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The little MacBook is the cat's meow- I've been using PC's since 1983, and have had a succession of Windows laptops (Sony, HP/Compaq) that I haven't been completely satisfied with (understantement), including HP nc8230 that's the least reliable I've ever owned (Sony being a close second). Last year I got a PowerBook 17 on something of a whim (had been thinking about trying OSX on a Mac Mini), and fell in love with the whole environment and user experience, and applications. What started as just music and photography grew to include Office and graphics and Maple 10 on the Mac instead of PC, and finally a rather good mechanical 3D design package (Concepts Unlimited, also availble on PC). The MacBook is really cool for the same reasons Paul seems to like it- I can run my CAD apps on the XP side, (Altium Designer, MathCAD, SIMetrix, LspCAD), and everything else (mail, Office, Internet, presentations, technical writing, project management, photography, etc) is on OSX. An upgrade from 512MB is MANDATORY!!!, esepcially if you run apps requiring Rosetta, like Office or Photoshop. UB apps run pretty well without it, but with the memory lost to the graphics card, 512MB results in too conservative a memory mangement approach (i.e., too much virtual memory), and apps wind up being RAM starved. With 2 GB, everything flies in comparison, on both OSX and XP. If I could only have one computer, this little black MacBook would be it. (of course, I run it with external displays to extend desktop). (And the built in screen IS the best "brite" style screen I've seen- someone was actually "looking" at these when they made this pick, not just looking at specs or price. Still, for real power apps on the Mac, my quad core G5 is the one to beat. But this is pretty amazing for a small form factor laptop.
Jon Hancock -May 31, 2006
I have been a Mac fan since '89. I was sorry to see PowerPC go; up until a few years ago, when IBM lost interest, it really WAS fatser than Intel. But Intel understands it's mission in life and kept improving. I just bought an Intel MacBook, and I have to say, it is plenty fast. I like the built-in camera, too. That will "sucker" me into setting up video iChats with my friends so they can talk face-to-face with my kids; something I would NOT bother with if I had to BUY a camera separately.
tom barta -May 31, 2006
i love the irony how apple promoted how fast the powerpc platform was faster than the intel pc platform for years... even advertised they were the fastest computers in the world (which they later had to retract)... now, all of a sudden, they move to intel and state how the new macbooks are 5x faster than the powerpc platform... im glad they woke up to the fact they were getting blown out of the water... geez, can we believe anything they say?
larah -May 31, 2006
The Power PC was the fastest at the time -- not clock speed, but overall performance. The dual and quad PowerMac G5s are still very respectable computers and outperform comparable-equipped PCs. Apple switched to Intel because IBM couldn't get a G5 to run cool enough for a laptop and portables are a growing market. Apple has and always will be at the forefront of the industry, adopting new technologies and making changes when they need to.
ipodG8TR -May 31, 2006
Yes, what ipodG8TR said. IBM WAS ahead of the curve until recent years when they dropped the ball with the laptop offerings. Apple was forced to make the move, had IBM kept up we would still see new PowerPC Mac. I'm happy Apple chose to make the switch and are now back in the game. MacBook Pro, here I come. Mac User since 1987.
lantzn -May 31, 2006
That seemed to be inevitable.. IBM is no longer in the laptop business, and the power PC never was. They are in the server business. Always have been.
Dave -May 31, 2006
To make keyboard and mouse more PC-like, you need not add any software. Just click Modifier Keys in preferences and you can switch Ctrl etc. around at will (though I prefer the Mac's positioning for key commands anyway). And right-click functionality doesn't need any extras either. You can right-click by simply using two fingers, OR if you don't like that option, then Ctrl-click.
Alfonse -May 31, 2006
WRT "made fun of Intel": they weren't making fun of Intel Core, they were making fun of the Pentium 4, which even Intel admits was a bad wrong turn. People love to say that Apple "changed their mind" about Intel vs. PPC, but the fact is, IBM dropped the PPC ball while Intel (thank goodness) dropped the Pentium and developed Core. Apple's good planning meant they had an Intel version of OS X already prepared for just such a sea change if it ever happened. Smart! Apple planned ahead instead of reacting late, and Apple users now benefit.
