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A Mac Question From A Pc Boy!


terdancam
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Hi all, long time no speak but still reading the forum!

Basically i`m a Pc gamer who lies to have the most powerful pc running top end games, and i think the general consensus is that that is one area where the Mac cannot compete; the variety.

However, i am now needing a laptop to do things like wireless networking, linking up to a telescope, camera etc and have been generally getting hacked off with how difficult and time consuming everyting is to do on Pcs.

It's been a long time coming but i`m tempted to get the macbook, just so i can do a task that doesn't take all fricki' day to accomplish even on an uber pc.

However i don't understand what the crack is with the incoming Leopard OS. Should i wait for the OS to become preinstalled already, or buy now then pay for the upgrade as i can't find prices listed for Leopard...or is it a free upgrade? :D

And where is the best place to buy a mac book thingy anyway--given that because i owned an is200 i`m a ruddy pauper now!! :D

Advice appreciated, but please no fanboy rants :D

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To be honest it may be worth you popping into the local apple store if one is near you so that you can have a hands on play to see if you actually like it or not.

Not sure where you are in the country but there are a few apple stores popping up all over.

I think you may have to buy Leopard if you buy a Mac now, it's not a free upgrade, unless maybe you get a deal when you buy the Mac which includes a free upgrade when Leo is released?

I'm not sure if it would work with a telescope though, have you already got some software that would work on the Mac?

On the new Intel Macs you can actually install Windows natively via Boot Camp, but you will need to buy a licensed copy of Windows to install - it does not come with it at all, only OSX.

I have to admit I like the change when I get home, I'm always working with Windows / HP-UX / Solaris based servers all day so I don't want to see Windows looking at me when I get home!

If you're near Sheffield there's an apple store in the Meadowhall centre and also Gordon Harwoods have stores in Alfreton and Derby.

PC World also usually stock Mac equipment nowadays so it may be worth checking out there just to have a nosey?

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We're you watching The Gadget Show last night by any chance?

They certainly bigged the Mac up and quite rightly too, its good because it just works.

Sorry can't give you any advice as I don't own one myself and probably never will, as you say there is no real variety.

Good luck with your search, plenty of users on here are running macs and are very knowledgable.

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cheers Aido.

not one in Milton Keynes just yet--typical i suppose!

and i hate going to Pissy World to much purple and too many ill-informed 16 year olds.... :D

just checked amazon and there are no prices listed yet for the OS, and no expected due date, although mid-april seems to be the one.

the apple store doesn't seem to be running any Vista-type upgrade deals; either that or i can't see them behind the Mitchell and Webb ads!!!!

and do watch gadget show as its the funniest thing on tv after topgear and boston legal!!!!

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The thing you find with apple releases is that they generally tend to announce it when it's ready to ship, it's not fat away I don't think.

Think the last upgrade was about 70 - 80 quid but don't quote me on that!

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The new OS X is any minute now....I spoke to apple last week to buy my third Mac.....

Never looked back. I think if your after a games machine then you need to look at the higher spec Macs to get a good Graphics card.

Would not waste your time in PC World though, they dont know their a :tsktsk: se from their elbow and just mention Mac and they will try and sell you a PC.

I have a basic Mac Book as I have a top end iMac and another on the way, the MacBook has been great, networking is dead easy, hooking up to customers cameras, phones or any other extra is also so simple, you plug it in.

As Aido says, have a play about on one if you can...

Good luck.

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Wait till leopard comes out and buy 1 then. Won't be long. And you'll prob pay the same if not a little less then buying one now.

Also you'll be able to install vista on the new version of bootcamp.

So you can have the best of both worlds, and see how much of a crap copy vista os is!!! :P

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thanks people.

think i`ll wait a wee while and see what the easter bunny brings then!

however, one question not answered was where is the best place to buy a macbook usually? would it be from apple.co.uk, pizzyworld or some hereto unknown mac outlet.

as i suauslly buy my pcs from mesh, is there an equivalent mac-type outlet that does good offers/upgrades/packages etc, or is it like buying a tin of beans from tesco, ie pretty much the same wherever you go?

cheers

Dan

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Welcome aboard.

At last people are awakening from the mediocre crud that is Windoze.

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/03/21/te...s_to_buy_a_mac/

Always buy your Macs from the UK online store. You can build to order and configure your own in detail which cannot be done at a store.

Delivery is fast and reliable.

Have a go at the .Mac 30 day trial. It makes all the iLife softare suite hang together such a cool way.

I suggest waiting until Leopard is released as there will be a hardware refresh for all iMacs and Mac Pro and probably others. Also iLife 07, the updated software suite, will be free on any Mac you buy after the release.

