Definitely Windows, you'll have a lot more options for hardware and software that way. Plus you'll more than likely be able to buy new and still stay in budget. Not so easy to do if you decide to go Macintosh, Apple charges way too much for their stuff.

Ahoy all again.
I'm using a bluetooth keyboard on ios tpo write this down so ignore all the spelling errors.
Defender, thank you for your reply. As always, Its full of info that I needed.

Its not mac vs windows debait that I'm going for on here, but the machines themselves, I actually do know a fare bit about macs, I blame all you mac enthusiasts for that. :d
What I am actually looking for is something that lasts me a fare while without issues, as I have to deal with this z500 here, Before this machine I had a g550? or some such which worked quite well considering it was a coretod machn.
The only reason I'm considering a mac is because of its life. I've heard from people that it actually lasts a long time as compared to all these other menufacturers out there, and I guess I agree from what I have seen.
The macs at the high end are defenitly out of my price range though, so I asked if I cou;ld get a mac around that price which would do everything I want it to.
Even if I end up getting a mac I believe I'll end up installing windows alongside because as things now stand, I can't play all these audiogames or muds well on a mac. but for other things, I could do just as well with a mac
I have no clue if apple even sells refribished macs out here, but I'll ask around and see what I end up with.
Right  now, I could probably get a desktop be it a windows or a mac mini, which would meet all my needs just fine, but I have to carry these laptop and such around for taking notes and such, so needs must.

Hi,
A macbook air was able to run win8.1  without lagging and with a few things running like jaws, and a few other applications?
Wouldn't have thought so looking at its processer and such that are available.
I guess the apples website displays only the latest versions of macs? I.E 2016 as aposed to 2013 2015,
What's thwe difference between thiose anyway?
I guess for the mac prices I'll actually have to visit a local store, and see what they are sellling the different moddles at.
question, Does a ssd come along with the macbook air, or you need to buy 1.
Could you for instence, have a hdd and ssd loaded into a air? I guess not.
I just might have to take a windows machine though,looking at its prices on the website, if there isn't referbished versions of macs sold here or older moddles aren't sold by apple retailers.
lets see.
Still looking for machine recommendations,though. on the windows side, just in case a mac happens to be out of my price range.

Hi,
I  wouldn't consider 3 years as being long lasting, as that's what my laptops usually last for. 3/4 years,and even then after the 2 year mark they start having issues and things need to be replaced/repaired.

That must be some machine you got there, laptops lasting 8 years,with nothing still wrong with them is unheard of. At least I haven't heard of such a thing, specially a non apple computers.

I did look through a few machines but all of them or almost all of them have a U processer,ug.
So trying to see if I can actually get a i7q at $800 900 or so, if not that then a processer that isn't a U,at least.

Hi,

Thank you figment, but I suppose you have gotten the url slightly wrong. I see a ipad pro on there not a macbook pro.

I guess business laptops are defenatly noyt something I could buy for now, but macs are somewhat similar.
They aren't really targeted as such, I.E advertised like that, but they are in terms of quality similar to most business cklass laptops if not better.

Of course I have never had anything to do with a business laptop or such so I wouldn't know anything about them, but people around me that have had a mac have used the things for ages and ages,that too without issues in which I often tend to run into on my windows macchines after 2 or so years.
Say what one will about apple being a tad bit steap when it comes to pricing, but imo you get what you pay for. you pay high but you do get quality.

Has anyone used asus machines? if so, how good are they? I know this tends to vary on an machine to machine, but generally lenovo has been good for me, sept in recent years. and they do work,but they aren't something I'd call long lasting.
grryf

Part of the reason I suggested the model that I did was because it lacks Apple's signature bullshit over the last few years.

E.G. glued in place battery, components directly soldered onto the motherboard, a casing that needs a special screwdriver and allot of patients to open, and overly expensive  periferals for basic functions such as Ethernet, CD/DVD playback, a MagSafe to MagSafe 2 converter if you want to use most preexisting power cords at schools and businesses when you forget/break yours, and a mini display port to VGA adapter if you want to use the kind of older projectors and screens  that institutions still have all over, as well as a mini display port to DVI adapter if you want to use a more modern high resolution display.
Did I mention that most of these don't work with Windows even on boot camp? Or that the 80 dollar super drive doesn't even have blue ray support? Which means you'll probably have to go hunting for alternatives.

