My Aunt keeps on insisting to buy a Sony!

[ae3265]

Let her do what she wants as it doesn't seem to affect you in anyway whatsoever!

Unless you're going to end up being tech support for her...

Being the IT professional in the family, I'm usually the one tapped for computer support. Since I've gotten more folks moved on to Mac, I've had much fewer headaches. So much so that I'm getting nice and rusty on Windows and headed toward being able to honestly say, "I don't know about these new versions..."

Even when the OS X breaks, it easier to deal with than Windows...

 

[Consultant]

PC = no tech support for them.

And laugh (not to their face) when their computer has inexplicable slow downs typical of windows registry problems.

 

[GreatDrok]

PC = no tech support for them.

And laugh (not to their face) when their computer has inexplicable slow downs typical of windows registry problems.

I know this seems like a harsh way to view the problem of family members abusing your willingness to help but in the end it is for the best. All my family is now on Macs and they have few problems and I have very little support that I need to give them. Basically, I said any PCs purchased don't get support. At all.

The *ONLY* reason Windows survives is because people are willing to support it. A whole lot of people would be out of work if not for Windows breaking down and them being there to fix it. That is why you should never trust anyone who makes a living supporting computers to tell you what you should buy because they will be thinking about how often the machine will break and how they can make money from you fixing it.

 

[bartzilla]

Yesterday, my aunt and I went to Micro Center and Fry's to look for a laptop. I told her she should buy the Macbook at Micro Center because it's on sale and Macs will be worth it in the long run. I also told her they don't get viruses. She keeps on insisting on buying a 14in Sony Laptop with an Intel Core i3 because she says Sony has good products. Should I just give up and let her buy the Sony laptop?

"LET her buy" a Sony Laptop? Why does she need your permission to buy a laptop?

It's her money. If she prefers Sony to Apple or Dell or whoever-else that's up to her. Isn't it? Surely the best choice for her is the one she likes.

 

[racer1441]

I know this seems like a harsh way to view the problem of family members abusing your willingness to help but in the end it is for the best. All my family is now on Macs and they have few problems and I have very little support that I need to give them. Basically, I said any PCs purchased don't get support. At all.

The *ONLY* reason Windows survives is because people are willing to support it. A whole lot of people would be out of work if not for Windows breaking down and them being there to fix it. That is why you should never trust anyone who makes a living supporting computers to tell you what you should buy because they will be thinking about how often the machine will break and how they can make money from you fixing it.

100% correct. So tired of uneducated people doing stupid stuff, and then expecting tech smart folks to fix it.

Let the PC users suffer.

 

[alent1234]

i haven't used one for a while, but I think Sony's are the most evil computers out there. years ago when i used to do tech support i came across one and it was horrible.

from a support perspective my favorites are Dell/HP. not the best build quality but you can install Windows from any DVD and just download the drivers from the website. and no need to install all the OEM crapware.

Lenovo's are pretty good as well. never used toshiba or fujitsu.

Moneywise if you want cheap get a PC. anything over $1000 i'd seriously think about Apple just for the good support

My mom has a 6 year old Dell laptop she uses and she lives 2000 miles away. I made her install teamviewer so that when she needs help i can go into her laptop remotely and do whatever needs to be done

 

[glasscity]

i haven't used one for a while, but I think Sony's are the most evil computers out there. years ago when i used to do tech support i came across one and it was horrible.

from a support perspective my favorites are Dell/HP. not the best build quality but you can install Windows from any DVD and just download the drivers from the website. and no need to install all the OEM crapware.

Lenovo's are pretty good as well. never used toshiba or fujitsu.

Moneywise if you want cheap get a PC. anything over $1000 i'd seriously think about Apple just for the good support

My mom has a 6 year old Dell laptop she uses and she lives 2000 miles away. I made her install teamviewer so that when she needs help i can go into her laptop remotely and do whatever needs to be done

My mother bought a sony .. probably 2 or so years ago, and the thing works really well, especially for what she does with it (check e-mail, browse web for things she's looking for).

The complaint about it is the amount of crapware that came pre-installed, which really slowed down it's boot up times. Every piece of crapware you could imagine came pre-loaded on it, and all of it was unnecessary. aol video, norton 360 60 day trial, microsoft works 60 day trial, acrobat reader trial, some screen saver software, etc. etc. etc.

Dunno if that's with all sony's though. Maybe that's why you experienced an evil sony machine, because of the sheer amount of crapware pre-loaded onto it?

 

[alent1234]

with sony i couldn't figure out how to install a generic version of Windows. on every HP/Dell i've worked on you install Windows easily.

i've even installed XP on HP machines using my Dell OEM XP disk. and vice versa using HP's disks. install the drivers for anything not found and you're good to go.

 

[HugMnster]

I understand. Anyways, the Sony laptop does have better specs. It's just sooo thick. I'll just have to download AVG, CCleaner and a Registry cleaner.

