Few questions before I buy a MacBook!?!

lloydsj

lloydsj

lloydsj

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I'm currently looking to buy a laptop. I have been looking at the Dell M1330 and the MacBook. The Dell thrashes the MacBook spec wise (£ for £) but I think I want to try OSX (as I don't want to move to Vista and I have grown tired of the continuously amount of looking after thats needed with XP). I hear that apples just work and that sounds good to me :)

Few questions that I've got tho, before I make the plunge.

1) I am going to be using the laptop for web development and some photography work. Is a macbook suited for doing web development? I am currently working on drupal and use vmware in xp to run virtual LAMP setups so that i can test my designs etc. Are there any limitations of OSX that you can think of that I am going to constantly need to use paralells or bootcamp to run XP so that I can do whats needed for this type of development?

2) In XP I generally use Opera for my browsing, however some 'poorly' written websites don't render correctly or worse just don't work at all. I then need to revert straight back to IE to get them to work. Does Safari have the same problems meaning I 'occasionally' will need to use paralells to get to IE so that I can view the webpage correctly?

3) Are bootcamp and paralells free? and will i need both?

4) Is 'all' the hardware in the macbooks now supported in XP (both in parallels and bootcamp)? i remember reading somewhere that the webcams don't work, but that was a long time ago and I don't remember which apple it was on.

5) At home I have a Windows MCE machine that I use as my file server. Its formatted in NTFS and it stores all my music, video, pictures etc. Am I going to get problems using this as my files store? will keeping the files on this NTFS windows pc restrict some of the functionality that the macbook and OSX programs can offer me?

6) Will the lack of a dedicated gfx card cause me problems for image manipulation? presume not... and I've got a xbox 360 for games.

7) Are both the memory and harddisks user upgradable? and how much memory would you recommend?

8) How long does the battery really last on the macbooks between charges?

9) I know there is never a good time to buy, but is now a bad time for any reason? When are 45nm penryns likely to come to macbooks? Also are there any deals on? like free ipods with HE discount etc.

Cheers.
 
lloydsj said:
I'm currently looking to buy a laptop. I have been looking at the Dell M1330 and the MacBook. The Dell thrashes the MacBook spec wise (£ for £) but I think I want to try OSX (as I don't want to move to Vista and I have grown tired of the continuously amount of looking after thats needed with XP). I hear that apples just work and that sounds good to me :)

Few questions that I've got tho, before I make the plunge.

1) I am going to be using the laptop for web development and some photography work. Is a macbook suited for doing web development? I am currently working on drupal and use vmware in xp to run virtual LAMP setups so that i can test my designs etc. Are there any limitations of OSX that you can think of that I am going to constantly need to use paralells or bootcamp to run XP so that I can do whats needed for this type of development?
Nope.
2) In XP I generally use Opera for my browsing, however some 'poorly' written websites don't render correctly or worse just don't work at all. I then need to revert straight back to IE to get them to work. Does Safari have the same problems meaning I 'occasionally' will need to use paralells to get to IE so that I can view the webpage correctly?
Probably, yes, IEtab for Firefox might work though.

3) Are bootcamp and paralells free? and will i need both?
Bootcamp, yes, Parallels, no, will you need both? Doubtful.

4) Is 'all' the hardware in the macbooks now supported in XP (both in parallels and bootcamp)? i remember reading somewhere that the webcams don't work, but that was a long time ago and I don't remember which apple it was on.
Not sure.

5) At home I have a Windows MCE machine that I use as my file server. Its formatted in NTFS and it stores all my music, video, pictures etc. Am I going to get problems using this as my files store? will keeping the files on this NTFS windows pc restrict some of the functionality that the macbook and OSX programs can offer me?
Should work fine using SMB over the network.

6) Will the lack of a dedicated gfx card cause me problems for image manipulation? presume not... and I've got a xbox 360 for games.
No.

7) Are both the memory and harddisks user upgradable? and how much memory would you recommend?
Yes, 2GB.

8) How long does the battery really last on the macbooks between charges?

9) I know there is never a good time to buy, but is now a bad time for any reason? When are 45nm penryns likely to come to macbooks? Also are there any deals on? like free ipods with HE discount etc.
No idea. ;)

Cheers.
Click to expand...
 
