Posted on 04/08/2007 6:28:05 AM PDT by johniegrad
My wife wants a new laptop computer for her birthday which is April 13th. She intends to use it primarily for work purposes and for continuing her education online. She works as a nursing director for surgery and anesthesia in a 400 bed medical center and has responsibilties for seven to eight figure budgets, scheduling for about 150 RNs, facilities planning, management-union negotiations, and performance evaluations among other things.
From an education standpoing, she is working on a business degree to augment her RN and may be considering a master's type program unless I can talk her out of it.
I am asking for Freeper assistance in selecting the manufacturer, hardware, OS, and whatever add-ons people might think useful. I would also like to take into account reliability, customer support, and ease of use. While I have owned and used computers since 1983, I don't consider myself technically savvy and do not want her to have to acquire additional training to use the thing.
I haven't shopped computers in about seven or eight years and time constraints due to my own schedule make this task seem formidable. Therefore, I am planting my lazy ass in this chair and asking for your assistance.
The old bat will be 45 this year but she has been sturdy and reliable. She probably deserves something nice. I had considered buying her a new ironing board but she wanted a 'puter so here I am. I hope she doesn't use it for online dating.
There is a Mac OS native version of Office, so you don't need to run Windows for that at all. For common tasks, most of the popular programs either exit on Mac or have a Mac equivalent; the main exceptions are 3-D games and some in-house or specialty applications.
Advantages to OS X: No viruses, no spyware. Let's not get into the flame war on why that is the case, but it is. It has a user interface I strongly prefer to Windows, but that's a question of personal preference and what you're used to. If you're considering a Mac, my most important piece of advice is to put your hands on one -- an Apple store is best, because they have the most knowledgeable customer service, but Fry's, Microcenter and CompUSA also have Mac departments if there's not an Apple store nearby.
Disavantage: Price, first and foremost. The most basic Macbook starts at $1099. That's a good price compared to a PC laptop with comparable performance and features,, but Apple doesn't have a model comparable to the most basic PC laptops.
It's a different OS with a different interface, so it does take a little getting used to; but most Windows users I've known adjusted fairly quickly. It helps if you have a Mac user around whom you can ask a quick "how do I ..." because while I think the Mac's interface is more intuitive, you won't find the same commands in the same place on the same menus as you're used to.
If you need to run Windows for other reasons, there are two main options: Boot Camp is free software from Apple that allows you to boot a Mac into Windows. If you want to switch between Mac OS and Windows, you have to reboot. There's an $80 program called Parallels, which is what I use, that runs Windows in a virtual machine as a Mac OS window, so you can switch back and forth at will.
Both Boot Camp and Parallels require a licensed copy of Windows, and Apple doesn't support Windows -- you'll have to call Microsoft directly for that. If you're going to be using Windows all or most of the time, buying a Mac doesn't make much sense. But in my experience, most folks who get a Mac can do everything they need in Mac OS -- the Windows workarounds are for the occasional tricky exception. Since I installed Parallels, the only thing I"ve needed it for is checking how Web pages look in Explorer and Firefox on Windows, because there are still differences in how browsers render HTML.
That's long-winded enough; feel free to follow up, of course, if you have other questions (and I'm sure the other Macheads have chimed in while I was composing this).
That's what I bought it for...
I’ve had a base dell laptop for three years without problems
The downside is the cost of the machine and there are some programs that don’t run on MAC but I think they are few and far between.
The Apple stores do offer classes too and it is fun store to shop in.
Microsoft Office comes in a Mac version, as does Quicken and many of the major programs in use today.
The downsides, in my view, to using Macs is that they can be more expensive than PC’s, and that some software may not be available for them. However, there is software available to operate Windows on a Mac if you have to run a specific Windows only program.
The upsides to Macs are that they have a superior OS, superior hardware, better customer support, so therefore much better reliability all around. They also are not particularly subject to either viruses, popups or spybots, which is a major issue. Anyway, to me those upsides easily outweighed the downsides, for us it felt like a nobrainer to spend a few extra dollars and switch from PC’s to Macs.
