My wife’s HP laptop is on its deathbed. Will likely replace this weekend. I’m a Mac fan so i know little to nothing about the particulars of PCs. She uses it for work (veterinarian) and basic computing stuff. I’d get her a Mac, but she uses a few scientific/medical programs that are PC only. No gaming, or anything of the sort.
So, what is the best for under a thousand bucks?
Thanks.
why not get her a mac and use parallels/bootcamp?
Ditto.
Get the Mac and run Windows on it. Check out http://www.expercom.com/. The base prices are set by Apple, but these folks throw in additional memory, larger hard drive, etc. at great prices. We have bought 5 Macs from them over the years and no one else has come close to the total price and their service is great.
I bought my mom a Dell XPS M1330, which is nice and small. They sell for $999, but we got it optioned out for about $1400 (with some coupons applied). That was just before Christmas, so I’m not sure what the price is now. I like its design much better than the current line of HPs, which both my dad and brother use.
The M1330 is fast enough to run my scientific/medical software. If you want something bigger, they make those, too.
Thanks all. I found a good deal locally on a Sony Vaio. Should fit the bill nicely.
If you are a Mac person, stick with Apple. Leopard allows you to run Windows on a seperate partition of the computer so you can have your Mac and still run the med aps. Our house has the same constraints and it works fine for us. However, it will cost you more than $1000.
Sarge
Why would you buy a Mac and then put Windoze on it? I thought the whole mystic behind the mac was the MacOS?
If you are going to put Windoze on it, go with a PC. You will get WAY more machine for your buck.
No, you put BOTH on it. Leopard is set up to allow you to go back and forth. It is like having two systems on the same computer. Buy the most stripped down version of Windoze and those med aps will work fine.
Why would you buy a Mac and then put Windoze on it? …
It is because Apple designs its hardware like a piece of art. I know of no PC company that designs hardware as elegant as Apple.
Disclaimer: I work for HP. But have worked in graphic design for years, and well, Macs are da shizznit. Given the option, I would use it exclusively.
That said, I got a new HP laptop about 3 months ago, and have been very pleased. If you are interested in replacing your HP with another, hit me offline.
Why would you buy a Mac and then put Windoze on it? …
It is because Apple designs its hardware like a piece of art. I know of no PC company that designs hardware as elegant as Apple.
Please define elegant. For the price of an elegant Mac spec’d to the nines I can get a BLAZING Alienware machine.
Besides, I thought Apples were pretty well Intel based now. The Apple peripherals are pretty nice but I would say the differences between the two are becoming smaller and smaller.
i just got a samsung nc-10.
pretty happy with it.
it’s a ‘netbook’ - cheaper, lighter, better battery life.
all the performance i need for now, but it’s not a high-powered computer, the speakers suck, and it’s really pretty small.
really like carrying it around, though.
more info on netbooks: www.liliputing.com.
-charles