The Macbook

[jim_doki]

Ok, so being that i'm sick of staring at the cracks in my laptop screen, and to be honest I want to hit Vista with a stick, i was thinking I should upgrade. The thing is, everyone in my house uses Macs, and I haven't in years.

Now, I love macs, or rather I did. The one i had never crashed, it never died, never got hit by viruses, but at the same time, it had a lot of issues running "off the shelf" software and games. With the new Macbook just being released, I figured it might be time to give the ol' girl another shot. Any mac fanatics in here? anything I need to look out for? any severe issues i should know about?

 

[Rockyroadkill423]

In my experience, specifically when it comes to gaming, Apple definitely does not deliver. They make very nice machines, indeed, but there are few (Good? New?) games that work for them.

At my school, my major (New Media) seems to be obsessed with them. As of last year I think, every incoming freshman is now required to purchase a Macbook Pro and all the computer labs are packed with G4's. This has made it difficult for me, a Windows/Linux guy, to complete many large projects because of compatibility issues and the sheer ignorance of some professors who think everyone uses Apple machines.

But (to end my storytelling) I understand why.

Macs are generally very good for development. They're all 64bit, allowing for the gratuitous amounts of ram and processing power needed to just to run programs like Maya, Photoshop, FinalCut and SoundTrack, everything is standardized, just about every mac has the same hardware/software in it, and Mac OSX itself is simple enough for just about any average joe to use.

I can't own a Mac, I...just...can't! Sure they're great for all the reasons I listed above, but I prefer to play games and customize my monolithic supercomputer of the future even if I bluescreen every once in a while. But that's just me, I've never had any real technical issues with a mac, but I've never owned one either.

Also, don't forget that you can duoboot into windows on some macs so that you have all the sparkly clean prettyness of OSX...as well as all the games of Windows...Vista (BLAAAGH!).

I hope this helps your decision, it really depends on what you want to do with it.

 

[cleverlymadeup]

well macs are good if you want to over pay for something that a pc can do at half the cost

so i say stick with the pc, especially if you want to game

 

[L33tsauce_Marty]

Macs or should I say OSX (because Macs ARE PCs) are for people that are new to computers. Anyone that knows that you don't click on 'FREE MOVIEZZZZ' when you are using limewire can go ahead and stick with PCs. Because face it, OSX is gaming impaired. I take a quote from the lead dude CEO (I can't remember) he said, "It's hard to take something that Steve Jobs doesn't take seriously". I think that clearly states that OSX and all other Apple products will never have good games (and no, photoshop isn't a game).

 

[Introspective]

Macs are overrated. Anything a Mac can do a PC can do better.

 

[Zer_]

Macs are nice pieces of hardware, but they are overpriced no matter how you look at it. They are also more difficult and as a result; more expensive to upgrade. If you don't mind the price tag for something that really isn't all that adaptable and more single minded then a PC then go ahead.

Otherwise stick with a PC. A well maintained and built PC is always the better bang for your buck.

 

[crazy-j]

well personally I FUCKIN LOVE MACS i am 14 and i bought one myself.

anyway i have 2 say gaming wise macs are not the best. in every other way they are superior

now u can run windows on your mac now so technically they are not as gaming impaired as they once were

basically it comes down to how much money you want to spend

 

[LewsTherin]

*SNIP*(because Macs ARE PCs) *SNIP*.

Sorry, I can't hear you over your BLASPHEMY.

 

[L33tsauce_Marty]

*SNIP*(because Macs ARE PCs) *SNIP*.

Sorry, I can't hear you over your BLASPHEMY.

Sorry, to clear that up I meant what PCs are called, 'Personal Computers'. Because if you think about it, Macs are too.

 

[Shivari]

I love my Vista. Any problems I've had with it haven't had anything to do with Vista (Internet Explorer, video card, etc.) so once I got my broken video card replaced and Google Chrome, it's been perfect. Macs are great if you're into editing movies, Photoshop, and all of that fun media stuff. But if you're not going to be messing with that often, stick with PC.

 

[Mariena]

Replying to Marty.. I never understood what this "PC vs Mac" is all about. It's like.. "MP3 player vs Ipod". A PC is a personal computer. A mac is a personal computer. I don't see the difference other than the Apple arrogance at work?

The good part of Macs is that they come with all kinds of nifty standard tools for media editing. Though I guess that's just about it. Windows XP for me otherwise

 

[Brett Alex]

well macs are good if you want to over pay for something that a pc can do at half the cost

so i say stick with the pc, especially if you want to game

Macs or should I say OSX (because Macs ARE PCs) are for people that are new to computers. Anyone that knows that you don't click on 'FREE MOVIEZZZZ' when you are using limewire can go ahead and stick with PCs. Because face it, OSX is gaming impaired. I take a quote from the lead dude CEO (I can't remember) he said, "It's hard to take something that Steve Jobs doesn't take seriously". I think that clearly states that OSX and all other Apple products will never have good games (and no, photoshop isn't a game).

