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

[Lofos-5]

While there is a 50:50 split on the Brexit debate, over 90% of PC users on the site are Windows, rather than Mac users.

Yes, but I somehow - wrongly as it turns out - expected to see the most ardent remainers to be also avid Apple product lovers and vice versa - but alas that thinking did not really match up

[Dominic]

That says more about the stereotyping of remainers and leavers, than anything else, I guess.

[Lofos-5]

Wtf....

Does this stand for Windows Ten F*%#?

Lol

[PaphosAL]

My daughter, son in law, and three grandchildren are all Apple afficionados. Sadly, they all live in non Virgin Media cable areas..

Love it when they visit, and access my £20 per month VM 200Mbps fibre broadband service! Their jaws drop, compared to what they get back home in Worcester and Shrewsbury, with the likes of Sky and BT...

But I must admit how deeply impressed I am with the way they stay in touch with one another via their Apple devices! For example, my grandaughter is currently on a six week break after leaving college, then starting Uni in September. Travelling around France and Spain (both lingos in which she's fluent in, which raises some funny stories, in a new thread soon...)

Thing is, her and Mum are conversing for FREE each day via Apple Facetime (I think) and seeing each other, like Skype! How marvelous is that, eh? A few days ago, my daughter was cooking a meal in our kitchen, with her iPhone on top of the Nescafé jar, nattering away to my grandaughter in Barcelona, with full video both ways!!!

Arthur C Clarke predicted this kind of technology in the Kubrick film '2001 Space Odyssey' and nobody at that time believed it would ever come true.. But it did!

Cheers- AL

[Dominic]

But it is hardly Apple technology. Video conferencing has been around for ages. We use Skype all the time. You don't need Apple for it.

[PeteandSylvi]

Skype is Microsoft. I'm surprised the snobbery of Apple users allow it on their devices especially as it is free.

But wait, didn't Apple abandon the "superior" Motorola processors for the "inferior" Intel things used on the PCs? That meant they can run Windows which opened the door to a myriad of software. Now can someone tell me why anyone would ever consider running Windows on an Apple machine after their full indoctrination into brand superiority?

Pete

[PeteandSylvi]

I wouldn't let Windows anywhere near my IMac, although I do use Office, Skype occasionally, although I prefer FaceTime....really Pete, anyone would think your jealous

Your thought logic that makes you think me jealous is rather perverse but might explain why you worship the world's greediest company.

I doubt that you do anything on your machines that I don't do on mine and you admit using Microsoft software while bathing in criticism of anything Windows related.

So we both have computers of different origins, do much the same work on them, have some software in common but you believe your's is so much better but can't quantify that while I can prove that I've got a lot more money in the bank after buying my system.

Who's cleverest?



Pete

[PhotoLady]

I'm perfectly happy with my windows 10 laptop and my windows phone..... hubby has a windows 10 desktop and a windows phone.

We run our business from these with no problems. Never had a pc virus either since we started the business up in Cyprus (initially via eBay) in 2006 before switching to our website in 2008. Always on MS systems.

I also worked in online gaming in Cyprus since 2005 until leaving in 2016 - we had over 100 staff when I left and each staff member worked on MS powered desktops or laptops. We had just one Apple laptop which was used for testing purposes for all browsers and compatibility each time we opened a new casino site or updated the original ones.

The only time the systems went down were when the power station blew up in 2011, we got our own generator delivered from Israel within a couple of days which meant we didn't lose access during the rolling power cuts each day.

Oh and by the way, I voted to Remain

[PeteandSylvi]

Come off it Lloyd. There is no point in using top end, low volume selling products deliberately priced high for an "exclusive" end of the market to try and make your point. Now give us the comparison between an Apple laptop and a Windows laptop of same spec or a Samsung phone compared to an Apple phone of same spec.

In any case your Apple worshipping chums on this thread have all boasted how proud they are to pay more. Surely your not going to disappoint them this way? You know you all want to contribute to the world's greediest company's profits.

Now to Hudswell and his quote. Surely you are not suggesting that Apple is good quality and everything else is poor quality? That would be rather stupid as the facts speak for themselves in the statistics. Now what is not stupid is to understand that Apple sell far less volumes than the other manufacturers but have still ended up the richest company in the world. This does suggest to me that their build cost is much the same, and why should it not be - greed will force manufacturing costs down and in any case they are made in the same far east factories as everything else, while the profit margins are substantially higher. Their marketing is so good that you all pat yourselves on the back for paying more and almost beg Apple to charge more for the next phone in a couple of months time. Fiscal flagellation.

I also must comment that it's strange how some groups feel the need to justify themselves and even to want to convert others. The main ones doing this are Vegetarians, Jehovah's Witnesses, ISIS and Apple owners. Now where Apple is concerned I have made it abundantly clear that they are in general good products but I have a problem with overpricing and the immoral greed of Apple. I'm not asking anyone else to convert from Apple because I simply don't give a hoot but tend to join in the discussion because I find the barracking by Apple owners, whose desperate need to feel superior, is tediously amusing. Hudswell please note.

Pete

[Dominic]

A simpler variation is "Quality is remembered long after the price is forgotten".

