New laptop - any suggestions?

[Osakadave]

So, I'm getting a new laptop for a belated birthday/welcome back to the US gift. 1st time in ages to get a new computer, and 1st ever for a laptop.

1) I expect to be moving around a fair bit in the next few years or so.
2) I don't really game.
3) I might watch some DVDs and download music with it.
4) I'm strongly thinging of switching to Linux.
5) I'd really like Japanese language support and an English/Japanese keyboard.
6) The budget is roughly US$500-1000.

Any advice or suggestions?

[Neo-Rio]

http://kakaku.com/item/K0000092865/

[xenomorph42]

You could try and go with a "Macbook" portable, very light, quiet. Awesome PC! Great for music and watching DvD's. NVIDIA graphics and support. Superb video quality.
Up to 10 hours of battery life. Switching from Japanese to English is a snap with the mac "Universal software" and you can order a Japanese key pad (optional) not that expensive and easy to change.
As far as changing to LINUX, I don't quite understand as to what would really be the reason, you really don't need to. They are NOT that all dissimilar.
A new Macbook 2.4GHz/250 GB will run around $999 which is actually a great buy.

[Osakadave]

You could try and go with a "Macbook" portable, very light, quiet. Awesome PC! Great for music and watching DvD's. NVIDIA graphics and support. Superb video quality.
Up to 10 hours of battery life. Switching from Japanese to English is a snap with the mac "Universal software" and you can order a Japanese key pad (optional) not that expensive and easy to change.
As far as changing to LINUX, I don't quite understand as to what would really be the reason, you really don't need to. They are NOT that all dissimilar.
A new Macbook 2.4GHz/250 GB will run around $999 which is actually a great buy.

Every Mac I've ever used has been nothing but trouble. No Macs.

[osopolar]

Every Mac I've ever used has been nothing but trouble. No Macs.

Well said. (sure to spark arguments among the fanboys/girls)

[McTojo]

I was in the same situation as you and finally decided on the Aspire One. The main reason is that it has 3 USB ports, less than 2kg, and has an SD slot. It has a very quiet motor that's faster than most micro laptops. You can't beat it for its size, weight, and usability.

[wuchan]

Every Mac I've ever used has been nothing but trouble. No Macs.

I'm not a fanboy but I have never had trouble with the newer ones. The old ones, pre OSX, were a nightmare.

[Uthark_Runa]

I just recently purchased a new laptop. Its a desktop replacement, which for me I wanted one that could do everything my desktop could do. Its big, but it has hands down the biggest bang for its buck. Just need to make sure you can get it shipped to your address. I had someone bring it with them so I really dont know if you can get mailed out here. This thing is awesome, and definitely the best laptop I have ever owned. Its just over your budget but worth the extra $200.

Asus G73

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+Laptop+with+Intel%26%23174%3B+Core%26%23153%3B+i7+Processor+-+Black/9741729.p?id=1218165344675&skuId=9741729

[Yokohammer]

Been using Macs ever since the Plus (actually had an Apple IIe before that), never had a serious problem. There are three of the things in the house at the moment (one desktop and two laptops), all running fine.

I also have an HP laptop (Core 2 Duo running XP) that's a pain in the ass.

Not really advice ... just had to balance out the anti-Mac comments ...

[xenomorph42]

Every Mac I've ever used has been nothing but trouble. No Macs.

Well, pardner, you just probably had bad luck with your mac, kinda like Steven Seagal trying to make a decent movie.

[SpikeX]

got a macbook pro and highly doubt that I'll ever look back. the base model macbook is pretty boss too. Even if you get to hankering for windows you can just bootcamp it.

Alternately you could get a nicer netbook. cheap, small, does most of what your asking for(dunno about language support though)

[Ganma]

Been using Macs ever since the Plus (actually had an Apple IIe before that), never had a serious problem. There are three of the things in the house at the moment (one desktop and two laptops), all running fine.
Not really advice ... just had to balance out the anti-Mac comments ...

Same goes for me. I couldn't care less about Windows vs Mac wars. All I can say is I've been using Macs for 10 years now and never had a major problem. All 3 machines still run fine.

[xenomorph42]

got a macbook pro and highly doubt that I'll ever look back. the base model macbook is pretty boss too. Even if you get to hankering for windows you can just bootcamp it.

Alternately you could get a nicer netbook. cheap, small, does most of what your asking for(dunno about language support though)

And that is what most people don't understand, if you bootcamp it there is no need to use Windows. Just switch and you drag and drop between both formats, like having two systems rolled up into one sweet package. The Language support is really great, I have to alternate between 4 languages and it works beautifully.

http://www.apple.com/macosx/compatibility/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HggcgYro7T8&feature=fvw
Give you kind of an idea.

[Osakadave]

Same goes for me. I couldn't care less about Windows vs Mac wars. All I can say is I've been using Macs for 10 years now and never had a major problem. All 3 machines still run fine.

