Jump to content

Help on whether to buy a mac


Recommended Posts

Hi guys/ladies,

 

Ive recently come into a sum of money and have been considering whether to buy a laptop. I've been looking at the Macbook pro and im very tempted to part with the money.

 

just a few things id like cleared up,

 

- If i buy one today is it going to be outdated buy a new mac tomorrow

- Are they worth switching from xp?

- General thoughts?

 

 

By the way im a student, so it will be used for that purpose and general internet browsing.

 

many thanks

 

rekoal

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm currently thinking of buying a mac pro, and i have mostly same questions.

Actually i've found that mac has many disadvantages.

I think the right way is to heavily test brand new Windows 7 and then decide whether to buy a mac or high-end pc.

 

EDIT. BTW what exact model do you want to buy? Recently Apple renewed their model line. So you can buy a new model or a previous one for the nice price.


Edited by significant
Link to comment
Share on other sites

- If i buy one today is it going to be outdated buy a new mac tomorrow

- Are they worth switching from xp?

- General thoughts?

 

The MacBook Pro line was recently updated, so I wouldn't expect another update for a few months. Even when new ones do come out, they are usually not ground-breaking updates that make your old laptop look like junk. A good way to get into Macs at a lower price point is to buy a refurbished unit from the Apple store online. It won't be the latest and greatest, but it will be significantly cheaper than a brand new one.

 

As far as XP goes, you can run XP just fine on a Mac (dual boot with software called Boot Camp, which comes free with MacOS X), I do it all the time to play games (like BS). Of course, for day-to-day use, I run MacOS X, and I love it. It took a little getting used to at first, but I've never looked back and I really like it.

 

In general, a Mac is probably going to cost slightly more than a similarly configured Dell or Sony or <insert name brand here> laptop running Windows. Personally, I find the slightly steeper price tag to be only a small nuisance, as the hardware is definitely better built. I've been using MacBooks for almost 7 years now, and in that time, I have only ever had one hardware problem, which occurred shortly after I spilled a bottle of soda on the keyboard. Since it was still in the one-year warranty, I sent it in and it was fixed for free.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The hardware is not that different. It's just more limited in design parameters and variety compared to PCs. That makes it easy on the one hand to make a more stable, fast and lightweight OS, which most MacOS really are.

 

But it also comes with a price, as especially in the desktop-sector the same hardware used in Macs is almost twice as expensive as the same hardware without the plastic-case with the apple on it.

 

So, *IMHO* basically a Mac is a console-version of a PC. It's plug and play, ready to go, in a stylish sheet, but you get better hardware for half the price.

 

If you know how to set up a PC, I'd recommend a PC at any time.

 

 

But in the end, it's mostly a personality question.

Gigabyte GA-Z87-UD3H | i7 4470k @ 4.5 GHz | 16 GB DDR3 @ 2.133 Ghz | GTX 1080 | LG 55" @ 4K | Cougar 1000 W | Creative X-Fi Ti | TIR5 | CH HOTAS (with BU0836X-12 Bit) + Crosswind Pedals | Win10 64 HP | X-Keys Pro 20 & Pro 54 | 2x TM MFD

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Which GPU is it using, and is there a way to find out which type of RAM it's got? Also, does the GPU have dedicated memory or is it only shared?

[sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]

Daniel "EtherealN" Agorander | Даниэль "эфирныйн" Агорандер

Intel i7 2600K @ 4.4GHz, ASUS Sabertooth P67, 8GB Corsair Vengeance @ 1600MHz, ASUS GTX 560Ti DirectCU II 1GB, Samsung 830series 512GB SSD, Corsair AX850w, two BENQ screens and TM HOTAS Warthog

DCS: A-10C Warthog FAQ | DCS: P-51D FAQ | Remember to read the Forum Rules |

|
| Life of a Game Tester
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Full specs:

15" Macbook pro

3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x2GB

500GB Serial ATA Drive @ 7200 rpm

NVIDIA GeForce 9400M + 9600M GT with 512MB (dedicated and shared graphics)

 

Hope that helps

 

thanks

Rekoal


Edited by rekoal
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Asus G71Gx

 

6GB Memory (Supports up to 12GB)

17.1" WXGA+ (Resolution 1440x900)

500GB SATA (Supports up to 1TB SATA (2x2,5"))

C2D 2.8GHz

GTX 260m 1GB GDDR3 Memory (on GFX-card! not shared)

BlueRay DVD Combo Burner

+2MPixel Camera

 

Built-In TV Tuner optional

 

Total cost including Vista Home Premium 64bit 1.300 Euros.

 

 

> 400 Euro closer to a Saitek X65F :D

 

Your choice :music_whistling:

Gigabyte GA-Z87-UD3H | i7 4470k @ 4.5 GHz | 16 GB DDR3 @ 2.133 Ghz | GTX 1080 | LG 55" @ 4K | Cougar 1000 W | Creative X-Fi Ti | TIR5 | CH HOTAS (with BU0836X-12 Bit) + Crosswind Pedals | Win10 64 HP | X-Keys Pro 20 & Pro 54 | 2x TM MFD

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It all boils down to what you are going to use the Mac for.

 

I grew up on PeeCees but have been using Macs for the last few years.

 

While yes you pay a premium for the "if it's made by Apple and it's shiny" aspect, it does just work.

 

I'm currently using a MacBook Pro 2.2GHz 15". I've upgraded the Hard Drive and also upgraded it to 4gb of RAM. Although if you replace the hard drive on the MBP you void the warranty.

 

If you are you doing heavy graphical work or design work then the Mac is the best bet, plus the general lack of viruses for them makes things nice too. There are now so many little features in OS X that I take for granted that I can't do in Windows.

 

The only downside to a Mac is that you can't really use it for games, but then you can bootcamp which solves that problem. Windows seems to run better on my Mac than it does on any PC I've ever used.

 

I also use an iMac which is great because it's all inside the display it's easy to move and is hasslefree compared to a tower.

 

The main reason for my Mac use is however because of Adobe CS3 et al.

 

As a student you can get a discount on anything from Apple if you check out their Education store. Also applies to software, I got my CS3 for less than £300 through there, as opposed to the £1,800 retail price!

 

The other thing that makes me like my Mac is that on the lappie, if the light level changes the screen will automatically adjust the brightness and if it drops too much, well the built in keyboard lights up too. Magentic power supply, brilliant clarity on the screen etc etc.

 

But, it's not worth the price if you are just going to do e-mail and internet. You'd be better of buying one of the cheap notebooks from the nearest supermarket.

 

Bootcamping is easy, as long as you back up your disk first!

Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...