# macbook.



## jono_ (May 3, 2007)

im about to go and buy a 2000AUD macbook.

my reasons.
its 13", i don't want a massive entertainment monstor screen.
its apple, i trust the quality
its pretty powerful. with its dual core and all.
dvd dual layer burner.
it sure looks pretty.

any reasons why i shouldnt?


----------



## OSW (May 3, 2007)

Well, $2000 AU is a shitload of money (well maybe you're rich lol) So be careful about your purchase.

Looks are not important, trust me.

Dual Layer burners are pretty much standard these days (unless you go real el cheapo)

Apple doesn't neccessarily mean good quality. They are a major brand so that's a plus but their recent popularity has spurred from ipod's popularity, not their computers.

Many say Macs are great for Art and Design, but realistically windows has just as much to offer in that regard.

What programs/things will your be primarily be using your computer for? If you aren't primarily using it for Art/design, don't get a mac.

The majority of programs are designed for windows.

Of course it is possible to install dual OS these days.


----------



## mthrnite (May 3, 2007)

Disclaimer: I'm a "mac guy"

That said.. Good choice. I use a PC too, but since I'm not an avid PC gamer, I don't really use it too much. There's some nifty stuff for both machines and the dual core macs give you the best of both worlds. Depending on your PC needs, you can opt to dual boot with perfect (I assume) compatibility and speed or just run PC stuff in a window when you need to. I won't say the build quality is any better that a Dell or Alienware laptop, and you may pay a little more, but those macbooks are just farking sweet and in my opinion, worth the extra.

Of course if you're primarily using it to play games, get a PC. *winks at OSW*


----------



## OSW (May 3, 2007)

Heh, good points Mthr! (Although i don't play too many games, i use alot of XP only programs)

Suppose i should have added "Disclaimer: I'm a "windows guy"

Macs do look reasonably nice too. For a rich kid that might be one of your priorities 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 i dunno.

And Dell built quality isn't anything special (from my experience), i don't know how macs are.


----------



## jono_ (May 3, 2007)

im no rich kid, but i have an interest in art.

the only graphical adventure im interested in is made my lucasarts.
so no im not a hardcore gamer.

yeah i plan to dual boot.

also any laptop ive looked at with better/equal features but with similar prices seam cheaply made. cases seem flimsy, quality of build not so good.

edit: mthrnite, can you recommend a decent tablet, with a decent price tag


----------



## Deleted User (May 3, 2007)

macbook pro here. Dispite the price, I'm really happy with it.


----------



## tjas (May 3, 2007)

I looove apples.. don't have one though 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 to expensive for this poor student!


----------



## DaRk_ViVi (May 3, 2007)

Macbook (not pro) in here. It's really great and i never thought that i would have found so much programs for the mac. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




And if i want i can always add XP, Vista or Linux on it. ^^


----------



## mthrnite (May 3, 2007)

QUOTE(jono_ @ May 3 2007 said:


> edit: mthrnite, can you recommend a decent tablet, with a decent price tag


I'd go with a Wacom 6x8".
Here's a recent topic about Wacoms.
Your choices are an Intuos or Graphire, the main diff being pressure levels and pen tilt.
Compare them here, but buy from somebody cheaper.
I used one until ADB went out of favor, and loved it. My next one will be a Graphire probably, I'm not too worried about the differences in the Intuos line since I'm not really an artist and all.


----------



## Kyuzumaki (May 3, 2007)

I am posting from a macbook, got it a while ago the 2ghz core 2 duo + 1GB ram.  Windows progs are not a problem with bootcamp I advise making the partition about 10GB, I use my windows partition to pogram mostly in c sharp (RomeR) and play shot-online works great. 

I definitley advise a macbook, and get a mighty mouse with it


----------



## Phrostay (May 3, 2007)

QUOTE said:
			
		

> but realistically windows has just as much to offer in that regard.



lolololololol....umm I don't see final cut studio 2 on windows. Do you get iLife with windows? out of the box??? I don't think so. I was a PC user for 12 years as soon as I swtiched to mac their was no going back. I still use my PC for eMule but that's about it...the only other thing it does is make my eyes bleed everytime I look at it 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 things that stole me away from the Windows world:

MacOS - The main reason I switched.
Style - The Macs look damn good.
Build - My iMac is fukin solid as. 
Price - Wasn't expensive at all compared to PC I was looking at, in fact the PC was more expensive 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




Get Windows if you wanna game.

I've also tried Linux for many years as well but hell Linux has no vision and no dictator leading em on 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 Linux for servers only me thinks.

BTW don't forget your 10% student discount when buying your Mac.


----------



## Deleted User (May 3, 2007)

I've also got a macbook (2GHz / 2 GB Ram / white) and I totally love it. Ordered it sometime in February when I sold my iBook on eBay.

