I'm on my second Powerbook (G4) My first one, the original Titanium G4 was retired by me, not by malfunction after almost 3-4 years. I suppose I could have fixed/updated it, and gotten by but I chose to upgrade to a new one (faster, more HD, RAM, built in WiFi, among other reasons)

I grew up and Macs, and every time I try to use a PC, I wonder how the heck you deal with all the "hiccups" of Windows.

Depending on the type of stuff you need, application prices may not be an issue. If you want to go femmy (all white laptop), the ibooks come with a good software bundle that includes everyday apps. Otherwise, I have found regualar app prices to be pretty comparable to PCs versions. If you're using high end stuff, you'll probably find Mac apps are better for graphics, audio, video, etc.

I have heard all the fears of Macs from PCers, but I have never experienced them with the new OS. If you have more specific concerns, I'd be glad to try to answer them, but mine works just fine for me.

(I guess what I am trying to say is, unless you have an app that is windows only, a mac version is available, and can suite anyone just fine.)

I highly recommend the Thinkpad line. I have owned several Thinkpads over the years (and so have several members of my family), and we have always been very happy with them. The worst problem I ever had with a Thinkpad was a few weeks ago, when I purchased a refurbished X41 tablet from PC Connection. It had a bad LCD screen which would stop working after 10 minutes. But even for that - I don't blame Lenovo; supposedly the laptop was refurbished by PC Connection, and they apparently didn't catch the problem. We returned the laptop to them immediately, and bought a new one from a dealer locally.

In general, in my experience the Thinkpads just work without problem. I did have a hard drive go bad on one once - I called IBM, and they replaced it for free. Of course, it is a little soon to know for sure how Lenovo will be compared to IBM, but I am hopeful that I will continue to be able to use and recommend Thinkpads. Thinkpads are generally a little more expensive than other notebooks, but I figure it is worth it for reliability. (And if you are at all interested in getting a tablet pc, I can highly recommend the X41 tablet. I've had mine since August, and my husband just loved it, which is why we recently bought a second one.)

Thinkpads are terrific machines. I don't know how the Lenovo machines will compare; I've just ordered a Lenovo Thinkpad Z60M & it should arrive next week. The Lenovo replaces a five year old TP360E that picked up a heat related problem a few weeks ago.
Newer TP's have a keyboard light so you don't have to be a touch typist to use the white-on-black keys in subdued light. The full-size keyboard is great if you've got big hands or not-so-nimble fingers. As an unexpected bonus every Thinkpad I've had has worked perfectly at 14,000' altitude.

Uh Mitch, up to 49 people already contributed to your laptop bleg. Your goal has been reached. Since we've already established blegging as a fine conservative web tradition, maybe it's time to overcome inertia and actually buy one. As a contributor, I get to say that.

Just what Mitch is looking for:
http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20051214PR204.html

Sorry, I couldn't resist!

Flash

My husband has a Dell Inspiron that has been a real rock. His is older than my Pavillion and I have had more problems with it than he has with the Dell. My next one will DEFINATELY be a Dell.

Depends on what you are looking for. If you are looking for a lightweight laptop for moving around with and doing light work, then I would recommend a compaq presario v2000. That has an awesome screen, plenty of USB hookups and digital card slots and is VERY light.
I have one of those on my home network.

For work, I use an HP nx9600. This has a 17" widescreen, a 128 MB graphics card built in, expansion slots a 3.2 Gig Pentium 4 and 1 gig of RAM. if you run a lot of programs, then RAM is very important. This computer also is mostly plugged in and stationary, so I wanted it to be as robust as any desktop. I have owned close to 10 laptops over the years including toshibas, dells, sony's, and IBMs. I like the HP's the best. A lightweight computer is not a good choice if you are going to have it stationary most of the time, after awhile, the processors burn out and the computer slows. Also, you want a nice big screen if it is your main computer. This HP is heavier, but it is very fast and very durable.

FYI, Dell's customer service is absolutely horrible. They make decent work grade computers but if you ever have a problem, you will be screwed. Their problems are well documented. I wouldn't buy one when you have as good or better options.

Contributor:

The bleg paid for the Toshiba that's in the shop now. The Toshiba's under warranty, and will last me at the very least until I purchase another laptop later this year. By the way, much/most of the money on the counter is from prior to the bleg. I've had that "Amazon Honor System" account since the VERY early days of this blog, so a fair chunk of the listed money comes from before the bleg, including a surge in early 2003, when I was out of work).