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?mco=A4791B5D&nclm=MacBook
A Macbook!
Whatever laptop you buy, ensure that you buy it with plenty of memory (insufficient RAM is one of the main reasons computers run slower than they can) and you buy it with a hard drive that’s big enough for what you want to do as laptop hard drives can be difficult to swap depending on the model.
IMO, most PC have become commodity items and price is the major concern.
However, I’m no fan of HP/compaq at all have had to use them at work for the last three years and having my own compaq have its AC jack break from an overheated battery. $200 fix for a $7 part.
I recently bought a mac laptop. Actually 2, one for me and a graduation gift for a daughter.
Macs get pricey very quickly. Instead of getting new cutting edge technology, which on a Mac I couldn’t afford, I found some brand new in the box older models that still outperform PCs. So I got Mac performance at PC prices.
I use mine for personal use, conducting training, and online Master’s classes.
But for what you describe, almost any recently made computer would work and it would be hard for you to go wrong.
No, a Kaypro.
My wife and I both wrote masters theses on it. I miss WordStar...
Sure do love my MacBook Pro. Do yourself a favor and visit an Apple Store sometime, futz around with a few models and see what you think.
Try an HP dv9000.
Configure your own system on Costco.
We recently got our 12th unit.
They are delivered, by FedEx, in about 5 work days, directly from the plant in Shanghai.
High quality, value pricing.
I have one of those - in storage.
Will your wife be using the laptop at work? If so, has the hospital gone wireless? Will the hospital be providing "scheduling" software? If much of the use will be "hospital" use I suggest she consult with the IT department for recommendation and address any compatibility issues.
BTW...Is she going MSN, MHA or MSN?
Ditto! Also make certain that it has as many USB 2.0 ports as possible. I found out with my last purchase that two USB ports are not enough.
I have a Thinkpad, Win XP and I love it.
No, it’s a Kaypro. I’ve owned both.
One has a USB connected mouse - it still left clicks on its own (the touch pad is still connected), just like the one the just the touch pad. Maybe the touchpads are too sensitive?
OK, Team Apple:
A couple of questions remain but, be patient with me, some of them may be dumb.
(1) Since everything she runs at work is Windows based, will she be able to do a spreadsheet, word processing, or some other menial task on a MacBook and save it to a disk which she can use at work? Or, Will this require the use of the Windows version of the product on the MacBook? Also, if it requires the use of Window Office and I am forced to purchase the Vista version, will that be compatible with either XP or with Windows 98? The compatibility issue is the most difficult one for me. I want her to be able to save something to a floppy and feed it directly into her computer at work without missing a beat.
(2) Since we spend about 6 months at one residence and the other 6 months at another residence, I have issues with doubling up on everything she may need. Ultimately, I would like to do away with the work station PCs that we have and own only two laptops that we can take back and forth. Someone mentioned something about “external docking stations” which make me wonder whether this along with one printer at each house would solve the problem of doubling up on everything.
(3) I don’t have an Apple Store in my town and it is about 150 miles to the nearest one as far as I can tell from looking at their website. Would I be able to toy around with one at a BestBuy? How important is it to get a little hands on experience with one before purchasing? Is it really that difficult to go from PC to Mac that I need to worry about it?
(4)It sounds as though there is general agreement about the following matters:
RAM - 2 gigabytes
USB ports - 4
Battery - 8 cell
Processor - Core2Duo T5500 to T7200 by Intel
Warranty - 2 year - buy it!!
(5) There were some things I was unsure of including what “wireless connection” meant coming right out of the box, size of hard drive, the utility of a wireless mouse, and what to do if I can only purchase the machine with Vista (although it was clear no one thought Home Edition was the way to go).
OK, Team Toshiba:
Satellite sounds like a less complicated purchase to me and I don’t have to concern myself with compatibility issues. From reviewing the note above, is there anything else I should be thinking about with Toshiba?
Everyone:
Thanks for all your help. I have learned a lot already.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.