I need a tech makeover

I don't rush into much of anything and I would never rush into a new laptop purchase. I'm thrifty and I do love my Toshiba Tablet soooo much.

This is super helpful info. I tend to steer clear of ASUS but have become my dad loves a his ASUS netbook so I've been considering their machines a bit more. I'm definitely going to consider this one, it sounds just about perfect.

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings ( http://www.flamingohouse.net/ )

I just came across this post today, so apologies if you've already solved this particular tech problem. I know just where you are as I have a laptop I love and do not want to give it up, though I know I may have to someday.

I do reviews for a tech magazine and I've used Win7 and like it a lot. It ran just find on my netbook, which tells me that it's a far sight better than Vista in many ways. I would say don't be afraid to get a Win 7 laptop, because you're not going to have the same issues as with Vista.

Long battery life often comes with a price of weight. But I just reviewed a computer that lasted almost 10 hours on our tests and is 4 pounds, which is pretty awesome. It also costs just $800. the drawback is that it' a CULV system, which means it's powerful enough to handle low to medium power applications and tasks but will be slow for higher level tasks. If you don't encode video or do heavy-duty image editing or want to play MMORPGs, you're good.

The system is called the ASUS UL30 ( http://www.laptopmag.com/review/laptops/asus-ul30a... ). It's 13.3 inches, but there are other sizes in the UL line, including 15.6, I believe.

Honestly, I could go on about laptops all day if you let me! But I'll leave it there since you seem to have gotten a lot of good advice upthread.

K. T. Bradford

Laptop Blog ( http://blog.laptopmag.com/ ) | Twitter ( http://twitter.com/chictech )

Girl + Tech = eee!

Ah, my apologies.

I definitely agree in buying a computer that is appropriate for a person based on their actual needs. No point in saving a few bucks if you're only going to end up wanting to toss it under a gravel truck.

I definitely recommend maxing out, to the degree that it's economically efficient to do so, on the RAM. With current computers, I wouldn't even consider going with anything below 2 Gigs, and would rather go with 4 or more. I have no idea of prices in that part of the world, but here, 4 Gigs is about the maximum before it gets outrageously expensive on a per RAM basis.

Laurie in Sri Lanka

Chilli & Chocolate ( http://food.laurieashton.com ) | A Canadian in King Parakramabahu's Court ( http://srilanka.laurieashton.com ) | LMAshton on Twitter ( http://twitter.com/lmashton )

was not actually that you should buy a Mac (although I'm very happy with mine)--it was that you might want to adopt a "penny-wise/pound-foolish" attitude when looking at laptops, given how much time you spend on them.

I'm not entirely a normal user, either. I used to write technical reviews and articles for a local geek gadget/computers/etc magazine that I was also the assistant editor for. And I've been using computers since the early 1980s - my oldest brother has been programming computers since the punch card days in the early 1970s. I'm more of a mini-geek. :D

Laurie in Sri Lanka

Chilli & Chocolate ( http://food.laurieashton.com ) | A Canadian in King Parakramabahu's Court ( http://srilanka.laurieashton.com ) | LMAshton on Twitter ( http://twitter.com/lmashton )

That analogy only works if you believe the Mac is the luxury car. Many people, including myself, do not.

I've used both and cursed both fairly equally. I don't see the difference and I don't believe the hype.

And yes, it's possible to hate using a Mac. I know people who've used them and hate them.

The best thing for you to do, Denise, if you can, is try a Mac out for yourself with the understanding that there's a learning curve involved in getting to know any operating system and its quirks and foibles. Depending on how techie you are, a day or two might be enough.

Laurie in Sri Lanka

Chilli & Chocolate ( http://food.laurieashton.com ) | A Canadian in King Parakramabahu's Court ( http://srilanka.laurieashton.com ) | LMAshton on Twitter ( http://twitter.com/lmashton )

I've seen plenty of people who have had problems with their Macs (and as I said in the original post, Mac users sure do spend a lot of time at the Genius bar, heh.)

