OT- Mac or PC
August 16th, 2010 at 4:33 PM ^
If I were you, I'd take a peek around the internet for a good deal. I would recommend an ASUS if you can find one that suites your needs. I buy my computer parts from them, and the next time I buy a laptop I will definitely be getting one as well. They are also, to my knowledge, the only PC maker to include an accidental damage warranty by default. Just make sure whatever you get has a nice graphics card in it if you're looking to shell out for a good one. I know HP especially is bad about selling you something as an all-purpose laptop that's got some crappy little Intel IGP in it.
And to address your concern; yes, Macs are more dough for less zoom. There are plenty even on this board that would disagree, primarily by the BS that you can't screw up a Mac. All it takes is a couple FIrefox extensions to keep you from going anywhere you can get bad stuff and your PC will keep going just fine. Of course, for the price of a Mac, you could get a PC that will run just fine even if it does have a ton of stuff going in the background.
August 16th, 2010 at 4:33 PM ^
It's all about your preference if you have the money. I just recently bought the 15" MBP as my first Mac because I want to be able to do iOS programming if I need to, but I've got 7 on it as well using Bootcamp. It's a fantastic machine, looks great, feels great, snappy, etc.
My complaints are few and far between, but worth considering:
- The lack of ports borders on ridiculous. There are only two USB ports, and they're so close that if you've got a thumb drive in one you probably can't use the other.
- The proprietary (ish? not sure if any other brands use it) display port is also crazy. There should at least be an HDMI or VGA or DVI port on there so I don't have to buy an (overpriced) adapter for each type of display I want to hook up.
- It gets HOT. Not hot to the point that it's going to self destruct, but hot to the point that it's very uncomfortable to rest on your lap.
My final piece of advice is that if you plan on staring at it for hours a day, spring for the matte screen. It has a higher resolution, which you may or may not need, but not staring at a mirror all day is worth a little extra cash.
As far as performance:price ratio, Mac is probably not the way to go. If you're looking for bleeding edge speed at a lower price, go with the Sony.
August 16th, 2010 at 4:49 PM ^
Buy them here, dirt cheap, [mostly] good quality:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/search.asp?keyword=mini+display+port&…
Really any a/v type cables are a good deal from monoprice.
August 16th, 2010 at 4:54 PM ^
Thanks! I've emailed myself the link so I don't forget it.
My brother bought me my VGA adapter for something like $13 on amazon, so that's not too bad.
August 16th, 2010 at 9:11 PM ^
Monoprice is the best...quality cables for pennies compared to the big box stores. Their HDMI cables are fantastic.
August 16th, 2010 at 4:50 PM ^
if you're going to go whole hog, get a Mac and Bootcamp it to run Windows 7 x64. I've always been a Windows man, but the new hardware on the MacBook Pro is really cool. I like the twin video card system, where if you on the battery and not doing anything graphically intense it just runs off this crappy integrated one, thus extending battery life. Or if you go to fire up a game it switches over to the fancy new nVidia GPU it has. Also if you're booted into OS X, Grand Central (Mac's multiple core usage thing) can take the idle video card for some things.
Macs new matte displays are also really nice (swing by Showcase if you're in AA to see one). Plus the battery has a nice long warranty and you can always take the Mac in to any Apple store for hardware work.
The Mac is definitely overpriced for the hardware. Basically you're paying for a few fancy little things (like the two video card thing) and the warranty. But if you have the money I'd go with it. The Mac just seems to be better put together than the kind of generic plastic cases*.
I'm running my Mac with Windows 7 x64 and it is honestly the nicest Windows laptop I ever owned. It runs games like a champ, gets good battery life and is all around solid. The metal case also seems to be more rugged (warning though: the metal can get hot, thus resulting in the dong burn of death, this was a larger issue on old models, the new ones don't run as hot). when you get it, fire up Bootcamp Manager, leave OS X with ~30 gigs and drop Windows 7 on it and don't look back.
Lack of ports is a bitch though. Basically Apple assumes you're using one of their monitors which has a USB hub built into it, so they expect you to plug all your devices into that.
*Acer also has a nice line of pure windows machines that have carbon fiber on sections of the case, which makes them feel more durable.
August 16th, 2010 at 5:42 PM ^
August 16th, 2010 at 10:49 PM ^
Take it and you won't be sorry. I can vouch for the Mac and Bootcamp it to run Windows 7 x64. Thumbs up on the matte display too. I use their monitors (in office) and they are exceptional as well.