Alfonse -May 31, 2006
Yes, until very recently PowerPC was the faster, better, MUCH cheaper, cooler chip. But the REAL story is Intel "poached" the top PowerPC engineers from the Somerset Design Center. (Run by Apple, Moto, IBM in Austin) Moto later sued and WON for mucho millions from Intel, but it was too late, the best Intel chips are now designed by former PowerPC engineers. After that, PowerPC just couldn't keep up the the high demands of Apple, so Intel went to work to try and "finally" win the Apple account. And after 30 years of trying to meet Apple's quality levels, they finally did it with Core Duo. Their chip is still far too hot, and costs about double for the same performace of PowerPC, but Intel is starting to figure out chip design, thanks to "PowerPC" engineers. Now you know the rest of the story...
OS11 -May 31, 2006
Intel is dropping the ball. What's next Apple on AMD?
Brian M. -May 31, 2006
computers are a commodity business. how long can apple keeping selling at inflated prices to what amounts to a pc? what sells the windows platform is software. there is software for every need on windows (apps, games, servers, etc). macs lag in this sense.
mighty mike -May 31, 2006
Well, neither here nor in his blog (http://www.internet-nexus.com/2006/05/few-days-with-new-macbook.htm) did he really explain why he's swimming upstream against numerous issues and using this primarily as a Windows box. I can think of a couple reasons why someone would do that, like the need for using a particular app several hours a day that doesn't exist on the Mac, but he doesn't mention any such needs. Surely it can't be just for the novelty of it, can it?
Rick -May 31, 2006
mighty mike, apple doesn't sell commodity PCs. Macs are more of a "complete" system, not a tinker toy set just for games and the odd application that isn't yet on the Mac. Apple now sells the lowest priced PCs for the feature set. Apple has the advantage over all PC Vendors since it doesn't have to pay, (nor the buyers) the Microsoft tax. Apple makes the WHOLE system, that's why it is more valuable in the marketplace, holds its resell value much better than PCs, has a longer useful life of course, and I think most people would agree it now has the better software library. 18,000 apps and growing quite a bit quicker than Windows since OSX is so easy to program for, plus it runs all the Linux and Windows software as well. It's the only true "Universal PC", built today. Great product design, great engineering and HUGE attention to the finest details and that's why the smart money buys Macs. Check the real time price trackers, you'll be surprised how cheap Macs have become over the last 5 years. http://www.appleprices.com/ (don't forget you get much more with a standard Mac than you do with a top of the line PC) check out the below links to understand what all the excitement is about. http://www.apple.com/hardware/ http://www.apple.com/software/ -
for mighty mike -May 31, 2006
@Mighty Mike: There are numerous articles debunking the "inflated prices" myth. Go ahead: price out a comparably equiped MacBook (or Pro) vs. a Dell, HP, or Sony. Every honest comparison I've seen shows the Mac to actually be *cheaper* once you upgrade the "cheap" Dell (et. al.) to something actually usable. As for applications, Mac has Windows beat hands-down. I've been a dual user (Mac and Windows) for years, and ALL of the best day-to-day apps I use are on OS X...not Windows. Come out from behind the veil of ignorance, and you'll find an entire world of insanely great apps for OS X.
T -May 31, 2006
Yes, in both Software and Hardware, Apple is the undisputed leader. IF you desire a quality computing experience. Many people don't need the best, so there will continue to be a backwater of computing hanging onto Windows, and poorly made PCs. But for the foreseeable future, Apple will be both king on the software side and pricing for hardware. This shows a simple example of what Wintel is up against. http://www.systemshootouts.org/shootouts/desktop/2006/0325_dt0600.html As for software, there really isn't anything left in the Wintel space that competes up against OSX versions. Even Microsoft Office is several years ahead in quality, and the list is huge for most every other category. As of this post, there are currently 15,188 OSX Applications, and every single one of them is better than the Wintel counterpart. http://osx.hyperjeff.net/apps/ plus windows has nothing even remotely close to these: http://www.apple.com/ilife/
Ted -May 31, 2006
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mon -June 1, 2006
sorry mac lovers your confusing fact with opinion. quality is subjective. im speaking of quantity and availability for the windows platform. i cant do as much with a mac (of which i have one). i prefer using my pc because i find it difficult to find mac software to do the same thing. and no, just because apple packages software doesnt make it useful to me. im not a musician so, why do i care if they give me a free copy of garage band. i rather pay less for the package or just plainly the hardware and get software that i want instead of being forced to pay an inflated price for what i deem as useless.
