Name: Great Homeschool Conventions (Columbus)
Start: 2025-04-24T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-04-26T23:59:59-05:00
Location: Columbus, OH

Tagged: buying computers, computers, Macs

This topic has 30 replies, 13 voices, and was last updated 12 years, 4 months ago by Christine Kaiser.

Viewing 15 posts - 16 through 30 (of 31 total)

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October 22, 2012 at 3:55 am
jmac17
Participant
We have been very happy with our “Gateway” brand PCs. We’ve got three. They were much more reasonably priced than the comparable Macs that we have looked at. I know many people rave about the Macs, but we just couldn’t justify the cost difference when these do everything that we need.
October 22, 2012 at 12:01 pm
LDIMom
Participant
I would have to question the cost savings. My parents have purchased two Dell desktops in the last 5 years. The one they have is setting there turned off b/c it has once again gotten a virus. They have expensive anti-virus and spyware software on it to no avail. They have paid for servicing. What good is it if they can’t ever use it?
They paid about $300 each for them. Hmmmm. They could have gotten a brand new Mac desktop for that, which I guarantee would still be running like it did the first day they bought it.
My parents’ have finally decided their next computer if they buy one will be an apple. They both have iPhones now and are sold. With all of the integration b/t apple products, it is an easy leap for them now.
I don’t work for Apple either, but you just can’t compare apples to oranges (or dell lemons) pun totally intended.
October 22, 2012 at 1:58 pm
jmac17
Participant
Wow, LDI Mom: Where do you buy your Mac computers? Maybe it’s a Canadian thing, but we could not find even a refurbished iMac for less than $1200. If I could get a brand new one for $600, I’d consider it. As it is, we always buy our Gateways in the $600-$800 range. That gives us not-quite-top of the line, and they last for years. On the other hand, I’ve had the same experience as your parents with Dell computers. I wouldn’t touch them for anything.
Joanne
October 22, 2012 at 2:02 pm
Sue
Participant
Hmmm….it looks like I might have to start saving to purchase a Mac one of these days. I’m not sure I can afford one right now, because we are very limited on budget and purchasing a PC the-sooner-the-better will save me tons of time that I currently spend waiting for pages to load….to say nothing of the lessened frustration.
Two things: why is it that Macs don’t seem to get viruses? Are the “nasties” only attacking PC’s? Also, I have a lot of files (Word, Excel, Publisher) that I was planning to save on a flash drive and then put on the new PC. Does that all work the same on a Mac?
I’m sooooo Apple illiterate!
October 22, 2012 at 2:37 pm
missceegee
Participant
A new Mac mini is $599 from the apple store.
October 22, 2012 at 3:36 pm
Tristan
Participant
Interesting thread! We’ve had no problems with our Dell over the last 4+ years. We had a Gateway before that for about 7 years and did have a virus one time. I’m pretty open to Mac or PC, we’ll decide when this one is outdated. We also have several laptops that came to us free as people upgraded and are a mix of brands, no Macs. All work fine with no viruses. (One is an old IBM that is not online, the rest are online too).
October 22, 2012 at 3:51 pm
LDIMom
Participant
@jmac, we got our refurbished iBook for $499 from the MacAuthority store. Not sure if they have those in Canada, but that was about 3 years ago.