What highly informed opinions.

In those posts though, there is a grain of truth. Macs are not great for gaming. They perform fine, but nothing is released for them. Occasionally, an OSX version will be releases several months later than its PC equivalent, and in even rarer instances it will be a version compatible for both systems, but its usually only massively mainstream titles, and even then sometimes not.

Blizzard are very good at doing this, every Blizzard game I have been interested in has released multi-platform software.

That said, there are more things you can do with you computer than game *GASP!* and if you are looking at any movie editing, music editing, photo editing or technical drawing or want something very reliable, go for a Mac. You can find heavily discounted refurbished or display model computers on the Apple website.

If you want to game and don't want to have to hunt around for correctly formatted titles, go PC.

If you have enough money, get a Mac and install Bootcamp. Running Windows and OSX off the same machine is like having your cake, and throwing it at Celine Dion.

 

[Good morning blues]

As a guy who uses a mac:

If you are going to use it primarily for games, a mac is the wrong choice.

If you are going to use it primarily for anything other than games, a mac is very likely the best choice.

 

[crimson5pheonix]

Buy a mac use a mac, don't act like a mac user though please for god's sake do not act like one.


Story you don't have to read time:
I was in this Starbucks booting up my laptop to finish typing up some things, when this guy sits down next to me (in an empty Starbucks) and pulls out his I guess brand new Macbook pro (all big and silvery shiny). He looks over at my computer while his boots up takes one look and gives this little arrogant grunt and goes back to his computer. Here somewhat goes the following conversation,

Me: "Whats up?" (responding to his obvious attempt to get my attention)
Him: "Oh nothing much, just got my brand new macbook pro a couple days ago"
Me: "Oh ok"
Him: "Yeah, it's got a dual core processor with 4 gigs of ram and a 500 gig hard drive"
Me: "Thats nice"
Him: "Oh yeah it's loaded with tons of things, internet browser, video editing, itunes, you know all sorts of nifty features that windows doesn't do"
Me: "Ok that's--Wait what?"
Him: "Yeah, and I don't have to worry about viruses either because Apples are programmed so well viruses can't infect them."
Me: "What?!"
Him: "Yeah, I'm so glad I switched over and joined the community of mac users. Oh, and I see you don't own an Apple."
Me: "Yeah, I don't. So?"
Him: "So?! You should get one, they are so much better. I mean Microsoft is just making so much money and Apple is the underdog that is trying to make computers for the everyman."
Me: "Really? Is that why my computer costs about $2000 less than your computer?"
Him: "Oh don't be jealous, just because I paid more for my computer. I need this for work."
Me: "Yeah, you need 500gigs of hard drive space so you can fit all your porn next to your word documents. Real Work computer there."
Him: "You know you are just like all those other arrogant PC users, claiming that they are so superior to us less known mac users. Are you mad that your software is buggy and infected with viruses."
Me: "Let me put things into perspective for you here. First off you claim PC users are arrogant, yet you a Mac user came up to me to show off your brand new macbook. Second, yes their are more viruses out for PCs, but there are also more anti virus solutions. So, when some script kiddy decides to one day fuck with mac users you better hope apple comes out with something to fix your poor laptop before a virus melts your ram and hard drive. Oh and wait if one of those breaks you can buy a new hard drive for your mac right? Oh no you can',t you have to go buy a brand new macbook pro and waste another $3000 or wait 2 months while it gets stuck in some wharehouse somewhere when you warranty it. Me? I can go to Frys and have my computer up and running again in 30 mins."
Him: "Well, I can browse the internet and edit videos without paying for additional software."
Me: "Me too! It's called Mozilla Firefox and Windows Movie Maker Mactard."
(At this point he has had enough, but I make sure to yell out to him as he is walking out)
Me: "Enjoy your massive gaming library and excellent customer service and great third party support, but I think I'll stick with XP for now."
Story over

You are my new hero and Mactard will be my word of the day.

 

[Alex_P]

Obligatory...

Well, that's kind of the whole point of an ultralight.

The problem with the Macbook Air is that it's a really expensive ultralight.

-- Alex

 

[Spinozaad]

Personally I think it's just a Big Dickwaving Contest for Small Penises. I use Windows (XP) and I can play games and use PhotoShop and whatever without any problems. Mac is better for everything non-game related, but I say: who cares? How does it improve typing and formatting text over MS Word? PhotoShop and similar software works fine on my laptop, why should I need a Mac for that? I can browse the internet safe and sound with what I have, why should I need something else?

I don't give a damn if one of the other is superior or not. Sure, Windows has more viruses, but to paraphrase Maddox: "That's because nobody bothers to write viruses for Mac". If you use your computer responsibly, viruses aren't really a problem.

So to summarize my position, why should I need an expensive (and ugly, I really don't like the look of Macbooks) when my own, trusty laptop already does everything I need pretty well?