I presume you mean "rather than a full-sized machine", since Dell and Asus (and everyone else) make systems of all sizes.
The answer is: Depends entirely on what YOU plan to do with it,. Do you care more about portability, or comfort when using it? What's the battery life of the systems, and how much do you care about that? Does the mini machine have a built in or external CD drive, and how often will you need that?
Get the spec sheets. Line them up next to each other. Go down the list assigning plus and minus point scores for each difference. Add them up. Then throw that out and buy what seems to make sense for you. Then stop looking at other machines for at least a year, since there's guaranteed to be a new machine in a few weeks that you would have bought had it been available.
If you really can't decide, maybe it isn't time to buy yet.
I can't decide, but i have to. The laptop im currently using hasn't got a working battery, so every time i change room at school i have to restart. +its very slow
aaand ups! sorry i forgot to say mac, a 13 inch 2.26GHz macbook pro. is it worth buying a mac compared to a pc?
Matter of taste. Depends on what you want to do. Macs tend to be more expensive for the same function, offer you fewer alternatives, but be a bit more tightly integrated and polished for those reasons. PCs can do just about anything the mac can, and are more amenable to being modified to do more, but are a bit less efficient and a bit more prone to software problems as a result.
I'm an IBM bigot, personally, but IBM's out of the PC market. (Though I still like the Thinkpads even now that Lenovo is making them.) Of course I'm now running Linux on two out of four machines, and expect to convert one of the others as soon as someone comes out with a decent Linux-based DAW package.
Think about exactly what you intend to do with this machine. Find out what software/hardware is available to do those things on each platform. Use that to drive your decision.
Or pick something. As a student, odds are that this won't make much of a difference except that your favorite game may only be available on one of the two systems.
Thank you for helping me descide. My final decision haven't been made, but i will probarbly buy a mac as soom as i get the money. Im a bit tired of pc, and i havent yet found a pc thats as comfordable and intuitive to use compared to a mac.
And btw, has linux got to a point were you want it to be your main OS? (is it that good?)
Having read the other comments, I'll ask "which bit of the question are you having trouble with?" - What aspects are you thinking about or not sure on?
Your question doesn't have quiet enough information to give you an answer.
A 13" 2.26 ghz what?
And what are the specs of the Dell and Asus?
Cpu speed is only one of the things that you should be looking at to make you decision. Are you going to be playing the latest 3d games on this computer? If not then you won't need the fastest cpu. You can show movies, edit pictures, surf the net, do word processing and play most of the games with a slower processor. You could even go down to 1.5 ghz in most cases and never notice the slower cpu. You pay less for the slower cpu's and can spend more on other features.
Like screen size. I'd go for the larger screen size in almost every case. The only reason to get a smaller case is battery life. If you want a computer that you can take to school and use all day then a smaller screen "usually" has the most battery life but that can differ due to the battery sizes.
2 gig of ram is usually enough and paying for more probably won't get you more speed.
Most of the smaller computers don't have a c/d drive so you need to budget for an outboard one.
If you're going to be carrying it around like to school or to Starbucks you'll want some kind of carrying case to protect it in and to carry accessories.
Comments
Best Answer 11 years ago
I presume you mean "rather than a full-sized machine", since Dell and Asus (and everyone else) make systems of all sizes.
The answer is: Depends entirely on what YOU plan to do with it,. Do you care more about portability, or comfort when using it? What's the battery life of the systems, and how much do you care about that? Does the mini machine have a built in or external CD drive, and how often will you need that?
Get the spec sheets. Line them up next to each other. Go down the list assigning plus and minus point scores for each difference. Add them up. Then throw that out and buy what seems to make sense for you. Then stop looking at other machines for at least a year, since there's guaranteed to be a new machine in a few weeks that you would have bought had it been available.
If you really can't decide, maybe it isn't time to buy yet.
Answer 11 years ago
Good reply!
I can't decide, but i have to. The laptop im currently using hasn't got a working battery, so every time i change room at school i have to restart. +its very slow
aaand ups! sorry i forgot to say mac, a 13 inch 2.26GHz macbook pro. is it worth buying a mac compared to a pc?
Answer 11 years ago
Matter of taste. Depends on what you want to do. Macs tend to be more expensive for the same function, offer you fewer alternatives, but be a bit more tightly integrated and polished for those reasons. PCs can do just about anything the mac can, and are more amenable to being modified to do more, but are a bit less efficient and a bit more prone to software problems as a result.
I'm an IBM bigot, personally, but IBM's out of the PC market. (Though I still like the Thinkpads even now that Lenovo is making them.) Of course I'm now running Linux on two out of four machines, and expect to convert one of the others as soon as someone comes out with a decent Linux-based DAW package.
Think about exactly what you intend to do with this machine. Find out what software/hardware is available to do those things on each platform. Use that to drive your decision.
Or pick something. As a student, odds are that this won't make much of a difference except that your favorite game may only be available on one of the two systems.
11 years ago
Thank you for helping me descide. My final decision haven't been made, but i will probarbly buy a mac as soom as i get the money. Im a bit tired of pc, and i havent yet found a pc thats as comfordable and intuitive to use compared to a mac.
And btw, has linux got to a point were you want it to be your main OS? (is it that good?)
11 years ago
Having read the other comments, I'll ask "which bit of the question are you having trouble with?" - What aspects are you thinking about or not sure on?
L
11 years ago
Your question doesn't have quiet enough information to give you an answer.
A 13" 2.26 ghz what?
And what are the specs of the Dell and Asus?
Cpu speed is only one of the things that you should be looking at to make you decision. Are you going to be playing the latest 3d games on this computer? If not then you won't need the fastest cpu. You can show movies, edit pictures, surf the net, do word processing and play most of the games with a slower processor. You could even go down to 1.5 ghz in most cases and never notice the slower cpu. You pay less for the slower cpu's and can spend more on other features.
Like screen size. I'd go for the larger screen size in almost every case. The only reason to get a smaller case is battery life. If you want a computer that you can take to school and use all day then a smaller screen "usually" has the most battery life but that can differ due to the battery sizes.
2 gig of ram is usually enough and paying for more probably won't get you more speed.
Most of the smaller computers don't have a c/d drive so you need to budget for an outboard one.
If you're going to be carrying it around like to school or to Starbucks you'll want some kind of carrying case to protect it in and to carry accessories.
What software does it come with?