How to pick out the best laptop for someone?

[Banjo]

She's old school. Every appliance and electronics have to be brand names, new, from local big box stores, with extended warranties. She's an older lady and worries that there will be something wrong with each thing she buys, so she wants it to be easy to return to the store.

If that's how she like it, then the Apple store may be the best option for her. They have a Genius Bar, and you can buy extended warranties from them. There is one store in Charleston and one in Greenville according to the Apple website. it's only a viable option if she lives near one though.

 

[naisho]

Now that HP is exiting the PC industry, it seems the only giants left are Apple and Dell. Right now, Apple is seeing a significant growth while Dell isn't. So I wouldn't be surprised if Dell is the next one to throw in the towel.

It's kind of complicated than that. It doesn't necessarily convey that Apple is overtaking the computer industry. When looked at overall it's still going to be nowhere near dominating. Since there are major giants in the PC industry, among the competitors, Dell, HP, Toshiba, Acer, etc... the total revenue is being split.

I would agree that apple products are gaining popularity though, which in turn is causing a boost for the company. The thing is, that is only as of recently - can they hold up? That's what the market will decide.

 

[Reba]

If that's how she like it, then the Apple store may be the best option for her. They have a Genius Bar, and you can buy extended warranties from them. There is one store in Charleston and one in Greenville according to the Apple website. it's only a viable option if she lives near one though.

Personally, I think she would like a Mac because she loves her iPod and iPad. However, the extra cost is one concern. Also, I'm not sure about transferring all her funky old Works files.

Greenville is about 150 miles away. Charleston is only about 26 miles away but it's downtown--that is a nightmare drive that most people outside of Charleston try to avoid (myself included ). Downtown Charleston shops are for tourists, south-of-Broad aristocrats, and College of Charleston students. That is, people within walking distance.

I appreciate the suggestion, though.

 

[Reba]

Not according to what I have been reading. It sounds like they are doing what IBM did a few years ago. HP have made it clear, they want to stop making desktop and laptop computers along with the tablets. They want to shift their focus on cloud computing and webOS. HP's profit margins is not where they want it to be, so it's hardly surprising that they are looking to getting out of the hardware business.

Now that HP is exiting the PC industry, it seems the only giants left are Apple and Dell. Right now, Apple is seeing a significant growth while Dell isn't. So I wouldn't be surprised if Dell is the next one to throw in the towel.

But how do you think that will affect people buying HP's today? Do you think they won't get product support soon? Or will someone else buy them out and take over those contracts?

I've been following the story in WSJ and PCWorld, among others. It's an important story but no one seemed panicked about it.

 

[naisho]

But how do you think that will affect people buying HP's today? Do you think they won't get product support soon? Or will someone else buy them out and take over those contracts?

Tech support for products released near the discontinuing period in computer hardware, will go like this:

They'll support you until the end life, or source you to a partner company that will take care of requests until the term is over. It's been that way for several companies from my experience.

 

[naisho]

Personally, I think she would like a Mac because she loves her iPod and iPad. However, the extra cost is one concern. Also, I'm not sure about transferring all her funky old Works files.

There's always a hackintosh install as an option for die-hard apple fans. While it's not really conventional for the average user, it doesn't limit iOS/OSX to only apple products. If it costs $500-600 for an inspiron compared to the $1100-1200 macbook, with similar specs, there's savings to be earned.

 

[Buffalo]

I've found that age isn't always the key as to whether or not someone is computer literate. I've met college students in their 20's who know less about computers than I do (age 60), and retirees who know their way around computers and the internet.

I find that some oldsters who, like me, started out with primitive computing at work decades ago, and kept up with the changes, don't have too much trouble. Those who had no exposure to even basic technology advancements while they were still young, have a harder time plunging in at this age.

Does that mean you have met Grace Hopper?????

 

[Banjo]

It's kind of complicated than that. It doesn't necessarily convey that Apple is overtaking the computer industry. When looked at overall it's still going to be nowhere near dominating. Since there are major giants in the PC industry, among the competitors, Dell, HP, Toshiba, Acer, etc... the total revenue is being split.