I must admit, I work almost exclusively on a Mac since 1998 and got the iBook (first personal mac) in 2004 or so because I wanted a 'nice' notebook. I'm working as a (cross-)media designer, which maybe a reason for me favouring Macs.

Long story short: Get a macbook if you're not a gamer. Everything mthrnite already said can be considered 'seconded' by me. And you can play almost every Lucasarts Adventure on it with ScummVM (but I assume you already knew that).


----------



## Deleted User (May 3, 2007)

QUOTE(Phrostay @ May 3 2007 said:


> BTW don't forget your 10% student discount when buying your Mac.



With AppleOnCampus you can get 20%.


----------



## suppachipmunk (May 3, 2007)

I am mainly a PC man.  Are the newer games coming out for both PC and Mac?

deufeufeu, where can I learn of this 20% student discount you speak of?

Thanks in advance.


----------



## Deleted User (May 3, 2007)

QUOTE(suppachipmunk @ May 3 2007 said:


> I am mainly a PC man.Â Are the newer games coming out for both PC and Mac?
> 
> deufeufeu, where can I learn of this 20% student discount you speak of?
> 
> Thanks in advance.


Click this -> http://www.apple.com/education/hed/students/discounts.html


----------



## Deleted User (May 3, 2007)

it seems that the apple on campus program is limited to some european countries, like France and Germany.


----------



## pikachucrackpipe (May 3, 2007)

i can safely say i do not own a macbook
however if its like the mac mini go for it


----------



## friedchicken (May 3, 2007)

i wont support apple products until they lower their prices.  
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




edit: the dell xps laptops are good. i've used it to play counter strike  
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 in regards with graphics, what adobe cs? they're on both platforms. adobe premiere/dreamweaver?


----------



## Kyuzumaki (May 3, 2007)

QUOTE(suppachipmunk @ May 3 2007 said:


> I am mainly a PC man.Â Are the newer games coming out for both PC and Mac?



Some but not all! Blizzard have always made their games for MAC and PC but you can't rely on other companies doing this. Saying that it dosen't matter because you can just boot your mac into windows to play games, it's not as nice to use as OS X but if u hav to then so be it.

I would argue with price yeah they cost alot but when you look at PC's with equivalent processing power, compactness, built in features and battery life they are not that much more. The desktops are a different matter but as they kick serious ass in terms of rendering and graphic design i'll not diss them.


----------



## directive0 (May 3, 2007)

If you want to do some gaming, setup an office, use 100% of the available software out there then get a PC.  If you want to do artsy visual design and graphics, organize your personal information, look fancy when sipping on your overpriced expresso and starbucks then get a mac.  If you want to do both get a mac and install bootcamp.


----------



## hankchill (May 3, 2007)

To be honest, there's no reason to *not* get a Mac 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





Even if you are an avid gamer, get a Mac anyways -- Just Bootcamp your games 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 -- even if your Winblows gets a Virus, you can always boot into the Mac partition and blast the sucker away 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




I've got a Macbook Pro and I do all my programming, and even professional video editing on it, and of course play the occasional Half-Life 2 and Battlefield 2


----------



## qusai (May 3, 2007)

I've got a Macbook Pro and a Wacom Tablet 9x12.
You wrote that you wanted to a tablet and that one works perfectly (the size) with the 15 inch that i have. For a 13 inch macbook, I'd suggest you get a tablet of any size smaller.. but really, it all comes down to your drawing strokes, if you draw long strokes, get a larger tablet, smaller strokes, smaller tablet.


----------



## Hit (May 3, 2007)

Good buy,mac is lots a better then Windows(partly because apple made windows). But windows was first and bill gates had the cash to make it popular so people where making program for windows not much(Not much is much but wathever) for mac, but things will change windows vista sucks and mac is going to be popular and be popular as it ill work on intel machines now too well i think mac specialiced intels, and its good you buy one because you one more to get more population to the Mac Systems





Windows is shit
Oowh btw. i run windows. I cant affort an make and i always build my pc my self so


----------



## Kyoji (May 3, 2007)

I've got a Macbook Pro 17" I use daily, couldn't be happier with it. It brings everything to the table you would expect from a Mac, so theres really no point in going into it. I recommend finding an Apple store ( if there is one near you) and just play around with one for a bit. Ignore the sales guys and you'll be fine. If no Apple store, find a friend thats got one. OSX is a much different beast than Windows, and while I like the difference, I find a lot of people find it unnerving. 

A Macbook with a dual-boot windows installation can handle most modern games, especially since the video card under windows isn't under clocked like in OSX. If you do spring for one, go for a glossy screen. It makes a WORLD of difference, and it doesn't cost extra. 