Don't have any first hand experience with the Acer.
August 16th, 2010 at 5:16 PM ^
I wish there was a way I could fix the heat issue. Did you notice that it gets hotter when you watch streaming videos?
August 16th, 2010 at 5:37 PM ^
Yeah, it gets hot when watching just about any kind of video, streaming or no. I'm guessing it's when the GPU kicks in, because when I run in Windows 7 it's hot pretty much all the time as the GPU switching isn't supported.
August 16th, 2010 at 8:17 PM ^
August 17th, 2010 at 7:32 AM ^
It gets extra hot when I'm watching anything with Denard, I thought it had something to do with the dilithium.
August 16th, 2010 at 5:52 PM ^
Work switched me to a MBP as we start doing some iPhone/iPad development.
I'm also bootcamping Windows 7. I'd highly recommend plopping down the cash on VMWare fusion. It allows you run you bootcamp partition as a VM, but then basically integrate the whole thing and it looks as though you're running all your apps within OSX. It puts a little button at the top that is basically your windows VM's start menu, and you're off and running.
Lack of ports is ridiculous. If I were a lefty, I'd be furious that they're all on the left. God forbid they make the thing a half inch thicker and put them on the back somewhere.
Having to carry around stupid mini-DV adapter so I can hook up to projectors for meetings is infuriating.
Switching from a PC laptop to a MAC laptop was a little rough, as I'm a big hotkey user. Not having Home/End/Insert/Delete/PgUP/PgDwn is still taking some time to get used to doing Fn + ____ in their place.
It does get hot as hell if you spend any time doing marathon sitting in a chair with it in your lap sessions. But you know, Jobs is a genius and all wrapping a bunch of electronics in aluminum and putting ZERO exhaust ports.
Work went all out and got the 15" with the i7 CPU and stuff too, I think that might be heavily contributing to my heat issues. I'd almost recommend getting the 17" with the i5 instead.
It is fast as hell though, and once you get used to OSX's quirks it's pretty slick.
August 16th, 2010 at 4:33 PM ^
Eh. Apple laptops have some nice hardware, and people rave about the service when something breaks. IMO though, the fact that so many people talk about how great the service is implies that the hardware is pretty unreliable? At least, it seems like everyone i knew in the dorms with a macbook had to have it serviced at least once.
Not that you aren't getting a good computer, but you ARE definitely paying like twice as much for branding and a hip logo. If you have the cash and don't mind getting gouged for an extra grand just based off of the logo, I think the real decision maker comes down to which OS you prefer more?
Also it seems like you're set on a laptop, but you could also build a desktop that blows both of those laptops away and will last much longer for maybe $700, with the added bonus of being able to fix things yourself instead of having to send parts (or the whole computer) out.
August 16th, 2010 at 4:54 PM ^
My history with Apple "service" has been as follows:
1. First gen Macbook Pros had shady CD drives. Had a few friends get them replaced.
2. One friend with a dead screen.
The majority of Apple service as far as I know is Apple warranties their batteries a lot better than other manufacturers. They used to promise 3+ hours on their old school MBPs. If you were getting under 2:30 minutes you could take it in and normally walk out with a brand new battery in a matter of minutes. They claim 5+ out of the newest generation.
Of course you paid more up front when you bought the computer, so really you already paid for the second battery, but it is nice. Apple is a lot nicer than say Dell that mutters something about "ship it in and wait three weeks" when you call them.
August 16th, 2010 at 5:09 PM ^
batteries are usually not that expensive (~$50) if you need them.
My advice is to save your $900 and buy a PC (hell, buy an iPad on top and keep $600).
August 16th, 2010 at 6:03 PM ^
August 16th, 2010 at 6:02 PM ^
I no longer feel like you avatar is speaking to me so I turned him around for you. 
August 16th, 2010 at 4:33 PM ^
Just keep in mind that Macs are the soccer moms of computers.
August 16th, 2010 at 5:30 PM ^
some of us think soccer moms can be pretty hot...
August 16th, 2010 at 6:11 PM ^
Exactly they look good from a distance but when you get to know them they are controlling judgemental witches that want to restrict you to the toys that they make. And they cost you way to much. Where the PC is that lady at the end of the block that you grow up thinking she just had a lot of friends. Sure you might get a virus or two but you have more fun because you get way more access.
