Thread: Laptop/Notebook or Netbook

I have a young niece who is currently at uni in Chiang Mai, and she is looking for a laptop/Notebook/ Netbbok - I have never had much to do with any of this stuff -99% desktop PC.

She only has around 20K Baht to spend, and is looking for something that do video editing - she has a DVD Camcorder - Sony with a RAM Drive - large fast processor -she needs to edit and process large photo files with something like photoshop.

She wants wireless g or n, a DVD burner and reader that can cope with DVD RAM and the rest, and a firewire port and bluetooth.

The OS is not really important = XP or whatever - but obviously it needs a good sized hard drive, a fair ammount of memory and probably a fair sized processor and a firewire port - do you think buying new that you can get something in this range for 20K?

Personally I think she doesn't have much chance an 2nd hand is the way to go....but...any ideas?

I dont know of many Windows laptops that have Firewire ports as standard, might need an expansion card. If shes doing video editing she'll need a heftier processor than the netbook ones which tend to be lower powered.

Both Big C and Tesco both have laptops well under 20,000 baht. The best part is that they are new and come with a manufacturers warranty. Anything used in Thailand is always incredibly overpriced (I don't understand why, but used stuff here costs almost as much as new). Personally I bought mine from Big C because unlike the small shops, it was still in a factory sealed box and had not been used as a display or anything else. Every time I've looked at anything in the small shops they've always been opened then shrink wrapped, as if that makes them new again.

She could get a Dell or an Acer for around 20k and get on site warranty included but a netbook is not only underpowered but the screen is way too small to do anything much in photoshop. Why the necessity of Firewire?

ASUS seems to have interesting Netbook and Netops

you can get them for less than 15,000 with WinXP in Europe, could be cheaper in Thailand

Miggins,

I wouldn't go for a netbook as they don't have an optical drive and are too small for regular use (cute but impractical). Also, I wouldn't buy a notebook PC with anything less than a 15" screen. (I have a Samsung with a 13" screen and whilst it looks good a bigger screen would be more practical).

As a previous poster said both Asus and Acer do budget priced laptops which I think would be ideal for a first computer or for everyday use. Given the strength of the Baht and the Thai unwillingness to honour guarantees I would also consider purchasing from overseas if that is a possibility.

Originally Posted by Missismiggins

The OS is not really important = XP or whatever - but obviously it needs a good sized hard drive, a fair ammount of memory and probably a fair sized processor and a firewire port - do you think buying new that you can get something in this range for 20K?

No, she won't find it new.

All platform zealotry aside, for what she wants to do with it, she would be best served with a portable Mac - the iLife suite of applications would offer her iMovie, iDVD, iPhoto, etc... all of which lets her do what she needs to do - plus, with the right one, she'd have firewire.

You will be very hard pressed to find firewire on PC laptops. You can find good second hand MacBook systems on eBay for around $500.

It would be the best choice - as a cheap PC will just end up sitting around, and not being used, resulting in having wasted the money.

I have to agree with the ixnay on the netbooks - they are fun toys, and great for travel, but lacking any sort of optical drive, being limited with memory, and powered by sub-par processors, they are not really useful for much beyond generic tasks.

I'll be flying into town in September - I could bring one along, if you want to go that route.

Originally Posted by DaffyDuck

Originally Posted by Missismiggins

The OS is not really important = XP or whatever - but obviously it needs a good sized hard drive, a fair ammount of memory and probably a fair sized processor and a firewire port - do you think buying new that you can get something in this range for 20K?

No, she won't find it new.

All platform zealotry aside, for what she wants to do with it, she would be best served with a portable Mac - the iLife suite of applications would offer her iMovie, iDVD, iPhoto, etc... all of which lets her do what she needs to do - plus, with the right one, she'd have firewire.

You will be very hard pressed to find firewire on PC laptops. You can find good second hand MacBook systems on eBay for around $500.

It would be the best choice - as a cheap PC will just end up sitting around, and not being used, resulting in having wasted the money.