mighty mike -June 1, 2006
...and those who dont believe computers are commodities, are just drones to the apple marketing machine. the entire computing industry is going the way of open source software and commondity hardware. if it makes you feel better to line the pockets of steve jobs, enjoy.
mighty mike -June 1, 2006
Thanks for the review Paul, it was nicely done and I look forward to hearing more about Paralles. Jon's previous comments also caught my eye. We have a group of engineers using HP nc8230 laptops that have been awesome. They have been the best laptops that we have used over the past 11 years.
Kirt McReynolds -June 1, 2006
Mike, just trying to understand what it is that you can't do on a mac that you can do oon Windows. Your comments are completely pointless and worthless if you don't back it up with something substantial. You're right quality is subjective, but knowing the number of people who have switched to a Mac in the last few years and will never go back, I think that speaks for itself. I have not heard one decent argument from a Windows user regarding unavailable software. There is always an option. Just because Windows has more software available, does not make it superior. The Mac just has a far nicer user experience, and everything is much more intuitive and built for people rather than Microsoft employees.
Dave -June 1, 2006
i like using ca erwin to do data modeling (opinion). ca doesnt produce it for the mac (fact). most companies dont produce a comparable version of their software for the mac platform (fact). instead, your forced to find less developed version if it even exists (fact). for the consumer market and basic software, there's usually no issue. you can move to a mac because of basic needs like surfing the web and word processing. if you need to do anything else, out of luck. dave, i never said more means better. more means more options. dave, nicer user experience/intuitive (um, opinion). im not into eye candy. im looking to get work done. intuitive comes from experience and comfort. well, to me windows is more intuitive (opinion).
mighty mike -June 1, 2006
mikeymike - ca erwin is hardly a PC app, and at $4000 it's not even classified in the pc realm. that being said, any mac produced in the last 15 years will run that "legacy" visualization tool with ease. the requirements are nothing special, it's just a bloated tool to maintain bloated systems, something the mac world has no need for. take a look at Xcode, you could simply write all that code from scratch, run it on a OSX Xserve and be miles ahead of the game. http://developer.apple.com/tools/xcode/ http://www.apple.com/xserve/ http://www.apple.com/server/resources/oracle/ OSX is currently the most powerful development environment, it's just most of the legacy people are afraid of it since it spells the end of many Tech jobs. http://www.apple.com/webobjects/ http://developer.apple.com/
big boy -June 1, 2006
waste my time rewriting an existing application, no thanks, i rather buy vs build. so, your saying if it doesnt exist, go and build it? not really practical. what company do you work for that you run all mac software and hardware? btw, what about hardware driver support? same story, frustration.
mighty mike -June 2, 2006
wake me when apple has 30% of the market and there is wide-industry support. otherwise, its impractical. even linux has more momentum than apple. you guys are too fanatically and not realistic. hey, its a nice toy and eye candy to impress people with. when i need to get something done, i'll just use windows and linux for now.
mighty mike -June 2, 2006
actually, Apple is the most standards compliant OS out there, if it doesn't conform to industry standards, they won't touch it. That's how it became the most universal OS in use today. They take the total opposite approach that M$ does, and it works great for the platform. Windows does have advantages, but only if you aren't needing a quality OS... which is fine for plenty of backroom tasks, but if it touches a user a Mac is the best way to go. They are cheaper to run as well, it's a win / win if you fully keep "windows" out of the picture in your company.
