IT Pros: Advice Needed!

[marianne202]

Thanks for all the suggestions! He was really set on the Mac because that is what he had given to him last year to use in an Apple grant-funded virtual enterprise program. Since he used that all year, he was in love with it, but I really can't afford $1600 for the Mac he wants. I have had him look at Consumer Reports & ZNet reviews and read the feedback here to really make an informed choice. After he did that he realized he can get more power, memory and storage for the money with a PC based laptop. Now we have to figure out how to get all his music files and text files he burned onto CD's off of his school Mac onto his new PC. Any suggestions? Does anyone know of any good deals on PC based laptops? We have a tax-free weekend next weekend so I'm hoping to combine that savings with a good deal.

[irnbru]

edit to be a bit more helpful: Find out what format the files are and/or for which apps. If they're just text files(source code)/docs/pictures/presentations then it's relatively straight forward.

He can burn them to cd/dvd, put them on a usb device or email them to himself.

If he doesn't have immediate access to Microsoft Office, then he can get Openoffice for free from here. Most schools have some sort of offer to get a discounted version of Microsoft Office for later and it's a useful environment to know how to work in general.

Later, once he's got a bit of time, he can look at installing snow leopard/linux or any versions of various operating systems to multiboot in. If he's looking at 3d gaming, then at least dual booting or installing 32bit windows xp sp3 as a core OS is going to be important because this runs just about everything up to directx9. This is in addition to a copy of windows 7 for a very small handful of directx10/11-only titles but this is likely to be the supplied OS with any new laptop.

Anyway, all this OS business is sort of sideways. The key thing is for the device to actually be functional, which any basic laptop should be. By all means, look at Dell and similar stores for a reasonably priced bit of hardware which will work out of the box and which is actually going to be useful for your son. Something with around a 15" screen is going to be portable enough for him to move around with, but 17" and up can be clunky and unwieldy. At around the 15" screen range you're looking at desktop capabilities because the case is about big enough to get everything in at a good price point while maintaining upgrade options, later. You can always plug in external monitors/keyboards to use as an entertainment centre but chances are at 15" most people are comfortable to work on a desk for extended periods. The only essential extra which your son may thank you for at purchase is to include a dedicated graphics chipset/card with the laptop (usually something ATI Radeon or Nvidia Geforce).

[marianne202]

Sorry, I knew what I was talking about...why didn't you! LOL! He had all his music downloads on his Mac along with some personal text files including his resume etc, website designs and files that he created for the program that he burned on to CD's. Any suggestions on how to get the Mac files converted or loaded onto a PC based computer?

[irnbru]

Apologies, editing the last post to try to keep it concise.

If he's just copied all his music on to a cd, then it's highly likely this will just be from iTunes so it's just a case of importing it into iTunes on his own laptop. By this, I mean just put the cd/dvd in, load up iTunes and find the import function. If, in the event the files are just stored directly as mp3s/whatever without having been jumbled up by iTunes, then he can just copy them straight over.

edit: if it is iTunes, then he can also log into his account and do whatever he wants. Backing up his music was a good call, though.

The text docs and html/web designs should work directly. For the docs, worse case scenario is that he might have to open them up and resave them or just bach convert them. Cross bridge when come to, etc (google for free convert app, find something reasonable-looking and then convert).

Not sure what you mean by 'files he created for the program'. If these are programs he's written himself, he can just recompile the source code and he's good. The source code is probably going to be more important to him, anyway.

Hope this makes some sense to you and your son.

[marianne202]

Any suggestions on brands or models and/or places to purchase one for the best deal?

[irnbru]

Any suggestions on brands or models and/or places to purchase one for the best deal?

Couple of posts up I recommended a 15" laptop from Dell. They usually make pretty solid devices. Get something with an i3 processor and a dedicated graphics chipset/card for a reasonable price. Dell are usually my go-to recommendation but others will have more ideas.

e.g. the Dell Inspiron 15r-2nd gen with ATI Radeon 6470M (512mb dedicated graphics card), 3GB ram and 320gb hdd for $574.99 incl. delivery is fairly decent.