[nmulax]

My parents are looking for a new computer, and asked for my help. I don't know much aside from Macs, so I figure I'd see what you guys had to say.

It'll be for home use, so they were thinking a desktop/all-in-one. Sure a laptop would allow them to work on it while sitting on the couch or at the kitchen island, but it's not required. They use their computer for the net, email, working in MS Office, iTunes, and occasionally sharing photos (not high-res pro stuff, just your basic P&S shots).


My dad has mentioned the Dell XPS I believe. Anyone have this?

I have a PowerMac G5 at work, and a iMac at home, so obviously I'm partial to Apple. I'm trying to push them towards an iMac or even a Mac Mini, but they're hesitant about adjusting to a new OS. Especially since my dad has a Dell at work, and I don't think the program my mom uses for work is compatible with a Mac.
I think they want to spend about $1500 for it.

What's the best computer for this criteria?

[TofuTurkey]

I like Macs. For Windows applications, there's MS Office for Macs, and Parallels can be used too. Since you are familiar with Macs, that would make the transition easier. A refurbished Mac mini can be bought and tried, if they still don't like it, return it.

[Hawkeye]

I would stay away from Dell. If you are going to get a PC stick with Hewllett Packard IMO.

Personally, as long as money is no issue, I would say Mac for sure. Tell your dad he can install XP or Vista on it with NO hassle and it works amazingly. I have XP on my MacBook Pro (for mathematical programming and such) and it works flawlessly for me.

The only reason I have a PC at all is because they are easy to build, I can get it exactly to my spec for a lot cheaper than any manufacturer (plus I hate all those little BS programs they throw on with the OS to start with). /rant

p.s. I would definitely stay away from Vista and try and get XP if you do go the PC route.

[Hawkeye]

Originally Posted by TofuTurkey

I like Macs. For Windows applications, there's MS Office for Macs, and Parallels can be used too. Since you are familiar with Macs, that would make the transition easier. A refurbished Mac mini can be bought and tried, if they still don't like it, return it.

refurbished stuff is non-returnable. He would have to get a new one and then pay a (20%?) restocking fee for returning it. And it would have to be returned within 2 weeks.

[TofuTurkey]

Originally Posted by Hawkeye

p.s. I would definitely stay away from Vista and try and get XP if you do go the PC route.

+1

Originally Posted by Hawkeye

refurbished stuff is non-returnable. He would have to get a new one and then pay a (20%?) restocking fee for returning it. And it would have to be returned within 2 weeks.

Thanks for the correction

[ATG]

Originally Posted by Hawkeye

I would stay away from Dell.

Why?

[nmulax]

Originally Posted by Hawkeye

I would stay away from Dell. If you are going to get a PC stick with Hewllett Packard IMO.

Personally, as long as money is no issue, I would say Mac for sure. Tell your dad he can install XP or Vista on it with NO hassle and it works amazingly. I have XP on my MacBook Pro (for mathematical programming and such) and it works flawlessly for me.

The only reason I have a PC at all is because they are easy to build, I can get it exactly to my spec for a lot cheaper than any manufacturer (plus I hate all those little BS programs they throw on with the OS to start with). /rant

p.s. I would definitely stay away from Vista and try and get XP if you do go the PC route.

Yeah, my biggest fear is the horror stories I've heard about Vista.
And with me living on the other side of the country, it's not like I can stop over after work and help them with any problems they have.

My mom's a flight attendant, and I'll double check, but I don't think the program they use for scheduling works with Macs. Worst case, I suppose they could keep their old computer for her to do her scheduling on.

Originally Posted by ATG

Why?

+1

[AndrewAZ]

Originally Posted by nmulax

My parents are looking for a new computer, and asked for my help. I don't know much aside from Macs, so I figure I'd see what you guys had to say.

It'll be for home use, so they were thinking a desktop/all-in-one. Sure a laptop would allow them to work on it while sitting on the couch or at the kitchen island, but it's not required. They use their computer for the net, email, working in MS Office, iTunes, and occasionally sharing photos (not high-res pro stuff, just your basic P&S shots).


My dad has mentioned the Dell XPS I believe. Anyone have this?

I have a PowerMac G5 at work, and a iMac at home, so obviously I'm partial to Apple. I'm trying to push them towards an iMac or even a Mac Mini, but they're hesitant about adjusting to a new OS. Especially since my dad has a Dell at work, and I don't think the program my mom uses for work is compatible with a Mac.
I think they want to spend about $1500 for it.