If you go to apple.com you can see all kinds of refurbished and new as well.
http://store.apple.com/us/product/FC968LL/A
Above is just one example in the $600-$700 range.
It says free shipping but I’m not sure about shipping to Canada. Might be worth checking apple.com
Also, like Doug mentioned, the Education store is worth checking as well b/c they do give discounts there though they vary.
There have been local public schools in our area that auction off their old Macs as well for very cheap. I know a few people who have gotten old Macs for less than $200 going that route. They are well worth that.
Like I said, we have 4 total, 1 was gifted to us, 1 was purchased by my former employer (large Christian publisher when I worked for them from home and they let me keep it), and 2 we purchased (1 my MacBook Pro and the other a 1st generation Intel-based desktop–it was around $600).
That is another thing: a MAC desktop is going to be much cheaper than a laptop and will do all that the laptop will do except travel easily.
HTH
October 22, 2012 at 7:42 pm
Doug Smith
Keymaster
Two things: why is it that Macs don’t seem to get viruses? Are the “nasties” only attacking PC’s?
The foundation of the Mac operating system is simply more robust. It’s a lot harder to create malware for a Mac so there just isn’t as much of it out there.
Also, I have a lot of files (Word, Excel, Publisher) that I was planning to save on a flash drive and then put on the new PC. Does that all work the same on a Mac?
Yes, that works the same way. You can get Microsoft Office for the Mac, or if you don’t use many of the features, you can get Apple’s Pages and Numbers apps, which are a lot less expensive and are simpler because they leave out the bloat of features that most people don’t use. I haven’t had MS Office on my Mac for many years since those other apps, and others that come with the Mac OS, open and save the MS files.
October 24, 2012 at 6:29 pm
LDIMom
Participant
@Sue,
I receive e-blasts from Staples. Not sure if you are near one, but I just got a coupon code for in-store only.
It is for $100 off ALL clearance computers (excluding Windows 8 presales).
I thought of your post as soon as I saw it. Not sure if you are near one, but here’s the code in case:
76386
I think you have to print it or show it from a smartphone, so let me know if interested and I could forward it to your email via PM.
October 24, 2012 at 6:30 pm
LDIMom
Participant
P.S. This would exclude MACS I think b/c they are never clearanced. However, Staples has a huge selection of computers so maybe something else there might be a good fit. And if anyone else wanted the coupon, I’d be happy to pass it on!
October 24, 2012 at 7:23 pm
artcmomto3
Participant
Another Mac family here! We got our first iMac 2-3 years ago and have never looked back! DH used to spend hours/month fixing things on the PC. Now he doesn’t have to spend any time fighting bugs and issues. It is a bit of an adjustment, but honestly the Mac is so user friendly it is not difficult to learn. The only thing I don’t like is that Adobe and Mac are not working together well, and I love using PhotoShop. With the new OS that has iCloud I would no longer be able to use PS.
October 24, 2012 at 8:11 pm
Doug Smith
Keymaster
Adobe and Mac are not working together well, and I love using PhotoShop. With the new OS that has iCloud I would no longer be able to use PS.
That should only be the case if you have an outdated version of Photoshop and need to upgrade. That’s the nature of software updates in general sometimes and not specific to Photoshop.
At least the last couple versions of Photoshop work just fine with the current Mac OS.
October 25, 2012 at 2:47 am
Sue
Participant
Well, I ended up purchasing a Dell Inspiron 660s. Now I just have to hook it all up….and I’m putting it on a cart that we were given a couple of years ago….which is buried beneath a bunch of junk in storage….and I have to sort through and put away all of the files that are sitting in the slots on the current desk!
So….I guess everyone can guess how I’m spending my weekend! Thanks, everyone, for your input. I only had about $400 to spend, but I know I will be happy to have a computer where it doesn’t take me 10 minutes just to compose and send a one-paragraph email. Hmmm…..I might be seeing “Slow down; you move too fast” more often!
doo doo doo doo, feelin’ groovy….
October 25, 2012 at 3:19 am
chocodog
Participant
🙂 Glad to hear about your new baby! 🙂 Hope putting her together goes smoothly. I was thinking about you when you posted. I was out of town and saw your post. Glad everything worked out good for you. We have a dell also. Not new of course but does its job. Not very fast but I also have dial-up and it is very slow. But this one was also given to me so I can’t complain much. Tehe he.
I told my husband about the tread and I hope next computer we will be able to try a Mac. He didn’t seem to enthusiastic about buying a new computer though. We just bought a new washing machine and he is still wringing about it…. tehe he… I finally got my front end loader… 🙂 So, maybe in 6 years I may get the computer I want. 🙂 I sure hope it’s not that long.
Anyway, I hope all goes well with you.
Have a blessed day!!!
October 25, 2012 at 9:46 pm
Christine Kaiser
Participant
All MAC here,too! Yes, they are more expensive but you get what you pay for. Never had a virus, after 4 years our iMAC just loses slightly on speed, basically if you give them some TLC every few years they will run and run and run…