Laptop is the thing, I think

[Drocca]

I need some help with an upcoming computer purchase. I don't know anything about ghz, bits, ram, processors and all that stuff. I don't really want to learn. I have a desktop computer and an iPad. But I would like to purchase a laptop solely to use for school. It will need to be fast, but battery life isn't super important as it will mostly be plugged in. I imagine I will need to use Microsoft Office in some capacity, but my understanding is that this does not limit me to PCs anymore. Maybe it does.
 
Anyway, I don't want to spend a lot of money and I keep seeing HP Streambook something or other for $200.00 and then some stuff for like $800.00 and then a Macbook Air light for $900.00. I will pay $800 - $900 if it really is worth it. I will be using this for distance education and all the writing, research, internet, spreadsheets, video lectures and the like that comes with that. One thing I fucking hate is bloatware. I do know what that means.
 
Can someone please help me with some solid info. I've been googling laptop reviews for the past couple days and I'm just more confused, not less. 

 

[The Abandoned Diary]

What kind of programs/apps will you be using mostly at school? Do you need stat/math packages? Photo/Video editing?
 
Personally I would recommend OSX (hence, a MacBook) because of the ease of usage and absence of constant virus threats. 

 

[Couperin47]

What kind of programs/apps will you be using mostly at school? Do you need stat/math packages? Photo/Video editing?
 
Personally I would recommend OSX (hence, a MacBook) because of the ease of usage and absence of constant virus threats. 

 
Yes we all know Macs are completely immune to virus/malware......

 

[millionthcustomer]

OK, please take my advice with a grain of salt:
 
I bought my MacBook over six years ago.  The very one I'm typing this advice on.  It has never EVER crashed on me - never had any (known) issues.  It still runs great, with the exception of the graphics card; I can't play the latest games on it without it getting bogged down.  But, it's SIX years old.  I paid $1100 for it in October 2008.

 

[repole]

 
Yes we all know Macs are completely immune to virus/malware......

 
The best part about this is the more people recommend Macs, and the more who buy, the less true this will become.
 
 
If all you need is a laptop for web browsing/movies/Office you shouldn't be paying more than $600 absolute tops (unless you really want a Mac, in which case I'd recommend basically the cheapest Mac you can find).
 
For reference, here's a touch screen laptop that's more than powerful enough to do everything you likely need:
http://slickdeals.net/f/7510444-asus-transformer-book-flip-laptop-i5-4210u-13-3-ips-led-500gb-hdd-win-8-1-599-free-shipping
 
By no means is that a recommendation, I know nothing about that laptop, but just trying to say that under no circumstances should you be paying more than $600. You can probably find exactly what you need for $400-500 pretty easily. I'd suggest going to an actual store to look at a few models, get an idea of what type of size screen is ideal, and then check slickdeals.net for laptops that come up in that $400-600 range.
 
EDIT: And for reference, I'm typing this on an Asus I bought 3 years ago for $400 bucks.

 

[Drocca]

I don't need a stat math package. I need to read stuff, type stuff and probably do some excel stuff.

 

[Drocca]

Thanks guys. Pretty good stuff so far.

 

[Blacken]

Yes we all know Macs are completely immune to virus/malware......

In practice, malware is not an issue on a Mac. It remains so on Windows. I'm sorry that reality makes you sad and that you have to air your sadness, and your suckiness, by being a bitchy defensive zealot about it.



Drocca, we've been through a lot, we have this ginger connection, yes? I will be real with you: buy the Mac. The $500 plastic shitboxes being recommended are not substitute goods, they are inferior goods, and they are priced like it. The Air will last you longer and you'll hate it less. And if you have a teacher friend, you can usually get an EPP to knock a few more bucks off.

 

[Couperin47]

In practice, malware is not an issue on a Mac. It remains so on Windows. I'm sorry that reality makes you sad and that you have to air your sadness, and your suckiness, by being a bitchy defensive zealot about it.



Drocca, we've been through a lot, we have this ginger connection, yes? I will be real with you: buy the Mac. The $500 plastic shitboxes being recommended are not substitute goods, they are inferior goods, and they are priced like it. The Air will last you longer and you'll hate it less. And if you have a teacher friend, you can usually get an EPP to knock a few more bucks off.

 
There was zero emotion in my post, yours otoh is about as accurate and unbiased as I'd expect from you....

 

[Couperin47]

In fairness, you take pretty much every chance you can trash Apple products.

 
In fairness, show me quotes to support this. I believe Apple products are overpriced, often style over substance and generally provide dumbed down interfaces that limit user choice. That does not constitute "trashing", except in the minds of Mac zealots who cannot deal with any objective criticism of the objects of their worship. I'm also critical of many of my favorite brands. If one could build your own laptops I would, just as I have every desktop for the last 40 years, no laptop is without compromises.

 

[derekson]

I would honestly recommend a 13" rMBP refurb over a MacBook Air if it's going to be your primary computer. You can get one for $999 from Apple's refurb store, and it comes with the same 1 year warranty and option to buy 3 years of AppleCare as a new Mac. For $100 more you get a significantly more powerful CPU and the retina display. And it isn't much heavier either (3.46 lbs. instead of 2.9 lbs.).

