Change required - storage/Windows//Mac. Advice please

[interbear]

I currently have a Vaio CW laptop running Windows 7. 2.1GHz, 4MB RAM and a 320gb hard drive. I've been very happy with it generally, use it as the workhorse family laptop. Considering a replacement as my digital media is getting too much for the hard drive capacity. I also want a longer term back up strategy for the digital media. I also recognise that the household has become dominated by Apple - iDevices everywhere, iTunes to purchase and manage music, movies etc, and Apple TV for streaming, Netflix etc. so the Windows laptop seems the last point of resistance!

I am considering 3 options and would appreciate advice from AVF folks.

Cheapest option - keep the Vaio, buy an external dual bay drive for storage with RAID mirroring for security. Put all media on the external drive. Say a 2TB plus 2TB external drive. Cost £300ish.

Mid range option - buy a new faster Windows laptop with a bigger drive and a single external drive for back up. Cost about £600-800ish.

Pricey option - buy a Mac with a bigger drive and a single external drive for back up. Cost over £1k.

Would my experience be far better if I give in completely to the Apple ecosystem and go with a Mac?

Will iTunes run better on a Mac than Windows? Anyone with experience of iTunes on both OSs?

Would I regret going all Apple?

I know I'd spend less with the first 2 options but if I would see a real improvement in usability by moving to Mac to integrate with my other Apple oriented world I would go that route.

Any advice people?

 

[EndlessWaves]

I apologise if you've already ruled this out but most 14"+ laptops are fairly easy to upgrade drive-wise so you could put a 1TB drive in the Vaio.

RAID is for availability, it's a quick way to get up and running if the disk drive dies. It's not backup as it'll faithfully copy all of your mistakes and accidental deletions. It's debatable whether it's even worth it for home kit, it has to be likely that the drive will fail before the case/raid controller and hard drives are pretty well built.

 

[interbear]

I apologise if you've already ruled this out but most 14"+ laptops are fairly easy to upgrade drive-wise so you could put a 1TB drive in the Vaio.

RAID is for availability, it's a quick way to get up and running if the disk drive dies. It's not backup as it'll faithfully copy all of your mistakes and accidental deletions. It's debatable whether it's even worth it for home kit, it has to be likely that the drive will fail before the case/raid controller and hard drives are pretty well built.

I hadn't actually given serious consideration to upgrading capacity on the Vaio. Probably because one of my considerations is donating it to my son for his schoolwork. And because its connectivity is USB2 and FW400 , both of which may be quite slow for digital media. But I should look into the cost of that. Thanks for the prompt.

On RAID, yes indeed, I understand that it is not true back up.

On balance a bigger hard drive on the PC/Mac (1 or 2 TB) with faster connections (USB3, ESATA, FW800) for a similarly sized external hard drive for back up is probably the most sensible option for my needs.

I also considered adding a NAS to the mix for storage but think its overkill for what I need really.

Thanks.

 

[EndlessWaves]

And because its connectivity is USB2 and FW400 , both of which may be quite slow for digital media.

The Vaio CW seems to have an 34mm expressCard slot so just pop a USB3 adapter in there. You can get them as cheap as a tenner on ebay (and some nice slim ones too) but I can't vouch for the quality.

 

[interbear]

The Vaio CW seems to have an 34mm expressCard slot so just pop a USB3 adapter in there. You can get them as cheap as a tenner on ebay (and some nice slim ones too) but I can't vouch for the quality.

That's a great shout. Thanks a lot. Had no idea I could do that.

Looks like there may be life in the Vaio yet then! Buy one of those and a USB 3 external drive would certainly address the storage / speed issue.

Although given the Apple device explosion in my household I would still appreciate some thinking as to whether or not the whole iTunes experience and integration with those iDevices would be smoother on a Mac. If it's not a significant improvement the Vaio update looks a sensible option.