I've also got a 6x8' Intuos 3, awesome purchase. My strokes arent very big, so 9x12" would be ridiculous. I havent tried the tablet on the Macbook yet, but I do know that if you want to use a tablet with it, I reccomend the 6'12", for use with widescreen monitors. On average $50 more than the 6x8. Good luck!


----------



## Modrak (May 3, 2007)

Go get it ! Seriously, I'd never go for 15" lappy again.
Had PowerBook Titanium 500MH - I'm currently stuck with iBook 12" and waiting out for something like PowerBook 12" with intel.
No, no MacBook for me, I want dedicated GPU for Aperture 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




So - Vaio TX/TZ...11" ultraportable from Apple - and I'd spend $3000 on it if I could


----------



## directive0 (May 4, 2007)

QUOTE(Hit @ May 3 2007 said:


> Good buy,mac is lots a better then Windows(partly because apple made windows). But windows was first and bill gates had the cash to make it popular so people where making program for windows not much(Not much is much but wathever) for mac, but things will change windows vista sucks and mac is going to be popular and be popular as it ill work on intel machines now too well i think mac specialiced intels, and its good you buy one because you one more to get more population to the Mac Systems
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Some of your history is incomplete.   Apple did not "make windows".  While working with Apple on a suite of business software for their upcoming "Macintosh" computer product Microsoft was able to obtain a prototype Mac from which they "borrowed" (a term Steve Jobs has used to describe Macintosh's relation to the XEROX PARC Star program, the first true proof of concept GUI demonstration, and the genesis of the "mouse") a number of concepts integral to the graphical user interface.  As I understand it, and correct me if I'm wrong, Microsoft marketed their "Windows" operating system in Japan through NEC before Apples now famous release of Macintosh.  This head start allowed Microsoft to gain an upper hand in the personal computer market.  The rest, as they say, is Computer History.


----------



## Linkiboy (May 4, 2007)

No love for Ubuntu 7?

I mean consider it; its free, endless free software, wine runs most programs.

List of software(outdated, lots more now): http://www.linuxrsp.ru/win-lin-soft/table-eng.html

o also http://linux.wordpress.com/2007/04/08/why-...an-use-legally/


----------



## friedchicken (May 4, 2007)

zomg nerd fight


----------



## jono_ (May 4, 2007)

this has been really helpful.
thanks.

ill get it.

ill also look more into a tablet.

thanks for your help GBAtemp


----------



## DaRk_ViVi (May 4, 2007)

There is just a problem with macos: there is not plugin to play .ass subtitles as they should be played. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




I heard Mplayer OSX can, but if i load a .ass subtitle with it i get only "???????" as subtitle even changing the encoding (subtitles are in italian).


----------



## BoneMonkey (May 4, 2007)

macs suck im sorry i used both and there overstylized overpriced pieces of crap ! 

for half that money you can get a awesome PC that is more powerful !


----------



## mthrnite (May 4, 2007)

^^^ Opinion, stated as fact. Please disregard!


----------



## nintendofreak (May 4, 2007)

The closest thing to me being a mac owner is the fact that my sister owns a mac book. Tid old, when 512 mb ram was considered "teh shite". Shes not computer crazy, and just wants something thats gonna get her on the internet, type papers etc. Not a real gamer. Shes had no complains about it (except at first w/ the price 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 ) but its always run smoothly.  Nothing that she cant fix herself, which is always good for me too 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




Finally she can stop asking me for computer help


----------



## Sekkyumu (May 4, 2007)

As a macbook owner I suggest you buy it with 512 mb ram and go get 2Gb ram elsewhere and change it (you can also change the hard drive all by yourself ! ). 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




You won't regret it. I used to run Windows and Linux for years and I can tell you that OS X is by far the best.


----------



## BoneMonkey (May 4, 2007)

QUOTE(mthrnite @ May 4 2007 said:


> ^^^ Opinion, stated as fact. Please disregard!



ohh.... well lets just see shall we ! 


Macbook (prices in the US and from the apple.com website)

13 Inch screen
* 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
* 1GB memory
* 120GB hard drive1
* Double-layer SuperDrive
$1,499.00



Now here is two configurations one laptop pc and one desktop pc 
that is not only cheaper ! but more powerful all prices are from 
www.newegg.com

Desktop

Antec LifeStyle SONATA II Piano Black Computer Case w/450 watt PSU 99.99
Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe 2.13GHz LGA 775 188.00
MSI 975X Platinum V.2 LGA 775 Intel 975X ATX Intel Motherboard 149.99
G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM 124.99
Maxtor DiamondMax 21 320GB 3.5" SATA 3.0Gb/ s Hard Drive 74.99
LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black 42.99
BFG Tech GeForce 7600GT Video Card  139.99
ViewSonic Optiquest Series Q19wb Black 19" 5ms Widescreen 189.00
Microsoft Black Basic Keyboard and Mouse 16.99 

Total 1026.93


----------



## Sekkyumu (May 4, 2007)

Yes. But you don't run OS X


----------



## BoneMonkey (May 4, 2007)

Mac mouses have one button standard ...............


