Hey guys, I'm having a really hard time deciding on whether I should go with Apple (with their OS) or with a Dell and Windows Vista.

I've heard a lot of bad things about Vista, which is really making me hesitant to get it. Also I hear that Dell customer support sucks, and if something happens to my laptop (which apparently is bound to happen according to my uncle) then I'll be screwed.

Then there's the macbook. The screen size is an abysmal 13 inches, and I was going to get a 15 inch Inspiron. Does anyone have a 13 inch screen? If so, how do they like it? My uncle is a complete Apple fanboy, but he's extremely intelligent when it comes to computers so don't go hatin. ;)

So basically from what I've gathered, I have to choose between a shoddy OS and a buggy laptop, or a very small screen macbook that costs about 100 dollars more.

I'm going to the Apple store to check out the macbook right now, so I'll check back on this thread in a few hours. Any advice is very appreciated!

Oh and in case it matters, I'm mainly using this laptop just for school and personal purposes. I'm not planning on playing videogames on it.

I use Vista and I love it compared to XP. Granted there is 1 game I have that got screwed up, but I really don't care. Vista is way more stable then XP for non-business uses. I have heard horror stories of trying to get Vista to work properly with various pieces of business software.

Now, the real thing comes down to what do you really want to do with your laptop. If all you need is standard applications like word, excel, other such programs, then it is a toss up.

Obviously screen size matters, so the dell wins this round.

Reliability/support - Apple probably is better, but I've never had a dell computer break on me. Obviously that doesn't mean much, but I can't really comment on support. As for things happening to laptops, It is all about how careful you are. My family has had 3 laptops, and all have died of old age, not mishaps.

Price - obviously dell wins by $100. It depends on if the tech support is worth this extra 100.

EDIT: I personally would go with the Dell, however that is because I am a software developer and I get free copies of Visual Studio for free from Microsoft.

I have a 13" iBook G4 and the screen size is fine, it doesn't get in the way if your only going to use it for personal use. Everyone i know that uses Vista hates it and when i go round to friends houses and use it it is extremely slow on brand new computers. I would definitely go with the Macbook because if you are unsatisfied with OS X then you can install XP or Vista on to it and use that instead.

I would go with the Macbook. For me, the ability to use OSX is well worth the extra $100.
Also, my sister recently got a macbook, and the screen doesn't seem small at all. And this is coming from the owner of a 24" iMac. You can use spaces (http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/spaces.html), a feature in OSX Leopard, to get around the screen space issue as well.

Only for school and personal purposes? Macbook! osx is great.. and surfing on the web is much safer.. and you won't get any virusses from stupid classmates who has send you a schoolproject file infested with a Windows virus... Damn.. I hated that kid..

Ii have a Dell Inspirion (mines a 17in) and I have had no problems with customer support. As a matter of fact last week I had the power cord crap out on me (I think we had a power surge during the night thank God the laptop wasn't hooked up) I called them and less than twenty minutes later they were sending me another one. I got it the next day.

I really don't know why people go hating on CS as long as you're patient and don't cuss them out they give you what you want.

As far as Vista goes, I also like it better than XP but be sure to get Home Premium at the very least. Home basic is garbage.

My brother-in-law's new Toshiba Vista-only laptop hasn't made a good impression on me. It overheats and hard crashes more often than I would tolerate if it were my computer.

It's possible that Dell has put together a better laptop than Toshiba, but I just don't think that Vista is a good portable OS. It's too bloated and resource-hungry to run efficiently on the limited hardware of a laptop system.

I recommend going with the Macbook, especially if this is going to be a work machine.

I use vista on this laptop and it reminds me exactly of XP, I guess less games/drivers are supported at the moment. OSX is the AOL of operating systems, its pretty and easy as shit to use, but is the current trend. I really like small screens and loved my rommates ex'es 12" macbook screen. Since you are on a gaming site I would highly suggest getting a PC as thats where the games are going to be for a long time.

If you are not an idiot you will not get viruses on Vista or XP, and you can get a PC as powerful as the equivalent mac for nearly half the price most of the time. If you are a graphic designer in school or enjoy hanging around "hip" scenes of people get a mac as your peers will treat you like a second class citizen for using a PC.

i suggest you buy a mac, the hardware is amazing, the software is even better, everything about it is just right. You can even install vista in it. And by the way, i realized that vista is quite slow and i've read an article talking about how vista was considered a failure.

From what I hear vista gets like 99% less viruses then XP making its virus level around the same as what the old mac OS tiger was at. Don't know about the new mac OS.

The truth is that back in the day Macs were better built then PC's so their extra cost was justified. Not so much the case now, as their specs are the same. Get the PC or you'll wind up paying not only extra $$$ for not only the Mac brand name but then you'll pay $$$ again to get the M$ products you'd get for free on a Dell.

Unless you don't want MS word etc.