Jim P,

Good advice about the light computers; I guess that's what I always liked about Thinkpads, they FEEL substantial. I had a Compaq through a former job that I HATED; it fell apart very quickly. It colored my impression of Compaqs - someone let me know if I'm wrong! As to HP - well, the Presario that I had (still have) stopped working just outside the warranty, and will cost as much to fix as buying a new one. Maybe it's just the Pavilion model, or something that I inadvertently did, I dont' know...

The Macs are well thought of if you are into that cult. Nice machines.

I'm a long time IBM user (and someone who contributed to some of their work) and the Thinkpads can't be beat. Pound for pound they're the most durable thing out there. You pay a bit more but I'll never get another HP after buying one for myself.

I've got a Dell at work now. In my group at work we're going through those d*mn Latitudes like they're candy. Between fried motherboards and terrible hard drives the company is actively looking for another supplier. The support for corporate clients by Dell is good, but for home users it's offshore purgatory for many hours before you can get a serviceman to come out.

If you're not into great portability and don't mind the weight, the Alienware laptops have great screens, desktop class processors and graphics cards, and are very, very solid. They're tanks, though, since the batteries to power something like that aren't small.

Bottom line: if you're into Wintel go Alienware if you don't mind the weight, IBM if you want a true laptop.

I've had great luck with my Toshiba Satellite - had quite a bit of road time. Now any laptop I buy will be a Tablet PC. I'm on my second tablet, a Fujitsu. You'll have to mention what you want to do with it.

I should get a commission for this.
I'm in the mac cult because I couldn't realistically see myself paying for anything made by Microsoft. What's nice about Apple's OS is how seamlessly it integrates text, the internet, blue tooth devices, VoIP, DVD's along with great audio, and video processing. Ever think of podcasting? Garageband recording software is included. They're simple, I set up my WiFi in under 10 minutes. Great security, Apple's security is integrated in the OS not some add on. They are still very intuitive in design but as far a reliability, anything as complicated as a laptop is pretty much crap shoot, I've had good luck with mac's but get a service agreement if you're worried.
The laptops are coming down in price soon, I'm guessing $750 with a 14 or 15 inch wide format screen. And they'll have Intel processors. They my even be called Intel laptops if you believe this link.

http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20050609.html

Mitch, I don't present myself as an expert, just someone who pays attention. I bought a Dell Inspiron before I went to college in 1999 for 3000 dollars. I used that computer for five and half years before the people I worked for gave me a new laptop. Despite all the spyware, crapware and Windows 98, that Dell worked perfectly for all those years, and only required a new keyboard halfway through. My brother owns a Dell laptop, another Inspiron. It's a rugged machine and Dell has been very reliable for us; Unlike this computer the company gave me. In fact, I still use the Dell from the previous century for some applications. I was extremely hard on my laptop, I am hard on all my stuff, and it has still worked despite over a dozen moves I've had since 1999. I can't help but recommend a Dell.

Mitch,
The new compaq's are much better. Remember that HP bought out compaq. HP makes just about the best all around laptops on the market I think. IBM also sold off their computer division so I wouldn't trust that if I were you. I haven't had problems with my presario to this point. I liked the weight and the specs. Plus the widescreen is nice and bright.

My company employs technicians that need high end design software. They all used to use dell, but now have moved to HP's. They have better support and the pricing is great for what you get. The screens are awesome too. Really, I am not slagging dell, because I had a dell for several years and it performed well. However, the customer service problems are REAL. We had issues with not getting responses adequately on defective parts, recall issues, etc. Customer service tech support is horrible too.

I have had a 17 inch Powerbook G4 since they came out. I use it all day every day, and it works great.

A few months ago I dropped it on the floor and it finally stopped working great. The good news, Apple Care fixed it for free. Not only that, but they had to send it away to be fixed by the guru's, and it still only took 3 days to get it back! Dropped it off on Monday, got it back on Wednesday. They overnighted it monday, fixed it, overnighted it back.

I recently tried to reenter the PC world after being assured that Windows XP was almost as stable as OS X. After one night I was ready to toss the machine out the window.

Stick with a Mac if you can.

I would recommend General Nanosystems on University Ave. They sell laptops, I like their service, the staff are extremely knowledgeable and I have always been satisfied with their recommondations.
My son just did a major upgrade of his pc today and is very happy.

I didn't have any problem picking up a used half-decent Thinkpad at Que for around $400. If all you're going to use it for is blog writing and typical business apps I couldn't see spending for new.

From what I've heard elsewhere, yeah, either Thinkpads or an Apple. I bet you're not going to get a lot of viruses or spyware with a Mac, though.

