My girlfriend needs 'a device'

[bobspud]

Surfing, photos and music needs a 800 quid mac book air?

FFS, madness.

But you are a solid professional that can look after their own shizzle when a techie buys a piece of kit for a non techie it becomes their dog for life!

How much are you spending on the PC equivalent? Let's say you go for mega cheap and take a £400 special from PC world

Now add on average two complete rebuilds in the first year alone because of viruses and or registry degradation, not to mention trying to get rid of all the tulip that is added value on this laptop...

My hourly rate is about £90 so two 5 hour free rebuilds means the first year alone, that cheap laptop has cost me nearer £1400. I won't trust PC world to do the job right so it's my own problem.

Compare that with handing over apple tax for one cheap mac book air or even a 13" pro the support contract (I do trust apple because I have talked to the guys and girls and they actually know their tulip) and a time machine vault.

Now I know that my relatives machine IS being backed up on the hour and when they finally say I need a rebuild I can say no worries turn it off then on again and hold the option R key down and choose network recovery and fresh install. Then call me when that's finished and I will talk you through the time machine part....

If the worst happens then the conversation is fine lets take it to apple and go get a cup of tea...

Don't get me wrong Bob, I resect your opinion and if you're a 'spud' we may at least have something in common ...lol. You do raise valid virus issues and although she currently runs MBAM, SAS & Spybot often, we still get a few issues. However, let me make a few points:

1. I won't be helping her make make a purchase, I will buy it as a present
2. It probably won't be 'very large' unless we buy apple
3. I may hate apple but I do admire them. I really didn't want this to degenerate into an 'anything but apple' debate
4. She won't go out and make the decision herself. She can't be bothered, she just wants to do the things above
5. As the post above says, £800 is a lot of money to do a bit of websurfing.


PS...lovehoney is something she really does know about

It's not that I am a rabid mac fan. It's just that I have done the maths and have accounted for my time costs in the equation and would rather be not fixing a laptop if I could be doing something better instead.

Like you have said it's a present so it might as we'll be a nice one.

For the record my journey to the apple brand came from utter loathing, as I had worked in the media industry at the time of the first iMacs and thought they were total crap. In fact I persuaded the company I worked for to dump all their apple crap laptops and buy PC's so it's not totally all love and roses on my side of the fence. But what I will say is that I bought my wife an iPad for a present a few years ago and within a year had completely removed every non apple computer from our house.

The trade off for all that cash is an ecosystem of computers and iPads/ phones that just bloody well work. I have not wasted a Saturday rebuilding my laptop for about 2 years...

[Hiram King Of Tyre]

I've already nought her an I-Ron

Doesn't the chromebook come with the same promise of no viruses though?

[doodab]

I have three thinkpads, everyone started with a fresh install of windows and they are all backed up over the network. Don't have any problems with them. You can always put linux on them too.

I have an Asus transformer, it's ok for scrabble and kindle but not worth 400 imo.

[bobspud]

I've already nought her an I-Ron

Doesn't the chromebook come with the same promise of no viruses though?

Only until it becomes popular enough to make it worth targeting.

At the moment android is the highest attack vector in the wild. The reason for this is the number of devices in circulation and the unattended apps ecosystem where hackers can root otherwise safe stuff and know that there is a massive market of un educated users to go and fetch that code.

[bobspud]

I have three thinkpads, everyone started with a fresh install of windows and they are all backed up over the network. Don't have any problems with them. You can always put linux on them too.

I have an Asus transformer, it's ok for scrabble and kindle but not worth 400 imo.

But again you are a specialist in IT. You are not counting your professional time to clean install the laptops and setup the backups.

How long would it take to find a wife, granny or mother in-law that could do the same as you have. Achieving a backed up laptop in a mac ecosystem involves plugging in a USB drive and saying yes use this for time machine.

[doodab]

But again you are a specialist in IT. You are not counting your professional time to clean install the laptops and setup the backups.