General Jon -June 2, 2006
Just a comment from a business person's view on the value of computers. The purchase price is nearly irrelevant, the true value is in the productivity. Over three years ago we shifted our small company of 8 consultants and 5 support people completely off of the PC platform onto Mac's. It was a large investment for us as we made a group purchase. I did the financial justifications and can tell you that the ROI was in less then 12 months. Here is why. 1. Maintaince tail. The year before we shifted we budgeted $1,500 a month for outside support for our PC's. On a few months it went to a bit over $4,000 and on some months less then $500. This past year our highest support charge for a month was $285. 2. Availability. We routinely kept a spare PC laptop as we had to rotate them. Several times we shipped them overnight to consultants whose laptops had gone off line. On one occassion we had one of our top performers on site trying to reload his laptop's software while fending off the customer's demands. It took this technology expert 3 days to get his laptop working again. We loosly kept track but the general perception is that everyone lost at least 2 to 5 days a year keeping their PC's running. 8 consultants x 2 days is 16 days of work. Let us say that 16 days of work is worth a lot of money to us. On the Mac we have had nearly zero loss of availability. The worse to date was dropping and breaking a screen, but never a loss due to poor software loads. I personally run a Powerbook G4 17 inch. The same laptop for 3 years and not a single day's downtime. 3. Security. We no longer have all the security overhead nor concerns that we delt with previously. This is worth quite a bit to a small organization. To paraphase master card "priceless." 4. Support. The advent of the Apple stores has been a hugh benefit for us. We send people world wide and nearly everywhere there are Apple stores. We do not use them very often but when we need them there are there and at no extra charge. For example, we had one person who had a software problem. They walked into a store in Portland, Or at 6:00 PM and told them they had a 1:00 PM presentation next day. The staff fixed the problem overnight. Again priceless. Bottomline. The shift to Apple was business justified and exceeded all of our productivity and financial requirements. I would highly recommend the same shift to any small business.
Bawana -June 3, 2006
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I don't want to enter a religious debate - but it looks like I'm about to ;-) I'm a developer who has worked on Windows (and before that, DOS) machines for about 13 years. I've also worked with Linux and Solaris. In previous lives I used Amigas and various 8-bit machines. Last year I took the plunge and bought an iMac (G5). The visuals are great and there are certainly some nice features - but overall I have been very disappointed. First, it runs very slowly - especially Eclipse, which I have been using for Java (but apparently that is notorious for running like a dog on OS X). Running too many apps at once really takes a hit too. Firefox, especially, locks up fairly frequently and I have to reboot. I hope the Intel Macs are much better in these departments. Compatibility is the next issue. I have tried a number of printers, including two HP's and a Canon. All come with OS X drivers, plus I downloaded the latest updates. In all cases, to this day, my success rate in printing anything reliably is less than 50% Often pages come out as, say, A6, when I wanted A4, or the orientation is not what it should be. Sometimes it just wouldn't print at all and I had to reboot both computer and printer. There just seems to be no sense to it. It just plain doesn't work! Configuration: Certain software that is a breeze to set-up for Windows or Linux (SQL Server and Subversion come to mind) I wasted many many weekends gettings set-up on my iMac - and my Subversion server still doesn't work properly! A big problem seems to be that base directory structures and locations, types and formats of system config files seems to change with every release of OS-X, so no matter how much searching you do on the web you only ever seem to find the wrong advice! Why can't they just leave them in one place? Admittedly I'm not a Unix shell guru, but I don't have the same degree of troubles with Linux (although I find that a battle too). UI: It looks pretty, but I just find it soooo awkward to work with! The Dock is very slick, but impractical. It is so difficult to see what windows you have open. It's very frustrating that only minimised windows are iconised in the dock - so to get the full picture you have to look there (usually hovering over each because you can't really tell which is which), and then go to Exposé to see the rest. Such a pain! I'm constantly switching between windows and this really gets in the way. Another huge pain (which seems pointlessly unfixed) is that you can only resize windows from the bottom right. Half the time it is just an annoyance - but other times that corner is either off-screen or under the Dock (actually I have my Dock on the right now to minimise this problem) - so resizing a window is often a combination of moving the window to some other position, resizing, then moving back - why oh why? Also I still don't see why there is no "full screen" mode for windows. Yes I have seen explainations. I just don't buy it. I miss it! And don't get me started on software! There is plenty of high quality software available for the Mac, yes. And some of it is better than the equivalent for Windows. But we're mostly talking small numbers of specialist software. There is still oodles of very good, high quality software available for Windows that are simply not available for the Mac - or lower quality and/ or much more expensive equivalents only exist. One example here (and I'd love to be corrected) is a tool for MindMapping. I use MindManager for Windows, but the best I have found for the Mac are a couple of low quality shareware apps. My list of grievances could go on and on, but I should stop there. I just want to demonstrate to those that go on about how perfect the Macs are that there are some serious drawbacks that can't be overlooked by a lot of people. I will say that, as a glutton for punishment, I am considering a MacBook. I don't want to give up on the Macs. Spiritually I still love them. I just can't work with them seriously. It's such a shame. The MacBook should address many of my concerns in two ways: 1. They're faster and 2. I can still run Windows. Wish me luck!