My expected date for Leopard is no later than May 11th.

Any detailed q's feel free to PM me.

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Welcome aboard.

At last people are awakening from the mediocre crud that is Windoze.

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/03/21/te...s_to_buy_a_mac/

Always buy your Macs from the UK online store. You can build to order and configure your own in detail which cannot be done at a store.

Delivery is fast and reliable.

Have a go at the .Mac 30 day trial. It makes all the iLife softare suite hang together such a cool way.

I suggest waiting until Leopard is released as there will be a hardware refresh for all iMacs and Mac Pro and probably others. Also iLife 07, the updated software suite, will be free on any Mac you buy after the release.

My expected date for Leopard is no later than May 11th.

Any detailed q's feel free to PM me.

Think .mac is complete rip off though. Can get web hosting from £5.50 for 12 months....Apple have well ove priced their offering....in my opinion anyway.

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Well if you JUST use it for webhosting maybe...

But there are many more features that I use all the time. iCal functionality - shared calendars, one-click photosharing, iDisk storage, webmail, bookmark and address book syncing, free software downloads. The oneclick integration throughout iLIfe is sooo easy with .Mac.

There are other ways to do the same thing, but .Mac offers true one-click system wide online integration solutions. A Mac noooob may find this the way to go.

.Mac will have quite a facelift this year.

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Well if you JUST use it for webhosting maybe...

But there are many more features that I use all the time. iCal functionality - shared calendars, one-click photosharing, iDisk storage, webmail, bookmark and address book syncing, free software downloads. The oneclick integration throughout iLIfe is sooo easy with .Mac.

There are other ways to do the same thing, but .Mac offers true one-click system wide online integration solutions. A Mac noooob may find this the way to go.

.Mac will have quite a facelift this year.

Picture sharing is far easier making your own website with unlimited hosting and an easy url. Also, iDisk is no different to uploading things to your web hosting provider. Again, I still think even using what you do is far to much to pay. Their is a limit on the siz of data iDisk can store. My £5.50 hosting is unlimited :D

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Welcome aboard.

At last people are awakening from the mediocre crud that is Windoze.

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/03/21/te...s_to_buy_a_mac/

Always buy your Macs from the UK online store. You can build to order and configure your own in detail which cannot be done at a store.

Delivery is fast and reliable.

Have a go at the .Mac 30 day trial. It makes all the iLife softare suite hang together such a cool way.

I suggest waiting until Leopard is released as there will be a hardware refresh for all iMacs and Mac Pro and probably others. Also iLife 07, the updated software suite, will be free on any Mac you buy after the release.

My expected date for Leopard is no later than May 11th.

Any detailed q's feel free to PM me.

Appreciate that, thanks very muchly.

So to confirm, being a macnoob (!), the best place to buy is here:

http://store.apple.com/Apple/WebObjects/ukstore

And its best to wait until Mayish before committing to buy, given Leopard.

Now i have to get my head around whether to buy a macbook or a macbook Pro, as it doesn't make for easy comparison--i can tell how Pc components will hang together given my long term association, but i have heard that the way a Mac hangs together can get the same "power" but with lesser specced components, eg i don't need a core2duoextrememegadeath chip that i would in a PC.

Would this be correct?

Essentially i`m used to the £1500,amdx2 3800, 2gb ram 7900gt type pc, but with all its stress and hassle, so i need a perspective on whether a £749 macbook will not leave me wanting "more power", or whether i`ll go"yep a macbook does what i need, so i don't need a frickin great dalek of a pc".

I know its comparing apples and oranges :blink: but you get what i mean----as i`m a "power pc boy", is a macbook going to please me greatly, or should i fork out for a macbook Pro to be extra pleased?

oh good, my other pc has just locked up :tsktsk: :D

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If ur a gamer you will need a MacBook Pro.

BUT...

...and it's a huge fat hairy butt...

think VERY carefully as to if you really need a laptop as the iMacs are hugely more powerful and are much better value for money.

iMacs are semi-portable and unless you ABSOLUTELY need portability, get an iMac.

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Stick with your PC, you will get bored of the Mac so quickly as they dont go wrong often enough to keep you occupied :)

S'pose you could always install windows on your new mac, for some late night registry editing...

you only really need an uber powerful pc for gaming, if you still plan on doing gaming then you dont want a mac.

