Laptop suggestions

[thephilosophizer]

There is one specific drawback to Macs to consider before buying.
You can't play games on a Mac.
This doesn't matter to everyone, but most windows based laptops in the $1000+, can play a moderate to high selection of games.
Yes, the macbook, and macbook pros do have nvidia gpus, but there are very, very few games made for the Mac OS.
Yes, you can install windows on a mac, but for one, the track does not work well in windows because windows does not support multi-touch (though I have heard rumors of this being supported in windows 7). And really, if games are an important part of your agenda, then a mac isn't the way to go.
But, if you focus is anything and everything besides pc gaming, then a Mac is the way to go. I keep a desktop pc for gaming, etc, and I keep a macbook for work and anything that involves moving around.
You will be hard pressed to find a more capable, more well built laptop then the new unibody macbooks (not to say there was anything wrong with the former ones, but the unibody is just the best there is).

[mad1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by qrs321

That looks pretty good. I still recommend looking at a Refurbished version of a macbook pro. I saved ~35% by buying my black macbook refurbished. I'm sure you can lower that $2158.95 down by a couple a hundred bucks. If you are on any budget at all, those are substantial savings. If you wanna buy new though, thats fine.

Here are the refurbs
Refurbished Mac - Apple Store (U.S.)

Thanks for the head up, I will consider that as a option. In some instances purchasing a slightly used item will save a considerable amount. One for example I purchased a John Deere X300 42" mulching with 45 hours for $2299, the retail price is $3000.

[mad1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by thephilosophizer

There is one specific drawback to Macs to consider before buying.
You can't play games on a Mac.
This doesn't matter to everyone, but most windows based laptops in the $1000+, can play a moderate to high selection of games.
Yes, the macbook, and macbook pros do have nvidia gpus, but there are very, very few games made for the Mac OS.
Yes, you can install windows on a mac, but for one, the track does not work well in windows because windows does not support multi-touch (though I have heard rumors of this being supported in windows 7). And really, if games are an important part of your agenda, then a mac isn't the way to go.
But, if you focus is anything and everything besides pc gaming, then a Mac is the way to go. I keep a desktop pc for gaming, etc, and I keep a macbook for work and anything that involves moving around.
You will be hard pressed to find a more capable, more well built laptop then the new unibody macbooks (not to say there was anything wrong with the former ones, but the unibody is just the best there is).

Is there any merit to the idea that a MAC running both window and apple(n using parallel) is much slower that a MAC only running apple?

One slight benefit is $100 dollars off for college student on the $1999 MAC Book Pro model,.

[qrs321]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mad1

Is there any merit to the idea that a MAC running both window and apple(n using parallel) is much slower that a MAC only running apple?

Yes, that is very possible. But the problem would be the software (parallels), not the computer and the hardware itself. If you used bootcamp you would be at full speed. The macbook pro was once even the fastest windows laptop.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mad1

One slight benefit is $100 dollars off for college student on the $1999 MAC Book Pro model,.

[pullmyfoot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by thephilosophizer

I keep a desktop pc for gaming, etc, and I keep a macbook for work and anything that involves moving around.
You will be hard pressed to find a more capable, more well built laptop then the new unibody macbooks (not to say there was anything wrong with the former ones, but the unibody is just the best there is).

My thoughts exactly . It looks like more and more people are starting to get the same idea. And I hate the way the Mac desktops look. They dont like like, well, I dunno. You cant tinker inside them

[thephilosophizer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pullmyfoot

My thoughts exactly . It looks like more and more people are starting to get the same idea. And I hate the way the Mac desktops look. They dont like like, well, I dunno. You cant tinker inside them

Yeah, but how much tinkering do you need to do when you have 2 quad core cpus and 16gb of RAM? Though I haven't really understood why apple goes overboard on the ram and cpu, but low balls it as far as graphics (maybe it's the no games for macs problem). But then again, I figure I could put together a pretty snazzy pc for $2800 .
Yes you can run windows in bootcamp to run games, but for one, like I said before, the trackpad doesn't work right, so you have to have an extra mouse (I say extra because the multi-touch-pad in mac os works so well I don't even want a mouse). And the other thing is that it is a pain in the ass to switch back and forth. Part of that is because file paths get screwed up, or maybe your productivity suite is in mac os, not windows, or vice-a-versa (though again, if you are going to be using windows most often, then something like a higher end sony or lenovo might do better).
Edit: Looking at the mac pro page, for $2800 you get two 2.8 xeon quads, but only 2gb ram, and one 320gb hdd, and a radeon 2600xt.

[pullmyfoot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by thephilosophizer

Yeah, but how much tinkering do you need to do when you have 2 quad core cpus and 16gb of RAM? Though I haven't really understood why apple goes overboard on the ram and cpu, but low balls it as far as graphics (maybe it's the no games for macs problem). But then again, I figure I could put together a pretty snazzy pc for $2800 .
Yes you can run windows in bootcamp to run games, but for one, like I said before, the trackpad doesn't work right, so you have to have an extra mouse (I say extra because the multi-touch-pad in mac os works so well I don't even want a mouse). And the other thing is that it is a pain in the ass to switch back and forth. Part of that is because file paths get screwed up, or maybe your productivity suite is in mac os, not windows, or vice-a-versa (though again, if you are going to be using windows most often, then something like a higher end sony or lenovo might do better).
Edit: Looking at the mac pro page, for $2800 you get two 2.8 xeon quads, but only 2gb ram, and one 320gb hdd, and a radeon 2600xt.

I can put together a snazzy PC and get one of those new Macbooks

[thephilosophizer]

Exactly, I never could figure why apple is so good at laptops, phones and mp3 players, but they are terrible at building desktops even though that's how they got started.

[mad1]

Looked at a 15" MAC Book Pro at work. I thinks this is what i will be getting. I can get a larger work discount on the same laptop than I can with an education discount. Same specs as before but an adapter to connect up a larger LCD monitor.

[thephilosophizer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mad1

Same specs as before but an adapter to connect up a larger LCD monitor.

I just want to check that when you say this you mean just the external plug. The minidisplayport to dvi is the way to go, and because dvi is the same signal as hdmi you can get a dvi-to-hdmi adapter and plug into your tv as well (some tvs do also have dvi plugs, but with those it seems that vga is still more common).
I will say this. The longer I have had my MacBook (I ordered the day after they released the unibodies, the last time I had a mac was back in the early 90s), the more I like it. There is a learning curve though, as far as finding the right programs, etc, especially after having used pcs for so long.
Oh, and one other thing. The track will screw you up whenever you try to use a "standard" one on a different computer.