I cut my teeth on the IIe. Then, in college, the Mac ate the literary magazine - several times. The other four I've used since were all crazy unstable - longest I ever went w/o a crash was maybe an hour. Also, I've found the OS was, for me, counter-intuitive.

[Yokohammer]

The other four I've used since were all crazy unstable - longest I ever went w/o a crash was maybe an hour.

Holy crap ... I'd suspect sabotage!
When was the last time you used a Mac?
OS X just doesn't crash. Period.
OK, I'll be honest: I think I've seen one or two freeze-ups in the past 5 years.

[FG Lurker]

Going to try with a bit of actual advice (helpful or not I don't know) rather than the Mac / PC bashing.

I've been an IBM ThinkPad user for quite a long time. They're now made by Lenovo but for the most part are still extremely good machines. The T410 and T510 series have the best notebook keyboards available bar none.

As for exactly which ThinkPad, that depends on your requirements. Everything is a trade off between function and weight. The more you will be carrying the machine (not in a car, actually carrying it) the lighter you want it to be. The more you use it (or if it is your only computer) the larger you want it to be. Unfortunately you can't have it both ways.

When I replace my 4 year old ThinkPad T60 it will almost certainly be with a T410-series or whatever replaces it next time around. I prefer the lighter weight over the larger display of the T510. There are a couple of T410 series machines in your price range and one T510. I would try to go with a i5 series processor, at least 2GB of memory, and whatever version of Windows 7 you prefer.

Windows 7 English has the Japanese IME and it is no problem to work with Japanese on a US keyboard. I much prefer the US keyboard actually, especially on a notebook. The extra (and basically useless) Japan-specific keys just make a notebook keyboard very cramped and your space bar turns into a space button. If you get Windows 7 Ultimate you can actually change the interface language to Japanese if you desire for some reason.

Regarding Linux support, generally the ThinkPads are quite well supported under Linux. I don't think I'd bother with the frustration of changing OSes unless you have a very specific reason to want to though. To each their own of course but I just want the computer to work with a minimum of fuss so I can get things done. Anything that complicates that is avoided.

Hope this helps -- and maybe it will improve the signal/noise ratio of the thread.

[CrankyBastard]

oops wrong thread!
Sorry:oops:

[Ganma]

I cut my teeth on the IIe. Then, in college, the Mac ate the literary magazine - several times. The other four I've used since were all crazy unstable - longest I ever went w/o a crash was maybe an hour. Also, I've found the OS was, for me, counter-intuitive.

Sounds like you haven't used Mac in at least 10 years. Mac OS was unstable but OSX is a completely different animal.

Originally Posted by Yokohammer
OS X just doesn't crash. Period.
OK, I'll be honest: I think I've seen one or two freeze-ups in the past 5 years.

This is my experience too. Even my 10 year old laptop doesn't freeze with OSX installed.

[Coligny]

Sounds like you haven't used Mac in at least 10 years. Mac OS was unstable but OSX is a completely different animal.

This is my experience too. Even my 10 year old laptop doesn't freeze with OSX installed.

Mac stability rating:
Systeme 6 uptime decided by your electric company reliability
OS 7.5.3 bulletproof (except the french version of the comtoolbox, had to get the fr only 7.5.3updt2)
OS 7.6.x little touchy
OS 8/8.1 arrrrrrhhhhh please make it stooooooop
OS 8.5/8.6 ok, back to business, touchy USB stuff.
OS 9 series still in business, better USB.

Mac OS X beta 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 10.6 If you crash you certainly have a hardware failure somewhere.

On a side note, I think you could actually kill someone with a mac plus keyboard.

The Mac Book air with ssd hard drive is a little marvel...

But the Lenovo and the Acer seems spot on. except maybe for the disastrous battery life...

[Mike Oxlong]

If you can wait for something with USB 3.0, that'd be a big plus. In the meantime, take a look at the Dell "Vosto" line. No annoying trial software to be deleted...

[FG Lurker]

If you can wait for something with USB 3.0, that'd be a big plus.

I hope you're not holding your breath waiting for USB 3 ports to replace USB 2 on all PCs.

In the meantime, take a look at the Dell "Vosto" line. No annoying trial software to be deleted...

I'm guessing you mean the Vostro line. There are some interesting notebooks in there but a lot of it is plastic-fantastic stuff that won't take much abuse.

[Mike Oxlong]

Thanks for the feedback. Didn't know about the delays, or about the durability of the Vostro machines. Most of what I "know" comes from conversations with more experienced users. Appreciate your input.

[Coligny]

Thanks for the feedback. Didn't know about the delays, or about the durability of the Vostro machines. Most of what I "know" comes from conversations with more experienced users. Appreciate your input.

ehm... it's just the intel version of the chip that is late to the party... my new (jan) mother board got USB 3 port... (gigabyte X58UD3R) and special powered USB port for hungry devices...