CLOSE THREAD ! i win lol


----------



## Mehdi (May 4, 2007)

id get a mac man.. Nintnedo stole mac's design for the ds lite so they must be good.


----------



## mthrnite (May 4, 2007)

QUOTE(sgadzookie80 @ May 4 2007 said:


> Mac mouses have one button standard ...............
> 
> 
> CLOSE THREAD ! i win lol


Mighty Mouse = *4 buttons* (ours goes to 4!)... Standard with all new Macs.

*REVERSAL!!!*


----------



## BoneMonkey (May 4, 2007)

QUOTE(mthrnite @ May 4 2007 said:


> QUOTE(sgadzookie80 @ May 4 2007 said:
> 
> 
> > Mac mouses have one button standard ...............
> ...



not with mac books lol


----------



## Sekkyumu (May 4, 2007)

Like every laptops I'd say.

Put your two fingers on the "mouse tracker" and push and there it's. Or just push the bouton longer 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





 .

Oh yeah, you can also scroll with putting your two fingers and going up and down.


----------



## mthrnite (May 4, 2007)

QUOTE(SeKuM @ May 4 2007 said:


> Like every laptops I'd say.
> 
> Put your two fingers on the "mouse tracker" and push and there it's. Or just push the bouton longer
> 
> ...



oooh! TAG TEAM!

_*FINISH HIM!!!*_






edit: lol


----------



## Mehdi (May 4, 2007)

QUOTE(mthrnite @ May 4 2007 said:


> QUOTE(SeKuM @ May 4 2007 said:
> 
> 
> > Like every laptops I'd say.
> ...




















Fatality!

Mthrnite win!


----------



## DaRk_ViVi (May 4, 2007)

QUOTE(SeKuM @ May 4 2007 said:


> Like every laptops I'd say.
> 
> Put your two fingers on the "mouse tracker" and push and there it's. Or just push the bouton longer
> 
> ...



Oh, i am late. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




The 2 fingers on the touchpad thing is great! Working in a pc store i used a lot of laptops and every time i try to right click with the 2 fingers or to use the "wheel" with them.

If you need help for the tag i'm always here to defend mac.


----------



## BoneMonkey (May 4, 2007)

If you want to pay more money for less performance and a crappy operating system then by all means get a MAC 

oh and here is a pic of mac users using there "two fingers "  






look a mac user who spent 2000 bucks on a laptop that cant even run unreal tornament ! sweeet !


----------



## mthrnite (May 4, 2007)

QUOTE(sgadzookie80 @ May 4 2007 said:


> *macs suck* im sorry i used both and there *overstylized* overpriced *pieces of crap* !
> 
> for *half that money* you can get a *awesome* PC that is *more powerful* !
> 
> ...



I'll give you the "more expensive" part, any mac owner would, but otherwise your reasoning is a bit on the subjective side IMO.

The monkey pitcher make me laff tho! 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




..and by all means, don't take me too seriously, use what you like, I do. PC's aren't that bad, I just get more work done with less hassle on my Mac.


----------



## Sekkyumu (May 4, 2007)

Ahah. It looks like you've been rape by a mac or something when you were a kid.


----------



## BoneMonkey (May 4, 2007)

I HATE MACS ! its that simple there OVERPRICED and UNDERPOWERED ! 

the only thing that kept apple in business is that there making a fortune in IPODS 

and are ripping old people and misinformed people off by sellign them crappy PC's 

i went to apple store with my friend and a SCUMBAG ASSHOLE salesman was trying to sell a old women a 2500.00 mac and all she wants was a pc for email ............... and it made me soo sick i pulled the women aside and told her he was ripping her off 

that happened years ago and i guess it stuck in my head


----------



## Sekkyumu (May 4, 2007)

MacPro are probably the most powerfull machine you'd ever find at the moment. So no, mac aren't overpriced nor underpowered 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 .

And you don't buy a buggy OS more than 300$ ( 500€ in Europe ~ 600$ ). You get a fully working OS X system with iLife applications suite for only 130$ .


----------



## amptor (May 4, 2007)

i bet dirtie and tpi are both using macs.


