Do any of the laptop manufacturers come close to Apple?

[123456789A]

All Apple sells now are Macbook Pros and Macbook Airs. To get the "pro" equivalent in build quality on the PC side, you will need to buy a business/enterprise laptop, which costs a bit more than the cheap $300 consumer laptops you find at Walmart. As for the Macbook Air, most of the Ultrabooks I've seen look pretty good, but I haven't ever used one so I can't comment on their construction.

[jamieakers]

None close to Apple. Unless of course you enjoy paying well over the odds for last year's Tech.

I'd recommend either a trip down to your local PC shop or spotting a deal on HotUKDeals. Some good bargains to be had there.

[Mindovermaster Moderator]

Vostro is the small business/budget line of notebooks, Latitude is the regular business class notebooks. I would put the Latitude up there with Thinkpad, but not the Vostro. You get what you pay for.

And yet, my Vostro 1500 from 2007 still works fine as the day I bought it. Was probably different back then.

[blizeH]

Thank you all so much for the responses! Lots of great laptops to check out then, and to be honest I would've instantly disregarded Lenovo (unsure why) so very glad you guys mentioned them.

For what it's worth, I think something as close to a MacBook Air as possible would be awesome, with the following features in order of priority:

1) Nice trackpad (big, and without the awful two buttons at the bottom)

2) Nice feel to it (not heavy/bulky)

3) Nice keyboard

4) Good spec (SSD would be amazing)

So yeah, mostly it is all about the build quality etc. I'm not fussed on it being brushed aluminium or whatever, she would never really take it out of the house AFAIK and isn't particularly clumsy so having something really robust and sturdy like that isn't a priority.

Will hit up Ebuyer and Amazon now and look at these laptops you've all recommended, looks like an Ultrabook is the way to go :)

(edit) Just looking at Lenovo now and can see why I had originally omitted them from my thoughts... they look like something from the 1980's, and unfortunately I think my mum really would want one that looks at least semi nice. Damn, what a shame :(

[blizeH]

Just found this and it looks perfect - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lenovo-IdeaPad-Laptop-Windows-Premium/dp/B005TPRWYS/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1348569376&sr=8-3

Her birthday is very early December though, so will probably buy it late next month and hope to get one with Windows 8 on... though I may have to pay a lot extra for that I guess

[Nick H. Supervisor]

For build quality I would say that there are a lot of options out there. But for myself, I believe there are plenty of reasons for me to get another Macbook Pro. Those reasons won't apply for a user who has not used a Mac before, though.

[Silver47]

Just found this and it looks perfect - http://www.amazon.co...48569376&sr=8-3

Her birthday is very early December though, so will probably buy it late next month and hope to get one with Windows 8 on... though I may have to pay a lot extra for that I guess

Bargin!

[Hell-In-A-Handbasket]

Did you seriously just recommend a vostro (Dell's budget line) in with a thinkpad?

Vostro is the buisness line, inspiron/latitude is the budget line afaik, with studio being the middle line

And iv seen some vostro's that rival Lenovo as far as build quality

[LaP]

Anything but ACER i would say. Don't buy ACER.

[c.grz]

Vostro is the buisness line, inspiron/latitude is the budget line afaik, with studio being the middle line

And iv seen some vostro's that rival Lenovo as far as build quality

Latitude are the enterprise models

Vostro are small business models

Inspiron are home models

I've worked with Dells for close to ten years but personally; my money is on Lenovo's Thinkpad line. They may be expensive but those laptops are phenomenal!!!

[Astra.Xtreme]

Latitude are the enterprise models

Vostro are small business models

Inspiron are home models

I've worked with Dells for close to ten years but personally; my money is on Lenovo's Thinkpad line. They may be expensive but those laptops are phenomenal!!!

Agreed. Dell's lineup is junk compared to Lenovo's. Dell laptops have the crappiest batteries on the market, and it's a big issue year after year. It's definitely well worth the slight premium for a Thinkpad

[Mindovermaster Moderator]

Anything but ACER i would say. Don't buy ACER.

What's wrong with Acer? I have an Acer Aspire AS5750-6589 and loving it. Build quality is top notch, IMO. Not as good as the big boys, (Lenovo) but still pretty awesome.

[Mando]

Lenovo and Asus just to name a few...

Oh btw, you should look into Vizio's new line of laptops, that stuff looks slick lol

Agreed on both brands, my work laptop is a Lenevo, not the prettiest thing around but by god its built like a Volvo! they will need to prize my X201S out of my cold dead hands next hardware refresh!

