Apple mac laptops

[The Boosh!]

I am looking into buying one of these but... after looking at the specs of them they dont seem that impressive tbf.

for example - apple mac pro - has 2.6 GHz processor, 250gb hard drive and 2mb worth of ram. all at a cost of 1800 quid:dead:

i could get a windows based system to that spec for 500 quid?

My question is - am i missing something? are they ACTUALLY worth the money?

Really want to try one of these but
1) they dont seem that worth the money
2) they dont SEEM that powerful (untill i stand corrected i am a mac n00b)
3) i have always used windows GUI and am a bit scared of moving over to a mac.

finally, the craptop i have now is an esystem or something. was quiet cheap, however i am bored of it after 9months. am i likely to keep the mac longer (if im investing alot of money into a pc i want to keep it for a while & they look awesome)

as you can see im in a predicament! sorry for the long post and any replies will be much apprechiated Thanks! X

 

[f0xy]

i just bought a black macbook the other day.....seems great so far, ive moved from 100% windows, i got it because i hate vista, and wanted a change

 

[The Boosh!]

is it hard to figure out/use jord? and are they worth the money as the base ones start at 400 quid :dead:

 

[f0xy]

i paid 800, 15% off for student, shud have been 950....

yeah i had no idea how to use it, but ive picked it up quick, runs very well, im just using it for internet, photoshop, msn, word/excel etc, and running Solidworks CAD.....seems to all be fine....

its 2.4ghz, and 2gb ram.....250gb hdd, cant go wrong really, it isnt going to be poor performance at the spec, well not for me anyway

 

[sneeks]

The performance of them is far better than the spec sheet would suggest, especially when your mind will be comparing it to a Windows PC with that spec. It doesn't really equate though.

 

[BenWall]

Definitely worth it, it's like everything; you get what you pay for. I have a macbook, 2.4Ghz and 2Gb of Ram and runs really well.

The main thing about 'the Mac' is that they just work. For example, today I was using skype to talk to my mate, and setting it up etc was so simple and easy and the microphone picked up my voice from the other side of the run, unlike the dell my mate was on.

The screen and keyboard on the Pro is pretty amazing, keyboard is backlit so can be seen in the dark, and the screen displays colours much better, if I had a know I would have bought one as I image edit on the move quite a bit.

Below I have added my mac as it is now, running quite a few apps; itunes, Lightroom, last FM app, firefox3, safari, skype, system activity, adium and finder > and it still runs really well being able to do anything as fast I it would if the apps weren't open.

Also, I haven't turned off/restarted it in about 1 week now and still going strong, obviously hibernating but thats it. Battery last ages too, and its the little things, like the charger (its designed so well) and the look, so sleek and flush.

I'll shush now, buy one.

 

[The Boosh!]

Thanks conteo!

Your tempting me... i wouldn't know where to start though ( can anyone reccomend me one for around 6-700 quid. dont mind buying second hand either.

ALSO can apples run the same programmes as XP can? Eg - MSN,Word etc?

 

[f0xy]

are you going to uni boosh? take your AS12 letter in from ucas....15% off in store.....plus you can have a play with them there and then...... you could get top spec white macbook for 700

msn yep....office for mac yep

 

[The Boosh!]

are you going to uni boosh? take your AS12 letter in from ucas....15% off in store.....plus you can have a play with them there and then...... you could get top spec white macbook for 700

msn yep....office for mac yep

yep going to uni Jord! canny i just take student card in ?

il have a walk in and speak to the people about them so i can get my barings.

just abit scary going from knowing s**t loads about pcs and how they work etc to moving to so something i know nothing about

 

[f0xy]

yeah anything that proves you're a student this year will do, make sure you get the higher education discount though, not just student discount (need uni id)

its easy, its only took me a few days to get used to.....plus, if theres something you dont know, google it

 

[sneeks]

It really is very easy to get the hang of. It's 2 years now since I bought my iMac and left XP behind and I don't regret it at all. The Mac will effortlessly run Windows too if required.

 

[CHRIS172CUP]

the macbook pros are the best laptops you can buy imo. it won't ever crash, you have the best OS to use etc. yeah they cost more but are well worth it. my old 1.5ghz powerbook has never missed a beat, never crashed even when i've been using CAD modelling.

they're quicker than they seem aswell. i did a render test with my 3d software once with one against my old dual 2.5 G5 and it whooped it's a.rse. ideal for creative suite.

for me the only thing a mac can't do is autodesk/autocad but whatever!

 

[BenWall]

Thanks conteo!

Your tempting me... i wouldn't know where to start though ( can anyone reccomend me one for around 6-700 quid. dont mind buying second hand either.

ALSO can apples run the same programmes as XP can? Eg - MSN,Word etc?

