Welcome to the....light side?

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Considering that white is the color associated with apple, I assume Apple is the white side while PC is the dark side......anyhow, onto the reason I am posting.

I am a long time PC user. I have been a Window's junkie since pre 3.1 days. So I grew up anti-apple, and have advocated such since then. My PC laptop just recently got stolen and I am looking into purchasing a new laptop. I must use an alias from this point on because I am contemplating buying a Macbook. In doing so, I can't cut the umbilical cord just yet, I would be installing a dual OS and running Windows, and probably use both OSes 50/50.

I posted this on a predominantly PC forum and got bashed, as expected..but very few could give me reason why not to. So I now look to you all to convince me it is a good idea.

Some concerns and questions I have. I do not play that many games, as I use my desktop predominantly for that. But when I the road, stuck in an airport, I like to kick back with some WoW. I am not asking for a smooth running Warcraft, just a playable one. Can the Macbook accomplish this?

Next question, I hear rumors of the next generation Macbook that will have a buffed up graphic system? When did the current Macbook come out? Any further rumors on newer version?

Lastly, I am under a little bit of a time constraint since my previous laptop was stolen and I am now laptop-less. If I purchase one now, and Leopard comes out in 2 months, is there any upgrade plan? Someone once told me that they offer free upgrades to recently purchased laptops, any truth to this? And define recently purchased.

Thanks in advance for any help offered.
 
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You might want to think about why it is you're considering a Mac at this point - so you can really assess the advantages.

WoW will run on a MacBook, although a MBP will run it better because of the dedicated GPU.

I can't comment on rumours, but I personally think it's unlikely the MacBook will get a dedicated GPU in the future as the GMA950 actually does a good job around Video and Core Animation. I think Apple will want people to get the MBP for gaming.

Finally, if you run from Bootcamp, you'll end up in Windows most of the time... it's called a comfort zone!

No one knows when Leopard is coming out, best guess is around June. The upgrade will be $129, but you might be able to convince a sales person to give you a voucher if you buy an Apple now - it's always worth a try!
 
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I have to use Windows at work, and have an employer supplied Dell laptop for this (though really, I use a Linux desktop when I'm actually in the office that does pretty much everything Windows like that I need with a few tricks) but for home use I have a Macbook. The Macbook runs Parallels Desktop, which allows you to run Windows (or just about any other OS except for Mac OS X) 'in a window' at native speeds. With Parallels I can run all my OS X apps simultaneously with my Windows apps within the Parallels virtual machine.

This means that the employer supplied Dell laptop is now redundant. I can do everything with the 'machine' that I have on my Mac that I can do with the Dell. I don't have to reboot to switch; Parallels running Windows is just another process to Mac OS X. [Other than games] everything works great. Networking, Lotus Notes, Sametime, MS Office, VPN, Internet Explorer (yuck); all the windows apps I need to do my job.

My Macbook is truly two computers for the price of one (and if anyone wants to contest that on price, go to Dell.com and spec out a similarly equipped Dell. They're neck and neck with the Macbook being a little cheaper without Applecare and if you don't choose the black one.)

You'd have to buy Parallels ($79) and a Windows license, but overall it's really the best of both worlds.
 
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Thanks for the input.

A little bit on why I am contemplating a Macbook. If I was thinking about gaming, I would definitly consider an MBP. but I do have a nice PC desktop that runs any games that I may be interested in. I am contemplating a Macbook for two reasons. The OS intrigues me, and I figure it would be a good learning experience for me. Not to mention more stable. Windows is becoming less and less customizable. This trend started in 95, worsened in XP, and Vista seems to be a horrible control freak...like that girlfriend you can't seem to forget, lets you think you are in control, but in fact it is doing multiple things behind the scene and is in control.

In a laptop I look for portability, size coupled with performance (at a decent price) is a huge deciding factor for me. Which is why I am not interested in MBP.