What's wrong with Acer? I have an Acer Aspire AS5750-6589 and loving it. Build quality is top notch, IMO. Not as good as the big boys, (Lenovo) but still pretty awesome.

Agreed! my first laptop for college years ago was an Acer (TravelMate P3 600), lasted for years afterwards. was usability in windows post XP that eventually killed its use by my stepkids. Still powers on and is in one piece after a pair of pre-teens have used and abused it for a number of years :p

Asus :- well built and quite good looking.

Lenevo :- built like tanks but not the prettiest, an aquired taste, function over form :) I love mine!

Acer :_ cheaper, well built and usually reasonably specced for less than others, the LG of laptops :)

Depends if the Mac path would appeal to your mom, whole ecosystem thang (and paying more for this "ecosystem" in laptop price) or picking one of the 3 above.

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,

If you are looking for something that is reliable, easy-to-service and will have inexpensive parts readily available for a long time to come, look into a ThinkPad X or T series notebook.

If you are looking for something which is similar in appearance to an Apple Mac, check into Samsung's Series 9, Lenovo's U series (this is not part of the ThinkPad line), Fujitsu Lifebook ultralight, ASUS ZenBook or any of the other ultrabook models out there.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

[Brian Miller]

No!

End Thread.

[TheLegendOfMart]

No!

End Thread.

Um, yes.......... pretty much any Ultrabook are close to Apples Macbook Air.

[StevenJ]

The UX21E by Asus is within your price range. Thinner than the air.

Glassed Silver:UX21E :p

[redvamp128]

To be totally honest--

You should not try to compare one manufacturer to another.

Each have their own good and bad to also include Apple.

(some people say for the price Apple charges you can get 3x the speed/memory/screen size and hard drive space when you decide on another brand)

The true way is first look at what you are going to do with the laptop.

For example some people feel that Alienware makes good game laptops.

While like stated before the Vizo makes huge screens which may be what a 50 sumthing mum may want. In order to get huge icons to see more easier.

You should look at when buying a laptop:

Cost (how much you want to spend)

then try to also include :

What you plan on doing with the Laptop (i. e. the portability or will it be a stationary computer...

Gaming...Word Processing... Video editing... web surfing)

I mean for example why spend major $$ on a laptop that someone is only going to watch a few You tube videos on or Facebook.

My own example to this; My desktop is my power horse , but I only do the occasional travel and need to do homework on my laptop when I am on the go. So for me a 1.8Ghz Pentium M Dell Inspiron 14' screen does exactly what I need between XP and Ubuntu.

Which btw yes it is old but perfectly light weight for travel.

When I really want to work I use my desktop.

[rfirth]

Nope. There's a reason why Apple is worth nearly a trillion dollars by now.

Apple isn't worth anywhere near a trillion dollars... The combined worth of Apple + Microsoft + Dell + HP + Facebook is still significantly less than a trillion dollars...

Anyway, to answer the question: yes. We recently got a very nice ASUS laptop in that price range and my mother loved it. I wish I got it for myself because it's pretty awesome and much faster than what I have now.

[blizeH]

Thank you, I was mostly sold on the Lenovo U300S but it actually reviews quite poorly: http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/laptops-portable-pcs/laptops-and-netbooks/lenovo-ideapad-u300s-1048216/review/page:4#articleContent

Back to the drawing board I guess. Tempted by Asus - they recently came out top of an ethical computing chart too! They cost a lot more than the Lenovo though, and the design is very meh

[Elliot B.]

It terms of pure hardware quality, no.

In terms of what's best for you - you need to weigh up the options (software, hardware performance and support).

[Aaron Olive]

If i had to recommend anyone a PC that's close to Apple's design process, it would be any computer from the ENVY and SPECTRE Line from HP which are pretty close.

[StrikedOut]

No!

End Thread.

The arogance of these type of 'answers' always amuses me. Offers nothing to the thread what so ever.

As for the OP, as has been said many times, Lenovo have some fantastic laptops out there and will be my next purchase if my T400 ever dies.

[Shadier]

I have an Asus laptop and I could not be any more happy with it. The build quality on it is very nice. It is a higher end model, but I imagine their more budget friendly laptops are up to par on build quality. Really anything by Asus or Lenevo would be a good option in terms of quality.

[ARchamps]

FWIW, I dropped my Lenovo U150 netbook down stairs, flat on hardwood, and was exposed to split coffee in my car for an extended period. Aside from obvious cosmetic scratches it still works. Had it for about 3+ years. I had a Dell laptop in the past and it fell apart in less than 2. Lenovo all the way!