O/T - Thinking of getting a MacBook Pro.

[Sergei Gotsmanov]

After years of being a PC user and with my current Vaio finally being too painfully slow to use it is time for an upgrade. I'm being drawn to the 2.4GHz 13" MacBook Pro. I will mainly use it for browsing, music, video, photos, downloading and general "Office" type applications. Is this he right machine for me? Having never owned a Mac before i am a little nervous about making the switch. Are there any pitfalls that I should consider or is it nothing to worry about? Is it easy to move your iTunes library from PC to Mac? Have done a bit of research on the web but am hoping the good sages of NSC can give an additional perspective.

(don't want to start another anti-apple tirade so genuine and sensible advice only please)

 

[Beach Hut]

To be honest switched from a Dell to a Mac last February and never looked back, they really are very good

 

[Fungus]

... my current Vaio finally being too painfully slow to use ...

Without wanting to start an anti-Microsoft tirade, Windows does slow down a lot over time - you might just need to wipe it re-install the operating system. Or even get Windows 7. Cheaper than a new laptop, assuming it used to be a reasonable speed?

 

[ILIKECANDLES]

Best move you'll make switching to a mac. I have 5 iMacs and 2 MacBook pros. However I run design software. Looking at what you do with it it might be cheaper to get a MacBook rather than the pro option. They don't look as swanky as the pro in it's stylin Alu case but there is a cost saving. Last thing to consider is making sure yours is as future proof as can be and consider how long your going to have it versus any known changes in circumstance. Thats why I always but a mac that's more than I need right now cos I know it will be fine in a year or two. Have fun.

 

[Fef]

Having used PCs since Gates was a boy, I moved from Windows to a MacBook Pro a couple of years ago, and haven't looked back. Go for it.

 

[Springal]

I've got a late 2009 Macbook Pro (15") and new model Macbook Air (13") and a PC as a desktop. I'd defo go for a Macbook based on your requirements, so easy to use and decent OS (now..!)

If you don't plan on travelling with your laptop much, I'd go 15" for sure, 13" is quite small if doing a lot of multi-tasking etc. The 15" is quite big, but I only use mine at home, or if working away for a long time and MacBook Air for work, days in London, travelling etc.

If you can stretch to it, get SSD drives too, the load time is amazing, very noticeable difference in performance.

 

[Bozza]

Macs are complete and utter toilet. Stay on the Windows side of the fence.

 

[Sergei Gotsmanov]

Macs are complete and utter toilet. Stay on the Windows side of the fence.

Why?

 

[happypig]

Before spending any money, download and try linux.
Have a look at Kubuntu

 

[Beach Hut]

Macs are complete and utter toilet. Stay on the Windows side of the fence.

The irony of it........

 

[El Presidente]

Have a look at Kubuntu

I thought that was a word you could not say on NSC?

 

[clapham_gull]

Becoming a more and more irrelevant argument by the day, unless you wear your computer manufacturer like a Jeans label....

Everyday on line software needs to become a bit better though.

I've only dipped into Google Docs and found the spreadsheet application quite shocking.

Anyone tried the Microsoft version ?

 

[Beach Hut]

Anyone tried the Microsoft version ?

Yes and the word version and all are superb

 

[clapham_gull]

Yes and the word version and all are superb

I tried loading up a very complex document and it really struggled.

I'm quite a heavy Excel user and find Google's interpretation to be absolutely toy town.

 

[Beach Hut]

I have the Mac versions of windows and they really do work just the same as on an XP PC

 

[clapham_gull]

I have the Mac versions of windows and they really do work just the same as on an XP PC

Mac Versions of Excel/Word ? they are fine for most things but unless there has been a recent update completely useless for me.

I know they can be to some degree, but would love to see spreadsheets become standardised in the same way as HTML so they are completely operating system independent.

 

[Stumpy Tim]

I regretted moving from Windows to Mac for a couple of weeks, but never since - been over a year now. It's quite a lot better really - way easier to use. Having said that, Windows 7 is quite nice

 

[beardy gull]

I recently got the new 13" MacBook Air. Never had a Mac before. I love it.

 

[JonathanLivingstonSeagull]

for the uses you describe i expect you'd enjoy a mac

those who are more super serious about computers often don't like macs because they like to mess about and customise the nuts and bolts of their operating system... (correct me if i'm wrong!)

two thing about macs - downloading from torrents etc is hard / impossible (would LOVE to be corrected here)
- crap for games

written on a macbook pro here. they are lovely aesthetically of course, and prompt and come pre-installed with some decent software. the instinctive operating touches are nice... oh but also they are overpriced as far as spec is concerned if we are being honest.

final advice - google 'mac vs pc humorous images' or something like that... you can learn a lot from some of these... probably, and maybe get a laugh too.

 

[willyfantastic]

I had a powerbook 13'' when i was in college as i had always used pcs beforehand. whilst it was good initially for uni, i switched back to my old pc cos the macbok became sluggish. all my family have had apple laptops, and let me say this, when people say apples outlast pc laptops, they DONT, they are exactly the same in terms of lifetime. my powerbook now is completely unusable, it could barely load streaming media, dvds were skippy, load times were awful, it was just a mess.

i like the new macbook pros but i'd never buy one, whilst i can understand the positives (there were a few positives over pc when i used my lappy) but for me personally, the negatives outweigh it.

However its down to personal preference, so dont take my word for it, cos its quite biased as ive always preferred windows.