Phil -June 6, 2006
Phil, I agree with your comments about the the dock (I also put it on the right to get it out of the way), the resizing of windows, and the lack of the full screen mode -all very annoying. I do love my G4 Powerbook, but have recently faced some "compatibility" issues when it comes to SaaS, in particular, Salesforce.com -- I am wondering if the new mac books might solve the problem (or it would at least be an interesting test case... anyone want to send me a free Macbook Pro? I'll write up the review.) The issue came up when I was trying to use Salesforce.com (SFDC). I am the only one in my company (a small strategy & business consulting firm) that uses a mac, and the other consultants use pcs. We made a decision to buy into Salesforce.com and started the online training. I found out that I could not download the "Office & Outlook Editions" of Salesforce onto my mac (SFDC is not compatible with mac) and that I would have to migrate over to using Outlook to update anything in SFDC. (but I prefer the email program & address book on the powerbook) Well... I had mac support walk me through downloading "Outlook"-- it is not available for my mac. But I was able to download "Outlook Express" but it looked like something from the 1990s. But then, Outlook Express was not compatible with SFDC. So, I am wondering if getting a mac-windows machine might solve this problem.... has anyone tried using SFDC with the new macbooks or macbook pro? (Not just logging onto the SFDC website, but actually updating contacts, running reports and using the CRM software and then getting the contacts from SFDC onto a Blackberry and getting contact info from business cards onto SFDC. See..to upload new contacts in SFDC, I had bought a business card scanner SFDC recommended called "card scan" but guess what! The "card scan" software did not work with my mac, not compatible. So then I thought that buying a pc might solve this problem, but I've been looking around the market, and the laptops are ugly (ex. IBMs Levenos also look like they are from the '90s). I love the design of mac, but I need function more than design. I am seeing reviews on how great the mac-windows is, but is it truly "universal"?
BJM -June 14, 2006
Whilst I truly appreciate the Mac style and design, I cannot understand all the comments from people about how Apple is the 'king' of software and hardware. If that were so, how come Microsoft and the PC vendors have a vastly higher market presence? Also, a comment by Ted stating how there will always be a (quote) 'backwater of computing hanging onto Windows, and poorly made PCs' is purely ridiculous. At the moment, Apple users are the backwater if we are talking in terms of pure numbers and application availability. I'm not against Apple, I just can't understand comments like these made by Apple enthusiasts trying to kid themselves that everyone else is on the same page as them.
CWB -June 15, 2006
Um...maybe i am confused but isn't this supposed to be a review of the macbook......to me it just resembles a heated debate between devout mac users and snobby windows lovers.....seriously, take your debate someplace else. I am interested in buying a macbook....but all this controversy is making me anxious.
cameron -June 21, 2006
BJM, I am in a similar situation where I am using a 15' powerbook, and my company uses Salesforce for their CRM system. In order to fully take advantage of Salesforce, I need to be able to upload emails, etc, which is done mostly through the Salesforce Outlook edition. I am looking into whether or not it would be viable to run Outlook on Virtual PC all day while I am at work. Let me know if you find anything useful.
evan -June 24, 2006
I have been using my MacBook Pro 15 inch 2 GHz 1 Gb RAM now for about two months and am absolutely satisfied. I support both MAC and Windows users. I used "boot camp" and installed Windows XP on a seperate partition and have had several occasions where I needed to go to Windows to set up equipment which would only connect through Internet Explorer in a later version than available on the MAC. Also the video was only viewable through Windows. There is nothing more satisfying then to be able to show and explain something to a client by just jumping to the other OS and application and demonstrating how it works. Carrying the one laptop(MacBook Pro) makes this possible.
