[JohnnyBlazo]

Hey Guys,
Just as a warning I'm going to be precise so hopefully you can help me based on my details I give you.

Just thought I should mentioned that this is my first post on here. Learning a lot. Spent a long time reading threads in these forums and gaining some knowledge over the last six months or so.


Basically I'm in a bind. I cannot decide whether I want an ibook or a 700m. I am a university student here in Canada and will be doing an exchange in the fall and I wanted a laptop to take with me for 6 months. I may also be interning in Europe after the semester abroad so....basically I don�t wanna be away from my computer for a year going in and out of internet cafes in Europe, did that this past summer and it wasnt too fun.

Now I have a decent desktop system now that I don�t want to get rid of. This is my only computer currently and is acting as a HTPC/Multimedia player/gaming machine/everything except my laundry and make me coffee.

Basically this laptop will be for browsing/word processing/light Photoshop work. That said I should mention what I like about both systems. Ibook...I've been intrigued with Mac OSX, and I figured being in university I could invest in one of their less expensive products to see if I will use them in the future. I also picked up an ipod in the summer and it impressed me.

What I like about the dell 700m, is the integrated SD slot which will be nice for my digicam, and also I know how windows works so there wont be a learning curve to deal with. Also I'm not an XP hater either, and my computer has never crashed and to be honest I have never seen the 'blue screen'.

I will also need bluetooth on both systems to sync with my T636.

Anyways, phew, sorry that was long...I'm really sorry.

Thanks in advance

Karim

[TMBG6]

Im also a college student, and I was faced with nearly the exact situation. between an ibook, and one of the little dells.

I may sound like apple rep here, but the ibook is my first Mac and I couldnt be happier. It has done everything Ive thrown at it. It is very easy to use, it works fantastically with all of my little gadgets (cameras, mp3 player, printer, PDA). it pretty much does everything I could ever want in a way that is better and more secure than I have ever known.

Its been about a month already, and its going to take some pretty compelling reasons for me to buy anything other than a mac in the future.

(did that come off as obsessed enough?)

[Luca Rescigno]

Give the iBook a shot. I'm pretty neutral between platforms, having recently acquired a nice desktop PC which is my main system now. I still love Macs though. If you have a Windows XP computer as a desktop and your laptop will be for light duty stuff, why not get an iBook? It'll be cool to learn a new OS. I'd have both a Mac and a PC if I could afford it... but I can't and I guess I'm a bit too into gaming because I haven't felt disappointed at all after getting rid of my Mac. I'm sure I'll get another one sometime in the future, when I have the money.

[Hi I'm Ben]

I love my pc, but i'd never buy anything but an apple laptop. I'm on my second iBook this thing is such a beast... it's not the fastest machine in the world, but it's solid as a rock, wakes from sleep in a second. My iBook is the only computer I could safely leave running for 2-3 months straight without even a reset.

[2004G4]

I just made this choice a little over a week ago. I was looking at getting another dell laptop, which I have been very happy with and never had any probs at all...or getting an ibook. I decided to get a 12" ibook and also another 1gb ram which has not arrived yet. I don't favor any OS myself, I use windows XP and 2000/2003 server as well as BSD. The bottom line is, I'm very happy I got the ibook so far, it's a great machine and I'm impressed with the build quality of the machine, the attention to detail that went into the packaging (this sounds minor but it's really nice), and the ease of use even for a first time mac user. I don't think you'll have any regrets at all, my advice is - if the applications you need to use are on mac, get the ibook.

[mbryda]

DON'T BUY A DELL!!!

Seriously, if you must get a PC, get anything but a Dell. Comig from a PC tech background, I've seen the ways in which Dell cuts corners to get a box out the door. Poor quality plastics, poor quality components, and just generally not a good machine. Poor benchmarks round out the lack of quality. You couldn't pay me enough to ever reccomend or use a Dell.....

You'd be well to steer clear of anything made by Dell. There are other manufacturers that make much better machines than Dell and have a much better quality. Some reccomended PC's would be IBM, Toshiba, Compaq/HP.

As far as the iBook or PC - I'd go with the iBook. They are much better than most PC laptops out there. Apple's laptops are pretty much the ultimate road warrior's notebook - good batttery life, immediate sleep/resume, built-in wireless that works, and just a great travelling companion.

In the end, it's a personal decision, but I'd go with the iBook. If you still want a PC, just go anywhere but Dell. You'll thank me in the end.

[sgb]

i don't really understand why mbryda is so against DELL, the last pc i bought was from dell and i am extremely happy with it. if i buy another pc, i might be a dell again.
on the other hand, i just ordered a 12' ibook and can not wait to finally get it. after a lot of thought, i decided to give the ibook a shot since i don#t think there is anything comparable in the pc world right now. (considering weight, size, price, time on batteries, style.....) that the ibook runs with os x is an extra plus. even though winxp is not as bad as a lot of people say, i am ready to switch. and i did.

[d4nth3m4n]

first off- you posted this on a Mac forum. you're already leaning Mac.

second, campus LANs are horrible for things that plague PCs. go for the iBook. you'll love it.

[SSharon]

I just bought an ibook over the summer for school this semester and I love it. I have always used mac but I agree with everyone here. So many of my friends got dells and all of them have had to get new machines, some of them even switched to mac. Personally my favorite park of the ibook is 6 real hours of battery life, thats with airport, and with lots of disk access. Also get a lot of ram, just not from apple.

[His Dudeness]

I'm going to suggest the iBook, simply because of the OS. I used OS X on my old G3 Powerbook for 4 years and it never ever ever crashed. Now I use XP, not by choice, and I must admit it is the best Windows OS yet, but still nowhere near the stability and ease of use as OS X. Plus Macs simply last longer than Windows machines.

[CrusaderSean]

i decided between dell 700m and ibook 12" a month ago also. i got an ibook mainly for osx. one warning, ibook's screen is no where even close to the quality of 700m. if your univ has a store go compare them. make sure the ibook's screen is acceptable to your standards.

[Dr.Michael]

Originally posted by mbryda:
DON'T BUY A DELL!!!
...
Seriously, if you must get a PC, get anything but a Dell. Comig from a PC tech background, I've seen the ways in which Dell cuts corners to get a box out the door. Poor quality plastics, poor quality components, and just generally not a good machine. Poor benchmarks round out the lack of quality. You couldn't pay me enough to ever reccomend or use a Dell.....

After my experience with a Latitude (and many of my collegues use them too) I can only support this.
A lot of sh.. thoughtlessly thrown into a cheap box. Thats Dell. Never gain.

[cenutrio]

My advice is based on 1 week playing with a iBook 1 G4 GHz/768 MB/12" RAM....sweet machine, liked a lot. I was super impressed with batery life, I even used for doing some movies using iMovie. It was quite fast.

I bought this system for my brother. A all time PC user who was intrigued with OS X anytime that I'm around in Spain with my TiPB. 1 Year ao he got an iPod. He's been using the iBook for 1 month now.

He is in love...

He has asked me to buy a 20" iMac loaded and to bring it for the Christmas vacation...

His crew (they are profesional sailors....) wants another iBook.


Of course, they are getting edu prices and the euro-dollar ratio is very convinient....however, they are just shocked that using a computer could be so much fun....something that windows does not provide at all.

I;m not quidding about the orders, I'm going to look like Santa's when arrive back home.