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no, i still want a pc for gaming! variety+graphics...

but the mac will be for portability and for "not wasting half my life trying to do what should supposedly be easy stuff" eg photo/video editing/webcam etc.

i may put a few games ont there though---

so is it a specced up macbook eg 2gb, or a macbook pro? or is it purely down to screen size, as the former at 13in does seem small... :blink:

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Stick with your PC, you will get bored of the Mac so quickly as they dont go wrong often enough to keep you occupied :)

LOL :lol:

Get the best one you can afford. if you can afford pro go for it, whatever you get you wont be dissapointed

As said before though the iMac is the best price. for the price of a Mac Book Pro you could have a 24" Daddy! there great!

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Stick with your PC, you will get bored of the Mac so quickly as they dont go wrong often enough to keep you occupied :)

LOL :lol:

Get the best one you can afford. if you can afford pro go for it, whatever you get you wont be dissapointed

As said before though the iMac is the best price. for the price of a Mac Book Pro you could have a 24" Daddy! there great!

Nothing wrong with my MacBook....gets some right abuse from me....played a few games on it, but I bought a Wii for the real gaming fun!

Any iMac should be able to cope with games...

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yeah we finally managed to get a wii too :D .... Tiger wooding at the moment :D

i think that although i would love the all singing, all dancing bright and sparkly macbook pro, that price is, whatever people say, still a massive punch in the goolies.

i also have a really good gaming rig anyway, so the imac (not the hair remover) would be a redundant move until a) my pc blew up and B)i sold both kidneys.

just a couple more questions, before i`m converted (!!) :hehe:

1) if i went for the base model macbook, how easy is it to upgrade later, eg hd or memory?

2) is it actually likely that i would need to upgrade these components-are macs as resource greedy as pcs?

3) which is the screen to go for, antiglare or the super glossy one (how bad are the reflections on the gloss)?

4) does the mac have the equivalent of openoffice, or is the iworks s/w equivalent to MS Office?

Thanks for your patience guys--as you can tell this conversion of faith requires more than an american evangelical preacher! :D

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M$ Office and OpenOffice are both available on the Mac.

A Test Drive version of M$ Office (you can't save docs) will be on your new Mac.

You can upgrade RAM easily, harddrive fairly easily.

OS X loves RAM but the HD install is tiny compared to Winbloat.

I can't make my mind up which screen I prefer. http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,129610-c...ks/article.html

Remember the base MacBook model doesn't have a Superdrive - (DVD burner)

Bear something in mind - when you have had this baby for a week or two you will a) never want a PC again B) wish you had bought a Mac Book Pro c) will take an axe to your "rig"

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wtf?! :blink:

you are joking surely; a £750 quid laptop doesn't have a dvd burner---hang on, just checking this is 2007 and not 1997...... :duh:

i`ve checked the apple website and it says it has a combo drive, but for a hundred bucks more you get a "superdrive".

unfortunately i can't find on the apple website what these drives are/do so cannot compare them!

it also begs the question why, if iLife is supplied on the macbook and it allows you to create dvds why does it then not have a drive capable of burning those newly created dvds?

Or am i getting confused? (wouldn't be the first time, and i am coming from Pcs!! :D )

See, now i`m wavering back again! :o :D

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Combodrive = CD burner

Superdrive = DVD Burner

This is a Mac you are buying not a bargain basement PC - you get what you pay for. Cheap PC's are cheap for a reason.

Look at the DETAILED specs of the machine, it is worth every penny. You are getting a Mac OS X machine AND a Windows machine in one. Value for money!??? Come off it!

iLife allows you to burn both DVDs AND CD's.

You COULD use an external DVD burner.

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Combodrive = CD burner

Superdrive = DVD Burner

This is a Mac you are buying not a bargain basement PC - you get what you pay for. Cheap PC's are cheap for a reason.

Look at the DETAILED specs of the machine, it is worth every penny. You are getting a Mac OS X machine AND a Windows machine in one. Value for money!??? Come off it!

iLife allows you to burn both DVDs AND CD's.

You COULD use an external DVD burner.

erm, in my ignorance i don't understand that "getting a mac osx and a windows machine"-- :crybaby:

what i perhaps didn't make clear was why include a component that doesn't do something the bundled s/w allows you to.....not really questioning the other aspects of an apple--i`m sure they're dandy!

i suppose its like car manufacturers still including cassette decks instead of ipod/mp3 connections......

it would jerk me off though to have bought a macbook in my ignorance, go to burn a dvd with the ilife s/w then find that the combo drive doesn't allow it....

in reference to your external drive postulation, are you saying that i could compile something in ilife, then connect the macbook to my existing pcs and use their dvd burners to burn a disc? Or would it have to be a dedicated usb/firewire macdrive connected directly to the macbook?

thanks for your advice btw, even though you are a bit scary.... :D :lol:

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