The Energon Pub

So, thanks to a UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME blue screen, I've been presented with the opportunity to scramble for a replacement machine for my home office. (Yes, I know the BSoD is not a machine-killer, just a drive-killer, but I'm going to turn that box into a backup server or firewall.) I've capped myself at $2,000 (+/- 10% if there's a good reason), and want to move to a laptop. I'm opening the question to the floor:

Is there a standout vendor in the realm of laptops who I should be looking at above all others.

I've had Dell machines at my various jobs and at home for nearly 10 years, and I've really liked their consistency and quality. My fiancee has an Inspiron that she loves. I'm leaning toward a 17" Inspiron or a 15" XPS, but wanted to see if there was something better out there that I'm missing.

This machine would be used chiefly for stuff like ER diagrams and other DBA stuff, and it ought to have a fairly beefy video card so I don't have to suffer when I'm playing something like Morrowind or its ilk.

Opinions? Is $2,000 too low a ceiling?

Opinions? Is $2,000 too low a ceiling?

You are just barely scraping by with that $2,000.00 because you have to figure in taxes too as part of your budget, my taxes will be close to $500.00 for my system I want but for the screen requirements and video card you mentioned then yeah you might want to add more to your budget too.

Most likely shipping will be free, as well as it should be free for the type of money they ask for, as it will be when I go to buy my next computer system in about a month I hope but I plan to get a Mac.

Here is what I will be getting...

It's the 24 inch screen 2.8GHz model...

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/W ... amily/imac

Specifications

* 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme
* 4GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM - 2x2GB
* 1TB Serial ATA Drive
* SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
* Apple Mighty Mouse
* Apple Keyboard (English) + Mac OS X
* AppleCare Protection Plan for iMac - Auto-enroll
* Accessory kit
* ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO with 256MB memory
* 24-inch glossy widescreen LCD
* AirPort Extreme
* Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR

I also plan to get a Mac laptop maybe in a few years but for now I desperately need a new desktop model.

I got the opportunity to play around on a friends imac and I was pretty much sold in about five minutes but to be objective I messed around on it for a good five hours just to be sure and I was highly impressed.

If you don't know anybody that has one to play around on then look up a local apple store and see if they have one to try out.

If you are into ripping out your memory cards,video and sound cards every six months when a new one comes along or modifying this or that with the internal components then a mac is not for you because there is no external cpu tower on the imac, it's all rolled in to the screen essentially but I don't even have mine yet and I'm so excited and already recommending it to you.

Apple does make models that do have external cpu towers but I want more desk space for storage even though my new computer desk at home specifically has a compartment to store a cpu tower in it it just means more room for storage or to put transformers on.

Despite the lack of a external cpu tower it has great sound,very good sound actually from the speakers built in to the underside of the screen, it was VERY quiet, I actually had to strain to hear any noise and the only time I heard any noise was when a dvd was loaded into the drive slot.

There is a built in internet camera and microphone too.

There was no noisy fan yet the imac was completely cool to the touch either and there were many applications geared towards the creative personality but just as well as for business applications and what ever isn't included or available from apple you can probably find it on the internet to download and most of the programs my friend found she got them for free.

I even had her download a program and there is no download,restart,reboot everything it just handles things much differently than a regular pc and the program is ready to go for the most part.

My friends imac is just under a year old and she has a business out of her home and she has been using the imac to run her business since she got it and has turned on her old Dell twice in that time and that was just to get a couple of client files.

Our computers at work are being replaced with HP as the guy from our I.T. department said Dells quality over the last few years has declined noticeably and they had to replace my computer at work a month a head of the planned date as it was just too slow.

As a joke I asked the I.T. guy if I could get a mac for work and he laughed but told me that he has a mac at home and considers them far superior.

I have a Dell at home and it's been good but going on five years old and needs a replacement.

So that's my recommendation and I highly suggest you try one out before you buy it of course but I'm sure you would be impressed with most of apples products and features in them.

I've been out of the loop a bit for a while on computers, and as a lazy arse, I just got an Asus instead of having one custom built a few years back.

I am so amazed at the grunt the little thing has. It plays Civ 4 and everything and its only a 256er with a shared graphics card thingie.

Of course, I'm pretty sure the ants have done it some damage as it stalls up on occasion when I load up the Sims2.

Stupid ants.