with a Skype phone attached (on wi-fi) to call anywhere in the world for pennies.

 

[mferriter]

I have an old PC at work that is running WINDOWS 98!!!

I have to keep it because I have one piece of software that won't run on anything else. Needless to say our IT department won't touch it and giggle everytime they see me on the machine.

 

[Sharif]

running WINDOWS 98!!!

Hopefully not connected to the internet! :lol:

 

[mcatrophy]

...

I would like to know which software you Mac users are playing with for photo & video editing since the base versions of iPhoto & iMovie seem somewhat limited to me after using Photoshop & PowerDirector but to be honest I have not had the time with either Mac product to make a proper evaluation.

Suggestions or comments are welcome.

I've been converted to MAC for many reasons, one of which was that you can still use a MAC to run PC applications without problem and for free by using VirtualBox. Amazingly easy to use and I've not found a PC application that knows the difference. The only issue I've found is "capturing" USB hardware (in my case a Microchip programmer), but once you know how to deal with that, it's a doddle.

As for photo editing, I don't normally edit movies, but for stills I use Gimp. Again, free (in spite of owning a MAC, I'm a cheapskate at heart).

 

[Blind Squirrel]

I recently picked up a HP Folio 13 Ultrabook and love it! It is running Windows 7 64 bit. Comes with 4 gigs of RAM and 128 GB SSD.