New laptop

My wife and I are looking at getting a new laptop. Since I haven't bought a computer if forever my brother, Chris, told me to check here. We want a good computer for documents, photo editing and printing, gaming, and internet. Any one have good ideas of what to get? I really don't want to speend a lot of money but will if I need to.

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Permalink Reply by medinamatt on August 6, 2009 at 6:32am: http://www.dell.com/us/en/home/notebooks/laptop-inspiron-13/pd.aspx...

i think that one would be a good one for what you want. but make sure to customize it with vista home premium.

or, you can get a refurb macbook http://store.apple.com/us/product/FB466?mco=Njg1Nzg4Nw; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Dan on August 7, 2009 at 5:23pm: Dell is good sturdy stuff. Nice choice. They always have great discounts too if you sign up to their site. Greg gave some great links too.
Dan; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Nathan on August 6, 2009 at 6:35am: All of your pricing i believe will come down too how important a bit of gaming is too you you can get all of the other things at a reasonable price i believe but gaming dependent on how much you really enjoy gaming will be what pushes the price up that little bit further and also how long you may plan too keep the laptop as future proofing will require a bit more cash im afraid; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Lee Harvey on August 7, 2009 at 1:58pm: It may cost you more however I reccomend getting a MacBook (talk to Chris about them) as it will do everything you want plus more and also the build quality is great and it is much better than any vista laptop on the market - if you feel you want a bigger spec and have more money you could get a mac pro instead of the normal white mac. If you want to game you can always use boot camp, they do say that Windows runs better on a mac. Why buy one laptop when you can have two built into one housing? As Chris is mac orientated you can ask him for help and it will be easier for him and you wont be mocked for using Vista by your brother! I would highly reccomend buying a mac and I guarentee you will not go back to pc! Ever (Unless you need to for work purposes); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Hector on August 7, 2009 at 6:14pm: They need a PC Laptop since one of the requirements is that is also be a gaming computer. That completely eliminates any Macbook. Next!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Mad Max on August 7, 2009 at 2:08pm: As others have suggested, a MacBook Pro (I highly recommend the aluminium unibody models over the White plastic one, they're a bit... janky, as Chris would say lol) would likely be the best choice for everything you've mentioned there. You get all the software you need right "out of the box" to just jump in and do everything you said, and they can double up as Windows machines should you feel masochistic enough to do such an appaling act upon it haha!

Depending on the software you're planning on using for the photo editing and what sort of games you're going to be playing, the entry level 13" MacBook Pro will do all you need and more. They're great for Photoshop still, but if you're doing really complicated massive files then the 15" model would be better (they also come with a better and dedicated graphics processor for the gaming).

In the end it depends on your budget. If you can afford a MacBook, I'd highly recommend one. As has been said, you get the best of both worlds in one machine, and Windows really does run better on a Mac (thanks to nicely optimised drivers).

Ask Chris if you can play around with one of his, assuming you're not on the other side of the country haha.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Matt DeFazio on August 7, 2009 at 2:11pm: I'm an Apple guy, so I'd vouch for the 13" MacBook Pro.

Read Mad Max's post.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ashryne on August 7, 2009 at 2:11pm: I agree with Lee, a Macbook is a very good buy. Not only can you run everything using a Macbook, but it has tremendous resale value should you want to switch to anything in the future. And if you are going to go Macbook, you should just get a Macbook Pro for like 100-200 more dollars. You get a lot more processor speed and can place more ram into the Macbook Pro for the small price difference. I have a Mac Pro and it is capable of running every windows/mac program I would ever need to use. If I want to use a windows only program or game, I simply boot into boot camp or start up VMWare to do that.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Johannes S. on August 7, 2009 at 2:15pm: A MacBook Pro looks like the best one for you. Good for occasional gaming, everyday document, photo, video editing and perfect for internet. If you want to game on it, make sure you get Windows for it. Windows will be more stable on that machine than on standard windows PCs due to all the hardware being compatible with each other and good drivers (hardware compatible with Windows). But for most games either Crossover (either Pro OR Games version) (if you have a bunch of windows games) or Mac Versions of games (provided you find them and are ready to shell out some MORE €€€/£££/$$$) will do fine.

The 13" model would most likely be enough, but a 15" model will last longer and it will definitely work better for games.

Or, if you need a hardcore gaming laptop, get an Alienware. There's not many to choose from and any of them would do nicely.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Nathanael on August 7, 2009 at 2:35pm: Yea man MacBook Pro sounds like what you want :P; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kat on August 7, 2009 at 2:57pm: Hey there, Ben. :)

I'm not jumping on the Mac bandwagon. Sorry, guys, can't do it. ;)

You mentioned gaming.. what types of games are they? That will make a big difference in what we recommend to you. My fiancee uses a laptop for his main machine, including playing World of Warcraft. The type/style/price will all come down to what kind of games you play... Sims? online games? WoW?

Kat
Lockergnome Community Manager
Assistant to Chris Pirillo; ▶ Reply to This