And who says Apple's products cost more than Microsoft? From yesterday's ST. Still think the Apple design is nicer

Sorry to burst your bubble, but you are comparing the price of a 21" Apple with a 27" Lenovo. 27" iMacs start at £1,749, according to Apple's website.

Regarding the Surface, the dollar price is $2999, so if M$ actually do want to sell it at £2999 they will have some explaining to do.

[Dominic]

And who says Apple's products cost more than Microsoft?

I took that to mean that you were saying that Apple's products don't cost more than PCs.

It would be interesting to see a Surface Studio go head to head with the equivalent Mac, if there is one.

It is odd though, I remember paying over £3K for a 100Mhz Pentium, many years ago, and being well chuffed. Then, a bog standard desktop would be over £1K, complete with CRT monitor etc.

Regarding prices, I know there is always a sterling premium, but they usually try to hide it a little bit. This was exactly the same. I wonder what the euro price is?


=========================

Edit: Just checked, €3549!

[josef k]

Oh really chaps. Why not get a good secondhand laptop and drop Linux onto it, instead of spending a fortune getting a new machine powerful enough to cope with windows. It will be just as good, virus free, and much cheaper. Of course, many people are frightened to move away from windows in case the sky falls in.

[Jimgward]

Computer hardware, in the main, has dropped immensely. I started working in the late 80’s for a UK PC manufacturer. The standard then, was 640k memory and 20Mb hard drive. Memory cost around £50 per Mb and PC cost around £3,000. IBM was the standard and the company I worked for, was one of only 3 worldwide to pre-install the new Windows 1. - contrary to what Pete says, Windows 1 was copied from MAC OS at the time, as Microsoft were developing Office for the MAC and therefore they had access to source code etc. It became one of Steve Jobs main irks with Microsoft and Gates, that he felt betrayed....

Anyway, fast forward to now. Phones and Tablets costing more than PCs....

As to comparisons, there are many MAC-type PC laptops, most following the “UltraBook” specification. My better-half has purchased at least 5 of them for her business, to that spec... as they’re more robust, lighter, usually faster and better designed and built. All did cost the equivalent or more of the MacBooks - although prices of ultra books are falling - more competition - whereas Apple is a different choice and no competition.

Tracy has a DELL XPS for herself, costing over £1,300...
Her previous laptop was an Asus ultrabook, costing over £1,400...
Prior to that, her top-end laptop was a Toshiba, costing around the same.

All 3 laptops have been replaced, passed on, after less than 3 years, as they became slow for newer windows versions etc. She has a support company who spend considerable time, and cost, keeping hardware running for her business.

Yers, she could purchase laptops for £300 that would ‘do’ - but would be redundant even quicker... They would break more often, spares would be more difficult and performance would be less.

[Dominic]

But why would you upgrade the operating system? If the laptop performs fine on Day 1 with Windows 7, presumably it would still perform fine on Day 1000 with Windows 7? Why upgrade it to Windows 8, or 10? And who was doing the upgrading? Because seriously, there shouldn't be that much change in performance from Windows 7 to 10 anyway.

[PaphosAL]

Just a thought here, but does Win10 carry an option to use a Win7 GUI themed layout, I wonder?

Cheers- AL

[PeteandSylvi]

- contrary to what Pete says, Windows 1 was copied from MAC OS at the time, as Microsoft were developing Office for the MAC and therefore they had access to source code etc. It became one of Steve Jobs main irks with Microsoft and Gates, that he felt betrayed....

I didn't say, I quoted.

Just to check I've tried to verify your version of events but can't find any source to back it up. Apple did however licence part of it's GUI to Microsoft and was used in Windows 1. This may be confusing you. In fact Apple lost the lawsuit they took out against Microsoft for copying the look and feel of "their" GUI in Windows 2, they lost on appeal too and were denied an appeal to the US Supreme Court. While this was happening Xerox did some suing too as they were the inventors of the GUI which inspired Jobs.

The second part of your contention that does not add up is that you say Microsoft had access to Apple's code when developing Office for Mac. The original release date for Office for Mac was in 1990 while Windows 1 was released in 1985.

Of course if my fact-finding is flawed I'm sure you'll correct me with the relevant sources.

Pete

[PhotoLady]

Of course, many people are frightened to move away from windows in case the sky falls in.

Strange, that's the perception I have of Apple users.... a case of, "well I've chucked all my eggs in one basket - how can I walk away now?"

[PeteandSylvi]

Just a thought here, but does Win10 carry an option to use a Win7 GUI themed layout, I wonder?

Cheers- AL

If you mean the conventional style start menu then there are a number of add-ons to achieve this. I use Classic Shell by Ivosoft. From the myriad of options I use the Windows 7 Style.

Pete

[Dominic]

Basically, people just love arguing about computers. Both the hardware and software. It will come as no surprise to all you non programmers out there, that exactly the same arguments exist when programming languages are discussed. But then, it is even pettier. One of the big arguments that has raged for decades is whether you should indent code with spaces or tabs.

People have even done studies to prove that people who indent with spaces get paid more. I kid you not.

[Lofos-5]

People have even done studies to prove that people who indent with spaces get paid more. I kid you not.

... and did they vote remain too I wonder?