Advice please. New laptop needed. What is best Apple Macbook or Apple MacBook Air, or a new Microsoft Laptop?

[Firefly]

I had a new Lenovo a few months ago, apart from 'getting used' to Win 10 after Win 7, ( with thanks to R.W.) no problem. The sound on mine is fine, so maybe it's a fault with Trevor's particular laptop. Didn't break the bank £299.00 with case and mouse, a good all rounder.

Jackie

[PeteandSylvi]

And of course Apple products looks so dammed good.....you get what you pay for, simply the best....looks and performance.

Once more I find myself - rather embarrasingly - having to agee with you But I don't buy for looks (though they are good), but rather functionality. Not for nothing are Apple about the biggest and most profitable company on the planet. It their products were no good, people simply wouldn't buy them. Fact is, they do!

Of course they're products are good. But they are grossly overpriced. That is why they are the richest company on the planet. People buy their products because they have superb marketing that has hoodwinked people into believing if they pay a fortune more they are getting something much better. They are clever enough to keep everything closed and exclusive, use non-standard plugs, have batteries that can't be user replaced. All these are aspects of their greed which have made them so rich. They also stand out as one of the least philanthropic of tech companies, another huge contrast to Microsoft.

Pete

[PaphosAL]

... I occasionally use Firefox but never use Edge and have removed Internet Explorer. I strongly urge you to check out your Win 10 installation and drivers.

Pete

Pete- you cannot remove M$ Internet Explorer, as it's part of the underlying OS. Run with the latest Mozilla FireFox 54 and set it to be your default browser, rather than IE8 or IE11. Then set your home page to bing.com and watch the magic appear each day...

If you have any existing bookmarks in IE, it's dead easy to export them to a file on desktop or usb stick, then import them to FF

ATB- AL

[Dominic]

Most of Apple's coin comes from the iPhone and iPad. And that came as a result of the iPod. Their PC sales are much more modest, accounting for less than 7% of the market. Lenovo, Dell, Asus and HP were all higher.

[PaphosAL]

Personally, if the HDD is sounding a bit clunky in your old Toshiba laptop, Dee, I'd be inclined to follow others advice and just replace the hard drive.

A few weeks ago, I bought a 2.5" 320GB usb external SATA hdd (brand new from fleaBay for just £25 inc free P&P!) All you need to do is get your computer shop to transfer everything from your old drive to the new one, so it boots. He has loads of free tools from the internet that does this kind of stuff, Paragon being the main free resource...

What OS are you currently on, out of interest? Hope it's not XP...

Cheers- AL

[Dominic]

There are loads of options with laptops. I don't know why you fixate on the surface pro. But this argument is as old as computing. When I was a kid, it was C64 vs Spectrum.

Any bit of kit is only as good as the person who uses it.

[Dominic]

I shall leave you to your high priced shineys.

[Jimgward]

My missus uses a high-end pc laptop. Similar spec to MacBook Air and more expensive than Macbook

Yes. There are cheap of laptops. In 3 years they will be worth £50.

The Macbook after 3 years will still be worth 70% of its cost. After 5 years, 50%. The pc will have died.

Try getting the kind of service an Apple Store gives. I took an iPad Pro with keyboard to them. It was second hand and the keyboard was playing up. It was also out of warranty. I still got a new keyboard free.

Missus had a 2 year old iPhone playing up with signal. They replaced with new iPhone. Free.

Loads can tell the same story.

If you need your kit working for business. There's no better option.

Competitor products need sent away and are unlikely to be replaced/repaired free.

If you are into the apple ecosystem, then iPhone, ipad and Macbook/iMac is ideal. Automatic sync of photos. Documents, apps, messages and more.

[Royal]

Agree with Hudswell.

Two MAC Minis, three iPads, two IPhones, three iPods, an Apple TV and an Apple Express in our house - all talk to each other and all still in excellent condition after many years of faithful service.

Cuttting edge technology and all aesthetically pleasing.

Welcome to the dark side...unbeatable.

[Dominic]

Any laptop bought 5 years ago is no longer cutting edge. Doesn't mean its no good, just no longer cutting edge. Moore's Law may only be a rule of thumb, but it is still fairly valid.

And I'm still running a Windows machine I first built 12 years ago. My gaming rig is archaic by today's standards, but I was able to upgrade it to 8Gb RAM and it was able to play Just Cause 3. I wouldn't try to play a 2017 game on it, but to be honest, I don't have time for that these days anyway. Our daughter uses it mostly these days, as it runs Adobe Photoshop and Premier just fine. As does my Windows 10 laptop, which also runs a virtual Linux server that I develop my web stuff on.

Hudswell, out of curiosity, what do you use your Mac for?

[Dominic]

In case anybody is curious, this is how people have been accessing Paphos Life over the past week.

1. Windows 43%
2. IOS (iPad etc) 35%
3. Android 15%
4. Mac 3.5%

Other useful tidbits; the most favoured screensize is 768x1024, which is presumably from tablets. Believe it or not, a total of 120 different screen resolutions have accessed the site. The days of pixel-perfect web design are well and truly over.

