Considering purchasing a new Macbook today....

[Electro]

I've been giving it some time and thought before I drop 1k on a new laptop.
Just wanted to know what your thoughts are on the new Macbook.

Thanks

[Isiolia]

I'm not keen on that they dropped Firewire from it. Granted, it's not a majorly used port for most, but it's nice to have. I'm also not a huge fan of the white plastic enclosures in general, especially compared to their aluminum ones.

That being said, LCD backlight, the new style trackpad, and the generally redesigned case are all pretty nice. Personally, I would consider the extra $200 for a 13" Macbook Pro - aluminum case, backlit keyboard, Firewire 800 port, SD card slot...but if you've got no Firewire devices, and don't mind the case, then it's a pretty nice redesign.

[Electro]

See I've been reading up on the macbook pro and the macbook. So far the reviews have been stating that the new macbook is better than the macbook pro speed wise. I do not mind firewire since the only thing I use that has firewire I use for my desktop. This laptop is just going to be something I can carry to and from work, play a little ffxi on (boot camp) and play around on the net, and for music purposes.

Are there currently any known issues I should know about?

[Senoska]

What ever you spend on a Mac, you're paying $400 over what it would cost as a PC with no real gain other than the OS. Mac's use the same hardware as a "PC" and beyond the OS, there is actually no difference between the two. That being said, getting it for "image editing" or what ever people use to justify their uninformed purchase is silly because they end up using photoshop or flash which you can use just the same on a PC (If not better.)

Simply put, don't buy a mac, you're wasting you money on a "trendy" item. If you don't mind dropping $400 extra on nothing you may as well chug along to starbucks and pay $6 for your coffee made of milk and type up your non-existent book.

[dejet]

Hope to god you dont use logic?

My father uses logic on his mac and only that. everything else is done on our PC that by far has much more power.

Macs are cool, but a well taken care of PC will do just as much and more.

However with that being said, if you dont take great care of a PC it wont outlive a mac so thats something to think about.

[volcanicweather]

My father uses logic on his mac and only that. everything else is done on our PC that by far has much more power.

Macs are cool, but a well taken care of PC will do just as much and more.

This. Go to dell outlet and compare the specs between a $1,000 laptop there and a Macbook. Pretty much any laptop on there at that price will crush the specs of a Macbook. Also if it's not an immediate need, Dell Outlet frequently runs specials on their PCs (i.e. 15% off, sometimes more) so just search online or wait until they have a good deal.

Seriously I'm convinced anyone who buys a Mac is purchasing one because they are either PC illiterate or want to be trendy.

[Electro]

I understand the logic behind the specs. I do actually enjoy the mac os vs any windows os. If only pc's allowed the mac software to run as well ; ; .

[Isiolia]

Seriously I'm convinced anyone who buys a Mac is purchasing one because they are either PC illiterate or want to be trendy.

Or they simply want a machine that runs the Mac OS with no fuss. I'm not going to say that I love Apple's hardware lineup either - I mostly loathe it - but seriously, their lower end laptops are far from the worst offenders. The Mac Pro lineup, at the lower end at least, is shameful. The lower end laptops, all things considered, aren't out of the ballpark.

Fact is, the market runs a rather wide gamut of products from lots of vendors. If you -want- to spend $1500-2000+ on a PC laptop, there are certainly vendors offering products in that range. If you want a $300 piece of shit that'll be dead in a year, you can buy that too. Pros and cons all around. Apple just doesn't have the options.

Could draw parallels to a hundred other product types, but when it comes down to it, few people go for the barest essentials. You might laugh at paying an extra $200 for the aesthetics and Mac OS support, but can you really say you've never payed a dime for something other than basic functionality? Do you hang out in car lots and make fun of people driving off the lot with a leather interior instead of vinyl? Laugh at people in designer clothes that are just as functional as the clearance rack at Wal Mart?

Lots of people pay a hell of a lot more for "the little differences". To say nothing of the money tossed at getting drunk, eating at fancy restaurants, or whatever else.

If someone just happens to like Apple's product, and are willing to pay that little extra for it, then fine. It's their money. The same thing happens all over with all varieties of products and services, not all of which have a useful life measured in years.