What's the best computer for this criteria?

Get them a mac and make sure both you and your parents have leopard..

Reason being is leopard has desktop sharing (and its free of course). And via Ichat if your not on the home network you can take complete control of the computer like you where sitting right on the computer.. So if your parents need help like mine frequently do they just call me up and I hop on my powerbook and desktop share with them at home.



Mac mini is an excellent choice thats what I got my parents to replace their dell. Granted their mac mini is now 3-4 years old it still works perfectly and is on 24/7 365 and has never had anything at all go wrong and only needs to restart for updates.

[AndrewAZ]

Originally Posted by Hawkeye

refurbished stuff is non-returnable. He would have to get a new one and then pay a (20%?) restocking fee for returning it. And it would have to be returned within 2 weeks.

10% within 14 days.. Its really not that bad.

[AndrewAZ]

Originally Posted by Hawkeye

I would stay away from Dell. If you are going to get a PC stick with Hewllett Packard IMO.

Personally, as long as money is no issue, I would say Mac for sure. Tell your dad he can install XP or Vista on it with NO hassle and it works amazingly. I have XP on my MacBook Pro (for mathematical programming and such) and it works flawlessly for me.

The only reason I have a PC at all is because they are easy to build, I can get it exactly to my spec for a lot cheaper than any manufacturer (plus I hate all those little BS programs they throw on with the OS to start with). /rant

p.s. I would definitely stay away from Vista and try and get XP if you do go the PC route.

Both are crap.. If you want a PC build it yourself.. Both companies use the cheapest parts they can.. I had a dell that had the hard drive fail 5 times because they kept replacing it with refurbish crap no name HD brands. Plus the build quality and design layout on the computer is horrible.

If you have the OS then building a PC is much cheaper, the only advantage dell or HP has over the homebuilt PC is the costs of the OS since both buy in bulk from MS. But even then you can still build a killer PC for $1k including the OS that will end up costing you almost 2k at dell or HP.

[Kitz]

get the Sony vaio..very stylish look..

[TofuTurkey]

Originally Posted by nmulax

My mom's a flight attendant, and I'll double check, but I don't think the program they use for scheduling works with Macs.

Parallels runs virtual OSes, so you can install Windows, have it run within Leopard, and that Windows can run the scheduling software. I think there is a slight performance hit, and Windows running in that manner may not have access to all the hardware, but that is probably not that big a problem. I think a memory-maxed Mac Mini should be able to run Parallels comfortably...

[AndrewAZ]

Originally Posted by Kitz

get the Sony vaio..very stylish look..

Thats about it.. Vaios are undoubtably the biggest POS made, I have yet to meet anyone with a Vaio that lasts more than 6 months without an issue. And you can read the rating on the Vaio also overall they score the lowest in terms of reliability.

[its ray den]

there's nothing particularly wrong with dell for what it is. they're inexpensive computers for people who simply want a computer to do work, internet, email, etc. i would always suggest a dell to any normal user who's looking for a decent PC for a great price.

keep your eye on www.gotapex.com for great deals on dells.

[E82tt6]

I hate Vista, it's terrible, both 64 and 32 bit.

Unless you're a big gamer, get a mac. If you want a gaming PC (like the XPS), and can't build it yourself, I reccomend ibuypower.

Mac..... I think totally we own.... 7 in our house....... and 1 alienware in which my bro uses to play games with.... Everything is simple and updates are actually quite fast....

Apple for life!

[darkcloud]

Originally Posted by AndrewAZ

Thats about it.. Vaios are undoubtably the biggest POS made, I have yet to meet anyone with a Vaio that lasts more than 6 months without an issue. And you can read the rating on the Vaio also overall they score the lowest in terms of reliability.

Yeah, I hate my fiance's vaio. She got it with Vista as well. Thing is the slowest performing $2k hunk of junk ever. I told her not to waste her money and just buy a similar spec'd Dell for wayyy less $$$ but she didn't want to cuz I already had a Dell and she didn't want to have her laptop look just like mine.

Now I always catch her stealing mine. Then she makes up some lame ass excuse why she isn't using her own laptop. I think she has major buyers remorse but won't admit it.

Oh well. Next laptop will def. be a Mac.

