Failed miserably in converting another to the Apple cult....

Cassady

Cassady

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:whistle:


After much debating, the wife doesn't want to go with a new Apple MBP/MBA...

Price is a slight consideration - but she's primarily concerned with the learning curve.

I had her when she walked in to the iStore, and played around with one. I could see she was seriously impressed with how light the MBA was - but admittedly, the 256GB 13" is way-more pricey than what she could get with a R10k HP/Dell ect., and she has plenty of photos that would gobble up a significant chunk of (only) 256gb.

Her company's IT are not the most helpful - and the fun and games in setting up emails to her iPhone was ridiculous.
She will be working closely with a business partner who is also technologically a bit circumspect [they're both only now getting their heads around Dropbox] - so it would make sense to have her on Windows, since everyone else in the office is too...

Whereas I can appreciate how if everything in the house was Apple - and with Airdrop now coming to OS X -things would be so much easier, fact remains: She's not completely sold on it, and if things don't work perfectly (and there are always glitches), then she will be thinking "I should never have gone with Apple..."

Don't quite know why I'm writing all of this. :)

Guess it's because I was yearning for a new toy to play around with - you know - setting things up! :p


Will now have to wade in at one of those other forums - to figure out which R10,5k crapware Acer/HP/Dell/Lenovo/Samsung/Sony has the least crapware on it - and whether it would make a difference to the level of crapware, as to whether I buy it at Incredible Corruption, or through a dedicate PC store...

Happy days.
 
If you are thinking about a Apple MBA or MBP for the good hardware and not OSX, why not install Windows 7 on whichever you prefer? Best of both worlds if I'm not missing something.
 
Cassady said:
:whistle:


After much debating, the wife doesn't want to go with a new Apple MBP/MBA...

Will now have to wade in at one of those other forums - to figure out which R10,5k crapware Acer/HP/Dell/Lenovo/Samsung/Sony has the least crapware on it - and whether it would make a difference to the level of crapware, as to whether I buy it at Incredible Corruption, or through a dedicate PC store...

Happy days.
Click to expand...

Least bloatware and good build - Dell. Lenovo has bloat but also a good option in terms of build-quality.

Don't bother with the rest.
 
Dean said:
Least bloatware and good build - Dell. Lenovo has bloat but also a good option in terms of build-quality.

Don't bother with the rest.
Click to expand...

This.

Also, OP seems to be pissed that his wife doesn't want to buy Apple. It's great (and costly) if you buy into their whole ecosystem, but for somebody who needs a tool to work, you can't exactly hate on them for not choosing it - especially if the rest of the office isn't set up for Apple.
 
Viva said:
If you are thinking about a Apple MBA or MBP for the good hardware and not OSX, why not install Windows 7 on whichever you prefer? Best of both worlds if I'm not missing something.
Click to expand...

+1. Or run Parallels, and not lose OSX whilst at the very least having a platform to convert her over to...
 
I would have gone for a U38N or a Zenbook. Comes with all the benefits (SSD and light) plus it runs windows.

Cheaper as well (if you do not go for the touch screen variants)
 
Viva said:
If you are thinking about a Apple MBA or MBP for the good hardware and not OSX, why not install Windows 7 on whichever you prefer? Best of both worlds if I'm not missing something.
Click to expand...

I have Parallels running on my machine - and can appreciate that as a possibility... Would it be as straight forward for her IT to set up everything in Windows? Guess this remains something to explore...
 
Dean said:
Least bloatware and good build - Dell. Lenovo has bloat but also a good option in terms of build-quality.

Don't bother with the rest.
Click to expand...

Ta.

Seen some good prices for decent spec on Sony & Toshiba machines - always liked them too. Will never touch HP again...
 
Cassady said:
Ta.

Seen some good prices for decent spec on Sony & Toshiba machines - always liked them too. Will never touch HP again...
Click to expand...