This earlier model comes with a very good slot type CD/DVD drive built in, it's actually the super drive, just internal and slimmed down.  It also comes with relatively easy to replace memory and hard drive, as well as user serviceable fan and heatsync, though you may still need a special screwdriver which you can buy online to do so, but that's the price you pay for that protective aluminum clamshell casing that will keep your computer safe from most falls, and at least it won't warp or break when your taking it off like the newer models can.

It also still supports Windows 7 natively, and it's hardware is up to date enough to be useful for at least another 2 or 3 major versions of OSX and Windows, based on the way that minimum system requirements keep shrinking every time.

As to Apple selling refurbished, yeah, they do, and the article I linked goes into more depth about that, among other things.

To Figment

Firstly, the older latitudes are the only ones that are built that well unfortunately, the new ones are just stapled and glued together crap, with quote on quote armor coding that comes off when you scratch it with your fingernail, this is as of 2012 or so, and I know this from personal experience as I had to take one apart to clean the fan.
The acidic binder in the glue also burned off a layer of skin from my hands, which sucked but wasn't like, E R worthy or anything.  Still, I had to let it burn it's self out, because water didn't do much, and of course I couldn't read any warnings that might have been there.

Also, my best friend has a Macbook Pro that's lasted him around 8 years as well, and the only reason he got a new one was because the hardware was seriously out of date.
This goes along with several other acquaintances over the years who've had both Mac laptops and all in ones that have lasted until they were no longer relevant to today's software requirements.

I don't exactly know where your getting your information Figment, but where ever it is, the source is obviously highly biased.
Macs have, and always have had, an excellent track record in terms of longevity, and so do some other laptops of course, the Lenovo T series, the Panasonic Toughbook, some of the chromebooks, depending on manufacturer of course, and many newer ultrabooks that took their cue's directly from apple and started using diamond  cut unibody aluminum casings and flash only storage.

But even before that revolution, the ahead of it's time aluminum casing, combined with the apple care plan and the carefully selected hardware and streamlined firmware to keep it at safe levels of operation kept those laptops alive long past what you'd expect of them.

I'm not an apple fanboy by any regard, in fact I'm quite unhappy with them right now do to the ridiculous price of their laptop chargers, along with the quality control issues for screens and logic boards from the factory, and when I get a cellphone I'm planning on going with a Motorola G or Blu Life X1, both running the latest version of Android, and at this point I find the Dell XPS series and a handful of others to be a better deal over all than the latest MacBook models, but I also won't flat out deny the facts just so I can attempt to internally validate my preexisting beliefs about an entire tech ecosystem either, lest I be rightfully labeled as a brand elitist. 

Ahoy all

@defender, I'd be sure to look specificly for this moddle,then.
As for referbished apple macs, I meant not in the USA but my country(india). The laws around here selling official referbished stuff is a bit wierd and iffy, so I am not if apple actually sell referbished moddles. but as I said, I'll look around and see if they actually do or not.speaking of other machines other than macs, could you please suggest a few machines on the windows side that I could go for?

I do have a few questions about the mac's memory and such,but let me see if I can actually get one before I worry about these. :d

Couldn't have said it better about macs longevity myself,and that's exactly what people around me that have bought macs experienced as well.

I had to pay Apple to maintain it? Not yet, lol. I just bought a $30 adaptor, and boom, it works. Also, with the Duet app on my iPhone, I don’t even need a monitor, I just plug in my iPhone, launch the app, and there, the Mac runs fine. Of course, I still use one when I have access to it, because sometimes I like letting my step-siblings play games on the Mac, but besides that, I don’t need the monitor really.
Also, what walled garden are you talking about? Oh. You’ve gotten iOS and Mac OS confused. iOS is walled up for a pretty big reason, and that is that we often store pretty personal stuff on our phones, and we rarely think about that, and we carry them around. People who have Macs tend to sort of know what they’re doing, so we can have access to the filesystem, the Terminal, and applications that Apple doesn’t even know about. So really, as I said, what walled garden can enclose the Mac’s software?
Speaking of software, does Windows 10 have a native spell checker that is system-wide now? Does it have a dictionary, an accessible Mail app, an updated accessible web browser, the ability for it’s TTS system to read almost *any* unicode character including emoji… I ask not to be derisive, but just wondering if Windows has taken any leaps in the right direction. If not, then the Mac welcomes you to all it has to offer.