Hans Dietrich -June 28, 2006
being a former linux/windows dual boot user... dual booting between oses is quite a pain. if the partitions arent readable across between both, its pain having to reboot just to get a file. secondly, if apps are only one side, imagine having to boot to side only to boot back. the ideal situation is to run virtual instances and be able run both oses at the same time. then its just a matter of "alt tabbing" and switching windows to get to your data and apps.
martin -June 28, 2006
Martin, I agree with you. I encountered the dual boot pain myself. I personally, would just run Windows on a MacBook to get the best of both worlds. Great hardware and widest available software for a platform. Mac OS is a consumer operating system. Software companies just dont build software to run MacOS. It just doesnt make business sense to produce software for less than 5% of the market.
Greg -June 28, 2006
Being a mac / pc user for years, my experience has always been that the older macs (running OS 9 and before) always had a sluggy interface (mouse movements and clicks respond sluggishly to the user's actions) and a very slow graphics-card. For example, when playing a .SWF movie on a G4, and comparing it to a much older PC (a Pentium3 for example), the pc displays the movie much faster. OS X is a breath of relief, although some strange issues still persist. Why still use the 'resource fork' system? It's incompatible between systems: on a pc, a mac file is accompanied by an invisible 1-kb thumbnail file that doesn't display a thumbnail, and on a mac, a JPG from a PC doesn't display a thumbnail either. Windows just gives you a preview based on the JPG file itself, not based on an accompanying invisible file. But maybe that's just trivial. But what I really want to know: how does running windows on a macbook compare to running windows on a pc? is it just a nice gimmick or could you really consider it for professional purposes?
olleke bolleke -July 6, 2006
Hi, I posted a month or so ago saying I was about to get a MacBook. In the end I went for a MacBook Pro. I just found the display on the MacBook to be unusable due to the glossy screen! Also, while I was wanting to keep the size down because of my need to use while travelling, I realised that the tiny display on the MacBook is just too small to do anything useful - especially the way the OS X desktop works, which is not very space efficient! So I got my shiny new MacBook Pro (the 1.83Ghz version - it dropped in price once Apple stopped producing it) . It's very nice, and has since nice features you can read about elsewhere (like the light sensor, backlit keyboard, maglite power connector, built in iSight etc). However I have had a few problems with it. My power supply doesn't seem to work properly and I have to keep resetting the Power Management Unit. I also have to manually reconnect it to my wi-fi router every time I restart it, which is a pain. Yesterday I installed the new 1.0 release of Parallels and installed a virtual Windows XP machine in it. I am very impressed with the responsiveness, performance and stability so far. Compared to previous experience with VMWare within Windows, this feels much more like a native OS. I suspect that is mostly thanks to the Core Duo chip. I haven't yet had a chance to really run it in and see where it breaks down, but my initial impression is very good. I think I can use it for most Windows based tasks (including development!) without needing to dual boot! Regards, [)O IhIL..
Phil -July 13, 2006
Hey mike, for somebody who is never shutting up about how you have to get work done and be productive, you have an amazing amount of time to site on this site posting remarks and arguing all day.
cooked_crack -August 1, 2006
Holy Cow, I just bought a macbook for my son for college. Having never used a Mac except in pasisng, I now completely understand why people use Macs. I actually ENJOY using this thing. It wasn't completely painless, but everyone working with M$ is well aware of how to deal with pain. A year ago, I would have said Mac was going out of business. Today, I think they may actually be in the best position for the next 5 years. This is what a computer is suppose to be. I haven't tried games on it yet, but my guess that is on the way. There is a decent selection of games, but no Battlefield 2.
cfJeff -August 13, 2006
cooked_crack (what a lovely and respectful name! ooooh, you're so clever)... try learning how to write and make constructive arguments... this is called a forum and i have valid points... you on the other hand, have nothing constructive to add... grow a brain and say something meaningful to the topic... i do more work in 5 minutes than you do all day...
