Hey everybody! I know this forum is more for desktops, but I was hoping someone could help me out here. Lets get the basics out of the way:
- Have $1300 to spend
- Want to play games at least as graphically intense as The Sims 3, don't need maxed settings on everything
- Want speed, enough to use some photo and video programs once in ahile
- Don't care about blu-ray - Want reliablity
- Want a cool running laptop
- Want a laptop that has decent battery life, but wont use it often
- Don't care about display size
- Most importantly, don't want it to be completely outdated in a year, would like it to last 3 years and still be able to sell for around half of what I bought it for
- Need before Christmas
OK, now that that stuff is out of the way let me tell you more. I know laptops arent very upgradeable but I want at least 4gb ram with possibly an upgrade in the future. The Macbook Pro 2.53 ghz comes with this and in DDR3. Most Windows laptops I have seen have DDR 2. Comparing prices I can get everything in the Macbook Pro in a Windows Laptop for around the same price except the Windows laptops have better graphic options. I don't plan on playing Modern Warfare 2 or anything, this is mainly for my wife and she just messes around with Sims 3, facebook, Microsoft office, internet, etc.... But I don't want to spend 1300 on a Windows laptop and in 3 years be able to sell it for 200 bucks. I bought a Windows Vista laptop 3 years ago for 700 and now I can get about 125 for it on ebay, that is horrible! But it would be nice to spend 900 instead of 1300...lol.
What are your guy's opinions on what I should do for the things I want listed above? Thanks!
If you want to game, you want windows. Most games never get released for MAC.
If you want a reliable system, MAC is not the choice. The OS is more reliable, but the hardware is worse than Asus, and I would rather restart windows than replace the whole laptop.
If you don't care about display size, this is good for MAC, because all their screens are tiny, especialy for the price they charge.
If you want it to be worth half it's current price in 3 years, you will not find this anywhere. You would be lucky if it was worth half as much after 1 year. This goes for all laptops, other than laptops that don't last long enough to get to this point. If you can get $125 for a 3-year-old economy laptop on ebay, then you are doing very good. A laptop isn't like a car; once it is old, no one wants it...not even high school kids that just got their learner's permit.
DDR3 is a bit of a joke...if you have two otherwise identical laptops, the DDR2 laptop will usualy go faster. DDR3 is great if you have six sticks of it feeding an I7...but the two sticks in a laptop are a whole other story. This is why many sub-$1500 windows laptops have DDR2...it is faster and cheaper.
