It's an s7-392. That's base. Not including anything but that's also the 250gb version. You can get the 125gb for a lot cheaper. I wanted the extra storage
Memory is cheap, extra 125g didn't run you that much extra. But the point is that after installing antivirus, office at the least, your actual cost shoots up to the neighborhood of $1500, right? So stealing your own question, is it really fair for you compare your $1500 laptop with $1000 Mac air? From what I understand Mac won't need any of the extras. And even then, you're saying that your computer is just as fast as Mac. Does it mean you paid 50% extra to have the same capability? Also, are you sure your as of now fast laptop will last more than 3-4 years? Before you ask, I never had a Mac and before this iPhone I'm using right now, never worked with Apple OS. And yes, I'm a little pissed off at windows at the moment. You see, I'm using iPhone to make this post because my Asus is busy restoring itself to before Internet-11 update state. After I installed that fucking "improvement" my laptop started taking more than 5 minutes to load. That and by antivirus is due for renewal.
No, I paid more for much more than storage. I paid more for screen resolution, storage, and other specs that I'd have to pull, considering I am away from it right now. And no, the comparison was compared to a MacBook Pro. I was using the air as an example because the S7 is an ultrabook.
I will say this, what I don't like about the Macs is how expensive their accessories are , 70 bucks for a mouse, 60 bucks for a charger, 200 bucks for something else. They really do stick it to you there.
Funny story. You can check yourself out in he Mac store with the mobile application. I bought another charger and the mouse and I check myself out and got the confirmation on my phone saying my order was ready to pick up, I show the confirmation AND the merchandise to an employee. I asked him if I was good to go. He said , "yes" then asked if I needed a bag. I said, "Nope, I'm good." And left. A few days later I get another email from Apple saying my order was still ready to pick up. I bounced back and forth trying to decide if I wanted to get a second set of what I ordered for free. I decided against it AND called Apple customer service and explained I picked up my order etc. Few days later, I received another email saying my order was refunded because I failed to pick it up. So I ultimately got my stuff for free. Anyone else have an experience like this?? BTW - I got the 13" Retina MacBook Pro mainly for photo editing and I love it.
Aside from the charger (it will come with one included in the purchase price, but extras are pricey), there's always third party alternatives. I use a PC mouse since the Apple Magic Mouse isn't rated highly and it's expensive. I feel like if my charger did break, they'd probably replace it at an Apple Store even out of warranty. (Mine hasn't broken.) Factory installed upgrades like extra RAM are pricey, for sure. Those are good points, but I should elaborate on what we mean by slowdown. I mean that the same Windows laptop I bought, running the same software, gets slower over time, compared to the exact same computer running the exact same programs a few weeks after I bought it. The reason seems to be the near daily Windows updates, which my PC laptop would harass me to install (even initiating auto-shutdown in 5 mins unless I told it no, until I found a way to remove the countdown in the registry key.) If we don't get the Windows updates, we have added virus vulnerability and whatever problems the updates are supposed to correct. But if we do get them, our computers start slowing down for some inexplicable reason. Or at least mine always did. Same thing with my anti-virus- it'd always need updating, because there are always new viruses coming out. When it updated, sometimes things would slow down a little, permanently. Maybe it's different with high end machines, but within 9 months, things like opening the start menu or opening a Word document would no longer happen instantly. It would start taking 3 - 4 seconds. By the 3 year mark, it would take 15 - 30 seconds, and I hated that. That's what we mean by slowdown, a decline in the performance of the existing software. I'd disagree about the reasons for Mac popularity; I like it because of the operating system. You can get PCs that look just as nice as Macs, that have the same specs or better, for the same price range... but Asus, Lenovo, Toshiba, Alienware, and HP don't sell anything that runs the Mac OS.
I think that is more with lower end, cheaper laptops. The higher end units don't seem to do that. I've never had that issue, but again, I'm using $1000+ laptops. I'm not saying that all users of Mac purchase it for looks. There are a ton of people that purchase a Mac for the software and design, but there are also a lot of people that are just buying them to say they have a Mac. Apple has become a fashion statement. You see it on college campuses the most. You overhear these girls talk about them when they know nothing about them. Just buying one because it's the "best" computer and all my friends have one. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, it's just hard to break that type of following, but Windows and Android have done just that. Samsung seems to be taking over the cell phone market and now the Windows Ultrabooks are a thing of beauty. Times will change.
