Make me a believer - macbook or pro?

qwik3r said:

I am going to the apple store tomorrow to check these guys out again, maybe I'll buy, not sure yet. I am not looking to have my MB replace my rig, just would more or less use it to supplement it. Do mac stores generally have a decent amount of open box mac books? Do they go through any refurb process or have a warranty? Still torn between MB and MBP ugh!!

A semi sweet deal is if I do buy the MB I can get the ipod nano and my GF wants that and she will give me her pretty much brand new 30GB ipod, hrmmm incentive lol.

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um... who gives up an iPod video for a nano?? seriously. nanos are NOT that cool.

qwik3r said:

any other opinions/suggestions?

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Check out Macmall.com. They often have deals on open-box/clearence discontinued models.

Newegg has open-box every once in a while.

I said that to my GF as well, but she would rather just have the smaller one, who cares, if i goto the mac store and get one its a win win situation.

the macbooks don't have the santa rosa chipset do they? Will I be hurtin with that compared to the pro?

anyone else? I still haven't decided just yet on the macbook or the pro.

No, you'll be fine.

qwik3r said:

the macbooks don't have the santa rosa chipset do they? Will I be hurtin with that compared to the pro?

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No, Macbooks are pre-Santa Rosa. You won't notice much difference..at least for the price delta.

I've pretty much decided that I want to buy the macbook as opposed to the pro, but what is holding me back at this point is the reasoning for buying a mac compared to a PC. I just want to make sure I am making the right decision. I know I can get a cheaper PC with a bigger screen but then again its a PC, but then again I have never known anything else, ugh I need some real world comparisons...

qwik3r said:

I've pretty much decided that I want to buy the macbook as opposed to the pro, but what is holding me back at this point is the reasoning for buying a mac compared to a PC. I just want to make sure I am making the right decision. I know I can get a cheaper PC with a bigger screen but then again its a PC, but then again I have never known anything else, ugh I need some real world comparisons...

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Well...look at it this way. If you go with a MacBook, you'll have the best of both worlds as the MacBook can run Windows as well. If you buy a Windows notebook, you're stuck with windows only.

As far as I can tell, costwise, Macbooks are on-par with Widows notebooks. Macbooks in standard configuration generally spec higher than Windows notebooks. For example, the 'cheap' windows notebooks are usually the 1.66 or 1.73 Ghz core duos, or sometimes the Core 2 Duo with ATA drives and a low quality display..ect.
If you look at a Macbook, you're getting a min 2.16 Ghz Core 2 Duo, SATA drives and an above average glossy display. The closest i've found to a Macbook, spec wise, was a Sony VIAO SZ series, Dell XPS M1330 and an HP 2500 series...which BTW, all cost more when configured to the same spec as a Macbook.

True, you could probably get away with less specs for what you want to do, thus you'd save money in this respect. However, you'd get a kickin' fast machine with allot of power in a small package that can run Windows and OS X.

the one thing that all macs have over pc is their OS hands down owns them. Have you seen Vista? It is a complete ripoff of macs OS

Man i'm one step closer to windows as I had a BSOD a few minutes ago, ugh!!! I hate this crap. Went into BB today to check out some of the Apples again and man that 24'' display looks sweet, too bad I am not buying a desktop replacement right now. I am so virgin to mac I hope I can figure stuffy out relatively quickly. The only thing I really really want to be able to have is firefox and the extensions that work with it such as the save tab feature seeing as it looks like safari won't do that.

The only concern of course is the best bang for the buck and the performance. I am beginning to despise windows, my only hope is that if i do become a mac believer I can ditch the pc for good and grab the 24'' display hehe.

I have read some nasty reviews about windows xp on the macs that it screws up the mac, any truth to this?

came across the thinkpads, priced one out that had a bigger screen, was 2.4ghz santa rosa and a 160gb HD hrmmm, opinions?

qwik3r said:

came across the thinkpads, priced one out that had a bigger screen, was 2.4ghz santa rosa and a 160gb HD hrmmm, opinions?