I've seen a bunch of people struggling with their Snow Leopard upgrades, which isn't much of a surprise to me since it's pretty rare for an OS upgrade to go smoothly, ya know?

I'm not tied to a lot of software. In fact almost no software. I'm lucky that way but it's one of the things I talked to my oldest daughter about when she was thinking about buying a Mac this summer. (She did buy the Mac and almost immediately complained about software she couldn't get! lol)

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings ( http://www.flamingohouse.net/ )

Lots of computers can handle my work load, this little Toshiba for instance. :-)

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings ( http://www.flamingohouse.net/ )

I was looking for people who had been using Win 7 but hadn't found many, except for the normal male tech writers - who are not necessarily real users. :-)

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings ( http://www.flamingohouse.net/ )

You make some really good points except that I would probably buy an inexpensive car, because I'm incredibly thrifty.

But, there is a limit to my thriftyness. I spent a long time using a company provided Thinkpad that I hated. Hated. Hated. I would never do that again. Not ever. It doesn't matter how much I have to pay, I will never do that again. ;-)

What happens if I buy that mac and then I hate it? Is it possible that this might happen?

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings ( http://www.flamingohouse.net/ )

and like you, I'm on it for a huge amount of hours in the day--like 12-14. I've been a Mac user since college in the late '80s--though have used lots of desktop PCs at various jobs over the years.

On paying the Mac price versus the much cheaper PC laptops that are available--this is my theory: if I spent 12 hours a day in a car, I would not buy the cheapest car. I would buy the most comfortable car. If I'm going to spend 12 hours a day on the computer, I want a computer that is not going to crash and is a pleasure for me to use--so I am willing to pay the extra money to have a Mac--which meets that criteria for me.

I have many co-workers that are also heavy computer users--and they are mostly Dell users--who constantly complain about their computers falling apart, failing to work, and generally being pieces of crap. I don't understand why one would spend 12 hours a day on a computer that they hate.

I've been using Windows 7 since it was released to the public, what, a week or two ago? Lousy memory here. What I can tell you about it, in my opinion, is that it's pretty decent. I skipped Vista - went from XP to Windows 7. Windows 7 is a huge improvement - boots up far far faster. On my computer, boot time is about 1/4 or 1/5th the time that it took to boot XP. Performance all the way around is improved. It's stable - haven't had a single crash.

I usually wait until the first service pack release to upgrade operating systems, but I had a problem that couldn't be resolved in XP. Unfortunately, it's still not resolved, but it's because Apple doesn't provide Windows drivers for their USB keyboards. Longer story there which I won't get into.

Laurie in Sri Lanka

Chilli & Chocolate ( http://food.laurieashton.com ) | A Canadian in King Parakramabahu's Court ( http://srilanka.laurieashton.com ) | LMAshton on Twitter ( http://twitter.com/lmashton )

I'm primarily a Windows user, but have used Macs and reviewed them. Contrary to popular fanboy opinion, Macs do crash, their programs crash, there are problems. My husband currently upgraded to Snow Leapord and had problems with the upgrade - had to try it a few times before it finally worked.

I'm not saying that Windows is better. I'm saying that Macs are not necessarily all that the fanboys and advertising claims they are.

While reviewing a MacBook, it crashed three or four times inside of two hours, which was far more frequently than my Windows computers have ever crashed (they crash perhaps a couple of times a year at most). I've had similar experiences with other Apple computers over a period of the last couple of decades. My general opinion in the end is that, honestly, it's six of one, half dozen of the other. There are quirks, foibles, and problems with each.

I prefer Windows, but it's what I'm used to. I know my way around. I can find what I need. I understand the logic well enough to sort things out. Mac, not so much.

One other major consideration, in my opinion, is the type of software you need to function with your computer. Are you tied to specific programs? Can you get what you need in whichever platform you're looking at? Software designed for the Mac tends to be prettier, but there isn't as much selection, depending on the type of software we're talking about.

Laurie in Sri Lanka

Chilli & Chocolate ( http://food.laurieashton.com ) | A Canadian in King Parakramabahu's Court ( http://srilanka.laurieashton.com ) | LMAshton on Twitter ( http://twitter.com/lmashton )

You do NOT need a new computer, you need a secretary.