I have to agree with the ixnay on the netbooks - they are fun toys, and great for travel, but lacking any sort of optical drive, being limited with memory, and powered by sub-par processors, they are not really useful for much beyond generic tasks.

I'll be flying into town in September - I could bring one along, if you want to go that route.

I've never even set eyes on a Mac "in the flesh" but from what you and others are saying, a netbook is out of the question, and maybe I need to get looking at Macs instead of Windows based PC's.

I think it's just the fact that all I have used is windows - maybe a time for a change. I will have a look at some Macs if possible, and you reckon a good 2nd hand one can be got for 500 or so?

Go find a local iStudio Mac store, or so, and just take a look what they have -- or perform some preliminary research by just going to Apple.

Look at the sections under MacBook.

I've assisted friends in scoring MacBooks and the likes from eBay for around $500. Not sure what the local Thai prices are. I'll let you know when I know my itinerary dates, if you want to go that route.

again why spend 500 USD on an old machine when you can have a new one for 250 USD,

Hmmmm....

New piece of crap that can't edit video vs. old system with the capabilities needed?

That's a tough one.

TESCO has very decent machine that would beat any of those old Macs in terms of performance, for half the price, so I am not sure what's your point is, Quack Quack

Originally Posted by Butterfly

TESCO has very decent machine that would beat any of those old Macs in terms of performance

Highly doubtful they'd have Firewire port, and USB adapters look pretty expensive. Do they have bluetooth, I haven't looked at them for years?

Also I'd hate to be returning a computer to the spazzes who work at Lotus IT departments, I recently bought 4 desktops from Lotus and it was a painful experience - they seem to have the same employment standards as 7-11.

^ they are just distributing the PC, not doing any support, so when you have a problem you need to go the manufacturer service center, they are usually very efficient, was pleasantly surprised by the speed of their service

Originally Posted by slackula

Highly doubtful they'd have Firewire port, and USB adapters look pretty expensive. Do they have bluetooth, I haven't looked at them for years?

yes they do, like most PC laptops these days

Originally Posted by slackula

Originally Posted by Butterfly

TESCO has very decent machine that would beat any of those old Macs in terms of performance

Highly doubtful they'd have Firewire port, and USB adapters look pretty expensive. Do they have bluetooth, I haven't looked at them for years?

Also I'd hate to be returning a computer to the spazzes who work at Lotus IT departments, I recently bought 4 desktops from Lotus and it was a painful experience - they seem to have the same employment standards as 7-11.

You must have just been unlucky - I returned 3KG of green rancid pork to my Tesco - they refunded everything without a word - I even had the manager almost crying down his cellphone as I threatened to report him for selling unfit meat!

I also returned a DVD player that the remote would not work - no questions other than -" Do you want a replacement" to which I replied "NO" and was given a full refund!

Some of the SPAZZES - are the ones whose job it is to follow you persistently wherever you go trying to sell you things you don't need in the first place - For some reason they employ people (but it's not the staffs fault) who cannot even understand which way to put batteries into a remote, or how to connect a USB cable - they really are not SPAZZES - the real Spazzes are the managment for not training them! How on earth do they expect to take someone that may not even have more than two sockets in their homes and expect them to immediately become "Tech Savvy" on 250 Baht a day....the fault lies higher up the chain! (I would defend the 7/11 and Tesco staff around my place - they are at least friendly - and do try - Home Pro - well they are like leeches - they are probably on commision - but BIG C - they are the most ignorant of the lot!

Originally Posted by Butterfly

TESCO has very decent machine that would beat any of those old Macs in terms of performance, for half the price, so I am not sure what's your point is, Quack Quack

Butterfly - do you have any more info?
Thanks!

The only other thing I would like to ask you about is the Apple OS - is it similar to Windows at all?

Can you sort out problems in the MAC OS similarly to Windows?

The problem I find, is that in past experience here - they get on the internet - no Antivirus nothing, then download loads of shit till the thing is stuffed full of garbage and hangs - then ask me to try and sort it out - I can generally get Windows machines going, but would I be able to do the same with a MAC?

