Thinking of getting a laptop - any advice?

[gracefurness]

We are over again in May for 3 weeks and I am considering on buying a laptop in Orlando. Would appreciate any input! [8D] thanks Grace

[floridadreamvilla.co.uk]

Black Apple MacBook with 2Gb memory is my weapon of choice - runs Mac OS X and Windows, really fast, very light and dead easy to use. Can't think of a single downside.

[pieman790]

We have both a Dell and Toshiba laptop. The Toshiba seems better built than the Dell but it was more expensive.Both run on Windows XP The only to thing to note is the fact that any items over £145 have to be declared once arrive back in the UK, so you will have to pay VAT and Duty. There are some goods deals on Laptops at present here in the UK.

[caroline]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by floridadreamvilla.co.uk
Black Apple MacBook with 2Gb memory is my weapon of choice - runs Mac OS X and Windows, really fast, very light and dead easy to use. Can't think of a single downside.

[/quote]

The downside is the white one is prettier[msnwink] Guess What I've got!

[wilfy]

Also most new laptops will have the new microsoft Vista installed. It is a lot different to 95/98/xp. If you can remember back to when win95 came out the change from 3.1 was huge.

[Susan J]

My son has an HP laptop from Costco here, and its great -has good graphics, a remote for playing DVD's, and very easy to use. was about £500+VAT from memory
However, my main consideration [I have a Sony VAIO with 17" screen that cost a heck of a lot] is the guarantee -because when they break, it can be a PITB - mine had to go over to France for a new graphics card, but thankfully it is a good robust model!!
So what you have to consider is 1] do you want a cheap easily replaceable one -or 2] do you want a 'keeper' with a good guarantee.
Either way, if buying in US, you won't have that guarantee at home, unless you buy from Costco.

[caroline]

I think you'll find that a Mac bought in Florida will be covered by Mac in the UK - they certainly sorted out problems we've had with Ipods - and when we were chatting to the guys in the Apple store at Bluewater before Christmas they were amazed that we hadn't bought a MacBook in the US and saved some $$$ - had I known my screen was going to die the week before Chritmas I may well have bought one at the beginning of December when we were over in Florida - hindsight is a wonderful thing[msnwink]

[chrisflowers]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by wilfy
Also most new laptops will have the new microsoft Vista installed. It is a lot different to 95/98/xp. If you can remember back to when win95 came out the change from 3.1 was huge.
[/quote]

So don't buy a new PC laptop just yet as much of your current software (including antivirus) is currently incompatible with VISTA!

I agree with John and Caroline - buy a MacBook and run Windows for your old aps (with XP) and enjoy the wonders of working on an operating system that currently does not suffer from viruses, malware, spyware etc etc.
Also you can buy AppleCare over here, and you will have three years warranty in the UK (I have done this on my 12" powerbook I bought at Millenia some years back)

[Robert5988]

An American keyboard is a pain if you use a UK one as well.

There really isn't a huge difference in prices these days.

[CarolAnn]

If people don't mind me asking, Are Macs a lot more expensive?? And if so, do you get what you pay for?