Any computer will give the ghost the way you work it, 18 hours ........ Denise !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hope this is helpful :)

Wilma Ham

www.wilmasblog.com ( http://www.wilmasblog.com/ )

bc it does, LOL...I said I liked the baby Sony, I just can't run any of the programs I use the most from it......I totally understand taking your time tho...I'm just impatient heehee

Not long and not daily for most of its life (we were still attached to our desktops at that point, heh.)

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings ( http://www.flamingohouse.net/ )

Long-term reliability is still a question, since the oldest Sony is only about three years old. I will definitely blog about it if any of my computers of any brand has an early demise, though!

vomviersen :: Kathi Wilson

http://rottweilers.brilliant-disguise.net/

We had a computer that had Vista and we returned it. The machine just plain didn't run and the nice company that made the machine indicated it wouldn't run because... it wasn't built to run Vista.... yet the company had to put Vista on the machine because Microsoft stinks. Granted, this was very very early in the Vista release. Still, it put us off of Vista completely. ;-)

If I buy a new PC, I'll wait for one with Windows 7 and I'll wait until I've heard mostly good reports. Too early and I'll probably have the same experience that we had before.

I'm interested in the fact that you've had so many Sony's and liked them. I did like TW's until it died an early death... it's that whole early death thing that caused me to shy away. (though I was tempted when they came out with the red one. I like red.)

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings ( http://www.flamingohouse.net/ )

...because I'm pretty adamant about not choosing between PC and Mac, or in fact, between anything.

My current laptops:

Sony VAIO VGN-CS290JER (bought in 2009, 4GB RAM, 250MB HD, 2GHz Intel Core Duo T6400, Win Vista Home Premium)

Apple G4 iBook (bought in 2004, 1.5GB RAM, 60GB HD, 1.33GHz PPC, OS X 10.4.11)

I don't think I could give up either one. With Apple's and Adobe's announcement that support for PPC Macs will be fading into the sunset, I'm hoping to replace the iBook with a MacBook Pro sometime next year.

It's too soon to say whether or not the VAIO is reliable. The one hardware issue I had was self-inflicted: dog hair caught in the trackpad buttons. Bad dogs, Axel and Freya! Use your OWN laptops! It is my first, but the third VAIO in our household, with the oldest one being about three years old. We like Sony products, but in general they are somewhat overpriced. Part of that might be paying for style, at least for me: my laptop is Sangria Red with a color-matched Bluetooth wireless mouse.

I will say that Vista was not the hell I expected it to be. I have had only two issues between February and now. One was due to a prematurely released patch, and the automatic diagnostics following the blue stop screen led me to the correct solution in the MS Knowledge Base, which took all of a couple of minutes to apply. The other was due to Acrobat 7 Professional not working at all under Vista, forcing me to upgrade from CS2 to CS4 before I really wanted to. This problem was solved quickly also, but sadly by throwing $600 at it, so... RIGHT HERE, Adobe and Microsoft (insert rude gesture here). I didn't feel the need to downgrade to XP and I'm not sure whether I'll be an early adopter of Windows 7 either.

As for the iBook, I can honestly say it has given me no problems to speak of in the almost five years I've owned it. I'm not saying that as an Apple fangirl, because I'm not one and squee-ing fangirls and fanboys just make me want to stab them. I'm saying it as a happy owner of a virtually trouble-free product.

Probably not as much help as you hoped for, except maybe for the part about Vista not killing all my stuff... or my spirit?

vomviersen :: Kathi Wilson
http://rottweilers.brilliant-disguise.net/

Now you have me wondering if upgrading this poor old machine is a better idea than buying a new one. This is exactly why I posted this - you rock, Virginia. Thanks!

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings ( http://www.flamingohouse.net/ )

We do have a netbook now. A little blue Acer that really is a nice machine - for what it is. But I just can't spend 18 hours a day on that tiny screen (and I don't want a secondary monitor) and that tiny keyboard.

