Comments on: Consider Your Needs, Then Use This Guide to Buying a Laptop

By: Mossberg: Leopard é melhor, mais rápido e menos suscetível a malware que o Vista » AppleMania.info

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 17:17:37 +0000

[...] detalhes na comparação completa do guia de compras de Mossberg. No momento da finalização deste artigo nosso iTunes tocava: Ivete [...]

By: Scott Ellis

Scott Ellis — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 17:35:33 +0000

In this article, you note that you publish a twice per year buyer’s guide for desktop PC’s but I can’t locate a guide since 10/18/07. Can you let me know if there is one after that date?
Thanks, Scott Ellis

By: Art Fitzgerald

Art Fitzgerald — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 14:11:03 +0000

Interesting guide. Do you have any opinion on the pros and cons of RAID 0 as a hard drive performance improvement. It costs a little more but if it significantly improves performance, particularly boot time for Vista, it may be worth it.

By: Joseph Paluh

Joseph Paluh — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 01:48:15 +0000

Walt: Great advice! I recently bought the MacBook Black and it is a dream machine. Fast right out of the box. With websites running more things like flash and processor intensive multimedia my old iBook G4 was just too darn slow. Walt, you should recommend this machine to the casual user who’s looking for power and ease of use. The MacBook fits nicely in my book-bag or my attache case for easy carrying. The Leopard OS X is quick and slick but it’s most important feature is Time Machine which automatically backs up everything! I think I’ll be happy with my Macbook for the next few years. Thanks for the help Walt!

By: Joel Mataro

Joel Mataro — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 23:36:03 +0000

I work n 3ds and graphics, so you can assume that I do the nitty-gritty on a desktop. What is your guide if we buy a Laptop as our other working pc for presentation and when traveling?

By: David Prozzo

David Prozzo — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 05:35:14 +0000

Petri – Vista and XP computers coexist nicely on the same network. It is done all the time.
Buying a computer with a new OS ALWAYS means checking one’s favored software and peripherals (drivers) to be sure that they work. Sometimes they don’t and newer versions have to be purchased. Fact of life. No OS upgrade has been any different – from 95 to 98, 98 to XP, and so on. SOME older software will work, but not all. This is deja vu. People had the same comments as yours when XP came along.
I’ve been on Mac forums and people there complain about the same thing.
It is a given, your HP printer you purchased in 2002, or Nero version 6, AREN’T GONNA WORK. And no one should expect that they would.
So, of course the added cost of upgrading software is an important consideration, as you mention.
I don’t know what you mean by “evolution.” All OSs have fixes and service packs. But, in my hands, Vista is already better than WinXP.

By: Petri Asikainen

Petri Asikainen — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 17:39:05 +0000

One thing I think should have been looked on little bit further is the operating system Windows Vista. I don’t doubt the speed of vista on a computer with the right specifications, but there is a lot of software that won’t work with it.

Professional cad/cam software for example are very expensive and to replace an older version with a new one will be a big factor when looking at new computers. It would mean an additional cost of several thousand dollars.

Also when using a laptop in a network environment such as schools, Vista might not even be supported.

I don’t doubt that Vista eventually will evolve to a good product just as XP did, but in my personal opinion there should have been a crossover version that allowed present software to work with Vista.

I wish Microsoft would have released Vista to bigger software developers beforehand so they could have had time to develop compatible software from the start. Maybe they did but it sure doesn’t seem like it.

Still looking forward to the day I can say that Vista is if not excellent atleast useful.

By: Jerry Gropp

Jerry Gropp — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 17:33:29 +0000

Walt- This is the article I’ve been waiting for. I need something between my recently rebuilt DeskTop and my old 6 lb. LapTop.
From what you’ve just written, it looks like a new or refurbished MacBook is the affordable answer. Jerry Gropp Architect AIA

By: Justin Pinder

Justin Pinder — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 05:38:24 +0000

Thanks Walt -

Again, a very concise look at the currently available laptops, and I always admire your ability to look at it from the average consumer’s point of view.

One thing I think is worth adding is that laptops (and desktops, for that matter) don’t last forever. So, when considering a purchase, I always estimate a 3 year lifespan for a corporate notebook, and a 4 year lifespan for a personal notebook. In my experience, batteries tend to need to be replaced (or perform very poorly towards the end) within either of those periods, and generally its not surprising if hard drive needs replacement during those periods as well — but not as consistently at the batteries. I can’t really comment on the new SSD drives on the market.

When considering lifespan of components, I haven’t really found that any manufacturer who excels in this regard — most manufacturers (Apple included) tend to use common manufacturers for hard drives, memory, chipsets, etc., so there’s not real way to predict whether a laptop or subnotebook will stand the test of time.

Hopefully this will improve in the future, particularly where batteries are concerned, as there is an enormous interest in these technologies among those involved in the energy independence movements.

By: Tom Stephenson

Tom Stephenson — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 01:51:45 +0000

Very good guide for the average notebook purchaser. Obviously anyone with a need beyond the guide’s caveats (Extensive video editing for example) will need to do a bit more research. Walt and David Pogue, NYT, are two of the best tech reiewers available.