Go to you nearest Apple store to test out the MacBook.

They'll be glad to help you about any aspect you feel might be of a concern, and they'll let you play for as long as you want.

Typically the battery clocks in around the 4-4.5hr mark, the RAM & the hard disk are easily user replaceable (does not invalidate warranty), and you shouldn't have issues accessing files over a network.

Firefox will be fine for testing pages, but IE is no long available for Mac.

Safari is a great browser, and is VERY fast on Leopard, but you'll get the odd 2% of sites that might render funny.. nothing to stop you trying it for yourself first!

It's likely that the new processors will comes to the MacBooks, however the Pro range is always the first to receive updates for that sort of thing.. you're fine for another 5 or 6 months really.

Bootcamp is free, and comes bundled with OS X Leopard.. it even includes all the Windows drivers on the Installation DVD for all the hardware.

Don't try running any sort of game unless it's an old RTS and you should be fine for most other uses including (but not limited to) Photoshoping, browsing, emailing, listening to music and watching HD video.


*Check out my new sig ;)*
 
EVH said:
Firefox will be fine for testing pages, but IE is no long available for Mac.

Safari is a great browser, and is VERY fast on Leopard, but you'll get the odd 2% of sites that might render funny.. nothing to stop you trying it for yourself first!
Click to expand...

I have now seen that parallels is £50, and seems to be pretty much Apples version of VMware. Unless im missing something here, I can just install XP on that and have IE in there? I presume you're telling me I can't install IE on OSX directly nowadays (although i didn't know you ever could :) ).

Can I use paralells to mount virtual images from vmware and virtual PC too? or is there specific OSX versions of those apps.

I watched a video on youtube titled Fast OS Switching on MacBook (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=gE1XQyT_IbA). That's ideally what I'd like to be doing?

EVH said:
It's likely that the new processors will comes to the MacBooks, however the Pro range is always the first to receive updates for that sort of thing.. you're fine for another 5 or 6 months really.
Click to expand...

I was originally planning on buying a MBP but since the Apple conference I figured that the MBP would be getting a full face lift as well as spec upgrade before too long, and therefore wasn't the wisest choice right now. Applerumours seemed to back that up too.

EVH said:
Bootcamp is free, and comes bundled with OS X Leopard.. it even includes all the Windows drivers on the Installation DVD for all the hardware.
Click to expand...

Does that include the webcam? Is it ALL drivers?

Thanks for the quick replies.
 
lloydsj said:
Am i right in thinking that the most likely scenario is that the MBP will be completely revamped before the MacBook is?
Click to expand...

IMO, yes.

The MacBook Pro have been more or less been the same for the last 7 years - the MacBook's been around only awhile (and recently had a decent speed bump up in graphics and CPU e.t.c, but so did the MBP a little while before too)

I'm waiting patiently - says my wallet, for a new revamped MBP
 
Web development and Photography over 1280x800?

Not sure I would recommend it, it sounds more like a MacBook Pro would be your piece of cake. Or at least a MacBook with a good external monitor to support it.
 
Dr Jones said:
IMO, yes.

The MacBook Pro have been more or less been the same for the last 7 years - the MacBook's been around only awhile (and recently had a decent speed bump up in graphics and CPU e.t.c, but so did the MBP a little while before too)

I'm waiting patiently - says my wallet, for a new revamped MBP
Click to expand...

Yep i was/am in the same boat, but feel i can't wait much longer now. So thinking getting a MacBook will help fill the gap while i wait for the new MBP and will also give me my first try of OSX before I spend the best part of 2 grand on a MBP :)
 
I use my MacBook for web development and I thought it'd be too small to do anything useful with.

I think in the 3 months that i've had it i've pugged it into an external monitor twice.
 
I use my macbook for general bits n pieces and I'm hoping to get back into photography!

If mac os supported autocad architectural desktop I'd give work my laptop back!

As EVH said earlier - deffo go and try them out! I spent aaaagges in the mac store in manchester before I eventually bought one!

Tom*
 
Slogan said:
Web development and Photography over 1280x800?

Not sure I would recommend it, it sounds more like a MacBook Pro would be your piece of cake. Or at least a MacBook with a good external monitor to support it.
Click to expand...

Whats the max resolution that a MacBook will support upto? and what size monitor does that really equate to?
 
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