Macbook pro or Dell Studio 17

I'm a high school senior stuck in between what type of noteboook to bring with me to a Pharmacy College.

I like Windows, since I am really used to it. But I hate vistas. Because of Vistas, I am thinking about switching to Mac. So can someone fill me in on a mac vs windows on things like...

-Web surfing (can I have multiple browsers at once.)
-Directly downloading (Like Anime/Manga/music)
-Azureus/Limewire (Can I run these)
-Watching anime (finding+installing codecs. Can I use Media Player Classic)
-Listening+recording music (Winamp? Can I rip sounds out of movies? Goldwave works on a mac?)
-Can I run something like Guild Wars?
-Can I save files on a windows formatted hard drive, then put the files on a windows computer?
-Can I hook the Mac up to a computer Screen?
-Can I run a program from windows on a Mac? (Like Narcissu from windows onto a mac, or Flash on windows to a mac.)
-If I want to buy a newer mac, could I turn my old one in for a discount?
-Does a mac from the store/online come with trial programs? I hate those

and any other info can help. (Besides fanboy talk.)

Thanks! ^-^

I had always been just a pc user until the last month or so. I recently started attending a school that assigns everyone their own macbook pro upon starting. I must say that I have fell in love with it. The new touch pad is amazing. Its as powerful as any pc i have ever used (and i am someone who builds some powerful pc's) now price wise the macbook pro is about a thousand more than the dell youre looking at, but i will be the first to tell you that you will notice the difference in quality and power.

Now it does depend on what you plan on using it for, but if you are wondering what the better laptop is then i will with out a doubt say the new macbook pros. here's the link for the one i own...

Configure - Apple Store (U.S.)

good luck with school and your laptop shopping.

Yeah with the new pros, I'm really liking what the touchpad can do. That was a huge factor in deciding. (As stupid as it sounds.)
That and how easy it was to uninstall stuff. (And how macs aren't effected by viruses.)
But the macbook pro that costs $2000 is the one I plan on getting.
2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x1GB (I might bump the ram up to 4gb just in case.)
250GB Serial ATA @ 5400
SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Backlit Keyboard (English) / User's Guide
iWork '08 preinstalled
Accessory kit

The Studio 17 is $1628
SYSTEM COLOR Ruby Red edit
PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T9400 (2.53GHz/1066Mhz FSB/6MB cache) edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Service Pack 1 64 Bit edit
OFFICE SOFTWARE Microsoft® Works Plus 2008 edit
WARRANTY AND SERVICE 2Yr In-Home Service, Parts + Labor, 24x7 Phone Support edit
HD DISPLAY Glossy widescreen 17.0 inch display (1440x900) edit
MEMORY 4GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 800MHz edit
HARD DRIVE Size: 320GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM) edit
VIDEO CARD 256MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650 edit
OPTICAL DRIVE 8X Slot Load CD / DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-R Drive) edit
WIRELESS NETWORK CARDS Intel®WiFi Link 5100 802.11agn Half Mini-Card edit
INTEGRATED WEBCAM Integrated 2.0M Pixel Webcam edit
BATTERY OPTIONS 56 Whr Lithium Ion Battery (6 cell) edit
SOUND OPTIONS Sound Blaster X-Fi Notebook Sound Card and Wireless Receiver Bundle edit
KEYBOARD Standard Keyboard (included in the price) edit
FINGER PRINT READER NO FINGER PRINT READER edit
ACCIDENT DAMAGE PROTECTION 4Yr LoJack for Laptops Theft Protection edit
LCD and Camera Glossy widescreen 17.0 inch display (1440x900) w/ 2.0M pixel Camera

Frost1235 said:

-Web surfing (can I have multiple browsers at once.)

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Why would you want to do that when you could just use tabs?

Frost1235 said:

-Directly downloading (Like Anime/Manga/music)

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/sigh Macs are computers too..it's not some foreign machine.

Frost1235 said:

-Azureus/Limewire (Can I run these)

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Go to Azures main webpage and just go to download, it will detect that you are on a Mac and download the appropriate version.

Frost1235 said:

-Watching anime (finding+installing codecs. Can I use Media Player Classic)

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I've never had to download any codecs of any kind. Get VLC and do yourself a favor from downloading unwanted clutter.

Frost1235 said:

-Listening+recording music (Winamp? Can I rip sounds out of movies? Goldwave works on a mac?)

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iTunes for listen to music and recording your own CDs. I dunno about ripping songs from movies.

Frost1235 said:

-Can I run something like Guild Wars?

