MAC or Windows laptop for MFE students?

[Tom Maloney]

You can get a serviceable laptop for $500 (or less), so $200-450 for just memory/hdd seems rather expensive for just upgrades. I bought a 4GB ram upgrade for the lenovo (which I am still waiting for) for only $40, why is the MB ram so expensive?

Don't know, I guess that's why AAPL is so high. Did your laptop ship? I might buy it.

 

[Tom Maloney]

just to chime in with something pro-mac...

my late 2007 15" mbpro (2.2ghz, upgraded to 4gb) held up amazingly well throughout my program (unlike the brand new windows pcs that a number of my friends burned through during the program). a few of us had macs. by the end of our program, two of my buddies had taken the plunge, while the other few were just about to hop on board.

on the mac right now. it's almost four years old and going strong. need to update the hd (that'll be next weekend's project), but it's otherwise a solid machine. i actually prefer matlab on a mac and fusion allows you to run any windows programs you might have to run.

never understood all the hatred. from a TCO perspective, macs may be, in fact, cheaper. also, some people (i'm one of them) have a preference for the operating system. it has nothing to do with this: http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/01/30/39-apple-products/

How do the PC laptops break down? I have never owned one myself, so I am just curious. I've used Apple laptops since 1995, and on my fourth one..

 

[mfegrad]

shoddy parts and/or viruses. the second...absolutely user error. the first...not so much.

i've had acer laptops in the past. they're cheap and the specs are great, but i've never had one live longer than a year or two, and i'd like to think i know what i'm doing

 

[Andy Nguyen]

it has nothing to do with this: http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/01/30/39-apple-products/

Thanks for the good laugh, mate.

white people NEED to meet people who use Windows to justify themselves spending an extra $500 for a pretty looking machine.
It is also important that white people are reminded of their creativity, and remember you need a Mac to creatively check email, creatively check websites, and creatively watch DVDs on planes.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

You can get a serviceable laptop for $500 (or less), so $200-450 for just memory/hdd seems rather expensive for just upgrades. I bought a 4GB ram upgrade for the lenovo (which I am still waiting for) for only $40, why is the MB ram so expensive?

I hope that people don't buy the memory upgrade from Lenovo when they purchase. That's where most of the profit margin is made. Get the machine with highest CPU spec you can afford, with the lowest HD, memory available and do the upgrade yourself from newegg or other source.

 

[Lyosha]

shoddy parts and/or viruses. the second...absolutely user error. the first...not so much.

i've had acer laptops in the past. they're cheap and the specs are great, but i've never had one live longer than a year or two, and i'd like to think i know what i'm doing

Last mac I had to use blew through two hard drives in the span of some 4 months or so because of design flaws in the cooling system...

 

[SYau]

Don't know, I guess that's why AAPL is so high. Did your laptop ship? I might buy it.

I need to call CC. Their website is showing in stock so mine should ship this week.

 

[SYau]

shoddy parts and/or viruses. the second...absolutely user error. the first...not so much.

i've had acer laptops in the past. they're cheap and the specs are great, but i've never had one live longer than a year or two, and i'd like to think i know what i'm doing

Maybe Acer sucks. Lenovo's business class laptops are built like tanks.

 

[AlexandreH]

If you want 1080P, Sony F-series is your only reasonable choice (it's what I have and no competitors have emerged yet...)

What about the Asus G73JW?

 

[Lyosha]

It's a bit more expensive, but another option. I guess there are a few competitive offerings from ASUS and cyberpower (whoever that is...)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=Property&Subcategory=32&Description=&Type=&N=100006740&IsNodeId=1&srchInDesc=&MinPrice=&MaxPrice=&PropertyCodeValue=400%3A40986&PropertyCodeValue=400%3A6723

 

[Andy Nguyen]

How do the PC laptops break down? I have never owned one myself, so I am just curious. I've used Apple laptops since 1995, and on my fourth one..

PC laptops are for the mass so there is a need to be affordable to every budget. Mac books are for a much smaller audience.
If you get PC for the business segment, you will get something that get Mac laptops serious run for the money. Thinkpad T series, Panasonic Toughbook, etc come to mind.

I'm typing on a Thinkpad T60 as we speak and it has been rock solid since 2006.

 

[AndrewChang]

I need to call CC. Their website is showing in stock so mine should ship this week.

Hey SYau, mine still didn't ship and I bought it straight from Lenovo just to let you know.

 

[Lyosha]

I hope you guys get your laptops before the start of the C++ refresher... I can't emphasize how important having a laptop by then would be...

 

[SYau]

I should have mine by Monday. I can't wait to play with it.

 

[GoalSeeker]

i think.. Apple made a smart phone and a stupid computer

 

[AndrewChang]

I hope you guys get your laptops before the start of the C++ refresher... I can't emphasize how important having a laptop by then would be...

I should have it before the refresher course and I do have another laptop that I can bring in if anything. I know your supposed to be the TA correct?

 

[alain]

i think.. Apple made a smart phone and a stupid computer

this is just a matter of opinion.

 

[SYau]

How is a computer stupid? 600 on the Quant portion of GRE?

 

[Lyosha]

I should have it before the refresher course and I do have another laptop that I can bring in if anything. I know your supposed to be the TA correct?

There's no "supposed" about it.

 

[AlexandreH]

There's no "supposed" about it.

Hehe...