I would agree that apple products are gaining popularity though, which in turn is causing a boost for the company. The thing is, that is only as of recently - can they hold up? That's what the market will decide.

Well, Apple's growth altogether have been on the rise for years. In fact, Apple is one of the most valued companies in the world. I think Apple's market cap is something like $340 to $350 billion. It's amazing considering the fact that Apple was on its deathbed back in the mid-90s. I read somewhere that the PC industry in general is slowing down at quite a dramatic speed, for instance, Dell is reporting only a 1% growth compared to Apple's 16% growth in the desktop and laptop sales.

The industry itself saw around $40 billion in revenue, but only saw a couple billions in profits. Roughly, a profit of $40 per computer on average. So I can see why HP is going down the IBM route.

 

[Reba]

Does that mean you have met Grace Hopper?????

Actually, yes. I interviewed her for a magazine article in the early 70's. She's the only woman in the Navy I knew who wore a little old lady hairnet with her uniform.

She was still sharp as a tack, and nice as could be.

 

[Buffalo]

Actually, yes. I interviewed her for a magazine article in the early 70's. She's the only woman in the Navy I knew who wore a little old lady hairnet with her uniform.

She was still sharp as a tack, and nice as could be.

Now I am impressed! I used to be a COBOL programmer so I knew that she invented that language.

 

[Reba]

Now I am impressed! I used to be a COBOL programmer so I knew that she invented that language.

Yes, she was a real groundbreaker, starting in WWII. She kept retiring, and the Navy kept calling her back to duty.

I took COBOL, FORTRAN, and BASIC in college. I still have my plastic flowcharting template.

 

[Glenn]

It's llano. L L A N O

It was misspelled in his post.

 

[Jiro]

But how do you think that will affect people buying HP's today? Do you think they won't get product support soon? Or will someone else buy them out and take over those contracts?

I've been following the story in WSJ and PCWorld, among others. It's an important story but no one seemed panicked about it.

I wouldn't worry about it.

HP acquired Compaq. Chinese acquired Lenovo from IBM. AT&T acquired Cingular. so on. everything's fine. many companies do honor warranty agreements.

 

[naisho]

Well, Apple's growth altogether have been on the rise for years. In fact, Apple is one of the most valued companies in the world. I think Apple's market cap is something like $340 to $350 billion. It's amazing considering the fact that Apple was on its deathbed back in the mid-90s. I read somewhere that the PC industry in general is slowing down at quite a dramatic speed, for instance, Dell is reporting only a 1% growth compared to Apple's 16% growth in the desktop and laptop sales.

The industry itself saw around $40 billion in revenue, but only saw a couple billions in profits. Roughly, a profit of $40 per computer on average. So I can see why HP is going down the IBM route.

Yep.. I acknowledge the growth, it's been pretty obvious over the past few years.

The antagonistic me thinks, that growth will continue until when?
Second of all, what about keeping up. Will they be able to maintain or run out of innovation? Stuff like haptics and
gestural OSes (minority report, quantum of solace) all haven't been able to come mainstream, yet they're highly innovative.

iPhone market share of the smartphones has been 'stagnant' some time after iP4 release, android is still growing (almost 50% of market now), RIMM failing heaps.
The PC market (in terms of overall PC vs mac purchases) has been fairly stable and I don't feel like it will take a coaster down anytime soon..
I guess what I'm trying to hint at is all companies can have their golden periods, just like RIMM did and where are they now..

 

[Banjo]

Yep.. I acknowledge the growth, it's been pretty obvious over the past few years.

The antagonistic me thinks, that growth will continue until when?
Second of all, what about keeping up. Will they be able to maintain or run out of innovation? Stuff like haptics and
gestural OSes (minority report, quantum of solace) all haven't been able to come mainstream, yet they're highly innovative.

iPhone market share of the smartphones has been 'stagnant' some time after iP4 release, android is still growing (almost 50% of market now), RIMM failing heaps.
The PC market (in terms of overall PC vs mac purchases) has been fairly stable and I don't feel like it will take a coaster down anytime soon..
I guess what I'm trying to hint at is all companies can have their golden periods, just like RIMM did and where are they now..

