Laptop Questions

Welcome to my world
Three kids and my space.
I have so many blocked viruses, I wounder what get through.

Lots!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I think it would be prudent to have an anti-virus program on your computer no matter what. Nowadays you can just download a free and very good one. Google "AVG Free" and you can download a free basic version. It works great, consumes less resources and best of all it's FREE!

As for laptops, I think you should go with Dell, I'm a former L1 CTS (Consumer Tech-Support) technician for a dell outsource site. We try our best to help the customer if we have the solution even if it's an out of scope issue. When I came to the US, my brother-in-law gave me a brand new laptop from HP, there were no issues except I wanted to get an OS CD, called tech-support and they wouldn't give me the OS CD. Passed me from place to place until I just got fed-up and hung-up. At Dell there was a time when we didn't send the OS CD as well, but if the customer asked for an OS CD in tech-support we will always oblige (except if he already received an OS CD already).

I don't work for them anymore, but if I will buy my own laptop, or Desktop, it would be a Dell (Or perhaps an Alienware if I can afford it... lol)

 

Dell is known for great customer service
But their computers suck $ for $

 

I just recently got my HP DV900 series 17", dual core AMD Turion64 processors, webcam, mic.....this thing is nice.....check out the different processors....depending on what you want to do determines what might be best for you. The AMD's have very fast FSB....but not much in the way of cache.....The Intel's have slower FSB......But have good cache. If you're a gamer.....go with the Intel's...........BUT WHATEVER YOU DO.....MAKE SURE YOU GET DUAL CORE PROCESSORS. Anything else will turn into a brick in the next year.

 

I agree! But for gaming purposes, both FSB (Front Side Bus) and Cache will be fully utilized for gaming purposes. A bigger cache means the faster you (or your computer) can react to a gaming situation.

For people who don't understand what Steve & Lo said, here's a layman's description.

FSB is used by both RAM (Memory) and the Video Card to transfer information from the CPU to and from the Northbridge (RAM and Video Card).

The Cache is the CPU's own memory where it stores information that will be processed by the CPU much faster than if it will come from the system Memory (RAM).

FSB in the meantime is good for huge amount of number crunching, mathematical formulas that would explain the meaning of life type of thing.

For gaming and being that it is a laptop, I would go for Intel not because it has a bigger amount of cache, but because of the more efficient way the CPU operates. It would take less energy for it to do a calculation compared to AMD. And for a laptop more efficient would be better.

Years before the tables were turned, the more efficient CPU's came from AMD but Intel made significant (and surprising) progress with the Intel Core 2 Duo. The newer AMD chip as well as Intel's Core 2 Duo has both 65 nm architecture, so it would be interesting to gauge the efficiency of both the new AMD chip and the Intel Core 2 Duo.

For me, practicality would be the best determining factor. The better price and more efficient the chip, the better it would be for me. Usually performance wise, CPU's with the same price range would perform almost the same, with differences barely noticeable by the average user. So if all else being equal, then being efficient and uses less energy would be the winning factor (specially for a laptop). And as for the time being, Intel is slightly more efficient than AMD if prices and performance are considered.

 

I have had a MacBook Pro for almost a year. It is fantastic. Would never go back to other brands.

 

Yep, I bet.

But there are programs built for Windows that simply wont work on a MAC, unless you have second party software that emulates windows or have a newer MAC with an INTEL chip and have dual OS loaded. And WHO wants all that trouble?

 

When it comes to PC vs. Mac, I'm biased. PC is way cheaper than Macs with comparable performance. Granted Macs are better in multimedia, I will still opt for a PC for the wide choices of programs and applications while much cheaper to acquire than a Mac.

Also video games for PC are everywhere while Macs have a very limited selection.

 

I've been in my current job(Network Administrator), for almost 7 years now, and I can tell you from experience, stay away from Dell and Gateway, and be apprehensive about HP laptops, they tend to be more for college students IMO. If you're looking for a quality laptop, go with a Lenovo/IBM, or a Toshiba. Toshiba even has some tablets that are very reliable and very cool to play with. Absolutely stay away from anything like an Acer, or any off brand like that, you will not be happy with it.

 

Oh, and shy away from Mac's too. More often than not, you will not find as many accessories/software for the mac as you would a pc. There are also some repair places that do not service macs, simply because they are such a small share of the market, so you may have a tough time finding someone to work on it, should you have problems.