Need to buy desktop, laptop/tablet

[Guest valueInv]

 

Do you not find Microsoft Word and excel lag a lot on a mac?

 

I have a new Mac mini and it sucks so much - it can't handle two browsers (albeit I have 30 tabs) and iTunes and excel open at the same time. I have 4gb ram too.

 

My old hackintosh from a windows machine did better. So is the office PC.

 

I'm seriously thinking of getting a surface pro two...

 

I love Apple's Ecosystem.

 

At work I use a MacBook Air.

At home I use a MacBook Pro & iPad Mini Retina 128gig (arriving today)  ;D

 

Take a look at the process manager and see what is consuming the memory/cpu. Sometimes the plugins start eating up resources.

 

What version of Mac OSX are you running?

[Palantir]

I think 4gb may not be cutting it, but then again, I'm having problems of my own with Firefox being dramatically slow.

[gfp]

I second the above suggestion by valueInv - the application that checks system resource usage is "Activity Monitor" - you will likely find that Flash is the culprit.  Running the newest version of Safari (in Mavericks) and not other browser brands will help performance on a mac with lots of tabs open.

 

For some reason, Adobe Flash has never worked well on Macs, hence Apple's all out war on Flash.  I don't use the Mac version of MS Office, so I have no idea if that is part of the problem.

[smreitz]

You want Microsoft Office, so stick with a windows machine. The best options I have found out there to encompass the tablet/laptop combo into a viable yet portable system are:

 

1. Surface Pro 2 (with as much RAM memory you can get) - which many members have already recommended OR

2. Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 2 Pro - this is a great tablet/laptop combo where the screen folds all the way around to convert from a regular laptop to a great tablet. It is highly rated on CNET where you can read a full review:

 

http://www.cnet.com/laptops/lenovo-ideapad-yoga-2/4505-3121_7-35827161.html

 

If you want to do work on a larger screen, just get an HDMI extension to your TV or larger monitor from the above choices. If you are not playing games or editing video/music, there is little use for the large non-movable desktop towers.

 

 

 

[tengen]

Take a look at the process manager and see what is consuming the memory/cpu. Sometimes the plugins start eating up resources.

 

I'd bet it's Flash. If there are 30 browser tabs open on sites with advertising, I'd guess a dozen or more have an embedded Flash object. For whatever reason, Flash just runs badly on OSX compared to Windows.

[Guest valueInv]

Take a look at the process manager and see what is consuming the memory/cpu. Sometimes the plugins start eating up resources.

 

I'd bet it's Flash. If there are 30 browser tabs open on sites with advertising, I'd guess a dozen or more have an embedded Flash object. For whatever reason, Flash just runs badly on OSX compared to Windows.

Mavericks has some big improvements in Safari's architecture that should address this issue.

[TorontoRaptorsFan]

I love my iPad Mini retina. I love lying in bed with it reading my Kindle books and Next Issue app magazines.

[DTEJD1997]

A Mac Pro with dual 30" lcd's is good for business.  You have a little bit of real-estate on your desk to keep multiple windows open simultaneously.  I always need to keep a monthly sales log going, hopefully to be updated several times each day  ;D

 

I also keep my portfolios open, and a quote window.

 

Also need to read documents/research during the day.

 

I've heard there are now monitors larger than 30" that are starting to sell for reasonable prices.  I think you need a HDMI interface instead of dual link DVI.

 

I also have a MacBook air for travel.

 

These work pretty good.

[LowIQinvestor]

Ross812,

 

Thanks for the suggestion---I just received my HP Chromebook 14 and I am very pleased so far. I love the instant boot up and overall speed of switching between apps etc. Hardware feels nice and having a full size keyboard was important to me.

 

I do have a desktop PC that I plan to remotely access when I am on the road , but more and more I am thinking I can run my whole business with just a browser and various cloud apps.

[DCG]

Ross812,

 

Thanks for the suggestion---I just received my HP Chromebook 14 and I am very pleased so far. I love the instant boot up and overall speed of switching between apps etc. Hardware feels nice and having a full size keyboard was important to me.

 

I do have a desktop PC that I plan to remotely access when I am on the road , but more and more I am thinking I can run my whole business with just a browser and various cloud apps.

 

Are you still happy with the chromebook after spending some more time with it?

[DCG]

I'm in the market for a new computer and am trying to decide between a 13" macbook pro + a larger external desktop monitor, or an iMac + a small laptop like a Chromebook for portability.

 

The iMac obviously has a larger screen and better specs for a lower price, but I'd likely want some sort of laptop for portability. Not sure I really need 2 separate computers though (although the Chromebook is sort of a tablet with a keyboard). The iPad is great for portability, but I think I'd ideally want something with a keyboard (and that you can use a mouse with) for work-related stuff.

 

 

My current computer is a 2007 15" Macbook pro that seems to be on it's last legs (it's especially slow running Mavericks). I guess I could potentially hold onto that and use that when traveling (or just outside of the house) - maybe it would be faster if I clear out most of the HD and strip it down to a pretty bare-bones computer, but the 15" size is still larger than I'd prefer for traveling.

 

 

Thoughts?

[Palantir]

Why not an MBA with the higher end processor and memory?

[DCG]

Why not an MBA with the higher end processor and memory?

 

 

Lack of a retina screen. If it had a retina screen I'd consider it (and not sure I want to wait until the fall until it's likely released).

[Liberty]

I'm in the market for a new computer and am trying to decide between a 13" macbook pro + a larger external desktop monitor

 

Add a wireless keyboard and mouse and it's hard to see how you could be disappointed with that, especially if you are coming from an older Macbook Pro and liked that experience. Things have gotten a lot better since 2007 :D

 

That seems much better than the iMac + Chromebook because this way when you're mobile, you're still in the same environment with all your stuff and all the same capabilities instead of being on a lower quality, more limited machine.

 

Another option would be iMac + iPad + origami case and wireless keyboard ( http://goincase.com/shop/incase-origami-workstation-for-ipad-2 ). I have that setup for my iPad, and it has replaced my laptop for all living room activities.