I think I want a Mac. But do I need one?

My current laptop is a few years old now. It has served me well though. 10 years on and it has hardly needed any attention except as time went by badly needing maxing out on the RAM. But I think that time has come to get to take its toll as I am starting to use it more and more again the fragility of it becomes clearer and clearer.

Firstly the poor thing only has a 40GB hard disk which is fine for writing documents but not so great for actual storage. Not really a problem as I could solve this easily with an external hard disk I know. But With my iPhone having 64GB I can't really sync the 2.

Being a laptop of its age it runs happily on Windows XP Pro, unfortunately I was never able to upgrade the OS as drivers for this machine were never made available, one of the failings of the modern world. Whether it's your Smartphone, Smart TV, Blu-Ray player make sure you pick one that has an after sales service that will constantly supply the required firmware or whatever is required. I learnt that with a phone a couple of years ago and haven't gone back to that particular maker of phone since.

Diverting a little people are often asking me what the PCG**** or whatever model it is you purchase means and as some of you may know it means quite a lot. 2 products that appear the same can vary in price by a few hundred and unless you read the specifications you won't see why.

Well sometimes nothing, sometimes a lot. It depends on the individual and the build of the laptop. I've had mine 10 years thanks to some TLC and not dropping it or causing harm to it in anyway, but then it cost over £1000 so I've not let the kids near it.

Today's laptops are a little less unless you go for the SSD Hard disks which will almost double the cost of the PC in itself. But the way I would look at it is that if I would get another 10 years use out of it then it's worth it. Rather than spending £400 and have to upgrade a year later.

So, back before the little diversion there was a point to this. I need something now to take my film making forward. I have a laptop running XP and a desktop running Windows 7, so they can't operate in tandem.

I want to upgrade my whole setup effectively without going to far in the wrong direction. I have had a long look at new laptops and priced a few up and it's going to be expensive or I can just buy a MacBook Pro, again expensive. But as I've said, if I get the longevity out of it I'm not worried about spending that little more.

So what to spend a couple thousand on? A Windows laptop or try something new and go with the Mac which to be honest is something I'm leaning towards.

Just had a look at a new custom built Vaio and it would set me back around £3000 which is the same as the Mac + Thunderbolt display. So it's just a case of who do I give the money to?

So this is what I went with. The powerful little Laptop from Dell. Not originally a thought, as I'm not particularly a Dell fan, but after much searching and playing around I found an accommodating package.

I'm getting myself a 17", Full HD screen and Blu-Ray player for when I'm relaxing and with all the new storage space and the stunning NVidia Graphics card that is packed in to it we'll see how good the little Sumo Films creations can look.

I know that people have their views on Alienware and if you want to know how I'm getting on with the laptop or have any questions then just ask.