Thinking about getting a MacBook

[awdrifter]

I don't have any experience with Macs, so I'm just going to comment on the Windows based laptops. If you want an ultraportable to just I've been seriously considering getting the type notes, web browsing and maybe watch a few videos on, the Asus EEE 901 is (imo) the best choice for it. It's light, small and cheap. For $600 I can't think of a better ultraportable laptop.

[Deviate]

Originally Posted by Shawn

^ The clamshell was hilarious...

I dunno, the old iBooks were pretty big and clunky but they shouldn't be like your experience. Probably just a fluke.

Possibly. Regardless, I looked at a couple before I bought my Vaio. Too much damn money for me. $2k was a little out of my budget and the one priced at $1300 seemed feeble.

[Olie]

I have a Current Gen Macbook pro and regular Macbook that my Gf uses.

She had never used an apple before and picked it up in no-time. Plus it has XP on a dual boot so she can use her old programs as well.

Easy to use, awesome battery life, looks sexy in either white or black and will last forever. I have friends who have first gen macbook G4s that they still use every day.

[otispunkmeyer]

wait till u get to uni

use the uni computers to then order a macbook from the store for HIGHER education (important that HIGHER bit, this site can only be accessed via a registered uni network, you can also phone up like i did, but need to prove ur a student)

that way you basically dont pay the VAT and you get 3 years free warranty with the option to upgrade your phone support for a mere £50

at the moment i have zero use for windows, so i dont even require dual booting or emulation at all for now..... all the programs i need are on mac now, and my uni has all the CAD software so im set. Office Mac 2008 is pretty good, it gets a bit messed up with large documents but theyve been updating it regular so its working well now. very good software imo.

if u do need windows.... well, parallels or VMware fusion are the choices and from my experiences i think VMware is the better of the two.

batt life on my macbook pro (bought this time last year) is good, around 4 hours if u dim the screen a little (those LED backlights use very litte) which is great considering the power within (2.4ghz C2D 4mb L2, 8600GT 256mb - which can easily handle UT3 at high settings btw, and CoD4). the newer macbook pros with the 45nm cpu's get up to 5 hours!

[katwalk]

I have a macbook pro and love it. Before this I had a cheesy little compaq prasario and a dell desktop which is now about 8 years old but it WAS top of the line when we got it.
First thing I'd do is go to an apple store and play with one for awhile to see if you like the interface. For some reason I can't really understand people can't figure it out sometimes? I don't know why because the system is rather easy to use. In all honesty it's not very different from windows. Over the years Mac and Microsoft have been ripping off each others ideas trying to so most everything that they have on windows they have on OSX too. I've had very little software incompatibility and that was only recently because I upgraded to leopard some of my programs didn't work anymore because they were old, which you'd have on vista too. If I ever do need windows I just hit the windows button on my desktop to start it in parallels

It's all down to personal preference, so ignore all the people who are fanboys, both ends are irritating

[anti-net]

This thread is pointless now, I've got the macbook and I'm happy with it! I like Mac OS X and the hardware works great!

otispunkmeyer: all I have to say to that is: Permission to say 'oh cock' on FinalGear if I had known the discounts where that much I would have waited, oh well it wasn't my money!

Cheers for all the feedback!