[AwesomeM3]

I love Dells...I just bought a Dell Vostro 200, Intel Pentium, Windows XP, 160GB hard drive, 2GB RAM, 20" widescreen flat panel, dual drives (DVD+/-RW, CD burner), 19-in-1 media card reader... for $509 including delivery.

[FirstClass]

Originally Posted by AndrewAZ

Both are crap.. If you want a PC build it yourself.. Both companies use the cheapest parts they can.. I had a dell that had the hard drive fail 5 times because they kept replacing it with refurbish crap no name HD brands. Plus the build quality and design layout on the computer is horrible.

If you have the OS then building a PC is much cheaper, the only advantage dell or HP has over the homebuilt PC is the costs of the OS since both buy in bulk from MS. But even then you can still build a killer PC for $1k including the OS that will end up costing you almost 2k at dell or HP.

Regular Dells/HPs are both shit I agree, but the XPS series is very nice. XPS is what I'd probably buy if I knew little about computers and couldn't build a PC myself.

[AndrewAZ]

Originally Posted by FirstClass

Regular Dells/HPs are both shit I agree, but the XPS series is very nice. XPS is what I'd probably buy if I knew little about computers and couldn't build a PC myself.

Anytime I have anyone with a Dell XPS or an Aline ware computer talk crap about macs I just laugh at them. Since 1 you realize they know nothing about computer and bought an over priced pice of crap and 2 they know nothing about computer.

Do your mom and dad really need to waste so much on an XPS? Even if you dont go mac most folks dont need anything more than a 2 ghz core 2 duo with 2 gigs of ram and a 128mb graphics card, and that even over kill for 95% of the people that use computers. No sense in paying for something you are not going to use. Why buy a their "high" performance line for basic tasks its like buying a Ferrari for going to the the store and thats it but this Ferrari no one will ever see.


But on a side note the new macbook pros are very hard to ignore, especially with the new graphics card update for the base model, along with a bigger HD.

[CRZ410S]

Looks like the thread is dead. However, I believe Dell is always the best bang for the buck. There are always promotins and your machine does not come loaded down with tons of usesless software.

[isabayo]

Originally Posted by AndrewAZ

Anytime I have anyone with a Dell XPS or an Aline ware computer talk crap about macs I just laugh at them. Since 1 you realize they know nothing about computer and bought an over priced pice of crap and 2 they know nothing about computer.

Do your mom and dad really need to waste so much on an XPS? Even if you dont go mac most folks dont need anything more than a 2 ghz core 2 duo with 2 gigs of ram and a 128mb graphics card, and that even over kill for 95% of the people that use computers. No sense in paying for something you are not going to use. Why buy a their "high" performance line for basic tasks its like buying a Ferrari for going to the the store and thats it but this Ferrari no one will ever see.


But on a side note the new macbook pros are very hard to ignore, especially with the new graphics card update for the base model, along with a bigger HD.

I would argue that MACs are overpriced, you get much more in terms of hardware from a XPS. I would also argue that most Mac owners are just like PC owners, they don't know anything about their computers.

With that said, I am not a Mac hater. I'm actually looking into purchasing a Macbook Pro. Years ago Macs only appealed to people who were very uncomfortable with computers. Macs are now used by novice computer users to IT experts. I work for a very large IT consulting firm working in the IT security field. Out of the 10 people I work with, 7 or so have Macbooks or Macbook Pros. Macs have become especially popular since OS X, when they built the OS on a modified Linux kernal. Many linux programs can be compiled to run on OS X.

I believe most people buy Macs because their design and marketing is awesome. Macs are currently the stylish and trendy thing to buy. Many people say they prefer OS X to Vista when they have not spent more than a few minutes using Vista, but I do think OS X is a better overall OS than Vista. Some people say Macs are more secure, while that may be true right now, it is mainly because the number of Mac users is relative low compared to PC.

So, why do I want to buy a Macbook Pro?
1. I'll be honest and say I'm a victim of Apple's marketing, I think Macs are cool.
2. I could probably get OS X Leopard to install onto my PC but I want the backlit keyboard, and LED backlit screen.
3. I want to learn the OS. I consider myself to be an expert on Windows OSes from NT to Server 2003, but I am no nearly as proficient in OS X.
4. Why not? Macs used to have compatibility issues with Windows but much of that has been ironed out with the use of x86 based processors and Microsoft developing software for the Mac. Vmware Fusion would is a must for me. Actually, there is one thing holding me back...the price!