----------



## BoneMonkey (May 4, 2007)

QUOTE(SeKuM @ May 4 2007 said:


> MacPro are probably the most powerfull machine you'd ever find at the moment. So no, mac aren't overpriced nor underpowered
> 
> 
> 
> ...




are you on drugs ???  crappy pc's are more powerful then a mac book pro lol

thats the most powerful mac book pro you can buy on www.apple.com

Image

* 2.33GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
* 1680 x 1050 pixels
* 2GB memory
* 160GB hard drive1
* 8x double-layer SuperDrive
* ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 graphics with 256MB SDRAM


$2,799.00!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


you can build a PC desktop with the exact same specs for around 800 bucks lol


----------



## mthrnite (May 4, 2007)

yeah, but macs are better, lol.


----------



## animalsex (May 4, 2007)

Please read:

http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=macs_cant


----------



## BoneMonkey (May 4, 2007)

thank you animalsex !


----------



## mthrnite (May 4, 2007)

macs just work! lol


----------



## Sekkyumu (May 4, 2007)

I was talking about the macpro, not the macbook pro 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 .

People who say macs suck are just jealous 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 .


----------



## mthrnite (May 4, 2007)

Meh, not much difference, just depends on what you like and are used to. I've been using a Mac since 1985, used my share of PCs too, Ataris, Amigas.. you name it, I've used it, sold it, licked it.. etc.... Used to sell windows 1.0 back in the day.. can't tell you how happy I was when 3.1 came out. Personally, I like XP just fine, haven't tried Vista yet, but I feel at home when I'm using OSX. I'm not a fanboy, I'm really not. I don't hate windows, I just don't prefer it. Macs don't suck, PCs don't suck, Linux doesn't suck, iPods don't suck, iRivers don't suck...

.. now Zunes.. they suck.

lol


----------



## Kyoji (May 4, 2007)

QUOTE(sgadzookie80 @ May 4 2007 said:


> you can build a PC desktop with the exact same specs for around 800 bucks lol


Can you tote a Desktop around? No.
Does a desktop look anywhere near as good as a Macbook Pro? No.
Does any Windows laptop look ANYWHERE near as good as a Macbook Pro? NO. 

Mac's are reliable, stable workhorses that happen to have an awesome design team behind them. Your logic has no foundation, give us some reasons why OSX is "crappy" or why all Mac's "suck". I hope you know 90% of the media you enjoy online, on TV or at the movie theaters is created on a Mac...just food for thought.


----------



## BoneMonkey (May 4, 2007)

QUOTE(Kyoji @ May 4 2007 said:


> QUOTE(sgadzookie80 @ May 4 2007 said:
> 
> 
> > you can build a PC desktop with the exact same specs for around 800 bucks lol
> ...



your right but you can easily build a PC LAPTOP with the same exact specs FOR CHEAPER THEN A MAC !


----------



## Sekkyumu (May 4, 2007)

But you won't run OS X 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 .


----------



## bobrules (May 4, 2007)

Mac = rip off. Pc the way to go. So what if you can run windows on a Mac? PC don't need to run mac because we don't need anything from a mac.


----------



## Legend (May 4, 2007)

Mac might be a ripoff, or whatever anybody else says... Personally I think it's really down to what you're going to use it for.

If you want something for gaming, or processor power - buy a PC.
If you want soemthign for creativity, like editing & making movies, or computer graphics, buy the Mac.

It's just that simple.


----------



## Linkiboy (May 4, 2007)

QUOTE(Kyoji @ May 4 2007 said:


> QUOTE(sgadzookie80 @ May 4 2007 said:
> 
> 
> > you can build a PC desktop with the exact same specs for around 800 bucks lol
> ...


As said... You can build a laptop with the same specs for better... and if you build it, you can get a Mac case from a modding store, then install Linux on it... Linux will always look better than a Mac, since it has endless amounts of skins and some of the user created things are just amazing.


----------



## tyasawa (May 4, 2007)

>_


----------



## Kyoji (May 5, 2007)

QUOTE(Linkiboy @ May 4 2007 said:


> QUOTE(Kyoji @ May 4 2007 said:
> 
> 
> > QUOTE(sgadzookie80 @ May 4 2007 said:
> ...


But Linux still can't run Windows apps natively, and last time I checked on OSX apps it didn't do those at all. Yea yea, "but theres WINE!" I don't think I'm alone when I don't feel like configuring one program for 3 hours just to get it to work in an emulator. 

I wasn't even aware you could build your own laptop, I know Asus along with Intel released some standards for laptop customization, but I'm pretty sure it hasn't reached the level of desktop customization as yet. Unless of course you meant buy a Windows PC then put Linux on it. Well, Macs can run Linux too. So if Linux is -that- big of a priority, you get along with the ability to natively run applications you might need on the other OS's.


