Apple - Some advice please

[HR Solutions]

My Laptop is starting to get old. Quite a large one and heavy to lug around. Also starting to give one or two hassles. I have always believed in trying to "keep up" with technology otherwise you do fall behind and things are not compatible anymore, new printers don't work because of "issues"

So my question is - Do I look at the Mac laptop - I think its the air or the pro or do I go for another HP normal computer ?
My problem is - I do NOT like the new Windows 8 !

I quite like the Mac's - they are lightweight and quite thin and I have an Apple phone and ipad.

Would it make sense to keep apple or is the Mac not really suited for business.

Any opinions/advice would be appreciated - thank you

[adrianh]

I know absolutely nothing about Apple but I love my Acer laptop and my Galaxy Tab. The Acer runs on Windows 7 Pro and although the networking sucks bigtime and Windows broke some common tools for no reason I am still satisfied with the machine. Windows 7 is like having a car that doesn't always want to shift into third...it annoy you but you live with it. If I had to choose between Windows 8 and Apple...I would probably go for Apple...Windows 8 is simply totally crap...its like a car without a dashboard and they put the gearbox in back to front...it just sucks....no matter what you do!

[ians]

I got an iphone 5, then realized what a big mistake i made, you ask why, because i didnt have any other apple devices. I then got an ipad. My opinion, if you have apple devices upgrading to newer models, not a bad idea, but unless you want to go the whole hog and move over to apple, rather dont buy 1 device. They are incompatible with other devices.

[ians]

By the way as you there is an app for everything, i dont see why you cant run your business from a mac

[Neville Bailey]

When my current Windows laptop comes to the end of its lifetime, I think that I may migrate to Mac. They are beautifully engineered machines that "just work". My only problem will be that Pastel only runs on Windows. But then I can simply use Parallels on the Mac and install a virtual copy of Windows on that, with Pastel installed there.

[HR Solutions]

Thanks for the input guys. Neville - I seem to recall you bought a Galaxy phone a while back, so for you to say Mac laptop seems to indicate something. You then will have to ditch the Galaxy and get the Iphone

[Neville Bailey]

Neville - I seem to recall you bought a Galaxy phone a while back, so for you to say Mac laptop seems to indicate something. You then will have to ditch the Galaxy and get the Iphone

Mac laptop is one thing - iPhone and iPad (which I have) is another thing. I love my Galaxy because of the Android OS, as I am a GMail guy through and through.

Hmmm, perhaps I should consider the Chrome Book rather?

[pmbguy]

Look... I am not a tec guy, but I spoke to my brother in law who works for IBM and he is a heavy tec guy. He said that going Apple is foolish. He reckons that apple is f*****. He said that he sold his apple stock a long time ago. According to him apple is a Raphus cucullatus.


Given what his thoughts on the matter are, what are yours? Is Apple on the brink of something amazing, or just plain on the brink?

[adrianh]

Apple is on the verge of going down the iToilet. They brought the 5C and 5S out and nobody batted an eyelid. What heavy new innovation could they possibly come out with, curved screens are on the cards for Samsung, Google has the glass thing, nobody cares for Android wrist watches so what left....an iYoYo perhaps...for the arty in crowd?

[HR Solutions]

I'm looking at things at present. Windows which is seriously kak vs Mac, which I enjoy on the iPad and phone ......

[rom828]

I run both Mac and Windows OS, have both iPad and Samsung devices for various reasons. Personally I'd stay on the Windows platform, although I understand your dislike Win8. If it's any help, you can downgrade to Win7 without buying a licence, although I guess it is step backwards for some(http://www.microsoft.com/oem/en-gb/l...de_rights.aspx).
I agree Apple devices have amazing build/design quality and yes everything 'just works' to some degree. My Windows/Android set-up 'just works' too and even better than Apple set-up in my opinion.
What I dislike about the Apple environment is the iTunes gateway, I find it somewhat limiting and also the costs incurred to run Windows applications. The Apple products are overpriced in RSA and de-value rapidly.
Also if you want to "keep up" with technology, then Apple is going to keep you make sure you do that frequently, with their annual device upgrade and OS changes.

I don't know this helps much but just my R0.02 worth.

[ians]

I just find that you are too restricted with apple. If you don't have all apple devices you might as well not have any.