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I had 4 thinkpads in my lifetime. All have been the BEST notebooks I've ever owned. They're usually a notch below tops as far as specs are concerned and you pay a premium for the unit, but you get excellent support and build-quality that is unmatched.

I'd say my Macbook is just 'on-par' with the Thinkpads in build quality.

qwik3r said:

Man i'm one step closer to windows as I had a BSOD a few minutes ago, ugh!!! I hate this crap. Went into BB today to check out some of the Apples again and man that 24'' display looks sweet, too bad I am not buying a desktop replacement right now.

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No doubt...I 'm always memorized by them as well when I walk into the store.

qwik3r said:

I am so virgin to mac I hope I can figure stuffy out relatively quickly. The only thing I really really want to be able to have is firefox and the extensions that work with it such as the save tab feature seeing as it looks like safari won't do that.

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I thought that my Macbook was going to be my secondary notebook. However in the time since I got it, it's been my main unit. Granted, I don't do heavy-weight tasks like you will be doing, but what I have been using it for, it smokes my Windows notebook. Mac OS X if fairly intuitive and you can almost 'hit the ground running' with it. There are a few quirks and some differences but I find it far simpler than Windows. For instance, when you install an application or device, it's mounted until you eject it. Installing most application (called *.dmg) works like this: it mounts to your system and you drag and drop the single icon to wherever you want. All file associated to the application follow along with it. It's that simple...no dll's to registry to mess with. Uninstalling is even easier. You find the icon and drop it to the Trash...that's it...nothing more.[/QUOTE]

qwik3r said:

The only thing I really really want to be able to have is firefox and the extensions that work with it such as the save tab feature seeing as it looks like safari won't do that.

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I'm pretty sure that Firefox-Mac has the session saver extention available. I don't personally use or have it. It's built into Safari, however. You'll be mostly using FF over Safari. Although I prefer Safari for it simplistic and clean interface (also allot faster in renderng than FF) it just doesn't handle some sites as well as FF.

qwik3r said:

The only concern of course is the best bang for the buck and the performance. I am beginning to despise windows, my only hope is that if i do become a mac believer I can ditch the pc for good and grab the 24'' display hehe.

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Well, like I said previously, look at what you are getting and it comes out to be a great value. Similarly spec'd Windows-only notebooks are more expensive and can't run OS X and Windows apps together.

qwik3r said:

I have read some nasty reviews about windows xp on the macs that it screws up the mac, any truth to this?

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I have heard of performance issues with the G5/G4 macs and running VirtualPC for the Mac. Allot of incompatibilities as well. I haven't heard the same with Parallels or BootCamp on Intel-based Macs...but then again, I don't use any of those solutions.

not sure which one u ended up buying but i know that if money is really an issue don't buy the macbook pro i mean i got it
but if its really tight cause its doesn't sound like ur going to do alot of gaming and its going ot be more for work so then use it as such you dont need the better graphics card although its nice

sorry i just re read ur thing and i'd say i change my mind because the macbook PRO can handle up to 4 g of ram meaning... that although if ur using small amounts of programs you wont notice the difference if you are using alot of programs like you said you are this includes internet...supposibly like u said tons of internet tabs open in safari beta and firefox then go for the pro cause then you can handle the more and programs... if you want my two cents get the one in my avatar... get the 2.4 ghz model and not hte 2.2 like i did so then u get the best processing better with out going to the big screen like the 17 inch and it will be better for...things like traveling

look at the hp's new consumer level tablet its not to bad

well I got some good news from apple today, my Juniper apple card in in the mail so I will probably be picking up the mac book as it is within my price range. Now I hope (fingers crossed) that apple releases a new ipod before the 16th and I can use the 199 rebate on it hehe.

Well, I would say based on what you want, get the Macbook. I will also say however, that you may end up liking it so much you want to go back and upgrade to the MBP and just use it as a desktop replacement. That's what happened to me

lol well congrats to bad you didn't get the pro but good job
ummm did u get the black one