Young Writers Society

Help me out here! My parents agreed to get me a laptop for my seventeenth birthday. I'm to use this laptop for the rest of junior year, college applications, senior year, and then all of college. So between now and February, I need to research computers.

I grew up on Windows. I have, however, heard absolute horror stories about Vista, so I'm thinking that maybe my new laptop should have a different operating system. Macs are apparently very good, though the last time I used one was in fifth grade, so I'm not familiar with the system at all. I thought about just getting Windows XP anyway, but it'll be obsolete by my junior year of college, so that's no good.

So, for those of you who know about things like this, should I get a Mac? If you have a Mac, are you pleased with it? Is it easy to use? I know...not very much about computers. Also, if you have suggestions regarding specific laptops, I'd love to hear them.

*Edit: Also, we currently have a wireless network at my house. Does having a Mac/certain laptop mean I have to get different equipment or will it work just the same?

Thanks!
-Colleen

Almost all laptops (and perhaps all) have built in wireless network capabilities nowadays.

I think most problems people are having with Vista are with upgraded computers. I upgraded my desktop to Vista a month ago, and I hate it. There are so many problems & bugs.

But, I bought a Gateway laptop that has Vista back in May, and I'm very happy with it. I think the difference between the laptop and my desktop is that the laptop was designed with Vista in mind, while the desktop was designed with XP in mind. In any case, it didn't cost much, and I haven't had any problems with it.

Macs are your best option though. They are very easy to set up, and are very user friendly. Plus, they get great battery power which is good for class. However, they also cost a lot more money; I bought my laptop for $600 and a Mac with similar specs would've cost me about $1,100. Some will say that extra $500 is worth it, but all I do with my laptop is word processing & internet and paying an extra $500 didn't seem worthwhile to me. Yet, others will say differently.

hehe, have you read through my way-old mac vs. pc thread? topic16521.html

Though I'm still rather confused and have not decided.


I suppose you could get Windows XP and then just upgrade when something better than Vista comes out, but then I wonder if you'd run into the same thing as Nate said: the older computer wouldn't be as compatible with the newer platform... :/ramble:

I think it just depends what you're more comfortable with, and what works for you. I have a PC (if you're looking at Dells for PC, talk to me, I know what model NOT to get. Mine. *stabs*), my mom has a mac. I used her mac for the last few months of school last year, and I absolutely hated it. It confused the heck out of me, I had no right click (forget that ctrl stuff you had to it, it just wasn't worth it for me), the screen clarity I hated (it's so fuzzy! Between mine and it, it's like the difference between old TVs and a new HD TV)... yeah. If you go PC and vista, make sure it was designed for Vista, not just for XP with Vista slapped on. That's my biggest problem -- that, and the darn graphics card sucks so bad it freezes my computer at least twice a day, even if I only have firefox up, or MS word. Which means more yelling at support, but that's another story. /rant.

I like Macs better, but I've lived with Macs for all my life, so whatever. There was a time that I did operate Windows XP (I won a PC in a writing contest, lol) but when it started to die, I bought a Mac. And it took a little while to get used to it, but I did, and I love it.

Ooh, thanks, it's helpful to know that Vista is better on a computer it was designed for...I know that a lot of people have had difficulties with printers. A friend of mine got Vista and now her printer only prints in blue. I could work around that, though.

I definitely see the benefits of getting a Mac, but they are very expensive, and my parents are...likely not willing to pay that much money for one. If they're willing to pay for it, I might consider a Mac.

Mesh, I actually am looking at Dells. What horrid model do you have?

Thanks again, everyone!

Inspirion series. 1501. It's built for XP, not Vista. Thus, all of my problems (though never had one with my printer!) are related to that. And it's only one little problem on mine that causes the nastiness. Graphics card. Can't handle Vista, so I get all sorts of funny things that happen when the card overloads. Have to shut down the brute force way. So.. yeah. Don't get that one.

Actually, this reminds me! I think the first patch or something is out for Vista. Must get that.

*hugs Macs*

I am slightly biased, because I'm not quite certain how to turn a PC on, but in my opinion they're the best if you're a student. They're fast, user friendly, and most of the creative 'extras' come with the computer.

Additionally- if you drop them down a flight of stairs, they don't break. XD Repeated droppings might result in the computer breaking, but if you're clumsy...