[fishstix]

I understand the logic behind the specs. I do actually enjoy the mac os vs any windows os. If only pc's allowed the mac software to run as well ; ; .

How to turn a $300 netbook into a macbook with snow leopard Only problem is that it seems like Apple is going to remove support for the Atom CPU in netbooks to stop this from happening in future updates. Honestly, it's a lot of money and hassle to spend just for the OS, since you have to run bootcamp for ffxi anyways. If you think it's worth it, go for it. I definitely would if I had a ton of spare money just lying around.

Also, if you're interested I barely started, but I'm working towards putting Snow Leopard on my PC, started a thread not too long ago.

[Blabj]

Latest Mac OS X 10.6.2 beta build brings back Atom support

I have a Macbook for native hardware/OS support, in order to run Final Cut Studio and for the general interface. I much prefer Mac OS because of Spotlight, Exposé and the trackpad, amongst various and many smaller quirks which the OS has.

If you don't have a specific reason to buy a Mac (as mentioned, Final Cut/Logic Studio) and you're on a tighter budget then there really isn't a reason to buy a mac when a windows PC will work just fine for you. If none of those things apply to you then there really is no reason not to buy one.

[ShinseiRyu]

I've been giving it some time and thought before I drop 1k on a new laptop.
Just wanted to know what your thoughts are on the new Macbook.

Thanks

While I have not tried the new plastic unibody Macbook I do own a 13" Unibody Macbook Pro Aluminum. Before this laptop I had the 13" white plastic macbook (not unibody) after a year of use I didnt really care for how the plastic body had survived (several scratches, body discolors very easily). The aluminum unibody feels much better and more solid than the old plastic casing I had.

If you are dead set on getting a Mac for a laptop then I do recommend going to at least the Macbook pro since I believe the case is much much better than plastic casing.

[Darus Grey]

What ever you spend on a Mac, you're paying $400 over what it would cost as a PC with no real gain other than the OS. Mac's use the same hardware as a "PC" and beyond the OS, there is actually no difference between the two. That being said, getting it for "image editing" or what ever people use to justify their uninformed purchase is silly because they end up using photoshop or flash which you can use just the same on a PC (If not better.)

Simply put, don't buy a mac, you're wasting you money on a "trendy" item. If you don't mind dropping $400 extra on nothing you may as well chug along to starbucks and pay $6 for your coffee made of milk and type up your non-existent book.

Do I have to give the whole "macs are actually cheaper long-term" speech again? Get with the times.

"Mac Tax" is so 90s.

[dejet]

Macs are not less if you take care of a PC. I over payed on my 1st PC by not building it. However The PC that runs on 8 gig(I added 4) of ram with a pimping VC and other decent hardware that I can upgrade over time if I want was 1,500 and about 200 more in upgrades). 500 more then the mac this person is about to buy.

It runs ffxi times 3 with beffed up settings(I even ran 4 accounts at once on it in namis once and my FPS stayed at around 20 on each account) and aion at max settings on everything.

the comp is now 6 years old and as U said I can run aion on max settings. This if you ask me shows you just how much a PC can dish out if you want. It also shows you that the thing can last too if you take care of it.

I know macs are said to last longer, this is only if you screw around so much with the PC and dont give a crap. dont leave it on carpet, clean the fan and inside of the tower if you can, know the inside of it and what parts might overheat if one is maybe replace it? or get a bigger fan. Stuff like this is what kills a PC you need to care for it, it is a high powered machine treat it like one. treat the PC right and it will treat you right.

My laptop that I used in college for 3 years now runs just fine. It runs aion on decent settings and is about equal to the power of a mac. I am getting windows 7 for it as soon as it is sent.

Macs are fine and as I said have their uses in the right industry, such as my Dad who uses logic a lot for work. (worked for NBC-Dateline,FOX-football,and now the WWE) This is however because each area of the industry picks their *tool* protools I am told is just fine and other people swear by it.


edit: I know this may read as a bash on mac's. It is by no means meant to be that, for someone who does not understand a PC at least somewhat, or if you need a program that is best on a mac there is no reason not to get one. Also if you do not plan to run anything big like run games and crap you might be better off with a mac as well. Less fuss/wory to go along with macs. This however is not as true as it use to be.

