Plan B Forum

I need a new laptop and I'm considering making the switch to Mac. My biggest concern is that I work at home a lot, and the office is a PC environment. I'd like to hear what you all have learned and whether you bw e any tips or important considerations that may help in making my decision. I don't need/ want a tablet - I need something for significant writing so a keyboard is key. I also need good storage, speed, and the ability to work with excel on occasion.

What do each of you use at home?

If you're mostly doing word processing and excel, there's no need to pay extra money for a Mac.

I have a Mac desktop and a Windows laptop.

I use the Mac for creative things, like recording music & photo editing. It's much less complicated than Windows, although Windows 7 is much less bloated than Vista was.

I like the Mac best because I like the interface and it's more fun to use than Windows.

But if cost is more important to you than anything else, there's no reason to pay the extra money for a Mac.

Buying a Windows machine is like buying a Corolla instead of paying more for a Lexus. People buy the Lexus because they can, not because they need to own one.

Oh I want to play, too. Especially with photography.

Interesting analogy, BTW. I'm definitely not a Corolla kind of girl but I've never thought about that in the context of my computing choices.

The one problem I've had with running the office suite on the Mac side of things is that being the pricks they are MS keeps their Mac versions of their software somewhat less than fully compatible with their PC versions. Though you can get around this by partitioning your hard drive and Running Windows Via bootcamp (or some other programs) on your Mac. It gives you the best of both worlds as long as you aren't looking for gaming on your PC partition.

Of course I am out of date on this software now so they could have fixed this with the latest office for Mac.

It comes down to what you're looking for out of your computer.

Personally I have my last 3 Macs all running at home my next one will be a Mac as well (now that you can run NX on it native) it's interesting that a computer that is 10+ years old can barely get on the internet anymore.

Another consideration is screen size. In order to get a size larger than 13 inches on a new Mac laptop you have to pay at least $1799.00.

There are far more cheaper Windows machines with larger screens.

Macs are lovely; I'm about to get a 13" Air myself. I've heard only good things about the keyboard, even though it's very streamlined.

I've been using documents from Word and WordPerfect from Windoze to Macs for years (always Windoze at the workplace) - never had any significant trouble.

You'll love the capabilities of the Mac for photography fun.

But it's very true; you can pay half as much for a Windoze laptop and get 17" of screen. If you decide to go that route, Toshiba has some nice ones.

I am looking at refurbished machines, but that's my typical route with electronics. I find you get significant savings with as-new quality equipment.

Screen size is something to think about for sure. I have a Windows netbook, but don't like it for much more than surfing and email, so this one would be for all significant work, plus photography.

I have a Toshiba, a Satellite C655-S5212. Other than the 17" screen and the number pad, it's nothing special...Intel Core i3 processor, I think 4GB of RAM, ~450GB harddrive, 2MB cache. It's a pretty basic machine, cost me about $525. (This was in the summer, prices might be better now.) I mentioned a netbook, but the guy at Best Buy advised against it for anything beyond limited web surfing & email. (He predicted netbooks would be gone within 3 years in favor of tablets.)

My sister has a Mac laptop. It's a decent machine. She paid about $2000 for it, that was on sale (IIRC, Black Friday of 2010).

My brother has, IIRC, an Acer. It's a pretty high-end machine, with things like an Intel quad-core processor (something like 3+GHz per core), a 4TB harddrive, 8 (maybe 12) gigabytes of RAM, optimised for streaming videos & online gaming. He paid a bit under $1700 including shipping...for a civilian (he got a discount for being active-duty military), it would have been $1749. Compared to my sister's Mac, it is somewhere between twice and three times as powerful, as well as having a larger screen.

Apple has a cult following that would have made Jim Jones envious. My sister is a devoted cultist.

Wait...did I just call a computer with half a terrabyte of harddrive storage, 4 gigabytes of RAM, HD screen with LED backlight, and a dual-core processor basic. Geez, that was mainframe territory 15 years ago!

(My friend, whose first computer was a TRS-80, pointed out a couple weeks ago that not too long ago, terrabytes were reserved for sci-fi.)

HOw much are you looking to lug it around? If you're planning to do it alot you might want a smaller screen. a bigger screen just means more weight and bulk. You can also get peripheral monitors if you want a larger one to use at home. If you're not going to be moving it around at all get an iMac far cheaper and a bigger screen and small footprint to boot.

Here you go <=;





Disclaimer: Poster claims no responsibility for hypersensitivity incurred while taking this post too seriously.

Guin, when you work from home, do you have remote access to your firm's network? If so, I'd definitely talk to your IT guys first. BTW, my firm provided me with a laptop and a docking station in lieu of a desktop PC, so I just use the same one at work and at home. It works out great, since all I have to carry is the laptop -- all work documents are either scanned or in word processing and available by remote access, so no lugging papers around. Plus, I didn't have to pay for it and it gets serviced and upgraded (and replaced if needed) by the firm's IT department.

I have the same setup as Sue, work laptop with a docking station (full size screen and keyboard). It works out really well for home and travel.


I read a review in Popular Mechanics a few months back that was a comparison between the Mac and PC. The PC came out the winner in the end, primarilly because of the price, but won many categories outright. The Mac won a few catgories, but it wasn't seen as worth the extra cost. The "cool/status" factor was the only reason they saw as to why anyone would buy one over a PC.

Thanks for the feedback all -- my IT guys are Mac fans and their opinion pushed me over the edge. It arrives next week some time!

While I use my personal computer for work, I really don't want to comingle the two. I rarely use work email for personal business, and try to limit my personal time on the work 'net to lunch time. The idea of carrying a work computer home every night isn't my thing -- and getting a lap top around here is like pulling teeth. If you're name isn't on the door, it can be painful.

Thanks for the feedback all -- my IT guys are Mac fans and their opinion pushed me over the edge. It arrives next week some time!