mighty mike -December 1, 2006
Hi, I am a computer illeterate who needs advice in plain english from the pros on my problem. I am using at home a traditional Dell computer with windows applications and i receive from my isp and manage my emails on Microsoft Outlook. I want to buy a small laptop and i felt in love with the MacBook at the store. If i buy it, i will mainly use it for connecting to the internet and for emails.My stupid question is this: Can i also receive my mail and manage it(on microsoft outlook?) on my new Macbook. In plain english, what do i have to do to manage my mails on both my Dell and the MacBook. Is it possible amd how does that work? Would that works only when i am at home or would it be possible to manage my mails on my MacBook when i am elsewhere? thanks for helping the dinosaur that i am. Louis
Louis Reynolds -December 15, 2006
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Hi all. i am a (poor) student about to purchase a mac for the first time and have used windows for many years. As such i sought to read online reviews of the macbook and whilst this one looked promising, it quickly became another on-going debate into which os is "better". Personally i think this debate is fuelled by ego-centric people who have a fear of change or the unknown. Though in saying that, i can understand that both macs and pcs have advantages and disadvantages, what we need to do is come to a realisation and acceptance that we dont all think alike, nor do we all act alike. As such, different os's will inevitably suit different individuals, simple as that, and with that we should just accept that one is not for all. For me, the mac os is much more appealing as i find it much more user friendly and "fun". Though along with that you must understand that my purposes for a laptop are predominately to further my studies doing school based work, along with common younger generation activities like music, video, internet and so on. The thing is, i am able to justify my PERSONAL selection of os's, rather than attempting to justify and absolute "best" os. I can see your points about facts versus opinions, however, my statement is that opinions will always rule our INDIVIDUAL choices no matter what, and as such should not be ridiculed for it. On another note, i think this forum should go back to a series of user reviews of the macbook as they seem to be extremely difficult to find online, especially descent ones. With that i will say cya later, and will come back and post a REVIEW of the macbook once mine has arrived.
Jason -December 29, 2006
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Wrong!!, Apple is not the fastess PC on the worls, is an IBM ZSeries, does are the fastess and performce best, but this are mainframes, and no mortal will have ones on thier home, so the pSeries from IBM was adopted by Apple computer and start to buil the famouse G4 and G5, thar we know, but Intel wasn't the one that start using the cores, it was AMD and also they where the firts to incure in the 64 bits x86 processors, now the PPC wasa great pocesor and Apple just dropped because the cost of having ones, IBM still make PPC but know they devolpe and let the code free for all (GNU) and so the console market start using it for better game console development such as the 360 and the PS3, both use PPC architecture and are the fastes PC at low cost on earth hehehe, so Apple is not the ruler for now, the x86 Windows / Linux market has grown faster than the Mac OS X, so Apple need to reach does markets with the technology that is supported intel base PC, but using the new tech of cores thata came from IBM (Rochester) and was implemented by AMD and now used with new intel core duo Prossesors, so Sorry for the Mac Fans, but the power of the Apple logo is far gone, know is just a mortal PC with a new Bios tech call EFI, that perfom well and that is not property of apple is from Intel and is used on PC with Vista and Yes Vista support EFi and so it can be replace the OSX, that make dummys peoples for real PC geeks, so for al You Mac Fans, dont ged mad or sorry, you still have a good PC on macbooks but a PC from Dell or alienware can perfomr better and cheaper for your wallet, so don't get the blink and glamorouse PC that apple have every offer us, and evaluate in the real world, Apple is no more the King isjust a nother mortal brand on the market and a expensive one, with a lot of junk apps, and a fancy look, but in the real worls performance and price are the real values to achive, so I keep my AMD 64bit CPU arch, with a nvidia GPU and my Linux or Windows running faster than a OSX, I have test both Laps and AMD rules all, :D Sorry and keep going!!!
Logan -February 26, 2007
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mike -March 15, 2007
sounds great! i am tempted. as a long time windows user for music production, among other things, the introduction of crappy Vista (what garbage) and the near ubiquitous presence of this OS on all the new PC laptops (with the associated DROPPED BALL on xp driver support- thus making the installation of XP pro- an OS far superior to Vista for my purposes- very difficult if not impossible) makes me want this macbook pro... only 3 things stand in the way- 1) the lack of right-click in a convenient usable form- this is something which apple NEVER came to grips with and i just dont know why...get a right-clip apple and i am THERE in 2 seconds! 2) the lack of an integrated card reader makes no sense- given the proliferation of flash memory based devices, like my field recorder and my digital camera. 3) the inclusion of only 2 usb ports. yeah i know i can use a usb hub but... come one guys... but overall looks like a great notebook! and the ability to boot windows, well that just sold me... i may just buy one because i hate Vista so much. i wish Vista had never happened. Microsoft is SO out of touch...
