Thinking of getting an Apple...

busenbust

If what I know is true, Windows (Apple) is taking over the world.

Marty_J

hells wrote: »

*If* all goes to plan....if I get accepted for voluntary redundancy at work...if I get through UCAS to get on the graphic design degree course I meant to take 20 years ago but was talked out of it....

Then I will be buying a new i-Mac.
Industry standards STILL demand Mac so I'd have to re-learn everything anyway.
And they are so god damn sexy. Even him indoors thinks they're lovely…

I have a friend who has just ordered the 27-inch quad core model. Needless to say, I'm quite jealous.

oh but what do we do with his Championship Manager game that is running on the PC with live updates....(how does !!!!!! off sound, the Mac will be my work!!!)

Would this suffice?

Leopard

Or this?

vatic

OP, I'd say go for it, but try one out first in store before making the plunge. I do much of those same things and use the same programs you mentioned and they work wonderfully on Macs.

I bought my Macbook nearly 3.5 years ago and it's still kicking just fine! I do oggle over the pretty Macbook Pros on occasion, but it comes down to the fact that my Macbook is still working great for my needs. I have upgraded the RAM myself from 512MB to 2GB and my wonderful OH bought me a bigger hard drive last year, so it's still working really well for me.

I will say though that it is worth getting Apple Care (aka a warranty), because things can pop up. But! You can take it into any Apple Store or any authorized Apple reseller that does tech support and get things done for free. I originally bought mine in the States and have had it fixed here in the UK. In the 3.5 years I've had a battery randomly die and a hard drive die on me but aside from those issues, it's been smooth sailing.

And a note:

Quizzical_Squirrel wrote: »

I'm also thinking of buying a MacBook Pro but I'm waiting for the new model to come out.

I really would recommend against it. I love my Apple products, but I will be the first one to admit that early adopters of new models of Apple products often have to deal with annoying teething issues. There were others that talked about Apple's denial of problems being their fault until they are forced to claim otherwise.

My (white) Macbook was of the first batch released after the iBooks were being phased out, and it has always had an issue with the wrist wrest/mouse button area becoming discoloured/grey and unable to clean back to a pristine white. This was a known-issue that people fought for months with Apple to get them to recognise as a product defect and not down to poor hygiene or whatever. Finally, Apple agreed to replace the affected Macbook's wrist rest areas. This same issue never occurred with the white iBooks made just before the Macbooks.

So, just a word of caution.

Don't forget too that you don't have to be a uni student, if you are a teacher working in education, you can get cheaper rates too. Refurb is also a very good way to go. I bought an iPod refurb and it's been fantastic.

purt

Quizzical_Squirrel wrote: »

I'm also thinking of buying a MacBook Pro but I'm waiting for the new model to come out.

I suspected this may be the case (that Apple introduce a new version just as I'm about to buy one.. When is the new one due for release?

pendulum wrote: »

As you can see by the sheer size of Leopard's post, he takes the whole Mac vs PC thing a bit too seriously. Some people do go a bit funny and spend their lives trawling techie forums "fighting the mac side" - just make sure to devalue their recommendations accordingly!

I shall consider the opinions carefully of all those who take the time and effort to respond. I'd no intentions of starting an argument between forum members when I posted this thread and I really hope it doesn't descend into one. It's good to get a broad spectrum of opinion both pro and anti Macs.

BillScarab wrote: »

OP, it sounds like an Apple machine would be fine for your needs so go and have a look at them and buy whichever you prefer. The Macbook Air is a very appealing machine but make sure it's suitable for your needs. The connectivity is more lilmited than most laptops and it has no optical drive. In some ways it's closer to being a very posh netbook than a laptop.

Thanks. I guess it is. It is beautiful though. Then again, pointless having a posh netbook as you say.

hells_2

Marty_J wrote: »

I have a friend who has just ordered the 27-inch quad core model. Needless to say, I'm quite jealous.



Would this suffice?

Half way through the season? I doubt it!! The game gets regular updates downloaded to it so it'd have to stay on the PC AFAIK...????

busenbust

My (white) Macbook was of the first batch released after the iBooks were being phased out, and it has always had an issue with the wrist wrest/mouse button area becoming discoloured/grey and unable to clean back to a pristine white

Indeed, that happened to a colleague's (white) Macbook (first release) also, with the wrist area actually 'peeling' away. Eventually, Apple did acknowledge the problem.

Leopard

Quizzical_Squirrel wrote: »

I'm also thinking of buying a MacBook Pro but I'm waiting for the new model to come out.

That's not necessarily wise.

The last time Apple refreshed the 15" MacBook Pro, it removed the ExpressCard port.

The previous time Apple did it, it removed the Firewire 400 port and the ability to swap out batteries.

The time before that, it removed the matte screen option.

Rather than look forward to the forthcoming model, I'm wondering what Apple will remove from it next and reminding myself to take particularly good care of the two 2007 models that I have now, which have all of the above.

purt

pulliptears wrote: »

My OH spent 2 years hating my MacBook because he didnt understand it and didn't want to make the effort to. He rigidly stuck with his laptop until DD managed to load it with viruses for the tenth time thanks to all the crap she downloads on it.

I bought a new 13" MB Pro and gave him my MB. A month on and he loves it, loves the simplicity of the OS and has turned into a complete Mac fanboy. It amuses me greatly

Great story!

vatic wrote: »

OP, I'd say go for it, but try one out first in store before making the plunge. I do much of those same things and use the same programs you mentioned and they work wonderfully on Macs.

I bought my Macbook nearly 3.5 years ago and it's still kicking just fine! I do oggle over the pretty Macbook Pros on occasion, but it comes down to the fact that my Macbook is still working great for my needs. I have upgraded the RAM myself from 512MB to 2GB and my wonderful OH bought me a bigger hard drive last year, so it's still working really well for me.

Firstly, I've been to the Apple store several times now and have had a play with them. They're great and seemingly easy to use.

I've agonised on the Apple website over what spec to plump for and really am in two minds of what options to plump for since I'm not techy minded.
That said, my current Sony Vaio hasn't the greatest spec and I've had it for five years.

I'm thinking of a 13" Macbook Pro (I really don't need a bigger screen - I've seen them in the Apple Store and 13" is definitely fine) with;

4GB RAM
128 or 256GB solid state drive to accompany the Time Capsule

How easy is it to upgrade the RAM at a later stage if I decide it's not fast enough? I bought extra RAM for my Sony Vaio and hadn't a clue how to install so never did.

busenbust wrote: »

Indeed, that happened to a colleague's (white) Macbook (first release) also, with the wrist area actually 'peeling' away. Eventually, Apple did acknowledge the problem.

I have this problem with my Vaio. Is it fairly common with Macbooks?

A few other questions if you don't mind folks;

Does anyone use MSN Messenger/Windows Live Messenger on their Mac? I know it's different on a Mac but I was just wondering how it differs etc.

Also, does anyone use Microsoft Office on a Mac? If so, what's it like in comparison to a PC?

Apologies for all the questions.

Marty_J

culchied wrote: »

Does anyone use MSN Messenger/Windows Live Messenger on their Mac? I know it's different on a Mac but I was just wondering how it differs etc.

I'm not a fan of Microsoft Messenger for Mac (I'm not too keen on the Windows version either).

I'd strongly suggest you consider using Adium instead.

Also, does anyone use Microsoft Office on a Mac? If so, what's it like in comparison to a PC?

It's mostly pretty much the same, though there are some exceptions such as Excel's lack of Visual Basic Macros.

Depending on what you're doing, Apple's iWork suite is well worth considering (and it's compatible with MS Office file formats too).