August 16th, 2010 at 4:37 PM ^
I have a newer macbook pro. It's my third one and I like it. But not sure that I would have switched if I hadn't gotten my first mac for free from work. Another problem you should consider is that very few PC programs work on mac, so you'll have to buy/borrow all new programs. That could run you a bunch more. Macs are great because they're stylish and work well out of the box. But they also break rather frequently too (especially the dvd drives), and are rather expensive to upgrade. Still you probably won't regret buying one either.
August 16th, 2010 at 4:38 PM ^
It's all about what you use it for. MAC laptops are nice, a little overpriced compared to the equivalent PC. But for Photo/Video editing, you just simply can not buy the software for PC and Mac's come loaded with some pretty nice stuff. You can also run Windows on a Mac now, which is a plus.
PC's are just a lot cheaper. I would say if you are going for a desktop that you should buy a PC and if you're going for a laptop I would go with a Mac - but again that's just my preference.
August 16th, 2010 at 4:43 PM ^
i'm a mac user and i love my macbook pro... but realistically, it's really just kind of a "nice toy". i mean, don't get me wrong. it's great, there are some GREAT features on here that i love. stickies are great, automator is awesome, and the computer is soooo user friendly. but i think you could probably download versions of that program for PC too. so i mean i would personally say get a mac but, if you're not 100% sold on getting a mac and spending the 900 extra dollars, it's not particularly worth it.
**edit i know i didn't really make a point that helps you with anything.
haha so i guess to say more, i work in a computer lab at U of M and we have both macs and pcs in the lab. and macs are much more powerful IMO and also have a lot less problems.
... also, troubleshooting on the macs is a lot easier on the macs as opposed to PCs
although i love my mac and it's great.
August 16th, 2010 at 4:47 PM ^
To me, the opportunity cost of waiting 3 minutes for my work PC to boot up versus the near instantaneous booting of a Mac > $900 over the life of the computer. Easily. But that's just because I'm an MGoBlog junky and want to be able to access the site NOW!
August 16th, 2010 at 4:54 PM ^
Shell out about $150 for a 30 GB SSD, drop Windows 7 on it, and you have yourself a PC that boots in about 30 seconds.
August 16th, 2010 at 5:08 PM ^
If your computer takes 3 minutes to boot up that is a user issue. It might have to do with loading user policies over the network, but if Macs were able to do it, they would take just as long. I just bought a computer with an i5, 4GB RAM, 7200 RPM HDD, and has W7 on it. It literally boots in under 30 seconds without the SSD suggestion.
August 16th, 2010 at 5:43 PM ^
my slow-as-molassas netbook boots in less than 20 seconds. Windows 7 is awesome.
August 16th, 2010 at 4:52 PM ^
I had a PC and had nothing but problems, then I switched to a Mac and have had nothing but problems.
August 16th, 2010 at 4:55 PM ^
I just customized an HP with 4 GB of DDR3 RAM, 500 GB Hard Drive (7200rpm), a 512mb video card, and a quad core @ 2.6 ghz all for $800. It's 15.6", but it looks bigger, and it also has a blu ray player. I started with the base dh6z configuration I think. Either that or the dh6z special edition.
August 16th, 2010 at 4:59 PM ^
you probably don't even need to go Pro. the standard has 2.4 GHz processor and 2 GB Memory with 250 GB HD. just got it a month or so ago after Apple called foul on itself and replaced my black older gen macbook free of charge one month left on the extended Apple Care warranty.
get Apple Care btw
August 16th, 2010 at 5:00 PM ^
I've been using a new MacBook for roughly 4 months after being a Windows user my whole life. OS X seems to hang into a spinning pinwheel state about once an hour and is much less stable than Windows 7. If you want to do anything advanced that Apple doesn't present to you in the GUI, be prepared to use spend a lot of time googling terminal commands. It sure is pretty to look at, though.
August 16th, 2010 at 5:07 PM ^
Sounds like you either need RAM or have a bad HD.
August 16th, 2010 at 5:10 PM ^
take it into a store or contact Apple support bc that's not something that's just 'part of the process'
August 16th, 2010 at 5:36 PM ^
If you're going to the store, schedule an appointment online first so you don't have to wait a long time.
