davelinde
Kissimmee, Florida
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Joined: 11/02/2003
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I've used MACs and they are nice... I just find the premium price to be too much for my taste. For our family we currently have 3 Lenovo laptops and just got an HP netbook (4 users, 4 PC's I maintain all of them). All running XP. We've had Dell's in the past but did not find them too reliable long term.
wrt to OS, we have had good luck with XP so far, I've used LINUX and liked it a lot - it was fast, powerful and reliable. However, it was just a little more work than I wanted to expend (hey it's free though, so this is not a complaint) which has kept us on the more "turn key" XP. We still may take another run at some LINUX in the future.
Dave Lindemulder
Tammy, Mark & Kirsten
04 Dodge 2500 4x4 SLT QC/SB
HO-CTD/48RE - Graphite: Raptor SS nerfs, Prodigy, Reese 16K Kwik-slide, BD X-Monitor, PML Trans pan, PML Diff cover, Firestone Airbags
09 Heartland Cyclone 3210
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PUCampin
Castaic, California, USA
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Joined: 07/28/2003
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Like most others have said, either would be fine for your use, and it is really your preferance.
I will say I have never understood all the gushing over Apple. I know 3 people with apples, and they all have had a lot of problems. My uncle and I believed all the hype over the iMac and convinenced my grandparents to get one because it was "Easy to use" That thing was the biggest pile of JUNK. It never worked right, and when my uncle or I got called to help with it, we couldn't do it over the phone, and even in person it was so counter intuitive, even reading through the manual didn't help. I have also spent many hours helping my other 2 friends with their iMacs, they have been at least as troublesome if not more so than any PC I have ever owned. I get so irritated by those Apple commercials that essentially say Apples are flawless and never crash.
2007 Expedition EL 4x4 Tow pkg
2006 Pioneer 180CK (No more PUcampin!)
Nights in 08: 6 
Nights in 09: 12  (Need a Few More!!)
Me DW and the 3 in 3 
DD 6/14/06, DS  11/27/07, DD  11/11/08
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strollin
San Martin, CA
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Joined: 06/12/2003
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Wow, a 12 year old laptop running XP? Most likely that laptop was designed for Win95 or Win98 when it was brand new! What processor does it have, a Pentium I?
If you know and like XP another alternative may be to purchase a clean, used laptop with XP on it. I know many people wouldn't feel comfortable buying something like this from Ebay or Craig's List but it is certainly an option. Perhaps a friend or relative that purchased a new laptop with Vista or Win7 has a perfectly usable laptop they would sell you.
If you go with a Mac you will have some kind of learning curve and most likely will need to purchase additional software to get the same functionality you are accustomed to with your XP machine, so that could add more $$ to the equation. Newer Macs use Intel processors and so are capable of running Windows either using Boot Camp (comes with OSX) to dual boot between Windows and OSX or 3rd party software like Parallels, VMWare Fusion or Virtual Box to run Windows in a window from within OSX.
The interesting thing I find about Macs running Windows is that many Mac owners profess their hatred for Windows, buy a Mac in protest, then turn around and install Windows on it anyway!
Another option if you are computer savvy would be to install a version of Linux such as Ubuntu on your current laptop. Linux requires less resources to operate and may extend the life of your present laptop. Of course this option won't address your inability to find a replacement battery but if the rest of the hardware is in good shape it's an option.
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strollin
San Martin, CA
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dfb wrote:... Windows 7 is STILL BASED ON BUGGY MS-DOS~~~
This simply is NOT true. Windows up thru Win ME was a shell that ran on top of DOS but starting with Win NT MS wrote an entirely new OS (hence the name NT - New Technology). I doubt Win 7 shares even 1 line of code in common with DOS. Trivia question: Name the first OS written entirely by MS. Answer: NT.
OSX is essentially a shell that runs on top of Unix. Apple didn't write Unix, just the shell to run on top of it.