Sony unfortunately charge you ridiculous prices to fix anything (I recall a > R1000 fan replacement for one client's S-series notebook a couple years back... vowed to never touch them again, though I have, but still :P)

Toshiba - nothing bad to say about them tbh, though I don't have much experience with their machines.

The reason I said Dell was mainly for their build quality and therefore ironically, their 3-year next business day on-site warranty.

Good luck with the search!
 
Mike Hoxbig said:
This.

Also, OP seems to be pissed that his wife doesn't want to buy Apple. It's great (and costly) if you buy into their whole ecosystem, but for somebody who needs a tool to work, you can't exactly hate on them for not choosing it - especially if the rest of the office isn't set up for Apple.
Click to expand...

Not pissed off - I can understand her hesitancy. OS X is different. Plain & simple. To her, tech has never been something to improve productivity. Its always simply been a means to an ends. She uses a pc for emails, infrequent surfing, and the occasional spreadsheet. And a place to store/view photos. That be it. So nothing major needed. Just something that works when she needs it to, something stable, and something simple.

I think the above screams OSX, but that only becomes apparent after you've become accustomed to it, and getting through that transition doesn't come naturally to all people.

So will go quite happily with whatever - but it does suck that we almost closed the loop on a single OS at home.
 
Dean said:
Sony unfortunately charge you ridiculous prices to fix anything (I recall a > R1000 fan replacement for one client's S-series notebook a couple years back... vowed to never touch them again, though I have, but still :P)

Toshiba - nothing bad to say about them tbh, though I don't have much experience with their machines.

The reason I said Dell was mainly for their build quality and therefore ironically, their 3-year next business day on-site warranty.

Good luck with the search!
Click to expand...

Appreciate the heads-up on Sony - that would never have occurred to me.

Have always heard good things about the Dell after-sales service - but having said that, in the 10 odd years of us having owned laptops - we've never had a reason to take any of them in to be serviced... Guess we've been kind of lucky so far - but if that day ever comes, then Dell would certainly be appealing...

Have to wonder a bit about the parent companies financial woes - cannot recall anybody mentioning anything about that on the forums - but wouldn't that have a serious effect in things going forward, if Dell Int. goes south?

Re Toshiba - also have zero experience, tbh. So parts/services (despite my earlier point) might be an issue. A bit like buying a Honda/Suzuki/Subaru I guess(?) - great cars, but dealerships few and far between...
 
Dean said:
Least bloatware and good build - Dell. Lenovo has bloat but also a good option in terms of build-quality.

Don't bother with the rest.
Click to expand...

Especially HP, I cannot describe in enough words how much I hate their laptops.
 
I haven't been happy with any of the toshibas we've had. Dells on the other hand... very happy. Everything we buy these days is Dell. We've needed to replace things a few times (yeah, you really shouldn't drop your laptop), and their next day service has always been phenomenal. If you can't get the mac you want, I'd recommend a Dell over most other manufacturers.
 
Way69 said:
Especially HP, I cannot describe in enough words how much I hate their laptops.
Click to expand...

With you there. Wife's current laptop is a HP. Granted, it's lasted close on 8 years - but man, the bloatware was horrendous. It had this built-in HP optimizer crap, that was constantly trying to 'optimize' the performance, by downloading all sorts of drivers - as if everything else Windows related doesn't already do that... And don't get me started on the gimmicks like the 'fingerprint scanner'...

All the positives we could have taken from that HP, about how - despite its age - it was still chugging along, have been obliterated by the awful bloatware add-ons, to the point where, like you, I will never get another one... Wish their marketing people could get that through their thick skulls - we don't want bloat/crapware...
 
Thanks all for the feedback on the Dell's. Reckon R10-R11k will get us a decent laptop - that will hopefully just do what it's supposed to.

One last question - besides potentially better prices - is there a chance a Dell bought from IC, as opposed to a dedicated pc shop might have more bloatware on? I.e. - might a manufacturer place more "perks/crapware" on laptops earmarked to go to bigger retailers, which would have a broader market? Or would it be pretty much the same, regardless?
 
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