Oh No . . PC is finally dying.

[Fredo]

Its been coming for a while now but the poor old (very very old) Pent 4 desktop is finally on its last legs.

So now the decision is what to replace it with.
Definitely Laptop I think, and would lke to make the jump to Mac but the cost seems significantly higher for what you get.

Or is that just my ignorance?

Fred

[Tannin]

Nope, you are spot on. Apple products in pretty much every market category cost you (on average) about 50% more to buy, and anything between 50% and over 300% more to own long-term. (That is if we compare like with like - i.e., compare equal quality and equal performance.)

Lenovo (the former IBM) make the best laptops hands down, followed by Panasonic and Fujitsu (raher specialised machines in both cases), and then the rest. After more than 20 years in the PC business, I have stopped bothering to sell any other brands. Thinkpads are the best. End of story.

[Fredo]

Nope, you are spot on. Apple products in pretty much every market category cost you (on average) about 50% more to buy, and anything between 50% and over 300% more to own long-term. (That is if we compare like with like - i.e., compare equal quality and equal performance.)

Lenovo (the former IBM) make the best laptops hands down, followed by Panasonic and Fujitsu (raher specialised machines in both cases), and then the rest. After more than 20 years in the PC business, I have stopped bothering to sell any other brands. Thinkpads are the best. End of story.

Cheers Tannin, good to hear from someone "in the game".
I've actually used Tosh lapies for the past 10 years and have not had any issues I can think of.
Howevr, I have just noticed a Lenovo IdeaPad Y560, 15.6", Intel Core i7, 8GB DDR3 Ram, 750GB HDD Notebook for $849 after the cash back offer.
Sounds okay to me.

Fred

[Kym]

If you go desktop and want to build your own ... start here http://whirlpool.net.au/wiki/rmp_sg_...asking_configs

[Tannin]

Cheers Fredo. I used to sell and recommend Toshiba also, but I have not been all that happy with their quality in recent years, and very unhappy with their service. So I stopped selling them.

Lenovo's Ideapads are probably about the same quality as most of the rest of the mainstream stuff (Dell, ASUS, Toshiba, Acer, HP, Compaq, and the rest). They are not Thinkpads. Completely different product. I've never sold one, don't remember even working on one though I probably have at some stage. You might do OK with one (your chances are probably about the same as with an Acer or a Toshiba), you might not. My recommendation is always to buy a Thinkpad, usually an L Series or T Series model, with a three year warranty. (Chances are that you won't need it.) They aren't cheap. Quality never is.

Alternatively, buy whatever is cheap and seems like a good idea at the time. Don't count on it lasting though!

[Calxoddity]

Nope, you are spot on. Apple products in pretty much every market category cost you (on average) about 50% more to buy, and anything between 50% and over 300% more to own long-term. (That is if we compare like with like - i.e., compare equal quality and equal performance.)

Lenovo (the former IBM) make the best laptops hands down, followed by Panasonic and Fujitsu (raher specialised machines in both cases), and then the rest. After more than 20 years in the PC business, I have stopped bothering to sell any other brands. Thinkpads are the best. End of story.

Agree with the observation that the Mac laptops are more expensive to buy, but don't understand the cost of ownership claim - how did you arrive at those figures?

[Tannin]

Agree with the observation that the Mac laptops are more expensive to buy, but don't understand the cost of ownership claim - how did you arrive at those figures?

I repair computers for a living, Cal. Ever inquired about the price of Apple spare parts?

Hint: make certain you are sitting down before you call. Be sure to have plenty of medicinal brandy handy, and if you take blood pressure medication, get someone else to make the call.

Do you know that you can't even change a battery on some Apple products? They require you to send it in to their service centre to have them fit an overpriced, Apple-branded one. (And don't think that there is any technical or quality control reason for this, it's pure greed.)

And then there is the cost of software. Everything is more expensive for Apple. Worst of all, the cost of parts to upgrade (if you can upgrade at all, which you often can't) is truly horrendous.

Add it all up, and the long-term cost of ownership varies between a lot higher and vastly higher. The inflated sticker price in the shop is just the starting point.

[simon1976au]

thereare good laptop around all come down to how you want to use it and money have a idea and how much you want to spend and then look every where like jb, dick smith,harvey norman computer shops on line
good luck

[Fredo]

Thanks Folks,
I really didn't want to turn this into one of those mundane Apple vs PC discussuions so can I pinch this in the bud?

Happy to report I have purchase 2 X Lenovo laptops.
(1 for the youngest Daughter . . who I think is doing a Bachelor of Facebook . . )

Fredo

[I @ M]

(1 for the youngest Daughter . . who I think is doing a Bachelor of Facebook . . )

Love it.

[Calxoddity]

I repair computers for a living, Cal. Ever inquired about the price of Apple spare parts?

Hint: make certain you are sitting down before you call. Be sure to have plenty of medicinal brandy handy, and if you take blood pressure medication, get someone else to make the call.

Do you know that you can't even change a battery on some Apple products? They require you to send it in to their service centre to have them fit an overpriced, Apple-branded one. (And don't think that there is any technical or quality control reason for this, it's pure greed.)

And then there is the cost of software. Everything is more expensive for Apple. Worst of all, the cost of parts to upgrade (if you can upgrade at all, which you often can't) is truly horrendous.

Add it all up, and the long-term cost of ownership varies between a lot higher and vastly higher. The inflated sticker price in the shop is just the starting point.

Fair enough - I can see how Apple-unique parts could be a high cost. The generic stuff is same-same.

Interestingly, my cost of ownership for my iMac has been lower than my PCs, because nothing has had to be repaired or replaced in 3 years. Correction: I bought a new mouse last night, so I guess that counts... Software wise, we have 4 PCs and a Mac in the house and so far the Mac software prices have been no different to the same title on the PC...

[Calxoddity]

Thanks Folks,
I really didn't want to turn this into one of those mundane Apple vs PC discussuions so can I pinch this in the bud?

Happy to report I have purchase 2 X Lenovo laptops.
(1 for the youngest Daughter . . who I think is doing a Bachelor of Facebook . . )

Fredo

Congratulations on your new laptops - my work one is a Lenovo. I'll stop contribution to the Mac-PC religious discussion...

[Bax]

Another plus for the Lenovo's, a good friend of mine has his own IT Business and he owns and sells Lenovo