Which Notebook To Get?

[Fazzl]

Its about time for my dad to get an apple laptop. Right now he has a dell pc but doesn't really know how to use it except for the internet and word.

He is a health professional and this will be his primary computer. No need for multimedia on it.

He needs to do some billing/financing/payrol so we might need to use bootcamp or vmware

What would you guys say? MB Air sounds like a good choice to me. I will need to teach him from the ground up.

Also, would this be a good time to buy it?

 

[neiltc13]

If he is used to Windows and uses Windows-only software regularly it seems stupid to buy a Mac.

 

[Fazzl]

He is not used to windows because he doesn't know how to use it. He barely uses the internet.

Mac will be better in everything for him except quickbook because everyone says it sucks for mac. so he can run that in parallel no problem.

 

[BileGhost]

A MB air is a waste of money. Take the money and use it to buy a MB pro, and you will get a lot more out of it.

 

[neiltc13]

A MB air is a waste of money. Take the money and use it to buy a MB pro, and you will get a lot more out of it.

And this is what we call swapping bad advice for equally bad advice.

If you absolutely must buy a Mac, go with the cheapest MacBook. It is easily powerful enough to do what you want to do.

 

[BileGhost]

But noone wants to get the cheapest. If you have the money, why not get the best you can afford? Buying a mbair is definatly not the most bang for buck.

 

[scotty96LSC]

Does it have to be a laptop?
iMac would work well here too.

 

[neiltc13]

But noone wants to get the cheapest. If you have the money, why not get the best you can afford? Buying a mbair is definatly not the most bang for buck.

I agree. But what's the point of buying a MacBook Pro when you have no use for the graphics chip, express card slot and firewire 800 port which are driving up the price?

 

[weg]

Its about time for my dad to get an apple laptop.

Why?
edit: You even stated that he has to use Quickbook, which, according to your own words, works better on Windows, so why waste money on a Mac and the Parallells software plus an additional Windows license, just so that he can do the same thing that he has so far accomplished on his Dell?

 

[rubberball]

I agree an iMac might be best, but Quickbooks is a PAIN even on Windoze...

Though I appreciate your enthusiasm getting your pops set up on a Mac, I wonder if it's worth it.

Might just get him something he's used to... If you feel like you must go Mac you'd have to go MacBook Pro in order to run Quickbooks legitimately.

 

[Fazzl]

Why?
edit: You even stated that he has to use Quickbook, which, according to your own words, works better on Windows, so why waste money on a Mac and the Parallells software plus an additional Windows license, just so that he can do the same thing that he has so far accomplished on his Dell?

because windows pc's are horrible and he keeps having problems with it and its just a pain. osx is just such a good experience.

 

[neiltc13]

because windows pc's are horrible and he keeps having problems with it and its just a pain. osx is just such a good experience.

If he's having problems with the computer have you considered teaching him how to use it rather than simply jumping to the conclusion that it is the operating system's fault?

 

[effer]

Don't follow the advice to buy a MBP. They use nVidia graphic chips that are prone to failure. In a few weeks they may have this problem fixed (new MBP models).

The MB has a nasty screen. If you haven't compared one in person to a MBP or MBA, I suggest you check out its poor vertical viewing angle.

The MBA has major issues with overheating and is not designed as a primary computing device. I think it's out of the question, especially if you want to run vmware/parallels.

So to sum it up, I'd wait for the new MBP.

 

[jroller]

I would not recommend an Air, either, nor can I recommend a PC, personally. Just spent 5 hours on my mothers, fighting issues most of the time (no joke) just to do a simple task. Very frustrating...

If you want a laptop and your budget is sufficient enough to consider the Air, I, too, recommend the MBPro. I think it is more machine than he needs, personally, but if price is not a major consideration, I would choose the Pro every time over either the Air or the MB.

My .02...