 

[jercra]

For what you're after you may want to look at Chromebooks too.  It's basically a really cheap machine with a nice screen that runs a browser.  You can do everything you specified for about $300 and, though it's really not an issue, the Chromebook is also Linux based and very small user share so basically ignored by malware creators.  
 
Honestly, why are people recommending Macs to a guy who wants to use a browser and some form of Office 360/Google Docs and doesn't want to spend a lot of money?  I don't get it.  You can do that for a couple of hundred dollars of Chromebook or Windows box.  What's the benefit to Apple for that use case?

 

[SoxFanInCali]

Just go somewhere where you can try out a few different machines.  Even if you are going to buy online, try one out first if possible to see how it feels.
 
I personally don't like using Macs because I don't like the touchpad mouse, but then again, I'm not a huge fan of Windows 8 either (I personally use a Lenovo ThinkPad with Windows 7). If you are going to be doing a ton of writing and spreadsheets, you'll want to find one with a keyboard and mouse you are comfortable with.  From what you are planning to use it for, you don't need anything with the best specs, but if you are going to be carrying it around a lot, it might be worth it to you to pay more for something lighter. I know Office used to suck on Macs, but I haven't seen what more recent versions look like, so I'd check into that, too.
 
Good luck.

 

[Curll]

Used an Airbook at work, it froze and crashed all the time while doing spreadsheet shit. Only real Apple product I've used.
 
I'm a Lenovo fan. They've always served me well for laptops. Win 8 is great, you can just bypass the Metro theme now, and it is a great OS. And Lenovo doesn't really do bloatware.
 
I've heard fantastic reviews on the MS Surface 3, if you're into that sort of thing. I've got to look into it more; our Chromebook has a touchscreen monitor and I love it. You may want to look at Chromebooks, though they are really limited on what apps you can use.
 
Go to a store, check things out. And look for deals online, like at http://bensbargains.net/categories/notebooks-83/

 

[jercra]

Unless you're doing heavy lifting with Office now just use the online version.  Or Google Docs (though I think Google Docs suck in comparison).  Office should be basically disconnected from the OS for all but heavy/sophisticated usage.

 

[Tim Naehrings Girl]

I have the same needs and I just picked up a Lenovo Yoga 2 for $479 at Best Buy.  It is taking some getting used to, but so far it has worked great.

 

[Couperin47]

I have the same needs and I just picked up a Lenovo Yoga 2 for $479 at Best Buy.  It is taking some getting used to, but so far it has worked great.

 
If the 'getting used to' is in part a function of Win 8.1, consider adding Classic Shell, it's free and while it takes a bit of time to set up exactly the way you want it, the point is then it resembles earlier versions of Windows...to whatever extent you want.
 
http://www.classicshell.net/downloads/

 

[Drocca]

I ended up getting a MacBook Pro (15 or 17 inch, I can't remember. It was a retina display 8GB refurb originally released in July 2014) for $1,100. So far, adjusting to iOS has been a little tough. I am so used to ALT-TAB for switching between windows and haven't come to grips with scrolling yet.
 
But it is pretty.

 

[Tris Williamsburg]

You can cmd-TAB in Mac OSX to switch between apps, similar to Windows. Hope this helps...

 

[johnmd20]

I ended up getting a MacBook Pro (15 or 17 inch, I can't remember. It was a retina display 8GB refurb originally released in July 2014) for $1,100. So far, adjusting to iOS has been a little tough. I am so used to ALT-TAB for switching between windows and haven't come to grips with scrolling yet.
 
But it is pretty.

 
If you can take a class at the Apple store, you will have a much better experience with your Mac.

 

[Red Sox Physicist]

You can cmd-TAB in Mac OSX to switch between apps, similar to Windows. Hope this helps...

and cmd-~ switches between windows within an application.

 

[Drocca]

That is tremendous. What about scrolling? The scroll bar appears then disappears too quickly for me to use it.

I know exactly how I sound and am appropriately embarrassed

 

[swiftaw]

That is tremendous. What about scrolling? The scroll bar appears then disappears too quickly for me to use it.

I know exactly how I sound and am appropriately embarrassed

In system preferences, under General, there is an option to show the scroll bars all the time.

 

[johnmd20]

 
Two fingers on the touchpad, swipe up and down to scroll. 

 
This is generally always better than using the scroll bar.

 

[SumnerH]

uControl used to let you turn on edge scrolling (where you just drag your thumb/finger up or down on the right edge of the pad to scroll) on Macs, too, which is way more convenient than the two-finger stuff IMO. It looks like it's been discontinued, but there might be something else out there that lets you do it. Their home page says they've been replaced by fkeys, but the link seems dead.

 

[JohntheBaptist]

Drocca, I love the "hot corners" thing on my Mac. It's under settings (I'll have to check where when I get home, Yosemite seemed to move it IIRC), but essentially you can set it so if you shoot your cursor to the top-rightmost corner of your screen, it clears the open apps down to the desktop. Or, the top-leftmost corner will take all open apps and float them in front of you to easily click on whichever one you want to move to. You can pick which corner/ which function and all that jazz.
 
Here's a quick rundown. I rely on this a ton personally.