That is the one thing I have noticed since scouring the net and asking everyone and anyone in the know their opinions on who makes the most well put together laptop. It seems that many folks are extreemely loyal to one particular product or brandname, but one brandname doesn't seem to be conclusive over the other. The Imac sure has its very loyal following, as well as Dell and Toshiba and, another brand rapidly picking up steem is HP, especially their DV6000 and DV9000 lines. I am beginning to conclude that at this point, figure out exactly how much of a laptop you need and can afford, paying particular attention to Size of Hard Drive, How much Memory (RAM), and third, how much graphics card, and lastly and most important, the CPU. I have concluded that the duel core processor is important, as it is essentially two processors stapped together, and the OS uses one for certain functions and the other for certain functions, and most importantly, only one is being used and powered when both are not needed, saving battery power and overall electric consumption. Another rule of thumb, to save money, get the base core duo (1.60GHz, I believe), and skip the upgrade on the CPU and get 2G's of RAM, as your CPU runs out of cache space for storage, it will draw from Ram, and adding RAM is much cheaper than adding a high end CPU. Bottom line, I'm waiting for some hot sales. Another thing to think about is size, and yeah, folks, size does matter... Most of the 17" models that I've tried out in the stores just seem too damn big and heavy, especially if your going to use the thing as a LAP top... it's just too damn big for my lap, and I have a big lap at that... the 12" is just too small, especialy for viewing movies, etc. That's the one thing that turned me off from the DELL XPS 1200... hot looking little machine... just too small. 14-15" seems just right for my taste. It seems to me that all these machines (Toshiba, Dell, HP and many others) are all beginning to become clones of one another. Seems they are are made in China nowadays, and no one has yet to convince me overwhelmingly that one is better than the other...

I am back with an update. I did talk to an independent computer tech person who immediately told me it was not worth fixing my machine. She felt that the problem I was having with it not turning on maybe the motherboard. I am also seeing the case suddenly deteriorating faster and faster. Opening the computer, moving it from my lap to a table, keeping the screen upright, are now something I have to think about and fool with every time I pick it up. So, thank you Sue for the suggestion but I've decided I am ready to get a new machine. I am especially anxious to get it done before it goes kapoot and I can't get my files off of it to a new machine. I do hope you enjoy your machine as long as you can though, Sue!! :-) I have enjoyed my Dell and would have been just as happy to stick with it. secsteve....the 'trackball' I refer to is the one that is part of the keyboard of my Dell. It is in the middle between the G and H keys and very small movements with the index finger make it very easy to place it right where you want it easily. The button to select once the pointer is where you want it is right under the space bar and I can reach it with my thumb without even taking my hand out of typing position. Very convenient and easy to use. On the Apple it is instead the pad which you swipe your finger across to move the pointer. The key to select it is below the pad, no where near the keyboard, so you are always having to change position and taking your hands out of typing position. I just don't know what they were thinking to let go of the arrangement that works so well with the keyboard, to adopt this style. We went in to the Apple Store last night and even the salesperson who demonstrated using the pad, didn't seem to have any more mastery over it than I was getting. Slow and awkward. They have NO computers that offer the trackball as part of the keyboard. He suggested a wireless mouse, which I think they offer, but didn't have in the store. From what I can see of it online, I am not sure how easily it will work. It does appear to be one that you don't actually move the mouse around so much as you move the tracking ball on the mouse. So that is one option. According to him, there are no manufacturers that are making the keyboard w the tracking ball any more. Hmmm...will have to check that out. I asked him, what about people who have Carpel Tunnel Syndrome, which is a pretty common problem for people who type. He looked at me like I was speaking Greek. [g] Most salespeople in computer stores are young people it seems to me..lol. Of course, makes sense. He did show me some sort of contraption that holds the computer on it, with front support to rest your wrists on and that elevates the computer for air circulation. But if you are using it that way, the ergonomics are just not right for both the keyboard and the tracking pad and buttons. And if you use the pad to raise the computer, now your arms and shoulders are in a much more awkward and unsupported position. Very strange that for a company that put so much thought into ease of use and common sense applications that they seem to have spent no time on ergonomics. So disappointing! It is a little frustrating because if it were not for that issue, I may have already bought an Apple. It is just an issue that I cannot ignore. I was very impressed with everything I read on their website about their machines. Another thing I like is that they will transfer everything from your old computer to the new one for you. There is a store close by too. So, this afternoon, I am going to call Dell and see what their story is. Not what I expected to be doing this week. :-( Anyone else who has some Apple or Dell experience, I pretty much have it narrowed down to these two. Thanks pm2