----------



## BoneMonkey (May 5, 2007)

there are OEM laptop k its available  

but there is websites out there were you can put togeather your own laptop screen processor ram graphics card etc etc such as 

www.ibuypower.com 

you can even add a custom image and they will print out a decal for your laptop for you :-)


----------



## Kyoji (May 5, 2007)

QUOTE(sgadzookie80 @ May 5 2007 said:


> there are OEM laptop k its availableÂ
> 
> but there is websites out there were you can put togeather your own laptop screen processor ram graphics card etc etc such as
> 
> ...


If I wanted to tote around a brick, I'd just buy a brick


----------



## INTERNETS (May 5, 2007)

How.. is Mac OSX a ripoff of windows?

Oh god, my BRAAAAAIN


----------



## Strokemouth (May 5, 2007)

God these threads are the worst.

Here's what it all boils down to:

1. If you bought a Mac, would you be happy with it? Yes, you most likely would. As long as you give it the proper time to learn a new system if you are unfamiliar with them, Macs are quite simply a joy to use.

2. Can you build/find a PC with equivalent hardware for cheaper? Yes, you most likely can. It is a different experience though. It is, quite literally, comparing apples to oranges.

3. Should you only compare price vs. specs? No way. That's like buying a car only by looking at the engine and transmission. The whole really is greater than the sum of its parts.

I would also advise against taking advice from anyone that tells you not to buy a Mac because "they suck" without giving you any hard reasons why. They are usually uninformed, know nothing about Macs, and only go by what they have heard (most of which is false anyway). Also stay away from anyone who types MAC in all caps. Anyone who knows anything about computers knows that Mac is not an acronym. On the flip-side, don't take advice from anyone who only says you should buy a Mac because PC's get spyware and viruses. While true, it is not a reason to not consider one. Anyone that truly knows anything about computers can see each for their merits.

But, what do I know anyways.  
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




(this message typed to you on a PowerBook that is currently streaming songs from my Slackware media server that shares space next to my Vista Ultimate box, everything connected through my Linksys router that runs Linux (tomato))


----------



## Legend (May 5, 2007)

QUOTE(Strokemouth @ May 5 2007 said:


> God these threads are the worst.
> 
> Here's what it all boils down to:
> 
> ...



Couldn't have said it better myself.
In fact, I think that I did try to say it, about 7 posts ago.

Macs are amazing for creativity, and specialize in it.
PC's are great for power, and are decent for graphics & movie editing.

Think of it like this.... 

If you wanted to build The Matrix with complex algorithms and coding, what would you use?
A pc. Sheer brute force and number crunching are PC specialty.
If you wanted to design The Matrix with colors and videos and other multimedia, what would you use?
A Mac. Graphical prowess, as far as designing goes, is Mac's specialty.

To my knowledge, Mac's don't put out the same kind of graphics that PC's do for videogames - there aren't many commercial Mac games, anyway. Not GOOD ones, at least.

Quite frankly, if you want to see what's going on with Mac, just watch all of those "Hi, I'm a Mac" "And I'm a PC." commercials. They're amazing, and true.


----------



## nintendofreak (May 5, 2007)

Why cant we all just buy what we want?? 

If someone wants to "waste" their money on a "Mac", then let em do it!! You "warned" them, they can spend their hard earned dough on anything they please 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




  If they "suck" so much, then they wont hesitate to sell it and buy themselves a "superior" PC.


----------



## - Wrath of God - (May 5, 2007)

QUOTE(nintendofreak @ May 5 2007 said:


> Why cant we all just buy what we want??


Because they asked for help.


----------



## Strokemouth (May 5, 2007)

QUOTE(Legend @ May 5 2007 said:


> If you wanted to build The Matrix with complex algorithms and coding, what would you use?
> A pc. Sheer brute force and number crunching are PC specialty.
> If you wanted to design The Matrix with colors and videos and other multimedia, what would you use?
> A Mac. Graphical prowess, as far as designing goes, is Mac's specialty.



Actually, no. Macs and PC's can do the same "number crunching" as they are the exact same hardware these days. Also, many devs are moving development to Macs as Apple provides very decent IDEs for free (see: XCode and Dashcode) as well as support many "accepted-as-standard," cross-platform IDEs such as Eclipse, etc. Throw in Apple's own optimized compilers and it makes it very easy to switch (unless you are doing Windows-only development, of course).

On the flip-side of that, much of the "creative" stuff can be done just as easily on PC's. My wife is a graphic artist and can just as easily take her Wacom, plug it into my PC, and be right at home in Creative Suite as she is on her Mac. It's a very common misconception that Macs are "better" than PC's in graphics arena. That's just completely false. If anything, Macs are a tad behind as they usually do not come with bleeding-edge graphics cards. What is closer to the truth is that Macs stay on top of the graphics stuff _because_ that is what the pro's use. Not that the pro's use Macs because they are the best. This also stems from the fact that Apple displays used to be accepted as being the best at showing accurate colors without frequent calibration. So those in the print industry could rely on what was being displayed on their screen as looking the same when printed. That's not an issue on the PC side anymore these days.