Two of the machines were 2nd hand, 3 months old with all stickers etc intact and 3 year transferable warranties with 2 and a bit years left on them, and cost ~ £450 each. Upgraded with 512GB SSD and 16GB RAM they cost me less than a grand in cash and half a day of work each.

I'd say using my skills for my own benefit has left me well ahead.

Then there is the convenience of having a proper docking station so I don't need a massive tangle of wires hanging out of the things. I have gigabit ethernet built in. And an express card slot. I can get a new battery for £50 or so and fit it myself.

I might buy a mac just so I can put windows on it.

[minestrone]

I think the threat of viruses has been massively overplayed.

A genuine windows 8 box/tablet that has updates on has a very very very slim chance of getting hit. Between the "your machine might give you aids" and scooterscots's "if it does not have a fingerprint scanner it is not a real phone" mantras I do wonder how the apple fanboys get on in life.

[bobspud]

Two of the machines were 2nd hand, 3 months old with all stickers etc intact and 3 year transferable warranties with 2 and a bit years left on them, and cost ~ £450 each. Upgraded with 512GB SSD and 16GB RAM they cost me less than a grand in cash and half a day of work each.

I'd say using my skills for my own benefit has left me well ahead.

Then there is the convenience of having a proper docking station so I don't need a massive tangle of wires hanging out of the things. I have gigabit ethernet built in. And an express card slot. I can get a new battery for £50 or so and fit it myself.

I might buy a mac just so I can put windows on it.

First off: Buying a mac and putting windows on it works really well. See?

The most reliable Windows laptop is a Mac, says Soluto | PCWorld

Secondly: Your day rate must be really low if you think 8 hours of your time comes in cheap. The time you spent hacking out cheap second hand laptops that could have been stolen or broken would have cost me just shy of £710 of my week day rate and £1400 for weekend time.

Thirdly whats a docking station? This is the setup I use: Count the wires into and out of the laptop....

Does Apple Have a Brand-New Super-Skinny Thunderbolt Display Incoming? | Gizmodo UK

So thats a grand total of two leads into the mac and one daisy chained into the second screen. Each screen has a Firewire, 3 USBs and a Gigabit Ethernet allowing me to keep my work space free of any wires at all

You still have not explained how a little old granny is going to acquire the skills to strip a laptop replace the drive and memory and then re-install the OS and patch it with the right drivers and sort out the licence activations?

We know you and I can do it. Thats not the point The point is how do you give a relative a laptop without being the FREE IT guy for the rest of its life...

I think the threat of viruses has been massively overplayed.

I would like to inform you that you are most definitely still at risk of infection.

Windows 8 Malware Threats Cast Doubt On Microsoft Security Claims

malware - How secure is the Windows 8 included Anti Virus known as Windows Defender? - IT Security Stack Exchange

Here are two explanations of techniques to create Fully Un Detectable viruses...

How to encrypt any file/program/virus to make it Fully Undetectable (FUD) to Anti-viruses - YouTube

FUD through Hex Editor Heading | ClubHACK Magazine

Enjoy your windows 8 experience why don't you plug your android phone into it ?

Android Hack Tools Designed to Automatically Steal Information from PCs

I spent some time with AlertLogic earlier in the year more specifically: With their head of threat research. It was more than eye opening as an experience. Some of the toys I got to play with and understand tells me you are a sitting duck hoping they wont find you in the reeds of your virus scanner. It doesn't take more than a few seconds to bust that myth.

For the most part the only two serious mac problems we have had in the last few years: The first was a Trojan disguised as a flash update It still required the end user to actually grant the trojan install rights and type in their password
and more recently the Java exploits resulted in apple pulling Java running privileges for all their OS users until Oracle fixes their tulip.

[Hiram King Of Tyre]

Guys, can I respectfully ask that you have this argument elsewhere? I'm looking for a device for my gf and apple ain't an option

[socialworker]

I bought a Samsung Note 16 gb 10 inch version few months back and Im happy with it. Mind you I am not especially demanding or techy, emails internet and camera for fun are basically what I bought it for, , though the note function attracted me initially.