That famous apple quality? Yeah... got me a macbook pro retna in 2013.  ThatMac ran like a dream.. right up til apple care ran out. Then the screen died a few weeks later. It sat on a desk for it's entire life. Cost to replace the screen? 800 pounds is what the guy in the apple store told me. Can't even sell it on to get cash to get a new laptop because broken screen.
Saying that, My dad still uses my old 2008 macbook pro that I just stuck an SSD and 8 GB of ram in. It runs surprisingly well.
I can only come to one conclusion here. Apple are cheaping out on their ultra thin, high rez(TM) darlings. If you really want to spring for a mac then go for the 2012 macbook pro 13 or 15 if you can find it cheap enough. With the adition of a SSD, and 16 GB of ram the machine will run really well. Don't care about the super drive? you can pull it out and replace it with another 2.5 inch drive bay for more storage. Can also replace the thermal compound if you want for better cooling.

OK, so I've been studiously avoiding this topic because the Mac and low-cost are not exactly phrases that go together, but I'm going to clarify some points, mostly because I own and still use recent Mac hardware.

BootCamp for Win7 stopped around 2015, yes. My iMac 14 supports it; my Retina MBP 15 doesn't. My two Mac Minis do, but that's not what they're for. And anyway, Win8.1 is just great for me, with Classic Shell. If you buy a Mac and know which model it is, you can look it up on Apple's site to find out which OSs are supported.

@grryf: long life is the one thing Apple are the undisputed winner at. Sure there's more choice on the Windows side, but the race to the bottom means that, sadly, a disproportionate amount of it is crap. For every well-build Windows notebook, there are dozen that are badly put together, compromise on the components and still worse the chassis, and are simply not "value for money". It gives me no pleasure saying this, really, because Apple has been getting complacent recently, with several (now mostly resolved) quality issues of their own.

What I suggest you do is to pick up the Apple Store app, and see how retail looks where you are. If you can, wait a month, and try again, paying special attention to the Refurbished section. Other stores, likewise, will have clearance. That's because WWDC (Apple's developer conference) is just around the corner, and if there is new hardware to go with the latest release of OS X, there will be a rush on the resale market. There always is. You will want to capitalise on that, if you can. I always go top-spec just because I want to future-proof, and because I get excellent returns from the resale on a machine that's built to last. Of course, my oldest in-use Mac is still going strong at six years, so don't let the thought that I'm buying new Macs just because I want the latest shiny give you a false impression in that regard either. I'm bound to say, in fact, that I've never been disappointed by any of my purchases, nor has anybody I've known, either online or offline, and the one time I needed a repair on a notebook I got a complete replacement, and it was the latest model to boot (which is why I now have it). Apple have been good to me, so I'd say go for it.

Now, If I had a gripe, it would be as Defender said that Apple is going with the lock-in strategy on upgrades. It's no longer about specs, but fashion, so whatever you get has to have consumer appeal--no professional workstations and no upgradable desktops. There are machines to avoid: these are distinguished by non-upgradability with atrocious starting configurations, for example an iMac with a spinning hard disk when the superior configurations--to be had for unreasonable upgrade prices--all have flash storage. Unfortunately, it sounds like you don't have the option of paying the tax, so you must either look to the DIY market on older models or a pre-built refurb. Needless to say, if you can't upgrade the machine, buy the best you can up front.  I finally surrendered and bought both Retina MacBook Pro and iMac, and I'm very happy with them despite the bloody fortune I paid for them because they were clearly an improvement over their ageing predecessors, despite their over-emphasis on thinness. You can buy most accessories more cheaply without Apple, so there's no real problem there, just the computers. I guess Apple can count on consumers like me to buy their desirable products, even though I bought both refurbished.

Anyway, good luck with your purchase, whatever it turns out to be. Macs are awesome, even as Windows machines.

I had written that post at least 10 hours before and I couldn't submit the dam thing,because safari and this forum don't like eachh other, or at least VO doesn't like me making posts on here. :d

@sebby, I agree, macs and low cost usually don't go together, but what I'm trying to do here is get the notebook which will last me the longest within the price I can pay. Even though I can't get the best mac out there,I guess the lower ends might just do me as well,again as long as they are available around here.
Your views regarding macs generally match  what I've seen myself, and that's one reason I'm even thinking of macs at all.
Funnyly enough, imo macs make the best windows machines out there,although a bit steap in price terms.
I had almost forgotten about wwdc, and I'll try and hold on til then because I'm more likely to get a better deal at that point than otherwise, but dunno if I can make do without til then.
Thanks, either way, I'll keep all of that in mind when I go to make a purchase.