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Hi everyone.
I'm a computer junkie and I've preferred Mac hardware for some years now. I'm already invested in Mac, in the sense that I have purchased licenses for quite a few Mac Apps, my music is on iTunes, etc.
My MacBook Pro was stolen recently. Fortunately I have the good sense to have my entire hard disk backed up. But I need to choose what the replacement machine will be.
Here's what I did with my machine:
- Programming in C using the command-line and GCC. Occasionally I will run Linux in a VM to do Linux development
- Reading slashdot, cnn.com and so on using Safari
- Reading e-books
- Managing the music on my iPod
- MS Word
- Watching DVDs using the internal DVD drive
Also, I have a Windows Steam account and I want to use this machine for gaming by dual-booting. I play Deus Ex 1 and 2, Half-Life 1 and 2, Portal 1 and 2, Left4Dead 1 and 2, Quake 2, Doom 3, Batman: Arkham City and Arkham Asylum. I don't play bleeding-edge games. I might be interested in Deus Ex 3 and id's Rage. I'm interested to know how these games will perform on Intel HD 5000, Intel HD 4000 and Intel Iris.
I think that 13 inches is the sweet spot for screen size. I used to own an 11-inch Powerbook and using Word was too difficult. I'm a disabled pensioner so a 15-incher is too extravagant, although it would be nice.
1. Which MacBook do I need?
2. MBPr doesn't have an optical drive, right? Can I get an external USB-powered drive to read DVDs, or is there a way to image DVDs to the internal storage and "play" the images?
3. Is 128 gigs of SSD enough to have Office and OSX in one partition and Steam with those games in another partition?
4. What's the minimum graphics hardware requirement for the games I like?
5. I really like Windows 7 but I hate that stupid interface for Windows 8. What version of Windows do I need, given that I'm mainly using it for Steam games?
Thanks in advance, and have a great day.
Richard
I'm a computer junkie and I've preferred Mac hardware for some years now. I'm already invested in Mac, in the sense that I have purchased licenses for quite a few Mac Apps, my music is on iTunes, etc.
My MacBook Pro was stolen recently. Fortunately I have the good sense to have my entire hard disk backed up. But I need to choose what the replacement machine will be.
Here's what I did with my machine:
- Programming in C using the command-line and GCC. Occasionally I will run Linux in a VM to do Linux development
- Reading slashdot, cnn.com and so on using Safari
- Reading e-books
- Managing the music on my iPod
- MS Word
- Watching DVDs using the internal DVD drive
Also, I have a Windows Steam account and I want to use this machine for gaming by dual-booting. I play Deus Ex 1 and 2, Half-Life 1 and 2, Portal 1 and 2, Left4Dead 1 and 2, Quake 2, Doom 3, Batman: Arkham City and Arkham Asylum. I don't play bleeding-edge games. I might be interested in Deus Ex 3 and id's Rage. I'm interested to know how these games will perform on Intel HD 5000, Intel HD 4000 and Intel Iris.
I think that 13 inches is the sweet spot for screen size. I used to own an 11-inch Powerbook and using Word was too difficult. I'm a disabled pensioner so a 15-incher is too extravagant, although it would be nice.
1. Which MacBook do I need?
2. MBPr doesn't have an optical drive, right? Can I get an external USB-powered drive to read DVDs, or is there a way to image DVDs to the internal storage and "play" the images?
3. Is 128 gigs of SSD enough to have Office and OSX in one partition and Steam with those games in another partition?
4. What's the minimum graphics hardware requirement for the games I like?
5. I really like Windows 7 but I hate that stupid interface for Windows 8. What version of Windows do I need, given that I'm mainly using it for Steam games?
Thanks in advance, and have a great day.
Richard