Questions about Switching

panthro

panthro

panthro

Soldato
Joined
19 Nov 2004
Posts
12,642
Location
Wokingham
Hi all, thinking of switching to a Mac because I cant find a laptop I like that is powerful and light enough for me as I travel quite a lot, I need something with good battery life, but able to handle applications like Lightroom and playback HD video. Thinking of the new MBP 15".
Can I still watch all my videos from my old windows laptop, like divx, mpg, Xvid etc?
Are there codecs for Macs?
Does bittorrent work on Mac?
Are there any significant drawbacks of using OSX over Windows? (I know you can use bootcamp but I only have 1 copy of W7 used on another machine).
 
Whens the best time to buy Applecare? Can I leave it for a year and then extend it? Sorry for all the questions.
 
Video playback is a big OS X weakness, horrible player software and only one that does hardware acceleration (Plex) which isn't a simple player but a full media library. Otherwise you can do everything else reasonably well, just with less control than you'd get on Windows.

I like the Apple hardware and I like OSX but the available software aside from the big packages is either rubbish, dumbed down or non-existent.
 
cheef said:
You can buy Apple Care right up to your 12 month period of ownership. After that, you can't.
Click to expand...

Does it last for 3 years if you purchase it on the 12th month, or just an extra 2?

Do SD cards fit in the MBP card reading slot?
 
AbsenceJam said:
but the available software aside from the big packages is either rubbish, dumbed down or non-existent.
Click to expand...

Biggest load of rubbish I've heard on the overclockers apple forums.

I switched almost a month ago and found little hidden gems all over providing software that does most stuff windows can but better.
 
I've not had any problems since switching, I'm trying to use as much native stuff as possible and Quicktime coupled with Perian is playing all the files I need to at the moment so am happy.

Most video files are avi files encoded with divx/xvid, no issues at all.

VLC is available as well but I've not had the need for it yet, I like the simple looks of quicktime as it's very unfussy to look at.
 
I bought the MBP pro on the basis that I could return it if I didn't like it. I fully expected to replace OSX once I got it. But apart from the first couple of days I feel like I've been using OSX all my life.

I've got windows setup via bootcamp but I've not needed to use it.
 
shine said:
I bought the MBP pro on the basis that I could return it if I didn't like it. I fully expected to replace OSX once I got it. But apart from the first couple of days I feel like I've been using OSX all my life.

I've got windows setup via bootcamp but I've not needed to use it.
Click to expand...

Same happened to me...

I have now uninstalled windows :)
 
Spoke to Apple and they told me that even if I specced a custom built MBP they still wouldnt be able to offer me the UK keyboard layout if I purchased it through Apple Australia, which I thought was a bit rubbish.
Anyway once I get paid Im going to order mine through Apple over the phone and spec the 500gb 7200rpm drive and the hi res matte screen with no applecare. It works out to be around £1700. Good price? I'll upgrade the RAM myself.
 
I'd recommend Apple Care instead of upping the hard drive and doing the hard drive yourself, it takes about 20 minutes and an hour to get back up and running.
 
Just ordered my MBP :D

Went for the high spec 15 inch with the 500gb 2700rpm HDD with the anti glare hi res screen. Also chucked a world travel adapter in.
I decided not to get the Applecare and buy it from the rainforest instead as its much cheaper.
Got it for roughly (coverting aussie dollars to pounds) £1687, which Im pretty happy about.
Only trouble is that I now have to wait till the 29th April !!!
 
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