It sounds to me as if you are going through the exact same thing that I went through...hours and hours on the phone to tech support...I had two in-home calls, but they seemed easier to get than what you are going through. That tech told me I shouldn't have to be going through all of what I was going through. I think "maybe" he could have fixed the problem, but all he was allowed to do was what he was told to do..ie come and replace the hard drive (I knew and he knew it wasn't a hard drive problem) I really forget what he came out the second time for and the problems were still there. They "did" give me a case number so the tech in India that I called each time could look it up and see what was done last. I finally gave up...called tech support and said I wanted to return the computer (it was on my son's Dell card). At this point, they told me I had had it too long for a full refunded return. I told them to look at when I made my first complaint and notice I hadn't had it for very long before I called tech support and that they had dinked around with it so long, that my refund time was up. They finally refunded the full amount. I was told how to ship it and I followed their instructions to the letter. They weren't going to refund eighty some dollars because they said that one object should have been packed separately...I had the documentation where they said to put "everything" in two boxes...they told me what to put in each box and to write on the box what was inside. Well, it ended up costing me forty dollars to get it packed, and I "might" have gotten that amount refunded (not sure) but, I was just glad to see the tail lights of the UPS car leaving my driveway with those boxes. Roselvr, I "probably" paid too much for the computer I ended up with...I bought locally, but I have a "smokin'" computer...it works and I have a place to go and personally ask questions if need be. I asked Dell to send me a questionaire to fill out and tell my story...yes, they need these horror stories documented along with the "happy" ones they produce. They didn't see it that way and didn't "want" my story on a questionaire. My son felt bad because he has a Dell and has been happy with it...although not happy with the Indian tech support...and he talked me into buying a Dell. I told him it was, "just one of those things" and I might have gotten a good one, it just didn't happen that way. But...as I said, I went through the same thing and finally got it out of the house. How long have you had it? "Can" you return it at this time? I would call tech support and start making arrangements to get it out of your house....but rememeber...you're not alone, I know what you are going through completely :o)

I think we have been jumping back and forth between specifics of my particular post and questions posted in general. I don't have enough experience in this computer forum to really add anything to any general discussion beyond my own personal, very minor experiences, so I will go back to the specifics of my post and my own situation. In the past, when I was a Windows PC user, I was an intermittent visitor to a number of computer forums, not this one very often, because of low traffic here, but all the forums had very friendly people who were generous with their time and expertise and seemed happy to help. Since switching to an Apple computer, I have barely stepped foot in a computer forum. I have not needed to. My laptop just works 90% of the time and when it doesn't, I have a 3 yr tech support policy in place. Something I've had with every computer I've ever had since I first started getting on the computer in 1995. It has been a big relief, because maintaining a computer and straightening out technical problems even with help was a very frustrating task that I never enjoyed. It always felt like a 'big black hole' of wasted time when some issue would present itself. Even with an 'expert' to help figure it out, you'd never know how many hours you'd have to take away from whatever task you were trying to do, to stop and figure out why the computer wasn't responding right, 'again'. Or how many days your computer would not be working. Even with a tech support policy, I might call and get the wrong information and no fix with two techs, and have to call back again and then a third tech might know just what the problem was and fixed it in about 10 minutes. So, even though I was less technically literate, it seemed like even among the technically literate, there were a lot of people who seemed as confused as I was. I always tried to understand what I needed to know. Always tried to find out what I could do using the computer that would be preventative and avoid problems. It didn’t seem to matter, tech problems always seemed to present themselves regardless. So again, I can’t even express how relieved I’ve been not to have that experience with my computer any more. My husband has a windows based computer with Vista on it and I don’t even want to touch it. Which brings me to my thread that seems to have triggered this discussion. I wasn’t even asking for help with a problem with my computer. I had already been working with my own situation for 3 days and taken steps to resolve it not only with GW but with my own Apple tech support. I was not satisfied with the responses or information that I was getting from either about whether this ‘downloaded file’ was a problem or not. That was why I posted here. And from the information that ravencajun offered, it would seem that I had reason to remain concerned about the ‘possibility’ that it could be a problem and one I wanted to take steps to avoid in the future. Even if the file that was downloaded onto my computer was not a problem, it might have been. So, what was it about my thread that has caused a negative response? What did I do or say that was wrong? I’m still here defending my thread, why? Have I even done any of the things that some of you are expressing you have a problem with? I was very appreciative for the help ravencajun gave me and I even tried to smooth over my initial response to Mike, even though I still think he was wrong in both content and attitude in his response to me, I was more than willing to give him a break and overlook it. At this point, I am at a loss to understand how what seemed like a simple question has resulted in my feeling like I have to defend myself for asking it and now defending all people who come to forums and ask questions. That doesn't seem right to me.