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magicbus
LBI, NJ or Nantucket, MA
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Joined: 06/16/2002
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strollin wrote:This simply is NOT true. Windows up thru Win ME was a shell that ran on top of DOS but starting with Win NT MS wrote an entirely new OS (hence the name NT - New Technology). Yeah this is pretty much on point. WinNT was the first MS OS to leave the multitasking of multiple DOS windows behind. It is the only PC OS I even enjoyed writing code for - we were able to get it to perform some pretty cool tasks as a gateway machine between multiple computers. It wasn't necessarily a forgiving OS, but once you got the code right it was pretty solid.
Dave
Life doesn't come with a safety fence around it... enjoy it anyway.
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TankerDude
West of Middle Earth
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Joined: 01/05/2007
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The question you should be asking yourself is: Do I want to CONTINUE to have problems with Windows, pe is it time to go to a more stable OS?
It doesn't matter to me if you don't own a Mac.
It should matter to YOU that you're still tethered to Microsoft.
2004 Ford F350 PSD 6L 4x4 Crew Cab.
2007 Jayco Eagle 322 FKS.
Camping with DW Terry,
Bobi-Sue and Billy-Joe,
Westhighland White Terriers
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8.1 Van
Millstone NJ
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Joined: 03/20/2008
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dfb wrote:If you don't mind fixing things with your computer's operating system, doing Defrags, Disk Cleanups, Freezes, lost dll files, Registry issues and hardware that stops working, then go with a 200.00 to 600.00 PC... If you would rather spend your time Surfing the Net, emails, etc and don't want issues, then the choice is MAC.. My brother just bought a new laptop running Windows 7, and two days after using it, it won't connect to the wireless network he has.. He has tried everything and is so frustrated.. It shows the connection, the signal strength but just won't connect..Windows 7 is STILL BASED ON BUGGY MS-DOS~~~ I have Built 3 PCS and go back to MS-Dos.. After getting a virus and doing a Reformat, a week later my desktop said, "PTAWIA" failing to respond, when I did a shutdown>>> That did it, that was the end, no more Windows, no more servicepacks, no more trojans or Virus's, no more issues... it was BY BY BILLY, and Hello Mac... This was 4 years ago and the longer I have used a Mac, the more and more I LOVE IT~~~ Just an opinion... But the facts are, I had too many issues with MS... Microsofts new operating systems are like a Car Dealer selling you the SAME CAR, only in a different Color...Good luck in what ever you choose...
Wrong, ME was the last OS based on MS-DOS. BTW I have more connection issues with my Mac than with my PCs.
2002 Chevy Express LS 3500 8.1 155" WB passenger van 3.73 posi (GT4/G80)
2003 Thor Citation 41-ZBSR 41ft TT
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magicbus
LBI, NJ or Nantucket, MA
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Joined: 06/16/2002
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TankerDude wrote:The question you should be asking yourself is: Do I want to CONTINUE to have problems with Windows, pe is it time to go to a more stable OS? Watch when leaping to conclusions as you may strain something. I don't see where the OP ever indicated he had problems with Windows. In fact you might notice this quote:
"I like XP".
Many of us have no problems with Windows and are content to continue using it. Even though it came out as Ford vs. Chevy, I believe he was asking for legitimate input - and even managed to get it!
Dave
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npenn
Oregon
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Joined: 11/09/2007
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For us it came down to quality of the product and we chose Mac. The OS was not important factor as we were looking for easy to use applications that integrate with each other. Mac provides the core applications, fully integrated, that we require in our computer use. The design of the computer was also attractive and the one source to get it fixed had a good deal of appeal also. The virus issues are over blown as we run a good virus protection program on the Mac.
The cost of the Mac as noted is higher, but so are lots of other choices we make in the RV travels. Not always is the cheapest the best in the long run and so far the Mac has exceeded our expectations. The Mac just works for us and DW has no complaints which makes me a very happy camper.
Happy Trails
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redwake
Visalia, CA
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Joined: 08/18/2008
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our "fleet" of computers are all lenovo very happy with mine... however personal use and personal budget i'd be looking at one of the mini/net books as my personal use is about the same as yours.
ive found i can actually get away with using my iphone for just about every thing and dont really use my personal computer just work.
TT: 08 Monterey 27 PT by Extreme RV
TV: 06 Sierra K1500 SLE Crew - 3.73:1 4x4 w/5.3L
Hitched with a Husky WD & SC.
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