Mac is much like firefox use to be, much safer(not only because of the add ones) because things where not made for it. Windows has been around much longer and as such more malwhere has been created, over time the Mac OS will have stuff to look out for.

edit2: My dad after having his mac(pre macbook fyi) is buying a macbook pro now. His keyboard gave out for the 2nd time. The thing is 9 years old and after all that time it finaly gave i guess lol. It is funny to see the hardware going tho lol.

[Darus Grey]

Yeah, what you said had nothing to do with anything.

Macs are cheaper because they depreciate incredibly slowly so that when you sell one 2-4 years down the line, the amount you get for it, is higher than the difference in price of a comparable windows machine over the same time period. This effect scales up more going along model lines(i.e. it's strongest in mac pros).

Though I understand, 99% of people think the sticker price is the real price, those people are ignorant.

[Celeras]

Macs are cheaper because blah blah blah anything after those first 4 words dont matter

You're on drugs. There's plenty of reasonable answers to the 'why mac?' question. Cheaper is not one of them, ever.

As far as Macbooks go.. you'd almost always be better off going with a PC. Especially since you said you plan on doing light gaming.

[dejet]

Yeah, what you said had nothing to do with anything.

Macs are cheaper because they depreciate incredibly slowly so that when you sell one 2-4 years down the line, the amount you get for it, is higher than the difference in price of a comparable windows machine over the same time period. This effect scales up more going along model lines(i.e. it's strongest in mac pros).

Though I understand, 99% of people think the sticker price is the real price, those people are ignorant.

you sell your PCs? so let me ask you this

you buy a mac for 1,000
I buy a PC for 600 that is equal(not even getting into that $300)
you sell yours in 4 years for 600.

I sell mine for 200 if i really want to i bet.

even at that rate we are equal.

really tho I do not sell my PCs' and my dad has yet to sell his Mac so why in gods name you would i dont get.


put it simple macs are good. but just like anything else leading its area it is overpriced. people see mac as :nothing like it: its not true, they are like boss headsets.

I have payed way to much in my time as a kid asking for the "trends" as I have got older I have learned my lesson. If I did need any of the few items that are only mac I will spend the extra money.

Buying a mac limtis what you can do a ton. We also have to take into fact that macs blow on games. We are indeed on a gaming forum.

[Nattack]

why mac?

i wish they would answer these questions in majority of their ads, its always about what a pc cant do, never what a mac can do.

i wrote a whole lot more. but i kept going into rants people seem to have already mentioned,

[virusiidx]

Waste of money imo. This will just turn into a PC vs. Mac war anyway. In the end, it's all about the OS, but it's not like you can build a hackintosh anyway.

Macs are 'usually' behind the game when it comes to hardware because they want stable hardware. Apple has extremely high standards when it comes down to QA. Therefore the hardware is limited = more reliable = less problems, but still outdated. They don't want you to be able to build a Mac or change out it's hardware (except memory or HDD I guess). A new PC is still far more powerful than a new Mac.

I work with these Mactards all day at work. They seem to have this illusion that it's just 'better' for art, but they can't explain their reasons, because you know, it's just "better". 90% of them are not very computer literate either. I guess those commercials work.

But whatever, if people want to go with a fashion trend, that's just fine. Nothing wrong with that, just admit it.

Oh and don't even get me started with software development for Macs, let alone how closed source they are about almost everything.

That being said, I like their iPods.

[Darus Grey]

really tho I do not sell my PCs' and my dad has yet to sell his Mac so why in gods name you would i dont get.

You...don't understand why someone would upgrade their computer? And then sell the old one? Really?

I don't know what to say to that, that's some straight up WTF shit...

Maybe you're better off never giving advice on anything ever again, trust me on this one.

You're on drugs. There's plenty of reasonable answers to the 'why mac?' question. Cheaper is not one of them, ever.

As far as Macbooks go.. you'd almost always be better off going with a PC. Especially since you said you plan on doing light gaming.

And you sir, are wrong.

Seriously, I must of been born with a genetic defect that allows me to see more than 5 seconds into my future and actually weigh my options based on long-term evaluations, it's certainly not a common skill as you point out.

[antihero]

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