Laptop for holiday. 13" MacBook Pro MC700/A or Windows 7 13" Laptop?

Orchardmead143 said:

Are there any SSDs that I should avoid? I am looking on the UK overclockers website. If I decide to wait, at later date, can I clone the 2.5" disk in the Macbook pro to an SSD in a similar way I do on a PC?

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I think you should approach the SSD question from the angle of "which would you recommend?". From what I have seen in reviews, OCZ's Vertex Series, the Intel X-series and OWC's Mercury Elite drives come with the best Mac-centric reviews.

I'm not sure that I'd recommend cloning the drive, based on anecdotal comments I've seen here. Instead, I would just do a standard Time Machine backup. Then, run the OS install on the new drive and when prompted, use the Migration Assistant to copy all of your apps/docs/data back to the new install.

I have seen and read almost all the posts here and there are a few things to consider. Mostly what went through my own mind when I switched and what finally made the decision.

1. Glossy/Anti-Glare. There are screen covers/protectors that can make the glossy anti-glare. Would I recommend it? If the laptop will be traveling a lot, yes. If it will only be taking short trips around town, not really. The option is there. Make sure you read up on them, some can be taken off easily, others you may be stuck with.

2. Compatibility. Especially with the video files. Don't worry about it. The final feature that made me get my MBP over the Win7 box I was looking at was that I could use Bootcamp to dual boot to Windows 7. For me, this was a must for some software I use.

3. Mail. So long as the mail services you are connecting to offer IMAP as a way to connect, then you will be fine and you will be able to manage as many as you need. For me, I have all my mail from different services filtered to a single Microsoft Exchange server I have and I use Outlook 2011 (for Mac). I have had that server for going on 6 years.

4. RDP. Pie. In fact, it is nothing different that using the RDP software on every Windows box. Something to consider, http://www.logmein.com is a free service that is both secure and stable and will easily allow connections from anywhere there is internet connection. Even if you have all the ports forwarded and whatnot, this makes managing the remote desktops in your network pie.

When it comes down to the software and such for photos, video and music, iLife with its range of apps are easy to use and will take you pretty far. Aperture, which there is much debate about on this site, is a decent enough app and is $199 at the time you get your Mac, or $79 if you get it through the App store. It is a much beefed up version of iPhoto, more along the lines of Adobe's Lightroom. I got Aperture in order to do some quick edits without needing to reboot to Win7 where I have CS3 installed.

Anyways, just some thoughts from one who made the switch not long ago. I have been a Network Engineer my whole career (16 years now) and being used to different OS's, learning OSX was both easy and fun. Still a long way to go, but I am comfortable enough with it.

Gentlemen. Thanks again for these recent replies. I have just had an email advising me that I will be receiving my MBP at lunch time tomorrow. That is a result eh?

Nice, you will have a lot of fun with it. Guess we should start bracing for the slew of questions you will have.

1. Well! It has arrived. It is unpacked and up and running. I have installed Thunderbird and configured my 8 email addresses. Also I have installed Microsoft's Remote Desktop and also tried another version for RDP called Cord for comparison. See link..

CoRD: Remote Desktop for Mac OS X

2. Despite the nay sayers around I have found switching back and forth between a powerful Windows i7 machine with Windows 7 x64 and this Macbook Pro 15" MC723LL A very easy. The only issue I have is the track pad. I find it is easy to make mistakes if I am not being precise enough, but I am persevering and will conquer it eventually. I presume not everyone religiously uses the track pad, with some carrying a mouse around in their laptop case?

3 . I have only one hardware question and that is with regard to upgrading the RAM. I have read on another forum that when I upgrade the RAM, I should go for the higher rated ram (1600mhz) as opposed to the 1333 mhz RAM because the sandy bridge processor will default to that higher design speed? Remember I am used to overclocking PCs and hardware especially RAM, but the MBP is a different prospect and I would rather ask opinions here.

Here is a link on the subject:

1600mhz works and runs at 1600 MacBook pro 2011 - MacRumors Forums

I am a power user! Can I upgrade past 8 gb of RAM to 12gb RAM, or do I use matched pairs (set) and have to go to 2 x 8gb RAM to 16gb that might not work, and also might not be cost effective. This is more of a rhetorical question.

Thanks again.

Orchardmead143 said:

1. Well! It has arrived. It is unpacked and up and running. I have installed Thunderbird and configured my 8 email addresses. Also I have installed Microsoft's Remote Desktop and also tried another version for RDP called Cord for comparison. See link..

CoRD: Remote Desktop for Mac OS X

2. Despite the nay sayers around I have found switching back and forth between a powerful Windows i7 machine with Windows 7 x64 and this Macbook Pro 15" MC723LL A very easy. The only issue I have is the track pad. I find it is easy to make mistakes if I am not being precise enough, but I am persevering and will conquer it eventually. I presume not everyone religiously uses the track pad, with some carrying a mouse around in their laptop case?

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Glad to hear you're taking to it so well. Those of us that are savvy (especially if we've used more than one OS over our lifetime) generally take to it better than those who have only ever known Windows.

As far as the trackpad goes, the sooner you stop clicking it, the better it will work for you. If you haven't already done so, turn on 'tap with two fingers for secondary click'. Once you get used to tapping with one finger for left and two fingers for right clicks, it works great. There's a lot of options in the preferences for the touchpad, be sure to review them all and experiment.

Personally, I love the way Apple's implemented the touchpad, and now when I go back to average laptops, it's really hard to get adjusted. With that said, when I bought my first one, I struggled to get use to having only one button (and later, no button at all). It's just one of those things you have to work through and modify your habits.

3 . I have only one hardware question and that is with regard to upgrading the RAM. I have read on another forum that when I upgrade the RAM, I should go for the higher rated ram (1600mhz) as opposed to the 1333 mhz RAM because the sandy bridge processor will default to that higher design speed? Remember I am used to overclocking PCs and hardware especially RAM, but the MBP is a different prospect and I would rather ask opinions here.

Here is a link on the subject:

1600mhz works and runs at 1600 MacBook pro 2011 - MacRumors Forums

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Very cool, I did not know that. I don't see any reason why you wouldn't want to run at the higher speed if the chipset is capable. Now, if it didn't actually run at that speed, I'd say you're wasting your money - but that doesn't seem to be the case.

I am a power user! Can I upgrade past 8 gb of RAM to 12gb RAM, or do I use matched pairs (set) and have to go to 2 x 8gb RAM to 16gb that might not work, and also might not be cost effective. This is more of a rhetorical question.

Thanks again.

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You don't need to use matched pairs. Just note that like with any other PC, if you don't use matched pairs, the memory will not run in dual channel mode. For most people, the difference in performance will be negligible, and if you're really using all of that memory, it will be an acceptable trade-off.

Now, what the heck you'd use more than 8GB for, I'd be really interested to know