Back to School Laptop
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http://live.pirillo.com/ - A caller wonders whether he should get a Windows-based laptop for school, or a MacBook. He plans to do school work on it of course… but also some gaming.
25% of Microsoft MVPs have said that people should wait to use Vista until SP1 is released sometime early next year. In light of that, and my own opinions on Vista, I recommend one of two things. Either buy a Windows laptop with Vista preinstalled, wipe it, and load XP on it. Or… buy a MacBook. You can use Boot Camp to create a new partition on your Mac and install Windows. Then, you can either dual boot between OS X and Windows… or wipe out OS X altogether and run your MacBook under Windows entirely.
If you’re going to use this laptop as a gaming system, you cannot skimp on hardware. I fully believe that when it comes to hardware, you get what you pay for. I would definitely choose ATI over nVidia for a graphics card if you can. I’ve heard too many people having issues with nVidia drivers in Vista.
When it comes down to it, you need to look at your price range, and your desires. Do your research. But if you want my recommendation… go with the Mac.
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6 Comments
Neil Anderson
September 4th, 2007
at 9:48pm
Get the Mac. Once he starts school he’s not going to have time for games. :)
Neil Anderson
September 4th, 2007
at 9:48pm
Get the Mac. Once he starts school he’s not going to have time for games. :)
Chinookman
September 6th, 2007
at 8:39am
Although the suggestions read well I’ve been researching laptops for 5 days now trying to figure out what to buy for school and business. From what I’ve gathered its best to buy one that has XP Pro preloaded because then you know it will work. Many HP’s and Toshiba’s do not have any XP drivers for their new shiny Vista machines!
So caveat emptor os sumting like dat……
mark1davidson
September 6th, 2007
at 2:41pm
Either buy a Windows laptop with Vista preinstalled, wipe it, and load XP on it.
Find the drivers you need for XP first. (Presario buyers, I’m looking at you).
From recent personal experience, for Vista, plan on maxing out your RAM right from the start. 2GB for Vista Home Basic or 4GB for Vista Home Premium. Also, buy a high-speed SDHC card as a dedicated cache.
Or you can take Chris’ recommendation and buy a MacBook or MacBook Pro. Apple computers are more expensive but again, based on my experience and the experiences of those who I know, you generally get twice the life out of a Mac than you do from a PC.
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