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leman

macrumors Core
Oct 14, 2008
19,197
19,055
Probaby a Lenovo or a Samsung... with some flavour of Linux as my main OS.
 

pgiguere1

macrumors 68020
May 28, 2009
2,167
1,200
Montreal, Canada
Have you used the Mac's trackpad? I keep forgetting to use the mouse plugged into my Air because the trackpad is just so good.

Yes, Mac trackpads are awesome. I'm saying PC laptop trackpads generally suck, and using a PC desktop is better than using a PC laptop for that reason, amongst others.

I'd have less reasons to choose a Mac over a PC if I were to buy a desktop rather than a laptop, this is one of them that only applies to laptops.
 

kazmac

macrumors G4
Mar 24, 2010
10,086
8,627
Any place but here or there....
...

None for me.

I've been a desktop person for so long, if I do get a laptop it will be Mac as they are more comfortable for me.

I have tried other family members PC laptops an did not like the feel and response of the trackpad, the wrist rests, and more importantly, the OS. These were Acer, Dell etc. (do not know the exact models.)

All that said, Windows 7 is a huge leap forward. I use this at work on a Lenovo desktop, but it is not enough to make me switch my personal machine, especially since the physical response of the PC laptops I've used are not as comfortable for me (and trackpads are a pain in my particular case.)

I am fine with PCs for work, Macs for home/creativity/school.
 

kunai

macrumors regular
Jun 3, 2013
178
1
@OP Sony used to be amazing. A lot of inventions and styles were phenomenal. They were one of the first to adopt the "chiclet" keyboard style. They were pretty much macbooks but PCs. I went Sony until Macs were better spec'd. The Vaio Z is nice, but doesn't offer a 15" screen option.

And I will never stop hating Sony for it. Chiclet keyboards are one of the worst things ever to happen to notebooks. They're flat. Is the human finger flat? The old keyboards were curved and canted. Were human fingers curved?

I don't understand it; it's like we're making beautifully designed technology, but it just seems designed for robots, not humans, which is why I will always love the organic look of the 2006-2008 MacBook Pro and why I will always love the down-to-work boxy on the outside, ergonomic on the inside pre-2010 ThinkPads.

They were designed for humans, not for art museums.
 

Peter Mac G

macrumors newbie
Oct 5, 2013
10
0
I'm done with Windows laptops. I've been using Windows forever. It's an OS that has to be designed to run on anything and consequentially never runs on anything just right. My first laptop was a Toshiba Satellite. The next was an IBM Thinkpad T43. That was the best. Then a non IBM Lenovo T410 that sucked: slow, buggy, can't keep any wifi connection. Takes forever to boot....etc. I'm done with Lenovo.

The best feature was the fingerprint scanner that allowed you to power up and log in with one finger swipe. Surprisingly that worked really well.

I've never had an Apple laptop so I'm excited to be getting a rMBP.

Still, if there was no Apple...the Dell Xp15 sounds intriguing as it seems to be decked out with all the latest goodies. The surface sounds intriguing also. I would definitely read as many reviews as I could.
 

dankev

macrumors newbie
Sep 25, 2013
20
0
I'm on the fence right now between a 13" rMBP, Lenovo Yoga 2, or Samsung ativ book 9 plus. The Samsung is probably off the list because it currently only comes with 4gb ram. I'm very tempted by the Yoga, especially for the price. Bestbuy "has" it for $1200 with an i7, 8gb ram, and a 256gb ssd. The only problem is that it's not in stock, and I don't know when to expect it. I'm also a little concerned about battery life, so hopefully a good review will come out soon.

I'm fairly ambivalent about OS. I've used both, but I probably slightly prefer Windows, even though I'm not wild about Win8.

Also, I don't understand the problems people have with Windows laptops. The laptops my wife and I use are almost 4 and 5 year old Dells. One is an XPS, the other a Studio. They cost more than Inspirons, but quite a bit less than comparably spec'd Macs at the time. They are both working perfectly. I've had plenty of other mid-low range Win laptops over the years, and the worst was a low end Toshiba, but it still lasted 2.5 years before it started have issues.
 

kunai

macrumors regular
Jun 3, 2013
178
1
I'm done with Windows laptops. I've been using Windows forever. It's an OS that has to be designed to run on anything and consequentially never runs on anything just right. My first laptop was a Toshiba Satellite. The next was an IBM Thinkpad T43. That was the best. Then a non IBM Lenovo T410 that sucked: slow, buggy, can't keep any wifi connection. Takes forever to boot....etc. I'm done with Lenovo.

The best feature was the fingerprint scanner that allowed you to power up and log in with one finger swipe. Surprisingly that worked really well.

I've never had an Apple laptop so I'm excited to be getting a rMBP.

Still, if there was no Apple...the Dell Xp15 sounds intriguing as it seems to be decked out with all the latest goodies. The surface sounds intriguing also. I would definitely read as many reviews as I could.

Yeah, the Lenovo ThinkPads are way, way poorer in quality than the IBM ones. I'm still pissed at IBM for selling their PC business; imagine what they would have accomplished in 2013.
 

laurihoefs

macrumors 6502a
Mar 1, 2013
792
23
Yeah, the Lenovo ThinkPads are way, way poorer in quality than the IBM ones. I'm still pissed at IBM for selling their PC business; imagine what they would have accomplished in 2013.

Interesting. I've used many of the models in the T-series between T21 and T400, and have not seen this change in quality. Can you give any hints, what should I specifically be looking for to notice this worse quality?

