Thinking of taking the plunge

[sqd rox]

I was thinking about taking the plung of going over to a Macbook Pro. I am a long time non-mac user who has heard all the good things about MACs. I have an older dell laptop which I am trying to sell and a fairly new dell desktop which I may make into a family machine. I am looking to move out to my own place and debatting weather I should take the plunge and go for a laptop...and if so should I go the MAC route.

A few drawbacks come to my mind.

1.) I heard the Macbooks overheat a lot, even when they are new. My old dell 600m laptop did that after the first two years. It was fairly good up till that point, no over heating or what not.

2.) I hear that you can run windows OS on Macs. If this is the case, why shouldn't I just go and buy a less expensive PC notebook for 2/3 the cost in some cases.

3.) That leads to the final point the $$$. Macbooks are generally expensive, me looking at the $2000 model. Is it really worth spending that kind of money on which I wrote earlier you can buy same thing for 2/3 the price?

Overall I like Mac, more so the look of it. I know from others who use it, it is much more stable than PC based notebooks. But over all value are we paying just the premium for having that big glowing half eaten apple on the case? Either way I am in no rush...paying my new up and coming rent payments is more important than a laptop. Thanks for any advice.

 

[JackTheMac]

i got my new macbook on saturday and i have been using it on my lap all the time and i havent experienced any overheat or unconfortable excessive heat.

It is a treat to use compared to my old toshiba laptop. which got so hot and used to burn my legs and shut it self down due to overheating.

 

[Skyrider007]

If you search around this forum, you'll find the answer to all of your questions.

As for the MBP, I highly recommend it. You won't regret your purchase. It is truly a magnificent machine. I have owned mine for over two months now and could not find a fault.

 

[todd51]

1.) I heard the Macbooks overheat a lot, even when they are new. My old dell 600m laptop did that after the first two years. It was fairly good up till that point, no over heating or what not.

Mine has not overheated once. Just take good care of it and it should be fine. I always have mine on a flat surface when doing heavy work such as listening to music, browsing the web, and doing work in Photoshop at the same time. The fans will keep it cool, it's what they are there for!

2.) I hear that you can run windows OS on Macs. If this is the case, why shouldn't I just go and buy a less expensive PC notebook for 2/3 the cost in some cases.

Shouldn't the question be why NOT to buy the Mac instead? Since it can run both operating systems, it should be the superior machine! You can run your business applications and anythign else not available for Mac in Windows. Then when your ready, just reboot (unless using Parallels) and have fun with OS X!

3.) That leads to the final point the $$$. Macbooks are generally expensive, me looking at the $2000 model. Is it really worth spending that kind of money on which I wrote earlier you can buy same thing for 2/3 the price?

A lot of people will tell you (and I agree) your buying a Mac mainly for OS X. It's a great operating system and is superior (IMO) to XP. As of right now Vista doesn't compare since it's got so many problems. Also, if you compare ALL the technical specs down to a Windows laptop, they are pretty close. You might be paying a slight more, but not much. This laptop does give you a lot (bluetooth, superdrive, iSight) in one little package.

I would not suggest buying a Mac simply because you love the looks/design of the machine. I don't think it would be smart to buy it and boot into Windows every time you use it. Get familiar with OS X and learn the advantages of it. If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask. Although, as Skyrider said, use the search function, a lot of questions have been discussed previously.

 

[sqd rox]

Thinking of taking the plung

I am thinking of getting another laptop for my apartment when I move out. I was thinking of going into the MAC world this time around. I am the type of person who buys a computer every 4-6 years and I usually go the dell route as usual. I think it may be time for a change. Right now I have narrowed my options down to a SONY lap top vs a Mac Book Pro.

I heard the MAC books over heat if not left on a hard surface? My old dell laptop (600m, 2004) has only started doing that recently. As all laptops do apparently. Is Apple really that much more superior than the other notebooks? I know they give a lot of cool stuff like the camera etc...

I am not sure. Still on the border about it and have some time. Anyone have any gripes they want to share?

 

[sqd rox]

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8356174&type=product&id=1177113305036

FYI, Here is the Sony Laptop I am thinking of purchasing.

 

[D3v1L80Y]

NOTE: Merged crossposts

 

[ki99]

Is Apple really that much more superior than the other notebooks?

no.. apple is not superior in anyway. they are just different operating systems and computers. neither one is "superior"

if you really want to try your hand at a Mac (not MAC, which stands for Media Access Control) go for it, and you can run xp if you can't find an app, or you find out you really don't like OS X (pronounced 'oh-es-ten) you can just run windows so it wasn't a waste of money. a lot of people take macs as a lot more expensive for the same specs. but they are farely close now, and os x uses less system resources than windows and therefore runs faster.