I would also suggest malwarebytes from http://www.malwarebytes.org/

The free version works very well for removing those annoying fake antivirus malware/spyware stuff.

 

[notjustjay]

Thanks all for the tip on WSE, I'll install that on my netbook.

I agree with the sentiment of the past posters, though I think the message can be sent without being rude about it. I switched to the Mac back in 2003 and since then I only use a PC rarely at home (my netbook) and at work (which is managed by IT and thus I don't -- I'm not allowed to -- look after the nitty-gritty maintenance).

When people ask me questions about PC support I can honestly say "sorry, I've never done that" or "I don't know how to do that". Now if it's truly important then sure I can spend some time Googling for help. Like a few weeks ago when I lent someone my USB stick and when I got it back there was a VBscript file sitting on it. I Googled it, discovered it was a virus, and sent him instructions on how to clean his computer.

Sometimes after I say "sorry, I don't know" I get asked "well, then, how do you do it on your computer?" This is when I get to beat my own drum, subtly, by saying something like "Well, now that I use a Mac, I find that I never have that problem anymore." If you want any hope of this person trying a Mac in the future you want to avoid saying belittling things like, "Well, that's what you get for buying a PC, next time buy a Mac! hawhawhaw!"

(I had a friend who did exactly that all throughout high school. He had a Mac and was damn proud of it. I had a PC and he was quick to laugh at every shortcoming he could find, no matter how trivial (and even if his platform had the exact same shortcoming just disguised a little differently!) I can tell you that this attitude gave me absolutely zero motivation to switch.)

A lot of Mac people seem to treat their computer choice like a religion, trying to evangelize and convert others. Which can be fine as long as you do it in a way that's not annoying. I don't think you'd be offended if I invited you to come to church with me, once. But if I start insisting, or if I get visibly irritated with you because you chose to go shopping instead of joining me at church... yeah, it's the same thing. Don't go there.

 

[Winni]

Yesterday, my aunt and I went to Micro Center and Fry's to look for a laptop. I told her she should buy the Macbook at Micro Center because it's on sale and Macs will be worth it in the long run. I also told her they don't get viruses. She keeps on insisting on buying a 14in Sony Laptop with an Intel Core i3 because she says Sony has good products. Should I just give up and let her buy the Sony laptop?

Absolutely, because she's right. Sony sells good products, especially when compared to Apple.

Do yourself a favor and stop using the "Macs don't get viruses" non-argument. Maybe there hasn't yet surfaced a virus for Mac OS X, but there certainly has been and still is malware around for Macs. There have even been reports about Mac botnets on the Internet. I don't care if it's true, but I do know from professional experience that it is dangerously naive to believe that a platform can be safe from malicious software.

Windows 7 is a safe platform out of the box, as long as you don't start clicking on everything that moves. The biggest security issue always sits in front of the computer.

With an anti-virus software installed on it (recommendation: ESET NOD32), Windows is AT LEAST as safe as Mac OS X, probably even safer, because that anti-virus software provides an additional layer of protection that the Mac does not have. Furthermore, Windows Vista and Windows 7 already have a lot of protection mechanisms on board that older versions of Windows didn't have. It has become quite hard to deploy malicious software on Windows unless the user willingly installs it (read: clicks on everything that moves).

 

[rhett7660]

Yesterday, my aunt and I went to Micro Center and Fry's to look for a laptop. I told her she should buy the Macbook at Micro Center because it's on sale and Macs will be worth it in the long run. I also told her they don't get viruses. She keeps on insisting on buying a 14in Sony Laptop with an Intel Core i3 because she says Sony has good products. Should I just give up and let her buy the Sony laptop?

Yup. Let her do what she wants. It is her money!

 

[Consultant]

I know this seems like a harsh way to view the problem of family members abusing your willingness to help but in the end it is for the best. All my family is now on Macs and they have few problems and I have very little support that I need to give them. Basically, I said any PCs purchased don't get support. At all.

The *ONLY* reason Windows survives is because people are willing to support it. A whole lot of people would be out of work if not for Windows breaking down and them being there to fix it. That is why you should never trust anyone who makes a living supporting computers to tell you what you should buy because they will be thinking about how often the machine will break and how they can make money from you fixing it.

Exactly. Plus MS actually actively pay people to write FUD and misinformation.

 

[js81]

No you don't! Just install AVG. IMO all the registry cleaners and 'PC Optimisers' are crapware. My PC/Hackintosh running windows now with no antivirus etc will prove this.

^^ Seconded. I install four things on a new PC install - AVG Free, Adaware, Firefox, and OpenOffice/MS Office. Unless I have an idiot user, this works great - that's what's on my Acer and its been no problem at all.

But I'd still rather have a Mac...

 

[WildCowboy]

Thread closed by user request.