Can have msn but app called Adium is better and can get Office for mac etc, or you can install windows in Parallels (running inside OSX) or boot camp so when the mac boots you get the option of which os to start. Parallels is good though, as when you get windows files on the mac, you can still right click and open with a windows program, paint for example.

 

[*JimmyJ*]

Mate just get one, go and bite the apple you'll love it. I managed to get hold of a white Macbook, entry level spec for....wait for it.........................£200 brand spanking new still in the box. Best £200 i've spent on a computer/laptop. Sold it for £400 to a close friend fully loaded with software and everything, 9 months later. Getting a Macbook Pro now. Does that answer your question?

 

[Ian]

How well does Solidworks run on the Mac, Jord? I've been running it on my Vista Laptop and it's incredibly sluggish - so much so that I'm probably going to end up taking my PC to uni digs as well.

Laptop: HP dv2535ea
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo CPU T5450 @ 1.66GHz
Memory: 2Gb
Graphics: NVidia 64Mb

 

[*JimmyJ*]

Laptop: HP dv2535ea
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo CPU T5450 @ 1.66GHz
Memory: 2Gb
Graphics: NVidia 64Mb

Get a Macbook Pro

 

[The Boosh!]

so tempted....... i think this months payslip will be gone straight away lol

 

[Brown.]

virus free, very little memory used to run os, 25gig photos opened instantly....nuff said

 

[Ian]

Laptop: HP dv2535ea
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo CPU T5450 @ 1.66GHz
Memory: 2Gb
Graphics: NVidia 64Mb

Get a Macbook Pro

Would I really have to pay £1200+ for one? Even with Higher-Ed discount that's still a bit on the heavy side for me!

The equivalnet HP models have dropped from £700 when I bought it, to around the £400-500 mark. I don't mind paying a bit of a premium for Apple, but still..

 

[The Boosh!]

^^ exactly my thoughts dude... think il be able to streach to around 700 quid...

may have to get finance out to buy the fucker lol

 

[iPap]

Get one of these!

 

[The Boosh!]

Get one of these!

did that cost you about 10k? lol

 

[furry_cup]

Dude, just buy one, if you dont like it after you have tried it just sell it, it wont lose its valuue.

You wont want to sell it though trust me. I just bought the 1800 model (discounted to 1300) and i love it. just wish i could upgrade my imac g5 now!

 

[iPap]

Get one of these!

did that cost you about 10k? lol

lol, not quite!

£1900, 17" custom build.

Company perk! :rasp:

 

[Robbles]

Get a Mac, I use one all day at work and these are brilliant machines, Vista and XP crash and dont work. Mac just work. its that simple.

 

[rabbos]

Its not so black and white windows is sh1te and macs just work. That is a ridiculous statement to make frankly.

I use both systems all the time and I have witnessed Mac crashes and several windows systems that have run for months without problems.

Basically if you are clueless about how computers actually function then the mac is for you, and you will be very happy! The rest will find it slightly frustrating but pleasant nonetheless.

 

[Curley]

You need a mac!

watch these...

http://www.apple.com/getamac/ads/

 

[matt|H]

Without meaning to advertise (I'm not in sales!) we've got an offer still on at work...

MBP's with 4GB memory upgrade for free... http://www.cancomuk.com/Home/Special-Offers/Summer-Savings

 

[beatjunkie]

So with all the talk of macbook pros are the £700 macs not worth it?or is it better to upgrade the memory?

 

[matt|H]

£700 Mac being a MacBook?

They're great little machines. You should only justify spending the £1000+ on a MacBook Pro if you need the power. RAM itself isn't going to boost the performance a great deal, but it will help.

A MacBook with standard (or slightly more than standard) RAM will be sufficient for general use. You'd only need a Pro if you were performing heavy tasks like large photo manipulation/video editing. That said, the Pros looks soooo much better.

 

[Daz]

I spent £1500 on a MBP just because it looked awesome.. haha. In terms of performance, they're pretty much the same apart from the dedicated graphics, so not much point at all.

But hey.. it did look immense on my desk

 

[beatjunkie]

What about if i want to run autocad at some point will it be able to handle it?

also wanna run albeton the dj programme, that will be primary use id of thought!

so up the ram to maybe 2gb?no need for 4gb?

 

[fizzy_drink]

I'm happy with my MB 2.4.

Everything just works... even with XP installed.

Good battery life too IMO.

 

[beatjunkie]

gonna order a 2.4 as not much more cash for a better machine, ill wait till the apple update on tues to see what the new features are like if there are any???!!!

 

[matt|H]

Rumors are;
iPod nano
iPod touch
iTunes 8
iPhone firmware
Mac/s

There were lots of rumors about new MBP's but it could by anything... or nothing.

Only a couple days to wait though.

 

[beatjunkie]

Coolio ill hang on for that then!

surely they will change the 80/160gb ipods there looking a bit old these days!

Ryan