Actually, I don't think it really matters because a Mac computer is considered a PC these days. In fact, they always have been since it is personal computing. It's just that they don't all have the same OS.

The difference between Android and iOS is that Android is an open platform. The iOS is a proprietary platform. Apple's goal is to reap the rewards of something they build themselves. Android is a different story, anyone can make an Android phone. What did you expect from a corporation? They aren't going to give everything for free, you know.

At the moment, at least two models of the iPhone are still the best selling smartphones. RIM is having a difficult time keeping up with the times, and it is foreseen that they may end up losing badly. HTC is holding up steadily but still behind the iPhone models.

Merely being innovative often will not get you anywhere, but being innovative and having the money often will. That's the difference between the corporations and the computer geeks with no money.

 

[naisho]

Actually, I don't think it really matters because a Mac computer is considered a PC these days. In fact, they always have been since it is personal computing. It's just that they don't all have the same OS.

The difference between Android and iOS is that Android is an open platform. The iOS is a proprietary platform. Apple's goal is to reap the rewards of something they build themselves. Android is a different story, anyone can make an Android phone. What did you expect from a corporation? They aren't going to give everything for free, you know.

At the moment, at least two models of the iPhone are still the best selling smartphones. RIM is having a difficult time keeping up with the times, and it is foreseen that they may end up losing badly. HTC is holding up steadily but still behind the iPhone models.

Merely being innovative often will not get you anywhere, but being innovative and having the money often will. That's the difference between the corporations and the computer geeks with no money.

Alrighty, point taken, but for political correctness how would you distinguish between Mac and other platforms? If it's not PC, what is it? It definitely can't be windows vs mac, the correct term should be windows vs OSX, debian vs OSX, and so on..

I guess I just don't observe it as 'HP' or 'Dell' should be the sole competitors against Apple, the same as HTC shouldn't be apple's only competitor, it's a combination of those on the same line, as in Samsung + HTC + Motorola, etc, droids vs iOS, just the same as it is to say Acer + Toshiba + Dell + HP etc vs Macs. Because like you said, it's a proprietary company and has its own line of software, just as Palm and RIM have theirs.

RIM was not just a, but the best seller back in the 2006-09's, but they confined themselves to their niche and thus caused them onto their deathbed. Apple is doing their own niche too right now with the iphone line, except on the flip side they're successful at it just as RIM was back then. Now what happens next?

Ironically, the whole computer situation is pretty similar to the phones. I guess it's a part of what makes apple, apple. See, the mac is pitted against all the variants, while the iphone is pitted against those variants in android too.

 

[Jiro]

Actually, I don't think it really matters because a Mac computer is considered a PC these days. In fact, they always have been since it is personal computing. It's just that they don't all have the same OS.

The difference between Android and iOS is that Android is an open platform. The iOS is a proprietary platform. Apple's goal is to reap the rewards of something they build themselves. Android is a different story, anyone can make an Android phone. What did you expect from a corporation? They aren't going to give everything for free, you know.

At the moment, at least two models of the iPhone are still the best selling smartphones. RIM is having a difficult time keeping up with the times, and it is foreseen that they may end up losing badly. HTC is holding up steadily but still behind the iPhone models.

Merely being innovative often will not get you anywhere, but being innovative and having the money often will. That's the difference between the corporations and the computer geeks with no money.

Both Android and iOS are very innovative but... iOS is dominating strong like a raging bull charging ahead while Android is moving along at modest rate.

Biggest reason? Open Source. That is Android's biggest flaw.

Apple tightly controls everything from A to Z because this ensures consistency and stability. and this tactic works very well. That's why Apple has an incredibly massive collection of apps.

 

[naisho]

Both Android and iOS are very innovative but... iOS is dominating strong like a raging bull charging ahead while Android is moving along at modest rate.

