New small laptop required (having strange temptations!)

GSXRMovistar

GSXRMovistar

GSXRMovistar

Soldato
Joined
6 Nov 2002
Posts
9,880
Location
London UK
Firstly apologies if this is the wrong forum but I'm after both Windows and Mac info (hence the strange temptations, ie Apple!)

Okay I’ve been thinking about a new laptop, something very portable but still fairly powerful (which rules out the eee pc types, which I was considering). Now my requirements are:-

  • £600 (ish ;) ) budget
  • Small size, 13-14” screen max
  • Wifi, Bluetooth, microphone (and possibly webcam) built in
  • Half decent battery life
  • 2Ghz Core2Duo CPU minimum
  • Internal HSDPA/3G built in or slot for (PCIMCA/PCI express) a bonus but not a deal breaker (can live with a USB dongle, or use phone via Bluetooth)

Will be used for general web browsing, comms, office apps, movies, and photo management whilst on the mo (and maybe a little bit of editing). Not looking to play games on it.

Now several of the guys I work with are recommending a Macbook, I’ve always been tempted by these but I’m a Wintel guy (both home and job) and the idea of learning a whole new O/S is a little off putting, but now that the new Macs seem to happily run Vista I’m thinking if all else fails I can fall back on that.

Looking at the various laptops on sale I was actually quite surprised with the hardware spec of the MacBook and how it compares to other laptops, I was expecting a huge premium from apple and a lesser spec.

So questions I have are:-

  1. Considering my requirements, what other non Apple laptops would you recommend?
  2. Those that have MacBooks, do you use Vista on them much and if so how do you find it?
  3. Those that have MacBooks, do you integrate them with other Windows PCs at home (a few here for me including an MS Home Server)?
  4. Why shouldn’t I get a Mac Book (Serious reasons please)?

Thanks for the help
Andy
 
TheVoice said:
The Dell XPS M1330 is worth a look.
Click to expand...
I looked at those, for the extact same hardware spec as the Mac the deal came in at £647, I can get a the Mac for £630. The dells are nice, if not a little ugly.


leezer3 said:
The build quality is horrible compared to something decent from the Wintel side of things.
...
Have a look around the Thinkpad range, I'd always reccomend these over anything else. They're built like tanks, and they actually have usable mice.
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Really, from what I've seen so far they look a lot more solid then most Wintel laptops I've looked out, with the exception of the Thinkpads, which I agree are built like a tank (I have an old T23), but these are in a different price bracket.
 
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