Just a thought - is this mostly just for blogging? I went with a flash-based MP3 player because I didn't know how long I'd be able to keep a hard-drive based unit in good repair. So I wonder if there's a good palm/win PC device with a decent full sized keyboard available? (and no, I am NOT referring to those fold-out keyboards ... something solid, please)

Never owned a laptop, but I can say I'm at a loss as to why IBM went and sold the only line that had any name recognition whatsoever. Seriously, name me another a product line that you associate with IBM. . .

Ryan, The reason that IBM sold their computer division is because it simply wasn't profitable. There is too much competition and computers are an extremely low margin business. They are making much more money with their consulting business. Their name recognition absolutely helped them with their services business, and I suspect they stayed in the computer business only long enough to establish the consulting end.

Jim, you're dead on there. IBM makes more money off the PowerPC processor in an Apple than it made off one of their PCs. That's how thin profit margins are in that business.

I didn't know that General Nano was doing laptops; they've been very good on everything else I've thrown at them.

You can get refurbed IBM ThinkPads from IBM: http://www-132.ibm.com/content/search/used-computers.html

I shouldn't have said it was beyond me why they did it. Obviously, the bottom line was the reason. I guess my point is that IBM, aside from the recognition of IBM itself, has very few products that have familiar name-recognition. ThinkPad was one of the few that comes to mind. And now they're phasing out the eServer logo in favor of IBM Systems, which is causing everyone at my magazine all sorts of headaches, so I'm probably just complaining for the sake of complaining.

I bought a Mac last October, and haven't looked back since. After over a year, I've had absolutely zero problems with it. Never once has it crashed, it talks with every wireless access point I want, and it's incredibly light - (I have the 12" iBook).

Next week Apple should be releasing the first Intel-based Mac laptops - which if rumor holds true will be lighter, faster, and quite possibly cheaper than the G4 editions. By November there could very well be an updated release that will have fewer kinks than the first revision of the product.

Apple software is no more expensive than PC software. Plus, you get almost everything you need to do 90% of tasks in the box - you get iTunes, iDVD, iMovie, Garage Band, etc. Plus, no need to buy an anti-virus program, no spyware removal. etc.

AppleCare is expensive, about $250 for an iBook. But if *anything* goes wrong, it's paid for, and the service is impeccable.

If you're going to buy a PC-based laptop, I highly recommend Averatec. They're a less well-known brand, but very highly regarded by my IT geek buddies - they're not nearly as stylish as Apples, and they still run Windows with all the problems that comes with it, but the hardware seems to be quite good.

I've been supporting computers for almost 14 years now and I've worked with and serviced most of the brands out there. My company buys nothing but IBM laptops!

They are hands-down the best machines from a durability and support perspective. You can have them serviced in any country in the world within a reasonable timeframe and border on eternal. We run most of them until they're painfully slow (5 years) or are stolen.

The downside: they are always more expensive for a given level of performance. The warranty and reliability come at the price of not being cutting edge.

I personally run a no-name machine because they will give you the most performance for the money. I only keep machines for 2 years and I never need technical support...

Switched over to OS X about six months ago. After years of dealing with the wintel bshit at work, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven.

Rock solid reliability. Beautiful to look at. Most, if not all, of the software any user could want comes with the machine. Downloading updates over the wifi is also effortless/painless.

no virus, spyware, adware.....

Compatibility not a problem.

Get on ebay and you'll be pleasantly surprised....

Thought every republican could afford to drop a coupla grand on a 'puter......

I've been using an iBook for over a year and a half: it's a dream. Get one. But first, give a listen to Jonathan Coulton's brilliant ode to the Powerbook: "Laptop Like You," linked from this week's Music Monday:

http://blogizdat.blogspot.com/2006/01/music-monday-36.html

"Get on ebay and you'll be pleasantly surprised...."

Ebay - for new, or used?

"Thought every republican could afford to drop a coupla grand on a 'puter......"

Nope. I'm a responsible, workadaddy, huggababy family guy, and not in the Peter Griffin sense, mind you. Business before pleasure. Save before spending. Barring an unseasonably large tax refund, I'm aiming for November.\

Thanks for all the advice, everyone. I'll be checking it *all* out in coming months.

Mitch

I'm madly researching the pink screen problem - as the exact thing has just happened to me on my HP pavilion. I'm not prepared to throw $3,700 down the drain for a laptop purchased in Dec 03. So I want to know if there is a way to fix this screen. Do you have any idea what happened to yours - and if it was fixable?