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Bootcamp and install Windows, or Parallel, and VM Ware Fusion

Frost1235 said:

-Can I save files on a windows formatted hard drive, then put the files on a windows computer?

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Yes.

Frost1235 said:

-Can I hook the Mac up to a computer Screen?

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Yes.

Frost1235 said:

-Can I run a program from windows on a Mac? (Like Narcissu from windows onto a mac, or Flash on windows to a mac.)

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Bootcamp, parallel, & or VM Fusion.

Frost1235 said:

-If I want to buy a newer mac, could I turn my old one in for a discount?

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If you return in within two weeks maybe. Otherwise no, you have to sell it on Ebay or something.

Frost1235 said:

-Does a mac from the store/online come with trial programs? I hate those

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Heck NO.

Frost1235 said:

I'm a high school senior stuck in between what type of noteboook to bring with me to a Pharmacy College.

I like Windows, since I am really used to it.

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If you dig Windows, there's no huge reason to switch. Vista isn't all that bad, it just takes some getting used to. The same can be said for Mac OS X, and if you're not willing to approach a new computer with an open mind, you might as well stick to a Vista machine as it will be more familiar to you.

If however, you are ready to approach it with an open mind and willingness to learn, you might find a Mac very rewarding. Compared to Windows, there is very little maintenance, configuration issues, and almost no viruses or spyware.

All of the things you've mentioned can be done on a Mac - and if there's a Windows program you absolutely need to run, there are many different ways to run Windows on your Mac - both in a "sandbox" environment and natively. I'd suggest you locate an Apple store, schedule a "personal shopper" appointment online and take one for a spin and see what you think.

Well, I do like Windows a lot as said before. But I'd like to be able to try a mac at least once in my lifetime. Like I still plan on getting a PC after College for a gaming computer.

But For college, I just want something that won't "die" on me if I delete something wrong or install something that doesn't work with my computer. And after seeing somethings in my apple store, I was pretty amazed.

For example, I liked the touchpad on the macbook. It looked pretty simple to remove apps and so such.

But what I would really like to do is just test drive the thing for a few hours. I'm prob going to find someone with a macbook pro just to do so.

But yeah, I'm just really curious about a mac.

Well, I do a lot of Windows development, but also needed a Mac for iPhone development and testing. I got a Macbook Pro and simply use Parallels for my Windows work. In your case I would recommend Bootcamp over parallels for gaming, but there's no reason you can't have the best of both worlds.

I have never found anything that is worth doing that couldn't be done on OS X.

As said above OS X takes some getting use to but you need an open mind.

B&O said:

I have never found anything that is worth doing that couldn't be done on OS X.

As said above OS X takes some getting use to but you need an open mind.

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I dunno about that. I tried to teach my mom Windows Vista for like a year and she get frustrated and confused. All she knows how to do is surf the web and then if she runs into problems I have to do a video conference with her to see what the problem is or drive over to her house. It's get quite annoying when the problem was a pop up ad, or the plugin for whatever site is missing and she can't see the website because it's flash based.

I left her my MacBookPro and she loves the thing to death. I don't get constant calls from her and she hasn't even touched a computer since 1990 let alone a Mac. She use to be an accountant for Honda and Toyota. Retired to raise little old me.

I'm getting her a Mac for Mother's day for sure, if not earlier for Christmas maybe. I still have to get myself a new MBP. ^-^"

For the macbook pro, could I just get any hard drive/Ram to exchange?
I noticed the upgrades were quite...
Hefty...

Frost1235 said:

For the macbook pro, could I just get any hard drive/Ram to exchange?
I noticed the upgrades were quite...
Hefty...

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You need a SATA 2.5" HDD. 9.5mm form factor for a MacBook and I think the MBP can go up to 12.5mm for the old MBP versions. Not sure if they fit in the new Aluminum ones.

RAM needs to be 204-Pin SO-DIMM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500). Which runs for 130-160 for 4GB (2X2GB).

What about hard drives?
Can I use a FAT32 formatted hard drive (With windows saved material) on the Mac?
Can I also save files? (Like the largest folder would be 4gigs, and the largest file could be 2gigs.)

Newegg.com - 500GB, Laptop Hard Drives, Hard Drives

Would these be good for the Macbook pro? (Well, the newest one?)

I'm planning on getting mine within a month or so. Awaiting black friday to see if anything special happens.

Frost1235 said:

What about hard drives?
Can I use a FAT32 formatted hard drive (With windows saved material) on the Mac?
Can I also save files? (Like the largest folder would be 4gigs, and the largest file could be 2gigs.)