----------



## Linkiboy (May 5, 2007)

QUOTE(Kyoji @ May 4 2007 said:


> QUOTE(Linkiboy @ May 4 2007 said:
> 
> 
> > As said... You can build a laptop with the same specs for better... and if you build it, you can get a Mac case from a modding store, then install Linux on it... Linux will always look better than a Mac, since it has endless amounts of skins and some of the user created things are just amazing.
> ...


Now thats just fanboyism. Most non-game apps work straight out of the box.

Plus the only thing that I ever found myself using Wine for was games, it seems for every Mac and Windows application there are 3 Linux ones.


----------



## Kyoji (May 5, 2007)

QUOTE(Strokemouth @ May 5 2007 said:


> On the flip-side of that, much of the "creative" stuff can be done just as easily on PC's. My wife is a graphic artist and can just as easily take her Wacom, plug it into my PC, and be right at home in Creative Suite as she is on her Mac. It's a very common misconception that Macs are "better" than PC's in graphics arena. That's just completely false. If anything, Macs are a tad behind as they usually do not come with bleeding-edge graphics cards. What is closer to the truth is that Macs stay on top of the graphics stuff _because_ that is what the pro's use. Not that the pro's use Macs because they are the best. This also stems from the fact that Apple displays used to be accepted as being the best at showing accurate colors without frequent calibration. So those in the print industry could rely on what was being displayed on their screen as looking the same when printed. That's not an issue on the PC side anymore these days.


However,

The Quad Core Mac Pro was tested with CS3 and guess what? It owns! Can't remember the exact numbers, but I do recall that it was significantly faster than a Windows PC with the same specs. Leopard is also reportedly going to feature resolution independent UI, which means Apple is going to release monitors over 72dpi, like 100dpi etc. This moves what you see on screen even closer to what you see in print, a big advantage I'd like to think.

Long story short, yes, CS3 will still run just fine on a PC. But people like adobe know that the majority of the people that *actually buy* their products use Mac's, so it would make sense they would cater to that sector.


----------



## Sekkyumu (May 5, 2007)

And CS3 will work even faster on Leopard !


----------



## Strokemouth (May 5, 2007)

QUOTE(Kyoji @ May 5 2007 said:


> However,
> 
> The Quad Core Mac Pro was tested with CS3 and guess what? It owns! Can't remember the exact numbers, but I do recall that it was significantly faster than a Windows PC with the same specs. Leopard is also reportedly going to feature resolution independent UI, which means Apple is going to release monitors over 72dpi, like 100dpi etc. This moves what you see on screen even closer to what you see in print, a big advantage I'd like to think.
> 
> Long story short, yes, CS3 will still run just fine on a PC. But people like adobe know that the majority of the people that *actually buy* their products use Mac's, so it would make sense they would cater to that sector.



Very good points, but I couldn't find any benchmarks to see those results...the only tests I can find compare newer Macs to G5's. And in those tests, the results aren't that drastic. Have a link? I'd like to see the results!

As for Adobe catering to Mac users: how long have we waited for a universal binary? It's like Apple released the Intel Macs, people said "CS2 runs like shit through Rosetta" and Adobe's reply was, "Deal with it!" Making your customers wait 14 months for a native version of your program, especially one that is an industry standard, is pretty shitty.  
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 That being said, it does run like butter on my wife's 24" iMac (C2D 2.33).


----------



## Kyoji (May 5, 2007)

QUOTE(Strokemouth @ May 5 2007 said:


> Very good points, but I couldn't find any benchmarks to see those results...the only tests I can find compare newer Macs to G5's. And in those tests, the results aren't that drastic. Have a link? I'd like to see the results!
> 
> As for Adobe catering to Mac users: how long have we waited for a universal binary? It's like Apple released the Intel Macs, people said "CS2 runs like shit through Rosetta" and Adobe's reply was, "Deal with it!" Making your customers wait 14 months for a native version of your program, especially one that is an industry standard, is pretty shitty.Â
> 
> ...


Yea, it was a pretty crappy thing to do. But if Adobe didnt know about Apple's plan to switch to Intel, then there wasn't much they could do. I thnk they had their hands tied-release a CS2 update for Intel Macs then screw over customers twice when CS3 comes out, or just grin and bare it until they do release CS3. Given the circumstances, I think they did the right thing. It's not like CS3's only addition was universal binary either, they added a ton of features as I'm sure you're aware.


