I'm looking for a new laptop. Mine is about 5 years old, and it's started to show serious signs of aging.- lol
Every single person I know at my college has a Macbook Pro/Air and sware by their Macs.

I'm considering it, but I just don't know that I'm convinced. I don't really like the Mac software, I love my iphone but I LOVE Windows software for computers. I also don't like various things about Mac computers. I think a new laptop is a pretty big purchase so I was wondering what all of you recommend for laptops- Since every single one of us probably uses them.

What are you using? What do you suggest?
If you are using Mac's, what do you love about your Mac?

Just want advice from many angles before I make a decision!

My niece has a Mac, and is always coming to me for advice, and I find it much easier working with the Windows programmes!
I have Windows 7 on my PC and have just helped a friend unlock their laptop because their password corrupted. I rewrote a password key and repair / rescue discs for him. I don't know if you can do that sort of thing with Mac's?

Personally, I would stay with Windows - There are so many free programmes out there you can download to avoid paying lots of money for, as MS allows support of non-label products.

windows too here. You can get now what they call ultrabooks which has windows. They are very slim and good perfomance (and look like imac). Again all depends on what you are using it for . Apparently images handling are better on imac (is it ??) and all other stuff like excel , tables etc are better on windows- i know this from my own experience. And last tip - choose the one that is good for your cat to sleep on !!! Haha

My brother is a big Apple fan... has Apple everything! But he hates his main PC now and will go back to a Windows one from the Mac as he just hates it!!! Know it's not the same as a Laptop but the same thing may apply.

I love my iPad and iPhone but i have a HP laptop which i love as much!!!

_________________
Lollo

If you're used to and like windows then stick with windows. You'll save yourself a heck of a lot of money too.

There is a lot more software available for windows than there is macs (though more and more software developers are starting to develop their products for macs too- so it's not as bad as it used to be)

I got a mac through work because I was after a high spec machine and couldn't get a comparable windows one. However, I ran a process called bootcamp so I could have windows as well as OSX because most of my work is windows based. Most of the time I end up using windows on it because I can't do what I need to do on OSX. I also get frustrated with it when I can't do something simple... for example the other day I wanted to take a screenshot. Simple enough on windows. I had to google it on the mac because I didn't know the odd key combination they use for it. I felt like such an idiot haha.

Apple products do have superior build quality over typical windows machines but they are VERY expensive. I also don't like Apple's way of refusing to upgrade software on older machines. I know there becomes a point where computers can't use the latest software but it always seems to happen very quickly in Apple's world.
Also, their newer laptops (not sure if it's all of them but the one I got was like it) are completely sealed units. So if the battery dies, you're stuffed. If you want to upgrade the RAM, you're stuffed. If you want to replace the HDD... you're stuffed. Again, seems to be Apple trying to dictate what you can and can't do with your own devices.

Oh and I'm not sure if you've used Windows 8 or not yet... but it might be a little different than you're used to. Personally, I'm getting on fine with it- though I don't use any of the full screen apps and don't touch the windows store. I used everything in desktop mode and set my start screen up with apps that launch in desktop mode. I quite regularly have several windows open at a time and work well like that. I don't like having everything full screen and only able to use one thing at a time (unless on a tablet) so I just had to make a few changes in that respect. However, I haven't used a third party app to restore the start button as I have the start screen set up just fine so it's not an issue for me. :)

_________________
Katrina

Owned by:

When my PC died, my husband talked me into getting a Mac because he has a Mac laptop. It's been over a year and I still don't like the Mac. I think it's more complicated than a PC. More steps to move or copy files. I'm not finding a single advantage to using a Mac and they are a lot more expensive. It doesn't help that I use two PCs at work. I still can't get over the fact there is a "control" key on the Mac that I have no idea what it's used for. You use the "command" key for everything, it seems. I certainly wish I'd gotten a PC instead of a Mac. You'll be buying different software for the Mac, so your Windows software is moot unless you can figure out how to run Windows on your Mac (which you can do by partitioning, etc.). Save yourself a lot of heartache and money and stick with the PC.

I have both a Windows PC and a MacBook. I like them for different reasons and to do different things.
The MacBook is incredibly stable, never freezes up, works well with most of Microsoft Office and my research program for graduate school. It's light, incredibly portable, and has a pretty great battery life.
My PC is a powerhouse that my husband helped me build, so I'm a little biased. Fabulous sound and video cards, dual monitors, etc. But, it can be unstable from time to time. Things will freeze up and I have lost documents in the past until I changed it to continuous back up. It's less intuitive, but we've made it that way with customizations. My old Dell laptop was a clunker, so I'm biased there, too. But, even with upgrades, it still locked up.