I don't regret the netbook purchase at all and I suspect we will be at least one more, maybe two, in the next few months. But no, it can't be my primary machine.

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings ( http://www.flamingohouse.net/ )

I do not hurry up and decide on anything that costs me money. Particularly when it's to replace something that I still really love.

Size matters, I get it. You've always been like that. I don't understand it. ;-)

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings ( http://www.flamingohouse.net/ )

Though I see women complaining about their Macs a lot and going to the Genius bar all of the time... I also see a lot of people who claim to have less daily frustration with their Macs than they did with their PCs.

I could use a little less daily frustration, ya know?

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings ( http://www.flamingohouse.net/ )

It probably won't be a Sony Vaio though. TW had one in 2001 and it didn't last long. (Might have been related to her spilling coffee on it but I don't think so.)

Apparently yours has held up better than that since you still have it. Isn't it funny how some people do well with one type/brand and others don't?

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings ( http://www.flamingohouse.net/ )

because my 2 year old Mac book was full to the brim and data was dripping down the sides. I talked to a guy at the Genius Bar in the local Apple store and he suggested that the computer was really solid and a new and bigger hard drive might solve my problems. With Apple's help, my new hard drive was formatted and my old system with all my apps and documents was recreated from a time machine backup. Now I have room to grow. I don't know if something like that would solve your problem (or if you have a backup system like that) but it cost less than $100 as compared with the price of a new MacBook.

Virginia DeBolt

BlogHer CE ( http://www.blogher.com/blog/virginia-debolt )

Web Teacher ( http://www.webteacher.ws/ )

First 50 Words ( http://first50.wordpress.com/ )

Birthday present to self last month was the Asus Eee PC - the blue one with the 10.5 hours of batterly life and Windows XP.  I think netbooks are about the only thing you can still get with XP on them.  I didn't want to be a guinea pig for Windows 7 and I definitely didn't want Vista, either.  So since those were two of your areas of concern, you might want to reconsider a netbook.

Here, this is the one I got -

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002DYIXMS/ref=ox...

And by the way, I fully sympathize with the love you have for your tablet.  I feel that way about my phone!

Erin

My Mobile Advetures *~*~* ( http://MyMobileAdventures.com ) - Mobile/photo blog | @BellTinkR

The Single Rider ( http://TheSingleRider.com ) - The fine line between "alone" and "free" | @TheSingleRider

with Macs either and tho they're shiny and seem to have really cool tools that my artsy side might enjoy....I love the familiarity of my pcs...great experience with hps, growing to love a baby sony vaio...I HAVE to have lots of memory and speed to run the programs I work with - that's one drawback with the sony, great speed for surfing and office aps, but no way could I run photoshop on it much less the entire suite....bottom line, I'm a size queen, big screen, big memory and lots of options for expansion are must haves for an everyday laptop imo....but the sony is reallllllllly cute....tablets are cute too...

hurry up and decide!!! :)

And I really haven't had any problems with mine (knock wood), which was awesome because I had just had a total lemon of a PC laptop before I bought it. (It was not the company's problem per se, I just got a lemon. I accept that it happens...especially now that it's no longer my problem.) One of the things that had me on the fence between another PC or a Mac was the cost. Macs really aren't cheap. I have to say though, that I don't find my Mac nearly as frustrating as I found my previous PCs or even the fake husband's desktop PC. Faster on start up. Less viruses. No major meltdowns after a software upgrade (unlike the other week when his PC did an upgrade in the middle of the night and woke us up because it didn't work). I don't have to restart a gazillion times. And I didn't have to spend as much on software immediately like I have with PCs in the past. The downside of a Mac is that not everything I like to use is Mac-compatible, though things are getting much better. Sony even came out with a Mac version of the software for my Sony Reader last week. (YAY!!!)

I don't think I'll be switching back to a PC anytime soon.

Sassymonkey ( http://sassymonkey.ca/ ) and Sassymonkey Reads ( http://sassymonkeyreads.ca/ ).

I have no idea, if you firgure out your questions pass along the answers because my 2001 Vaio is on it last legs.