On 12/20/2014 6:24 PM, Ron Kaplan wrote:
> I am a subscriber to PCBuild and PCSoft, and would like to post the
> following to PCBuild. Considering that you may only post items that relate
> to actually building a PC, this may be out of scope. Nevertheless, this is
> what I'd like to post:
>
> Iım looking at 2 laptops for prospective purchase: A supposedly higher end
> Toshiba Tecra Z50 and a MacBook Pro 15². Either OS is O.K. with me; my main
> concerns are performance with minimal hardware or software hiccups as well
> as durability and reliability. Price: Mac is about $1700+tax, and the
> Toshiba approx.. $1300+tax. Any comments or opinions-- especially those
> coming from experience, are very much appreciated.
>
>
> Thank you.
> Ron Kaplan [log in to unmask]
>
>
Ron, the hardware is probably not all that different, and in, any case,
there's very little way to predict the longevity of any hardware. If it
lasts a month, then it might last for years. Whether one is easier than
the other to repair when it does break down depends on too many
factors to count on in a purchase decision.
The Mac may have a fancier screen, but you're probably over-paying for
the "Mac" name and the "coolness" of the Mac, at least coolness in the
eyes of fruit-lovers. ( I have two Mac notebooks, three iPads, two
iPhones, and a host of iPods, and I like them, but they are all
over-priced in my opinion.) The main advantage of the Mac is that/it is
likely to work seamlessly with *other Apple products*/, such as the ones
I listed. The main disadvantage of the Mac, other than the price, is
that it only works with a limited amount of software which must be
specially written for the Mac. (You can buy an emulator for a Mac that
mimics the Windows environment for running Windows software, but it may
or may not be satisfactory.)
The main advantage of the PC is that it will work with a large variety
of programs and hardware accessories.
When purchasing (or building) /any/ computer, the main, over-riding
question that you have to ask yourself is, "*/What am I going to do
with this once I have it?/*" In other words, what software ( and/or
hardware accessories ) do you want to run on it. For example, many
games will run only on a Windows computer. Some software has been
ported to the Mac with varying degrees of success.
So, the real question is ultimately yours to answer. You need to decide
what you want to do with it, what hardware requirements are needed to do
that, and how much you are willing to pay for the increased performance
of a higher-end machine. (I mean within a product line: more memory,
faster cpu, better graphics, and so forth.)
Dean Kukral
PS: If you are only going to use it for email, web browsing, Facebook,
LinkedIn, and that type of thing, then you don't need to spend even half
that much money for adequate performance. A tablet might even do.
PCSOFT's List Owners:
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