[PaphosAL]

I wonder who the other 3.5% were?

Cheers- AL

[Oxfordboy]

Interesting topic. While the Apple vs. Windows debate continues to be more of a bragging rights contest, my first question would be "What do you use it for?". Dee stated that she (I assume, but sorry if not!!) needed "something not too difficult to understand so I can use it to send emails, write the odd letter or document, occasional internet banking and to surf the web!", and in all honesty, that is very light usage that even my Raspberry Pi cold handle. My second question would be "What's your budget?"

The Mac users seem to insinuate that a Mac is the only well-built, trouble-free, fast, reliable option, but that is so not the case. I'm honestly not a Windows fanatic (I'd far rather use Ubuntu), but if you don't want to spend serious money or go through the Windows to OS X transition, then there are any number of Windows-based laptops which will fit the bill (and in this day and age it's very easy to get online performance reviews if you're not sure). I would certainly go with a name brand though. If your HDD is the problem, seriously consider replacing it with a SSD. Like Dominic said, that alone will make you think you already have a new laptop. To be honest, even a Chromebook would be sufficient for your needs if you have a decent internet connection!

[Dominic]

I wonder who the other 3.5% were?

Cheers- AL

All sorts, including smart tvs etc. Once, a couple of years ago, I even came across somebody who was surfing on a commodore 64 browser, which must have been a real labour of love. I researched it, thinking it was a spoof, but one such did exist. I don't know why they visited my site though, as it had lots of pictures, none of which would have loaded. Funny old world.

[Dominic]

Pretty much all that applies to Windows and PC hardware too. Admitedly, built in photo editing isn't industry strength by a long chalk. That's why I subscribe to Adobe.

[herrybraun]

I recommend you to new HP laptop and Mac book.

[PeteandSylvi]

... I occasionally use Firefox but never use Edge and have removed Internet Explorer. I strongly urge you to check out your Win 10 installation and drivers.

Pete

Pete- you cannot remove M$ Internet Explorer, as it's part of the underlying OS. Run with the latest Mozilla FireFox 54 and set it to be your default browser, rather than IE8 or IE11. Then set your home page to bing.com and watch the magic appear each day...

If you have any existing bookmarks in IE, it's dead easy to export them to a file on desktop or usb stick, then import them to FF

ATB- AL

Thank you for your well intentioned reply.

I can assure you IE does not run or effectively exist on my machine even if the underlying code remains. It is, in effect, removed.

Strangely your reply reads as though I use IE and you are advising me for alternatives. As I wrote previously I use Chrome as my main browser and Firefox as my secondary. I can't remember the last time I used the intensely annoying and clunky Internet Explorer.

I would not dream of using Bing over Google which is far more effective and better integrated into their other marvellous software.

As far as bookmarks are concerned I have them automatically synchronised between Chrome and Firefox on Windows and Chrome on Android. There is no need for a USB stick or any other physical device to achieve this.

Pete

[PeteandSylvi]

The same 'expensive' criticisms Pete makes of Apple could equally be made of Mercedes or BMW or any other premium brand, but as always, you get what you pay for...and Apple's quality is superb.

At no time have I denigrated Apple's quality. I simply am disgusted by the deliberate, clever and calculated overpricing. The last figures I saw said that Apple have 26% of the phone market and over 50% of the profits. Great marketing and overpricing all in one. The recent film about Steve Jobs showed Apple's entry into the phone market. The Chinese production line appeared with the admittance that the phones cost $10 to make. They were selling for over £200 at the time. Great marketing and overpricing again.

You are quite correct that similar criticisms could be made of Mercedes and BMW who both raise their retail prices in the UK to create a brand mystique. I first realised this years ago when a friend bought a BMW 325i for around £25,000 and I went to Frankfurt on business for the first time and saw the 325 series everywhere where it was considered equivalent to a Ford Escort. The other brand I detest for the same reason is Dyson whose products are absurdly overpriced. He however gave some amusement when his ill conceived and extraordinarily ugly washing machine totally failed in it's bid to be the most overpriced on the market and his prosecution for patent infringement on his disgustingly overpriced fan.

Pete

[Dominic]

Plus BMW spare parts cost an arm and a leg!

...my first question would be "What do you use it for?". Dee stated that she (I assume, but sorry if not!!) needed "something not too difficult to understand so I can use it to send emails, write the odd letter or document, occasional internet banking and to surf the web!",

You make a good point, but Dee also said:

Now for my dilemma. What should I replace it with? I already have an Apple iPad, which I really like. At the same time I don't get on well with the Windows operating system. Dee

iPads and Mac Books have totally different interfaces though. just because she can use the iPad, doesn't mean she will find the Mac OS any easier than the Windows OS she already uses.

[PeteandSylvi]

. I love the way that all my devices seemlessly talk to each other..hardly any setting up, it just happens!

Hardly an Apple feature. I could say the same in my home: 2 laptops, NAS, Tablet, 2 smartphones, Android TV box, Smart TV, printer. Our Wii is no longer connected.

Pete