Thread: Windows notebook or Macbook?

if she not a gamer than a mac book fine

personally l would install open office and not Microsoft office suite for starters its a free download and does everything office does and in some cases l think it does it better

Personal viewpoint is always buy largest hard drive you can afford as an option at the time of purchase as you'll always filling the dam thing up, l remember in the 1980's they said a 40 meg hard drive would be the largest hard drive you would ever need l now have 140 gig of digital photos on my usb drive

Macbook all the way. Drama free computing. They work.

X2 - the MacBookPro is even nicer.

Mac OS X only uses about 30-35GB and that's with Office 2008 installed. Just checked on my wife's MBP as it's fairly clean of other files at present.

2GB is fine, 4GB is better though.

Office for Mac is OK, I use iWorks and as mentioned you can download a Open Office (I think its Neo Office or something for the Mac)

If files will be swapped between computers consider what they are using. "Like" packages always work better than file converters.
PC laptops are way cheaper for the same specs.
Consider what other software you may require....ensure it is available in your chosen format.
Apple has very user friendly OS. Windows 7 is appraoching the same standard.
Apple is marketed well and much better at gaining product placement in movies and TV shows.

i have the asus k52f and very happy with it , google it

ive got an old macbook which i bought new and love it never had a drama with it.

Originally Posted by cartm58

if she not a gamer than a mac book fine

personally l would install open office and not Microsoft office suite for starters its a free download and does everything office does and in some cases l think it does it better

Agree with all the above. Unless you're a gamer I believe Apple make the more usable home / family computers because of the good stability of the operating system, fairly straightforward system management, the limited need for antivirus programs, and the iLife software that comes with it. It is usable immediately out of the box.

The useful life of the MacBook will in my experience be a couple of years longer than a Windows laptop, and you'll still find someone wanting to buy it in 4 years time.

I am a heavy / power Excel user at work (under Windows) but on my MacBookPro I always use OpenOffice in preference to MS Office for Mac any day. I have both. Having said that there is a new version of Office for Mac due out very soon now which may be an improvement.

*However* why not buy her the keyboard base for iPad and she can use that for most of what a low-end laptop would be used for?? Apple offers word processing and spreadsheet apps for it.

I often read (here) that you can get a "same" spec PC for less than the Mac. The longer I have my Mac though - the more I find. For example - I have recently discovered my Mac has a built in WiFi router - so I can generate a WiFi setup at home without the need for anything extra - does your "same spec" PC do this too - out of the box? Maybe they do - I don't know - but as I say - I'm still finding useful additions to my Mac after a year of having it! Perhaps "spec" isn't just bus speed, RAM and Disc capacity.

In regard to your choice Mark - I would say to you - if your wife enjoys the iPad experience - get her the Macbook. Personally, after using both, I'll never buy another PC again.