My Niece who wants the laptop, had her dad buy a new P4 Windows machine about a year ago - her younger brother (12) got onto it - loaded it full of pirate games viruses and anything else - within a month it wouldn't even boot up - I won't say SPAZZES - (Although I often think it - but again it is down to teaching)

Any thoughts on whether a MAC can be "recovered" in a similar way to Windows, or is the OS totally different?

Originally Posted by Missismiggins

Butterfly - do you have any more info?

go to the computer section at TESCO, they have different brands for 16,000 or complete desktop solution for 12,000 or even less now

Originally Posted by Missismiggins

The only other thing I would like to ask you about is the Apple OS - is it similar to Windows at all?

yes and no, it might looks similar but underneath it's very different

Originally Posted by Missismiggins

Can you sort out problems in the MAC OS similarly to Windows?

no, everything is much more sophisticated with a lot of non-sense typical of Apple. The good news is that you are less likely to fuck it up, but the interface can be annoying and inefficient to use, though very pretty.

Originally Posted by Missismiggins

I returned 3KG of green rancid pork to my Tesco

Why would you buy 3kg of rancid pork?

Originally Posted by Missismiggins

Home Pro

lol, I know (and used to work for) the owning family of Home Pro, if you knew them, and the family dynamics, you wouldn't be in the least surprised how crap their stores are.

Originally Posted by Missismiggins

The only other thing I would like to ask you about is the Apple OS - is it similar to Windows at all?

I'm not touching that one other than to suggest that you read up on OS X and Unix compared to the origins of Windows.

Originally Posted by Butterfly

Originally Posted by Missismiggins

Butterfly - do you have any more info?

go to the computer section at TESCO, they have different brands for 16,000 or complete desktop solution for 12,000 or even less now

Originally Posted by Missismiggins

The only other thing I would like to ask you about is the Apple OS - is it similar to Windows at all?

yes and no, it might looks similar but underneath it's very different

Originally Posted by Missismiggins

Can you sort out problems in the MAC OS similarly to Windows?

no, everything is much more sophisticated with a lot of non-sense typical of Apple. The good news is that you are less likely to fuck it up, but the interface can be annoying and inefficient to use, though very pretty.

Cheers for the info - I don't want to get in too deep! I wil check out what you say though - thanks!

Originally Posted by Butterfly

TESCO has very decent machine that would beat any of those old Macs in terms of performance, for half the price, so I am not sure what's your point is, Quack Quack

I notice you're not actually providing any specific details on the specs of said magical 20,000 Baht box.

Why is that?

Originally Posted by Butterfly

yes they do, like most PC laptops these days

Most PC laptops do not have FireWire -- and thus the interaction stops, as Butterfly has once again resorted to lying and making stuff up, in a quest for attention (you should hang out with Scampy)... unless you can cough up brand, model and specs.

Originally Posted by Missismiggins

The problem I find, is that in past experience here - they get on the internet - no Antivirus nothing, then download loads of shit till the thing is stuffed full of garbage and hangs - then ask me to try and sort it out - I can generally get Windows machines going, but would I be able to do the same with a MAC?

My Niece who wants the laptop, had her dad buy a new P4 Windows machine about a year ago - her younger brother (12) got onto it - loaded it full of pirate games viruses and anything else - within a month it wouldn't even boot up - I won't say SPAZZES - (Although I often think it - but again it is down to teaching)

Any thoughts on whether a MAC can be "recovered" in a similar way to Windows, or is the OS totally different?

You won't have the same problem on the Mac, at all. Macs don't get virus' or malware or spyware, and aren't affected by these issues.

Seriously - virus free. By design.

One of the main reasons why people switch.

I had a friend who perpetually surfed to all kind of porn sites, and weekly undid all the cleaning of his PC that I did -- until I stopped fixing his PC, and told him to get a Mac.

He did.

He never had another problem of the sort, and he kept happily surfing his porn sites.

'nuff said.

Oh, and don't bother listening to Butterfly, as he doesn't know what he's talking about.

I work with the Mac professionally, and I support hundreds of users a day.

Butterfly doesn't understand the Mac, and sits in his hovel bitching about something he doesn't use.

Do the math. :-)