I've always used +$1,000 laptops too (actually ~$1,500 laptops), but both of the Windows ones I had started slowing down just a few months after I got them. I think it was the Windows updates, not the hardware. I don't think either Apple or Samsung will ever "take over" the cell phone market / drive the other out of it. With computers- both Windows and Mac should exist. Microsoft and Apple need each other, otherwise they would have no incentive to innovate or reduce prices. I see plenty of people with Samsung phones, and plenty of iPhones. And that is how it should be (though I'd prefer if an American company would come along and dominate the Android phone market.) It would be terrible for the consumer if one company ever got a monopoly position. That's why I really want Windows phones and Blackberry phones to catch on, because even duopolies stifle innovation.
I don't literally mean takeover and create a monopoly. I meant one company will always run a majority of the market. It used to be Apple for years. Now Android is turning the tide on that. Neither will ever have a monopoly, but one is always leading the other.
I played with the S7 at the Windows store.....I liked it, a lot. There was also a Samsung that was moe than the S7 but that is out of my budget. There was another I believe Aesus that was about 800 that had Beats Audio, HD pictue quality. It seemed really user griendly but they for soem reason didn't have it online so I couldn't see the quality of the movies. May have to go backand check it out.
I'm telling you, the S7 is a fuckin beast. I absolutely love this damn laptop. The one you saw higher is probably the S9. That's overkill for what you said you'd be using it for. The S7 is perfect. Light, perfect size, and built to perfection. Best laptop I've owned by far
Don't forget any potential maintenance fees (bad battery - $100+). Apple sucks. I would honestly take all of that money and build my own PC. Some good websites out there that you can customize your PC and have them build it for you.
Building a pc is also extremely easy. The hardest part I fount was inserting the cpu and clamping it to the motherboard (because face it. If you damage the Cpu, you are f'ed and that thing is small yet expensive) but overall the experience is like Legos. Total came out to about 550 which doesn't include monitor, keyboard, etc because I already had that. Computer is fast and just the way I want it. Its also very quiet as I only have 2 noctua fans running. I can do this because the i5 I have max thermal I believe is 35w. Thinking about purchasing a TV tuner so I can watch and record on PC.
My Dell has been decaying over the 3 or 4 years I own it...The system has gone through issues like profiles being broken, viruses, low battery, etc...I have been a windows user though and I'll be honest I dont like changing interfaces. It scares me. My sister bought the Mac and she loves it, I look at it and I am so used to where things are on PC that its hard for me to make the transition right now. BUT with how bad Windows 8 looked I am quite positive I will not be buying a PC with that system, NO WAY. I think before my computer completely dies on me I will buy a Mac and familiarize myself with it. It is true, the Mac performs so well, WAY BETTER then a PC. I've had way too many issues on my computer throughout the years...Even documented here on the forum with the Computer Issues thread. My recommendation - Buy a Mac, keep the PC around...Learn the Mac and slowly but surely I think you will fall in love.
You can also try Linux. I dual boot Ubuntu and Windows. If I want to game I go into windows. If I want to surf the internet and do some work I boot up Linux with Ubuntu. Linux is safer than Mac os and windows as its market share is so small many don't bother to create viruses for it and it can bring new life to old hardware due to low required specs. Heck, they even make some Linux os that can run on s Pentium 3. Overall I find Linux to perform better than windows and mac ;also.... ITS FREE.
That's pretty awesome man. I'm in the process of building my first computer (finally) and it's been a fun experience. Just gathering up the items at this juncture. With everything included (monitor, keyboard, etc) it's going to cost be 1200 which is fine by me. Wish I did this earlier to be honest.
Supposedly Linux or Unix is "the best" in many ways, but the downside is that it requires a lot more technical know-how and troubleshooting to get things to work. Some people have a knack for it, but most people don't.
I can only assume linux was a pain in the ass 10+ years ago but over the past 4 years Ubuntu has made everything easy. It isnt like say Arch Linux where you have to build everything from a command line. If you want a linux app, you now just go to the build in Ubuntu Software Store, click install and your app is there. Or look for a deb file build which is like a exe file on Windows. IF you are stuck Ubuntu forums is loaded with threads and users that can help you. Heck, even GRAPHIC DRIVERS now work out the box. The main annoyance is that times after a fresh install of a new version of Ubuntu (every 6 months) the wifi card doesnt work and I need to dig to find a solution but if you are connected via ETHERNET, just surf the internet, watch videos, type an essay, basic stuff, everything will work just fine. One can even run the entire OS off a UBS flash drive to test it out or install WUBI on windows to give it a safe test run (it will install as a windows program, when you reboot computer you will have the option of ubuntu or windows. if you dislike ubuntu just log back into windows, control panel and uninstall ubuntu from there)
