a potential switcher and his qualms

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i don't really have many qualms or concerns about switching as i do a few basic questions. just as background, i'll tell you a little about my computing habits while introducing a few of these questions.

i use firefox compulsively and i'm hoping that either firefox is smoothly compatible with mac or that safari will suit my tastes better. either way, music is my life and i've become quite attached to itunes; i doubt this will be a problematic switch ;D. i also love gaming and i'm specifically worried about how my prospective mac will handle world of warcraft, civilization iv, and the new starcraft. apart from that I have no worries about switching to mac; the school i'll be attending in the fall, reed college, is extremely mac-friendly and part of the reason i'm actually getting a mac.

the macbook i'll hopefully be ordering soon has the following specs...take into account that i want this laptop primarily for music, gaming, web browsing, writing assignments, and other minor media projects:

MacBook 2.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo - White
SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Keyboard/Mac OS - U.S. English
2.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
200GB Serial ATA @ 4200 rpm
iWork '06 preinstalled
2GB 667 DDR2 SDRAM - 2x1GB
Accessory Kit

also, since i need the macbook relatively soon (july 17th), i won't be able to purchase one with the new os. when i bought my last laptop, which my sister is inheriting, from hp, they were offering a free upgrade to windows vista upon its release. although i never used it, i thought it was pretty cool. if i purchase my macbook in the next month will i have to buy the new leopard os or will there be any similar offers from apple? i know it's a stretch but i am a poor (soon-to-be) college student, scrounging for quarters.

thanks a lot! i'd appreciate any feedback!
 
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No, there's no free Leopard upgrade plan, but it's only $129 anyways.

You could get the student discount though.

Yeah, Firefox is developed equally on Mac and Windows. They're just as good as each other.

iTunes is obviously fine.
 
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If you start right now, and take a dollar each day from now until Leopard's release and put it in a jar, by the time it is released you will have enough to purchase it for upgrading your new Mac. Pocket change, 4 quarters a day. Do the same to get Vista and you'll be doing that for a year and have a "meh" OS that restricts what you do with it.

My brother in law is a very accomplished musician, and he has been enjoying what his Macbook can do with music ever since he switched some three months ago. Same with video and DVDs.

Firefox has been covered. No worries.

Some of the games, however, you might find a little lacking. I know from other reports that WoW runs well, and know personally that UT2004 runs fine on a Macbook. The Quake 4 demo I downloaded, not so much. That's definitely MBPro territory. Not sure about the civs.

Overall though, the Macbook is an awesome little computer that is the perfect combo of form and function.
 
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I play Civilization IV (universal edition) on my MBP and it's lovely.
 

eric


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i've played civIV on my macbook (see stats on left).

you must have all the options turned down. even the sounds can create issues. i've only dared play on a small map with a few civs and it will get slow as you move along. this is also using a disk image, not the actual disk - can't imagine playing it with the fan and disk spinning like mad. oh, and mind you, the fan will be in jet plane mode the whole time.

so, it's possible, just not very much fun.
 
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B
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i've played civIV on my macbook (see stats on left).

you must have all the options turned down. even the sounds can create issues. i've only dared play on a small map with a few civs and it will get slow as you move along. this is also using a disk image, not the actual disk - can't imagine playing it with the fan and disk spinning like mad. oh, and mind you, the fan will be in jet plane mode the whole time.

so, it's possible, just not very much fun.

BLAST!
 
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As far as serious gaming goes, you might be underwhelmed by the Macbook's performance. The Macbook utilizes an Intel graphics chip that is onboard the motherboard. It also shares the main system memory, which takes away memory that could be used in storing other important files used by the game. The Macbook Pro, on the other hand, was just upgraded to nVidia's new mobile GPU architecture. I have neither used nor even seen it in action, but it is supposed to provide excellent performance (for a lappy). On the MBP, the graphics chip is not forced to share system memory and it is significantly more powerful than it's Macbook sibling.

Long story short, if you are concerned about having a consistently good experience gaming-wise on an Apple lappy, the Macbook Pro is really your only option.

-B
 

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