----------



## directive0 (May 8, 2007)

I just wanted to add my last 2 cents here.  Little story from my own experience.

Its easy to see a Mac for like 1700 and a no name Windows box for 800 with the same specs and say, WTF?  See everyone looks at the raw number of computer costs, and thats short sighted.  You gotta look a month, a year, 5 years down the line and think "okay, what is this box gonna cost me in terms of maintenance".  For the most part Windows computers are pretty reliable, until you start pushing them.

You can complain about Macs all you want, but the bottom line is I saved my company what I estimate to be close to about 3000 dollars this year ALONE in switching over to Macs when they decided to buy their new equipment.  You can spread all the FUD you want, but in my office we use Windows, Linux, and Mac's as our clients are varied and all tend to use their own systems.  Up until recently I had only used PC's primarily at work, being an architectural design firm we needed Autocad.  We always wanted to use macs across the board but we could never justify having only one OS for the price they cost. So Apple rolled out the Intel hardware sometime ago and I jumped on it.

Migration was painless, the macs play nice on our windows network, the OS is easy to use for those non technical people in our accounting department yet if you have any kind of technical skill you can use the very powerful BSD foundation to do a lot of wild and wonderful things, and the part I really like is that the OS is STABLE!  Meaning in a lifespan of 6 years I have had to reformat and reinstall the main OS on my box at home exactly ZERO times!  Imagine that!  How many Windows users here can look me in the eye and tell me they can claim that?  And don't bullshit me, I own several windows computers, I know the truth. Last year alone with windows XP I had to spend at the very least close to 30 hours a month reinstalling, running scanners, explaining why to not open this or that attachment, etc etc.  Because Apple is using standardized equipment across the board, they haven't had to make any concessions or compromises to the OS and its just hard as fuck to find something poorly implemented or conflicting.  There are no driver conflicts, no STUPID windows genuine advantage reminders, none of the day to day headaches.  And when one of our mac boxes DOES run into a hardware error (the only problems I've ever had on a mac have been hardware problems) the fix is always painless if you have half a brain and know how to service your own shit, otherwise you take it to a dealer and get it serviced by a professional. The simple bottom line is by paying a MARGINAL extra amount of money for the same hardware I'm able to run ALL 3 MAJOR OS's from ONE computer, save myself and my employer a TON of headaches and MONEY.  Granted we still need to USE windows for access to autocad, but only when converting things for clients.

Now having said that, are they perfect?  FUCK NO.  You can't upgrade em, they are essentially boat anchors 10+ years down the line, the OS is not a tweaker like Linux, nor are there as many free solutions for it as Linux.  And if you're going for raw brute force computing, or a gaming rig you won't get the best bang from your buck from Apple, I wouldn't suggest that for a second.  But saying Macs are nothing more then overpriced crap is just simply ridiculous, they're a different paradigm of a PC.  

People need to stop being so loyal to brands.  The reality is there are a lot of options out there for everyone and not every option will work for every person.  Find what suits your goals.  If thats a Windows box, then great!


----------



## Linkiboy (May 9, 2007)

Actually, I never had to reformat my 300$ HP that I bought in 2000.


----------



## directive0 (May 9, 2007)

Alright, well I'm willing to accept that me and my office are completely anomalous.  But I'm curious, was that before or after you switched to linux?


----------



## Phrostay (May 9, 2007)

QUOTE said:
			
		

> There is just a problem with macos: there is not plugin to play .ass subtitles as they should be played.
> 
> I heard Mplayer OSX can, but if i load a .ass subtitle with it i get only "???????" as subtitle even changing the encoding (subtitles are in italian).




make sure that .ass file or whatever has the same file name as the movie. Should work after that. Never heard of that file format before though lol.


----------



## ovejon (May 9, 2007)

I'm going to give my side of things.  I am primarily a pc person because I play games.  But having a mac as a laptop is a very good complement (own a macbook pro). Once you start using osx you will find how much better it is compared to Windows.  You'll need some time to getting used to it but it is so stable and easy to use that it becomes an extension of yourself.  Like many of you already mentioned get a mac if its for everyday use the price will pay off in terms of stability and ease of use.  Stick with pc if you are into gaming. Also I believe that macs have better resale value than pcs so if you decide to upgrade to a new machine the old mac can fetch a good price.


----------



## pikachucrackpipe (May 9, 2007)

you make a good point but if you wanna spend less than you would for a pc and have the same unix stability, build a pc and just use linux - ubuntu is nice. so it fedora or red hat.


----------



## directive0 (May 9, 2007)

^ Agreed, actually.  Ubuntu is slowly becoming my favorite way to use my computer.  So rad.


----------

