| zafer |
Anyone own one of these 13 inch, Intel Core Duo laptops? Are they sufficiently pre-loaded software wise? Good buy? Smart move?
Thx. |
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| andreseng |
| Where's Anjan?? |
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| jhue |
quote:
Originally posted by zafer
Anyone own one of these 13 inch, Intel Core Duo laptops? Are they sufficiently pre-loaded software wise? Good buy? Smart move?
I'm not sure anyone of us can answer that question because only you know what applications you need to run, what hardware/infrastructure you need to be compatible with, and what you're going to be using your computer for.
The bundled software is basically iLife: iDVD, iMovie HD, iPhoto, iWeb and Garage Band. Fine for the casual user, but not the pro or prosumer. You'll probably need to buy MS Office 2004 for the Mac if you're going to use it for work.
For work, I could use either a Mac or Wintel machine. MS Office 2004 seems to run fine under Rosetta (the PowerPC emulation software for Intel-based macs) and the files are interchangeable with Office 2003 on Windows (I exchange MS Office files with people who run MS Office 2004 on the Mac all the time). Adobe Acrobat 7 Pro installs and runs fine too (again under Rosetta). There was an update from Apple that once applied, prevented Adobe Creative Suite 2 from installing but that's fixed with the QuickTime 7.1.1 download from Apple.
I couldn't switch to a Mac at home. The applications I run and hardware I need to talk to aren't supported on the Mac.
We have a lot of Mac users where I work and I subscribe to the internal Mac mailing lists (I've got a brand new 20" 2.0GHz Core Duo iMac on the conference table in my office). The biggest knock on the MacBook is that it has integrated Intel graphics. The larger and more expensive MacBook Pro has a ATI mobile Radeon X1600 GPU. |
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| carguy1234 |
White might not have been the best color choice. I see people are complaining about them getting dirty and stained with general use:
http://stainedbook.info/ |
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| nightguy |
During the Pride parade in San Francisco (before I realized I could cross Market St. by going through the BART station), I killed time and sat through a couple of seminars upstairs at the Apple store. I have to say, it IS pretty amazing what you can do with a Mac, heck I even learned more about iTunes than I knew before. All the reviews of Boot Camp are very favorable. I guess I can't rule out a Mac from my next computer purchase. I just don't know if I'd go all out on a laptop.
I was way more impressed there than at the Playstation store at Metreon, where I had an odd feeling that I was walking through the late 90's. |
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| trstack |
For 99% of users it's a no brainer. Plenty of horsepower, just make sure you get at least 1 gig of RAM and upgrade the hard drive to the largest size you can afford. If you must run Windoze apps, buy Parallels Desktop and a copy of Windoze XP SP2 and you'll be amazed how well windoze apps run concurrent with OS X. Unless, you're a gamer, artist or musician, the MacBook CPU and video are more than enough for anything most consumers and business users will ever need.
Why would anyone buy a windoze only laptop now?
It's just more elegant and efficient... |
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| Mando |
I just got a 17" MacBook Pro for father's day.
Mind you that I'm a big Windows/PC user and I have been since day one. I have used a PowerBook G4 for the last couple of years, along with my PCs.
All I can say about my MBP is "WOW." Runs as FAST as the devil himself, runs all the Mac software I have. And, now, I can run Windows AND OSX at the same time. A product from a company called Parallel ("Parallels Desktop for Mac") makes this feat possible with Intel-based Macs.
I have a blog entry detailing my initial thoughts about my new MBP that you may want to read - My 17" MacBook Pro
Now the unit I have is top end, but the mid and lower end Macs are just as fast as the top ones, with the exception of graphics performance.
The only recommendation I have, if you end up getting a MacBook Pro, is to opt for the 7200 RPM drive. Albeit, smaller in capacity, it makes things SOO much faster on the computer. You can always add disk space later (via USB/Firewire drives).
Good luck! |
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| kuroyama |
I bought a MacBook 2ghz a few weeks ago and love it. I got it with a 120gb disk and put in 2gb of ram. It's a great machine. Only things that are missing are a built-in modem (which is not really needed these days) and a pc card slot. Bluetooth and wi-fi are built-in.
Boot camp and Parallels workstation both work fine, but need a copy of Windows to run. If you can wait a month or so,
http://www.codeweavers.com/products/cxmac/
will let you run windows apps without a copy of Windows.
If you're worried about discoloring or staining, check out:
http://www.shieldzone.com/item_description/APPMCBF.html
(These are also the best protection for your iPods.) |
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| deejay |
quote:
Originally posted by carguy1234
White might not have been the best color choice. I see people are complaining about them getting dirty and stained with general use:
http://stainedbook.info/
same here. I will never buy a Mac in my life. Junk computers. |
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| carguy1234 |
quote:
Originally posted by deejay
same here. I will never buy a Mac in my life. Junk computers.
I never said they were junk, I just pointed out that white was not the smartest color choice for a laptop.
We are looking at getting a 20" iMac at the moment. In fact we are heading off to the store to check them out in person in a few minutes. |
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| carguy1234 |
quote:
Originally posted by kuroyama
I bought a MacBook 2ghz a few weeks ago and love it. I got it with a 120gb disk and put in 2gb of ram. It's a great machine. Only things that are missing are a built-in modem (which is not really needed these days) and a pc card slot. Bluetooth and wi-fi are built-in.
Boot camp and Parallels workstation both work fine, but need a copy of Windows to run. If you can wait a month or so,
http://www.codeweavers.com/products/cxmac/
will let you run windows apps without a copy of Windows.
If you're worried about discoloring or staining, check out:
http://www.shieldzone.com/item_description/APPMCBF.html
(These are also the best protection for your iPods.)
Thanks for the tips! CrossOver Mac looks like what I will need. |
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| zafer |
quote:
Originally posted by carguy1234
White might not have been the best color choice. I see people are complaining about them getting dirty and stained with general use:
http://stainedbook.info/
Once you go black, you never go back. I did over 10 yrs ago or so.... I would shell out the extra $150 for the black one, no need to deal with those extra covers. |
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