I'd be surprised if the apple folks didn't end up replacing something for you. What you're describing is pretty strange.
August 16th, 2010 at 5:05 PM ^
I just got my Dell Studio XPS about a month ago and I absolutely love it. It is super fast and does some serious work with graphics. I priced it up with a MBP and it was signifcantly cheaper.
I went with the configuration on the right far right, although when I bought it it was $100 cheaper. Dell likes to change their prices...a lot
August 16th, 2010 at 6:01 PM ^
I just picked up a studio xps recently and love it as well - since you mention graphics, have you found any video editing software that works well on your machine? The corel software I bought is useless.
August 16th, 2010 at 5:05 PM ^
Whatever you do, don't get a sony laptop. they aren't very durable and they aren't very service oriented in taking care of any issues.
Would recommend an HP, ASUS or DEll if you go that route.
August 16th, 2010 at 5:11 PM ^
had rampant motherboard failure. I got a new motherboard and it failed again (I was in Jamaica and it sucked both times). Soured me a little.
Apple is pretty, and if you are an artist, photographer, or film maker, truly superior. Otherwise, I am convinced it's all about a certain kind of fetishism that goes with having one. I saw a pretty telling exchange between the founder of a very popular political site the other day who was crowing about the new Apple OS and said that it only hung up a couple of times in a whole long day of intensive computing. The Windows and Ubuntu advocates all jumped on this and said "I only hang up once a week, at most!"
Ubuntu is beautiful now, btw, and free. You can download it and play with it without dumping whatever OS you've got. Lots of people move back and forth between all three.
Until recently the iphone was the true winner in the Apple pantheon. But I think the new Droids may be superior machines.
August 17th, 2010 at 6:12 PM ^
It runs fine on cheaper pc hardware, and you get a *nix based operating system (which OSX is as well). Ubuntu would be my rec to someone new to linux. I've been running linux on my laptops for over a decade now - with a dual-boot system, or using an emulator, you can play Windows games, while surfing on the linux side is very safe.
August 16th, 2010 at 5:11 PM ^
Warning -- no discussion of religion on MGoBlog!
August 16th, 2010 at 5:52 PM ^
Of all the posts I have read on this so far... this one is best, and probably most true.
August 16th, 2010 at 5:15 PM ^
I work in IT and would summarize my answers as follows:
-Don't get a Mac. It's not worth paying the Apple Tax for (apparently) the same hardware which miraculously fails more often. If you do get a Mac for whatever reason, go with the Macbook instead of the Pro so you have money in reserve for when Apple charges you out the ass for repairs, in or out of warranty.
-Don't get a Sony laptop as they're also overpriced. I lean more towards Dell stuff--I've had a couple through work including, most recently, an XPS M1330, and it's been great. I've had friends and family get XPSs and Studios as well as Inspirons and they've been happy. Overall Dell's service is good and the prices are tough to beat.
That's my two cents.
August 16th, 2010 at 5:26 PM ^
Amen to Dell. The thing that I love about Dell (that most people aren't able to take advantage of) is that they will send me parts to fix machines myself. It's great when the computer is still usable and you need to have access to it over the next two weeks.
August 16th, 2010 at 5:48 PM ^
August 16th, 2010 at 5:59 PM ^
Everybody knowingly ships faulty products. They do a cost analysis to see if it would be cheaper to keep selling computers and fix them as they come in, stop shipping and wait for the good parts, or ship and do a full recall later. It might piss off a few people, but it's how they keep costs on their machines down.
August 16th, 2010 at 7:31 PM ^
I'm not going to defend Dell for that, but whereas they were affected by the bad capacitor problem (as were tons of manufacturers; I bought at least one Epox board for a hand-built machine that later had the same problem) and stepped up to replace parts even on out-of-warranty machines for free for a couple years, in my work I've run into many, MANY instances of Apple machines with major hardware issues that were initially denied by Apple, then became "known issues". I really think Apple does literally zero testing of the machines they put out considering the large number I've seen that needed new video cards (a huge lab of Mac Pros, 50+, and these are supposed to be Apple's "top of the line"), cooling assemblies, displays, etc. Hence my prejudice against Apple...
August 16th, 2010 at 5:17 PM ^
Good solid line, good service plan for not much extra that's well worth every penny.
August 16th, 2010 at 5:17 PM ^
I prefer this topic thread to the endless "Tate or Denard" threads.