I use a laptop mainly for word processing. Throw in some photoshopping (hardly 3D rendering). A game here or there when I am stuck out on the road. Firefoxing the net, god I love tabs! Some research including a stats program called SPSS. I think that about covers my uses.

I figure that you can not run a Mac OS on a PC, but can run windows on a Mac. So I like the option of using both OSes. I hope I do not spend most of my time in Windows, and hope to divvy it up 50/50. But yes, in the beginning I will be spending more time in windows till I learn how to use a mac.

Any more thoughts?
 
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Here is my experiance in switching..

I too was a hard core WIndows PC guy, How hardcore.. well lets see i ran a PC building repair and sales service for years then went to being a sys admin a miltimilliondollar company, using PC with win and a small bit of linux on the server side... did that for 4 + years then started Multimedia work on the PC stide first in Adobe Premiere aftereffects etc., then on to Sony Vegas.. still love Vegas for its speed and scalability.. SOny has done a great job with it.

ANyway, I just bought a MAcbook as I was l.ooking for a smaller laptop than my 17" dell 1705 thats loaded to the gills..

After playing with it for about a hour i was so impressed with it and the Parrallells software that I WILL NEVER HAVE A NON OSX MACHINE AGAIN...

I was verry sceptical of the claims of "full native speed" with parralls But it trully is just as fast as runningit nativly.. It is truly amazing... AND so convienient to have both OSX and WXP up together at the same time, The performace under parrallesl even while playing videoon both OSX and in Parallells is simply awsome.. I cant believe how slick it is.

APple has the best hardware feature set out there, they have design down like no other company out there.. And reall y i prioced a Dell small formfactor PC with the same hardware specs and the dell was higher if you look at them apple for apple.. (pun Intended)

Im not a gamer but Parallells is in its infantsy, it will improve and you will be able to play everythiung in Parallells, But if that doesnt work out well enough then just bootcamp your system and run native , really the intel video is pretty decent from what i have done with it , sure your not going to see 60+ FPS , but really TV is only 30 fps and movies are 24 fps and WoW should be no problem for this chipset.. You said you were not looking for super performace but playable.. It wiill be very playable, I see no reason why you wont like the macbooks performace.

If you are wstyill owrries get a Macbook pro.. then your setup with a nice GPU.

In My opinion, Once you go Intel-Mac, You'll Never go back.
 
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Thanks for that reply ebacherville,

That was very helpful. It think that once the dust settles from my previous machine being stolen, and as I try and squeeze a few dollars from the hospital I work at since I believe they are somewhat responsible, I am pretty much decided on going with a Macbook. At looking at my previous machine, the macbook specs higher than it, and it did everything I wanted. So unless I hear a good reason not to, i will be going Macbook with either bootcamp or parallels running windows.

My only hesitation, and as petty as it sounds, is the one button touch pad. So used to two buttons and right click, that it will take some getting used to. Besides, when I am click intensive, i will have an external mouse, right...

One of the complaints I have heard about is lack of a PCMIA slot in the macbook, greatly limiting its function. This sounds petty to me as I hardly ever used this slot on my PC notebook. Has anyone ever run into a situation where they wished they had a PCMIA slot?

Thanks again!
 
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The only thing I miss is the media card slot my wife's machine has. I never understood why with all the media tools built in on a mac, why they never put a multi-media slot in their machines. That drives me crazy.
 
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My only hesitation, and as petty as it sounds, is the one button touch pad. So used to two buttons and right click, that it will take some getting used to. Besides, when I am click intensive, i will have an external mouse, right...
Thanks again!

You can download third party drivers that give you identical trackpad functionality as a PC laptop. I have one that I use with my iBook that gives you scrolling when you drag your finger up and down the right side of the pad, as well as corner "tapping" for a second mouse click or whatever else you want.

Wish I had a link, but it was so long ago I installed it I can't remember the name. Sorry!
 
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tapping with two fingers on track pad allows right click :)
 

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