Laptop advice needed

[Joanne]

My laptop has died and I need a new one. I'm considering getting a Macbook but have heard mixed reports. Does anyone out there have a Mac and would you recommend it for web browsing, email and general office applications?

[Ferdy]

Jo - I have a Macbook having always had normal Windows based laptops prior. I've found the Macbook is great as a family computer but alot of the widely used software applications/downloads/streaming are not Mac OS compliant whereas a normal Windows laptop is more widely accepting of such stuff. I love the fact Macs dont get virus's and therefore it seems to be quicker than I've been used to in the past and the functions are very easy to use compared to a normal PC.

Overall I'd say if your usage is for the home get a Mac, if you need it for work get a Windows based laptop.

You could probably get a more techie answer here http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/

[Ferdy]

oh, it is worth noting that the cost of the basic Macbook has come down recently - you can pick one up from PC World for less than £700! http://www.pcworld.co.uk/

[theleanguru]

Horses for courses, if all you truly want is to do emails and surf a bit then either will do (and a given Mac will generally do it quicker and more "sexily"). However the poster is correct when he says the world is not 100% Mac compatible and BBC iPlayer for example doesn't run on a Mac (or on Linux for that matter).

But most stuff will be fine and Macs are uber reliable.

Go to PC world and try before you buy, Macs are more intuitive but not if you've spent 25 years on a PC.

[AdvanderRest]

I love Macs, but not for work as some specific applications are only on Windows and getting a Windows emulator for the Mac kind of defeats the object. (Though I do have an iPhone

When my previous cheaper laptop died after 18 months, I headed to PC World for the best Sony I could buy (£950) and it has been super...

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[alexboyd]

I met the wonderful world of Mac some time ago and decry Windows after using both systems for years.

The facts:

1. The Mac OS (operating system - Windows on Microsoft powered computers) was built completely from scratch a few years ago and is therefore much more robust than Windows, which comprises of blisters built on carbuncles stuck onto warts i.e. all the old junk is integral to their OS and this is why it continually crashes.
2. All 'PCs' pay a premium to have Microsoft software on them e.g. Outlook costs £72. If you get a Mac, you can get Office for Mac (£79) so you can talk to all the PCs easily.
3. There are considerably less Mac users out there and because of some simple reasons it doesn't crash nearly so often. If a programme crashes (which is v rare) you turn off the programme, not the whole computer.
4. Macs are completely compliant with browsers (they come with a better one than Internet Explorer) so you can watch iPlayer and other sites with mobile content - don't know what your preferences are....
5. No you won't be able to run all the software programmes that are PC compatible but there are some funky ones in the Mac world.
6. It is way more user friendly.

(1-5 are objective, 6 a teensy bit subjective!)

If you want to just have a netbook with email, browsing and office style programmes like word processing and spreadsheets, then this year I took an old laptop and removed anything Microsoft, replacing it with a completely free OS (Linux) and installed free, open source programmes which means I can take it anywhere and also do all of the above.

You might have guessed that I'm a bit of a geek so do PM me if there's more you might want to know.

[Calvin]

I bought a Mac and was so annoyed with it I took it back after less than a week. Looks great but for me there were too many applications that were not compatible. That's my two penneth!

[rosszero]

I'm with alexboyd on this, with using a computer on the run, you're most likely to just want to check email and write documents, surf the net etc. Netbooks are pretty popular at the moment, really small and are good price wise. You can pick up one for well under £300, with Windows and install Open Office on it etc.