The T30 and T40 series had a lot of quality issues, flickering screens, "disappearing" network cards, overheating, shutting down if moved, etc. As far as I know, current Lenovo quality is far better than the last IBM ThinkPads.

I remember when the IBM branding that was still present in T60 was dropped when T61 came out. So many people were telling me, how the T61 plastic was worse, fitting was poor and how the whole construction was less solid than T60. Which was strange and funny, because both T60 and T61 were built by Lenovo, and were almost identical in construction :rolleyes:
 

kunai

macrumors regular
Jun 3, 2013
178
1
Interesting. I've used many of the models in the T-series between T21 and T400, and have not seen this change in quality. Can you give any hints, what should I specifically be looking for to notice this worse quality?

The T30 and T40 series had a lot of quality issues, flickering screens, "disappearing" network cards, overheating, shutting down if moved, etc. As far as I know, current Lenovo quality is far better than the last IBM ThinkPads.

I remember when the IBM branding that was still present in T60 was dropped when T61 came out. So many people were telling me, how the T61 plastic was worse, fitting was poor and how the whole construction was less solid than T60. Which was strange and funny, because both T60 and T61 were built by Lenovo, and were almost identical in construction :rolleyes:

Actually, up until the T400, things were pretty much okay, but after that, we saw the nightmarish T410 and T420, which had poor construction, build, and engineering.
 

brdeveloper

macrumors 68030
Apr 21, 2010
2,629
313
Brasil
Probably a think pad. Next best keyboard

Me too. They're heavier than Macbooks but you can spill coffee on it without causing any harm - except to the table, paper or anything below the laptop. Sadly, Thinkpads are more expensive than Macs where I live. I'd also install a Linux distro instead of Windows.
 

laurihoefs

macrumors 6502a
Mar 1, 2013
792
23
Actually, up until the T400, things were pretty much okay, but after that, we saw the nightmarish T410 and T420, which had poor construction, build, and engineering.

Oh, then I'm glad I jumped ship after T400 :)

Hmm, I was thinking of getting a T4x0 or T5x0 to use as a cheap secondary CentOS or Fedora laptop, but I might have to reconsider. No wonder they go fairly cheap on second hand market. Thanks for the info!
 
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kunai

macrumors regular
Jun 3, 2013
178
1
Oh, then I'm glad I jumped ship after T400 :)

Hmm, I was thinking of getting a T4x0 or T5x0 to use as a cheap secondary CentOS or Fedora laptop, but I might have to reconsider. No wonder they go fairly cheap on second hand market. Thanks for the info!

Go to outlet.lenovo.com and see if you can snag a refurbished pre-T400 ThinkPad. Check every week, they have some great deals on older refurbished PCs, which are generally brand-new overstocks.
 

Rick-ITA

macrumors regular
Sep 12, 2013
187
0
I need a 13" or 14" inch ultrabook, light and with good battery life.

Dell XPS-13 probably
 

Harrycooke

macrumors 6502
Oct 10, 2012
417
438
London
Image

Image

As a gamer Razer Blade 14 inch would be my next computer but the 14 inch display sucks. Prolly will end up waiting for another refresh and hopefully the display is better otherwise ill get another macbook and bootcamp.

I thought that was a concept for a BlackBook Pro Gamer Edition for a second. Why hasn't Apple sued them? Change the colour and it's pretty much identical.
 

laurihoefs

macrumors 6502a
Mar 1, 2013
792
23
Go to outlet.lenovo.com and see if you can snag a refurbished pre-T400 ThinkPad. Check every week, they have some great deals on older refurbished PCs, which are generally brand-new overstocks.

Unfortunately they only ship to US, no refurbs available where I live (same with Apple and pretty much any other vendor). Thanks for the tip anyway :)
 

sjinsjca

macrumors 68020
Oct 30, 2008
2,238
555
...which other branded laptop would you buy and why?

Design, spec, price?

Would love to know :)

Mine would be one of those slide Sony Vaio's


No more Vaios for me. Terrible support, stuff that's different just for the sake of being different, fancy design not backed by good construction.

No more Dells, either. The build quality of my last was terrible.

I might give Lenovo another chance but would consider it carefully in view of the decline in build quality between my last two. The most recent one I saw was made of crappy glossy plastic like a cheap-ass netbook, too. Horror! http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/17/the-inside-story-of-lenovo-thinkpad-redesign/ And then there's this: http://www.afr.com/p/technology/spy_agencies_ban_lenovo_pcs_on_security_HVgcKTHp4bIA4ulCPqC7SL


So I'd probably look first at ASUS for hardware and then rock Linux Mint on it.
 

st0k3d

macrumors member
Oct 14, 2013
83
1
Not sure what is been implied however, there are many people who don't use a computer and I would be one if I had not been introduced to Macs.

You are a big enough computer enthusiast to post on a computing forum, yet if a particular brand of computer didn't exist you wouldn't ever have used a computer?
 

kunai

macrumors regular
Jun 3, 2013
178
1
I thought that was a concept for a BlackBook Pro Gamer Edition for a second. Why hasn't Apple sued them? Change the colour and it's pretty much identical.

You can't patent design philosophies. Besides, the litigation against Samsung was that the combination of hardware and TouchWiz was designed to mislead consumers, and it did. The icons were rips with silver borders around them, and the homescreen looked identical. Product marketing shots were surprisingly similar to Apple's.

Razer isn't misleading anybody. They're making it pretty clear that they share design philosophy with Apple, but there's absolutely no way anybody will mistake the Blade for a MacBook Pro, even if it was colored silver.
 
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