aaronpeacock -September 23, 2007
Hello, As a current Windows user and new Mac user, I have to say that, for day-to-day computing, what most people use a computer for, the Apple experience is superior. This past March, on a whim, after buying myself a new high-power PC (quad-core, 4GB of RAM), I bought an iMac for my wife. One of the selling points for us was that we could run Parallels and have Windows XP and all of the MS Office software we owned running side-by-side with the Mac operating system. So, I installed Windows XP in Parallels and Office 2003 for Windows and, at first, my wife used the Microsoft stuff a lot. Then, through my work, I got a great deal on Office 2004 for Mac ($29) and I decided to get it. So, she stopped using Parallels for Office 2003 for Windows. Now, we’re not gamers (Parallels would be useless for gaming anyway – boot camp would be a better option), but it looked like we would still need Windows for opening the odd WMA or WMV file – at least that’s what we thought. Then, to my surprise (it’s not very well advertised) I discovered that there was a free Media player, made by Microsoft, for Mac, that would play WMV and WMA files. Well, to make a long story short, my wife doesn’t even use Parallels anymore. It was actually a waste of money, for her at least, because everything that she needs she was able to find for Mac. I suspect that 95% of the people that use computers (probably more) would be served much better with a Mac than a PC. Ours has never crashed. It’s never caught a virus (although I use an antivirus program so as not to pass on a Windows-specific virus to a Windows user). It has never been a problem - period. Now, I still need Windows running natively (not Parallels) for circuit board design (PCAD), but I’m sure that I could run my compilers using Parallels and, if I really wanted to, I could run games and probably PCAD on a Mac using boot camp. In fact, to be honest, in hindsight I wish I had bought a Mac instead. Except for engineering stuff, the Windows experience just doesn't cut it for me anymore. Sure, there are some differences in the user interface, but, for the most part, that’s exactly what they are, just differences. I do agree that some of the window stuff (i.e. resizing) is a bit annoying, but not to the point that I think twice about it. Just the fact that I don’t have to constantly maintain my machine and do little things with it, makes the drawbacks seem so small. Some days, when I get home from work, I don’t even turn the PC in my office on. I can quickly check my gmail, surf the web for news, and watch a movie (or watch previews of upcoming theatrical releases, which is a built in feature of front row) sitting on our bed with a beer and the apple remote (which conveniently sticks on the side of the screen with a built-in magnet and can be used to turn the Mac off when I’m done with my movie). So, my next purchase will be a Macbook Pro and, if I ever win the lottery (or get a huge raise) I’m going to buy a quad-core (of even 8-core!) Mac Pro. If I had I known how much I would love our iMac, I would have done that in the first place (I doubt that I could convince my wife to let me do that now). By the way, you can easily configure your Mac so that the mouse behaves like a Windows mouse (i.e. right click). I forget exactly how I did it (I’m using my work PC right now so I can’t check it out), but rest assured, Windows users will have no problem adjusting to the Mac. In fact, I have found that Windows Vista (which is such a blatant rip-off of Mac OSX that it’s not even funny) is actually taking me longer to get used to than the Mac. It’s quite a bit different than XP, Windows 2000, or 9x and it’s not near as intuitive as the Mac. I'm having a hard time finding certain Windows features in Vista, but the same features I seem to be able to find really fast on the Mac. Anyway, enough of my proselytizing. I’m not a member of the Cult of Mac, but I am a big fan, and I truly feel that, if you buy a Mac, or any Apple product for that matter (we have 4 iPods in our household), you won’t be sorry. Just try it. If you’re nervous about making the leap to Macs (mac books, iMacs, Mac Pro’s or otherwise), I would suggest that you buy a KVM switch and a Mac Mini (approx. $500), at least to get a feel for the product. You could run that alongside your current PC and, at the very least, whether or not you decided to buy one of the more complete Mac systems, you would have a good little download computer, file server, print server, and media center. In fact, if you networked it, you could plug it in to your TV and simply use it to listen to music, look at photos, or watch movies with front row (no mouse of keyboard required). You could upload the files to the Mac from any PC in the house! :) Good luck with your purchases! Chuck P.S. By the way, regarding gaming, Apple will get there… http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/canadastore?node=home/mac/buying_guide/ea
Charles -October 9, 2007
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