MacPro vs Toshiba ?

Question

Do you advise me to buy a Macpro, instead of a Toshiba? I work mostly on Excel & PowerPoint. Please advise

Answer 1

Rania777 wrote:
Do you advise me to buy a Macpro, instead of a Toshiba? I work mostly on Excel & PowerPoint. Please advise
I have a friend who has one and I set up a Toshiba for him, take care of it so I have some first hand experience.
For what you get with a basic use 15" Toshiba and a basic use MacBook Pro 13", the Tosihba is a much better value for the money. Can cost as little as a 1/3 the price of a MacBook Pro.
You also get Windows 7, and if your sharing files a lot with other Windows users, then it pays to have Windows as a lot of formatting and other issues don't pop up as much as trading files between a Mac and a PC.
So price wise for "Excel and PowerPoint" basic web use, most video watching. Stuff 90% of people do with computers (dual core is fine)
Toshiba dual core AMD with integrated graphics = apx $400 + tax. (w/3 year warranty.)
MacBook Pro i5 dual core Intel with integrated graphics = apx $1200+$350 AppleCare + tax.
So clearly the Toshiba is a better deal and you get a bigger screen.
Both the Toshiba and the 13" and the 2,0 Ghz MacBook Pro are going to run hot, as they have either no graphics card, or a weak one. (the 2.0 ghz MBP)
Some things to be done with a new PC,
1: Run all the Windows updates over and over, until clear
2: Install the free Microsoft Security Essentials
3: Create a non-admin account that you use all the time online, a admin account is for running updates etc.
4: Create a set of System Restore Disks (2 sets) and label them
5: Be extra careful installing "crap", verify all sources of software installed to make sure your not installing something with a bad reputation. Scan all media for malware before connecting to your machine or right away.
6: Backup files to a external drive regularly.
7: Make sure your web borwser plug ins are updated, by regularly checking with this site.
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/plugincheck/
You don't need to pay for anti-malware, MSE will take care of you well. If you have a issue, you can always restore from the System Restore Disks or partition. Hold F8 upon booting.
Basically the list above is the same for Mac users now, except having to install anti-malware. There is the Flashback trojan that can catch a Mac user. Also if a Mac user needs to clean Windows malware off then perhaps they should install ClamXav.
There is also ClamWin for Windows which is also free.
ON the other hand, if your looking for a more powerful "workstation" type laptop, money is no object, then the quad core i7 with it's Unix based OS X is by far a better choice than a Windows PC. It also has a powerful graphics card in addition to the very poor integrated graphics integrated in the CPU like they all come now.
If you need Windows, you can install it with Bootcamp and run it and Windows on the same machine or you can run Windows AT THE SAME TIME as OS X, along with other operating systems using virutal machine software.
Your needs will be more along the lines of video and music production, 3D gaming, running several operating systems at once and so forth.
Because OS X is much more stable, it's a better choice for more demanding uses than Windows.
For this type of MacBook Pro, you want the 2.2 Ghz 15" or better.
Value speaking for most basic uses, a Mac really has nothing going for it against a Windows 7 PC as it used too, and it's really all Apple's intention not to play in the "sub-$1000" notebook market, so if your getting the same for less and it's just as stable, then I say get the Toshiba.
There is nothing wrong is getting just the hardware you need and not paying a fortune for it.
Apple's answer for the sub $1000 market is iPads, which only renders part of the Internet and can't run software from Microsoft like Excel or Powerpoint.
So again your choices are abundant on the Windows side, there are also more support all around you as well.
If you get a job, they all use Windows, except in certain fields like graphics they tend to use Mac's.
Hope this helps.