I think that the Mac vs. PC debate will rage forever. I had an iPhone and changed to an SIII because I liked having more access to different programs. Apple can be very elitist. That being said, there is a lot of open source software for use on a Mac and a Windows based machine for that very reason. My suggestion would be to go somewhere and play with a Mac for a bit, talk to an Apple "Genius" (keeping in mind that they're still salesmen) about the pros and cons--if you have an Apple store nearby. Or go by a Tiger Direct (Old CompUSA) depending on where you are and talk to them about what you need your laptop for and which product can better meet your needs. If you are doing any academic work, note that some older programs won't work with Mac OS (Scoring programs from before 2000, etc), but for the most part, they can do the same things.

_________________

I have a lot of experience with both. Currently I use windows exclusively at work (although through the years I've used other operating systems as well), and at home I have both a pc and a mac.

If you don't like the mac operating system, then you should probably get a pc. Productivity is a big-deal, so there really isn't much point in using something that you aren't productive on, or dislike for other reasons. Don't forget though that if what you are used to is windows 7, windows 8 is a lot different than 7 (and most pc people hate it), so you're going to have to re-learn either way, unless you buy one with windows 7, which will greatly limit your options, and then you have to worry about obsolescence in the coming years.

Objectively, the mac is a much better machine imo.

Mac Pros:
- much better built in terms of hardware (any kind of objective measuring generally shows macs require far fewer repairs than pcs in general)
- mac os is much much more reliable than windows (less crashes, hangs, mac doesn't have to be rebooted constantly from memory leaks etc).
- mac does come with some neat software, like iphoto, imovie, and garageband, and time machine takes all the pain out of backing up your machine (especially when coupled with a time capsule).
- when it comes time to upgrade to a better mac, you wouldn't believe how simple it is to transfer all your apps, data, media etc from your old to your new mac. Windows is horrible by comparison.
- thanks to "bootcamp" and "parallels", if you choose a mac, it can also run as a pc, and run pretty much all your pc software on it.
- mac support is much much better than hp or dell (and hp and dell are generally better than the other pc hardware vendors). Apple's phone support is really good, as are the apple stores that are popping up everywhere. With hp or dell, your phone calls go directly to India.
- the new macbooks have some pretty neat new technologies, like thunderbolt, usb3, and solid state drives.

PC Pros:
- often considerably cheaper price / performance.
- most pc laptops have some useful things that many of the mac laptops don't (like dvd drives, ethernet ports, and various other monitor ports like hdmi)

_________________
The little monsters 3

I feel like Macs are a lot more money for something that will be outdated in about the same amount of time. Not worth it, IMO. I like my iPad mini but for a computer...Windows all the way.

I like my iphone and my daughter has an iPad and we have had no problems with either!! We also have PC and my sister comes over often with her Mac, I honestly Love her laptop!! It's much better than mine and if you are on it a lot(like I am) I would go with mac!! I am actually getting my daughter a laptop for Christmas and I wouldn't consider any other!! I also agree windows 8 is different!! Good luck with your search, basically all it boils down to is a personal preference!!

_________________

I have an ASUS laptop and it's been very good. In fact I've had two. Both were great. I broke my screen recently because my thumbs are too strong (no really, I cracked my phone this way too!) and got it replaced rather than buy a new laptop. Mine is about 3-4 years old and it's still running pretty well.

You'll never have to defragment a Mac Hard Drive. All the software I use on my Mac is super intuitive and really easy to use. You'll never have to become a network engineer to get connected to a wireless network. You won't have to clean the registry. The average Mac has a 5-6 year shelf life after being released where as most PC's if your lucky will only last three years at best. The build quality is much better and because of the aluminum body they are very durable if a little heavy.

With a Mac you will not have to spend hours downloading updates every tuesday when a new vulnerability is found like Microsoft windows does. Windows 8 is a complete nightmare to use. I still love my old PC, but I've decided to move away from Microsoft completely in favour of Unix (which Mac OS is built on). If you can afford it and you work with Graphics a lot then the retina screen just can't be beat.

I use my Mac for Editing photos, producing music and it has never let me down over the year that I've had it.

I also wanted to question the previous comment about not being able to change the battery and RAM etc because they are completely sealed units - that just isn't the case. I upgraded my Mac myself, notched up the RAM to 8GB (by the way don't buy RAM directly from Apple go to Kingston for that). It is true that some of the older machines can't load the most recent software - and for very good reason - they don't want your computer to stall or crash under load. Besides you will continue to be able to download the software for the 5 years approx you would own the machine.