The only reason I got an iphone was because of the Telkom deal and boy am I regretting it, the signal is absolute crap, battles to get signal never mind 3 G and it doesn't get LTE yet even though it works on MTN, but I can get LTE if I change my sim card over to the MTN one. They have only just repaired the sms issues with the new ios software, they gave me 10 free sms per month but you couldn't send or receive an sms because the ios system wouldn't work with Telkom.

I bought an ipad mini because they where the cheapest for what you got. Personally I I doubt I would by any other apple products, unless I was a graphic designer or the like, which I am not.

One thing I can say for iphone, we watched the same movie clip on an iphone and a S4 from the same adsl router, the picture quality on the iphone is way better than the S4, I don't know if the S4 was setup correctly.

[league_of_ordinary_men]

My Laptop is starting to get old. Quite a large one and heavy to lug around. Also starting to give one or two hassles. I have always believed in trying to "keep up" with technology otherwise you do fall behind and things are not compatible anymore, new printers don't work because of "issues"

So my question is - Do I look at the Mac laptop - I think its the air or the pro or do I go for another HP normal computer ?
My problem is - I do NOT like the new Windows 8 !

I quite like the Mac's - they are lightweight and quite thin and I have an Apple phone and ipad.

Would it make sense to keep apple or is the Mac not really suited for business.

Any opinions/advice would be appreciated - thank you

This is what you should get http://www.dell.com/za/p/inspiron-15-7537/pd a customer preordered it. It has better specs then the mac book pro and its a few grand cheaper with us and if you don't like windows 8 just down grade to windows 7.

[irneb]

I think we need a bit further info on what you actually want. Are you referring to the MacBook Pro or the Air? Also what programs are you using on your "WinBook" at present? Are you set on OSX as your new operating system, or would you be willing to look at others too (excepting Win8)? The "just-works" idea only happens if you do everything through Apple, if you have a different phone, pad, media server / NAS, etc. you might not find it as easy as you did with Windows.

1. Which programs can you not do without? This to check if they have non-windows versions or clones.
2. Which programs are you using occasionally and/or might be accepting of alternatives?
3. Is there any single program you simply "cannot" do without which you know to only work on windows? If so can you provide its recommended system requirements - since you'll need to run it through a virtual machine (such as Parallels / VirtualBox / VMWare) and this would take up some of the base CPU & RAM.
4. Are you doing a lot of on-line stuff?
5. Can you achieve your usage through cloud-based programs? E.g. Google+, Drive, Docs, etc.
6. Are you using the laptop for video viewing? If so do you want to be able to insert DVD/BR discs, or play from a media server, or save onto an internal hard drive, or only via on-line streaming?
7. Are you doing any graphics intensive stuff? E.g. photoshop, cad, 3d design and/or rendering?
8. Do you "want" a touch screen or are you fine with a normal keyboard & touch-pad?

Only with these answers (and possibly some others) can we have any hope of giving you a decent suggestion.

If you want to do your own research on the non-Apple laptops, then this might be a good place to start: http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/

Especially since your choices at Apple ranges from old stock MacBook (R8500) to the Air (R11k), Pro (R15k), or Pro Retina (R16500). Unless you're thinking of the Mac (all-in-one-screen for R7500), or the mini (i.e. no keyboard or screen - R7500), though both these options don't really conform to being a portable device, never mind a laptop.

So for an Air you can look for anything up to around $1000 (to allow for import / local sales deduct about 30%-40% from that - unfortunately our government wants their protection-racket-money). But that type of price is already quite a good laptop (at least), some of them would even be surpassing the Air's specs. Same goes for the Pro.

[HR Solutions]

Hi irneb - thanks for your input. I have not yet made a decision on a new laptop yet, what with all the festive season celebrations etc, but I would really like to look at it shortly.

I am able to find my way around a comp, feel I know quite a lot, but am by no means a comp bof.

I do have an apple Mini and do have an apple I phone 5, enjoy them and know my way around them, therefore was thinking of going the mac route. I am looking for a laptop (no touch screen). I cannot give you names at the mo, but like the thin lightweight look to them and being light it is easier to transport. I do not like the new windows 8, therefore my looking at apple.

One of my most important programs on my current laptop is office, therefore I would need the same or compatible and it must be compatible with other computers in the office. I do not want anyone having to "convert" anything. I currently travel between JHB and CT quite extensively as we have a branch in both cities. I link up to both systems either via wifi or network cable. I do use an online package which I access at both branches. I do not need graphics or media or music packages although I do download pics from my phone etc.

I understand that the mac laptop is pretty similar operating to the I pad mini.

Hope this helps you. Is there a apple office system compatible ?