[FG Lurker]

ehm... it's just the intel version of the chip that is late to the party... my new (jan) mother board got USB 3 port... (gigabyte X58UD3R) and special powered USB port for hungry devices...

Yes, you can get desktop motherboards with one or two USB 3 ports now, or you can get PCI Express cards with USB 3 ports. This isn't the issue. USB 3 won't really take off until it is on *all* motherboards and in *all* notebooks. That won't happen until Intel puts USB 3 support into their chipsets, and that has been delayed yet again until 2012.

There is speculation that Intel is forcing these delays to give them time to perfect the optical interconnect that they are planning to push. Not having USB 3 as an established standard will make it a lot easier for them to Light Peak when they finally manage to get it out the door.

[persephone]

I had a Compaq laptop for about 2 years before it crashed and burned and died an ugly death. I ended up having to rebuild the OS and it was just a nightmare until I nuked it and installed Linux (Ubuntu.) But Linux has an extremely sleep learning curve, and many things you're used to having on Mac or Windows (a stable version of Adobe Flash, for example) require serious workarounds to use. But with Linux, there are virtually no viruses or spyware issues.

I bought two Netbooks (Acer and Asus), both are complete pieces of shit that required me to send the damn things back to the manufacturer multiple times just to keep them from randomly freezing, shutting off, or having the screen stay black even after turning on. If you're going to do a Netbook, go with HP or Sony. it's worth the higher price to get better quality and customer support.
However, with any Windows-based PC, you're going to have to deal with spyware, malware and viruses (most of which are coded for windows, since that's the majority of the market). NEVER use Norton's. Their antivirus is the reason my PC crashed and burned.

I recently bought a refurbished MacBook. It runs like a dream (I have OS X 10.4 at work; my home Mac is OS X 10.6, Snow Leopard) and I've yet to have any issues with it. Added bonus - no spyware, no viruses.
Also, if you purchase a refurbished Mac through the Apple store, you get a 1 year warrantee (the same as you would get with the purchase of a new machine.)

Stock changes daily, but check their refurbished site (currently there's a 250 GB MacBook for $759. That's about $250 less than you would pay for a brand new one):

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac

[Coligny]

There is speculation that Intel is forcing these delays to give them time to perfect the optical interconnect that they are planning to push. Not having USB 3 as an established standard will make it a lot easier for them to Light Peak when they finally manage to get it out the door.

That's not gonna get them anywhere... USB upward backward and sideways compatibility have always made things nearly transparent for the user. With now multistandard USB/eSata universal plugs, trying to push a new standard for the sake of it will certainly fail. In fact... Like USB nearly did, because before Apple started masively using it, the USB plug was totally useless even if it was included in all desktop and laptop for years. (not helped by win 95 and NT lack of compatibility...)

[FG Lurker]

That's not gonna get them anywhere... USB upward backward and sideways compatibility have always made things nearly transparent for the user. With now multistandard USB/eSata universal plugs, trying to push a new standard for the sake of it will certainly fail.

Light Peak is very cool technology. 10Gbps (could be 100Gbps), 100m cable length, supports multiple protocols, etc etc etc. You could have a single cable for everything attached to your computer, including multiple displays and all storage.

In fact... Like USB nearly did, because before Apple started masively using it, the USB plug was totally useless even if it was included in all desktop and laptop for years. (not helped by win 95 and NT lack of compatibility...)

USB support was in Win95 from OEM Service Release 2 (OSR2) and later. Win98 provided better support. USB is basically a shitty technology though, the only thing it really has going for it is that it's dirt cheap. Firewire was far better but was expensive to implement and that's what killed it in the end. Hopefully Light Peak will replace USB (and allow for backwards compatibility) so we can finally have a decent serial bus standard on computers.

[FG Lurker]

Interesting article on brand loyalty. Figured it was a fitting addition to this thread.

[Uthark_Runa]

I have been working in IT for 12 years, and I expect a lot out of my systems. Mac is solid without a doubt, some really nice features. I would say one of the biggest drawbacks though is price, and future upgrades. If you plan to go for a higher end system, you just cant compete with companies Like Asus, and Lenvo. For example Mac doesnt have anything even close to this laptop hardware-wise and even near its price. Look up the Sager NP8120 or Clevo X8100. This is the type of hardware I want, because I dont care what OS comes with it. Ill put what I want it.

If you dont know much about hardware then these things are not an issue for you. Especially if you prefer something smaller and portable the macbook series is superior to most windows based netbooks I have seen, excpet for a few of the newest atom processor models are comparable

Now if you care about having a system that is going to have hardware to keep pace for few years, and you can easily make upgrades then get yourself higher end Asus. Load it up with your preferred Linux. Which if you have the know how is superior to all.

[Coligny]

Now if you care about having a system that is going to have hardware to keep pace for few years, and you can easily make upgrades then get yourself higher end Asus. Load it up with your preferred Linux. Which if you have the know how is superior to all.

Wouldn't it be great if it was that simple....