Biggest reason? Open Source. That is Android's biggest flaw.

Apple tightly controls everything from A to Z because this ensures consistency and stability. and this tactic works very well. That's why Apple has an incredibly massive collection of apps.

Nope buddy.. I hate to point it out to you but been keeping this one pretty close to the chest for some time now. This was not too long ago info, apple is kind of at a wall right now:

http://www.businessinsider.com/android-iphone-market-share-2011-4

Right now, most recent info says Android's at 48% of the market share. I'm not against any of them though, I own apple, android products, (didn't want my work blackberry :P) but the thing is I don't pride into having any of them, just like seeing which one is making the most progress.

 

[Banjo]

Alrighty, point taken, but for political correctness how would you distinguish between Mac and other platforms? If it's not PC, what is it? It definitely can't be windows vs mac, the correct term should be windows vs OSX, debian vs OSX, and so on..

I guess I just don't observe it as 'HP' or 'Dell' should be the sole competitors against Apple, the same as HTC shouldn't be apple's only competitor, it's a combination of those on the same line, as in Samsung + HTC + Motorola, etc, droids vs iOS, just the same as it is to say Acer + Toshiba + Dell + HP etc vs Macs. Because like you said, it's a proprietary company and has its own line of software, just as Palm and RIM have theirs.

RIM was not just a, but the best seller back in the 2006-09's, but they confined themselves to their niche and thus caused them onto their deathbed. Apple is doing their own niche too right now with the iphone line, except on the flip side they're successful at it just as RIM was back then. Now what happens next?

Ironically, the whole computer situation is pretty similar to the phones. I guess it's a part of what makes apple, apple. See, the mac is pitted against all the variants, while the iphone is pitted against those variants in android too.

To be honest, I haven't thought much of Dell for a good number of years. I never buy their products, I just never liked the vibe coming from them. Hee.

Apple poached quite a few employees from RIM. The people at RIM is perfectly aware that they are in trouble, which is why they are desperately trying their best to play catch-up. Maybe they'll have a big comeback someday, maybe not. It's a wait and see game at the moment. RIM was pretty quick to dismiss the idea of Apple of being a competitor, that was the first and biggest mistake they made right there. They were shell-shocked to find how big of a battery the original iPhone had and how small the processor was.

The smartphone market is growing at a pretty fast rate though, and that's probably due to the innovation coming from both Apple and Android.

I think it's somewhat too early to speculate that Apple have put themselves into a niché, they have years of planning up their sleeves from what I know. There's no way of knowing what to expect. For instance, Apple TV, apparently it is going to happen. It's just a matter of when. I'm not talking about these media players, I'm talking about TV displays.

The reason why Apple was in trouble years ago was due to bad management and a lack of innovation. Not to mention how they ousted Jobs from the Board of Directors, promptly firing him. Myself, I think it was the best thing that happened to him. Once Steve Jobs came back, he pushed the envelope on a daily basis and hired all of the best of the best he could find in the world. Literally. So even if Steve Jobs was to pass away, Apple would still be in good hands.

Android, it's intriguing how far they have come so far. It wouldn't have been made possible if it wasn't for Google's role in it. Both are great and will bring a lot more for us in the future.

 

[Reba]

Done.

She bought this:

HP - Pavilion Laptop / AMD Phenom™ II Processor / 17.3" Display / 4GB Memory / 500GB Hard Drive - Pewter - g7-1167dx

and this:

Logitech - M225 Wireless Optical Mouse - Dark Steel - 910-002223

We dug thru her stash of computer disks and found the original Microsoft Works (2001), including product key, and installed that so she can keep her Works and database files. That was a relief.

Also, I got her AOL account up and running on the laptop. Another relief for her.

Tomorrow, I'll connect her printer, and install her camera and recipe software.

She didn't want to do more today. Too overwhelming for her.

At least we had a very friendly and helpful BestBuy associate who let her "test drive" a couple laptops, and didn't use any heavy sales pressure on her.

So far, so good.

Thanks for all the suggestions.