Newegg.com - 500GB, Laptop Hard Drives, Hard Drives

Would these be good for the Macbook pro? (Well, the newest one?)

I'm planning on getting mine within a month or so. Awaiting black friday to see if anything special happens.

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I think that HDD should work.

As for the Windows formatted HDD. >_>" I think you have to like partition it or format it completely into Mac OS Extended Journaled. I would back up anything important on that drive before I do anything to it. Never know what might happen.

Frost1235 said:

For the macbook pro, could I just get any hard drive/Ram to exchange?
I noticed the upgrades were quite...
Hefty...

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the crappy part about the ram is that they prob are populating both slots with 2gb (1gbx2 sticks) which makes sense for dual channel but unfortunately after you are left with 2 sticks of ram....honestly depending on what you are doing you may not need the 4gb of mem. i do alot of video and 3D rendering with mine so the extra mem is def useful in those situations. if you just plan on using for web browsing and such then dont worry about the extra mem.

it sounds like you are pretty set on a mac...which is cool but it also sounds like you enjoy gaming....in that vein i would say get whichever system you think will be right for what you want to do with it. dont just get the one that you think looks the coolest or that is trendy. get the one that is right for you.

as i said before i had been a pc user for a long time until recently. i still have my pc here at school but since ive gotten my mac i dont use it very often. now i dont game on my pc an awful lot so that doesnt factor in, but my roommate is a game development major so as you can guess he games quite a bit. the school got them laptops as well and he games on his all the time. he has an HP and the thing is amazing with games. ive never seen laptops handel games like left 4 dead and fallout 3 so well, but it does. so if you do like to game then that might be a better option for you.

whatever you decide dont rush into it without thinking about it and im sure you will enjoy whichever one you choose.

oh and p.s. its not that macs susceptible to viruses. its just that since windows has always been the most widely used os (especially with businesses) thats mainly what people write viruses for.

xcaliber said:

as i said before i had been a pc user for a long time until recently. i still have my pc here at school but since ive gotten my mac i dont use it very often. now i dont game on my pc an awful lot so that doesnt factor in, but my roommate is a game development major so as you can guess he games quite a bit. the school got them laptops as well and he games on his all the time. he has an HP and the thing is amazing with games. ive never seen laptops handel games like left 4 dead and fallout 3 so well, but it does. so if you do like to game then that might be a better option for you.

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Gaming on a notebook does not compute. >_>" Unless you are doing LAN parties or something then maybe. I would still rather play on a dedicated gaming rig.

CrimsonRequiem said:

Gaming on a notebook does not compute. >_>" Unless you are doing LAN parties or something then maybe. I would still rather play on a dedicated gaming rig.

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Agreed. This is exactly why I have a dedicated gaming PC (desktop) and I use my MacBook Pro for everything else. It works out beautifully.

Not only is it irritating to game on a laptop ergonomically, but you're almost always stuck with whatever GPU and CPU it shipped with from the factory. My desktop rig can be easily changed to suit my needs - I almost never have to buy a new machine entirely. I've had the same case and optical drives and three different motherboard/graphics card/CPU configurations now.

cwa107 said:

Agreed. This is exactly why I have a dedicated gaming PC (desktop) and I use my MacBook Pro for everything else. It works out beautifully.

Not only is it irritating to game on a laptop ergonomically, but you're almost always stuck with whatever GPU and CPU it shipped with from the factory. My desktop rig can be easily changed to suit my needs - I almost never have to buy a new machine entirely. I've had the same case and optical drives and three different motherboard/graphics card/CPU configurations now.

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Well it kind of depends on where you are buying the gaming notebook from. If you are getting it from HP or something then yeah it's going to suck. Even though Dell owns Alienware now they give you decent options for the GPU and CPU. However be prepared to pay close to 4 grand for something like that even though they advertise it at under 2 grand. >_>"

I do agree with you about the parts though. It's nearly impossible to upgrade CPUs and GPUs on notebooks and well for one thing you really can't overclock them or set up a crossfire setup or whatever.

Don't know from personal experience but a friend the runs VM said if you run
XP on the Mac 2g of ram is fine but if you have Vista 4g will be a lot smoother
running. Also wandering if anyone has tried parallel 4.

osxx said:

Don't know from personal experience but a friend the runs VM said if you run
XP on the Mac 2g of ram is fine but if you have Vista 4g will be a lot smoother
running. Also wandering if anyone has tried parallel 4.

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Vista barely even functions on 2GB of RAM and that's not even on a virtual machine. Vista needs all the RAM it can get.