Few questions from someone thinking of 'switching'

[Chris1712]

Hi there, in my quest to find a decent laptop for uni next year i keep ending up with dissapointment. Basically i need....

14.1" preferred, slim/light 15 acceptable.
c2d
2gb ram
8600m GT
DVI output.

Is that really much to ask!

Anywho, i keep ending up with the new MBP. Unfortunately im a MAC hater (sorry ) so its becoming a hard choice for me.

The first question is, Vista? I intend to run x64 ultimate on it, is this possible? Will i have problems using windows apps on it office/.net stuff/developer studio etc.?
I guess its still the same hardware as a normal 'PC' laptop underneath now, but with MAC OS slapped on top. Are windows games good to go on it also?

Also, is linux a possibility? Use this a lot for developing, though not a necessity would be handy.

EDIT: Also, just heard about this 'ADC'. I am studying a degree in Computer Engineering (Meng), is this the kind of course that qould qualify? Also, what is the discount like, enough to displace the $99 signup fee?

Cheers for any help guys (and gals!).

 

[Hamish]

Hey, the MacBook Pro is a great machine, really well built, sexy and has a great OS. Vista should run fine with all the peripherals like the iSight. Linux is also possible too.

If you are a mac hater you should give it a go just for a few weeks as it is a cool OS, just a little different to windows which takes getting used to. its a Unix OS so you can use all your unix commands like on linux etc, but also with other programs like word, itunes etc.

Not sure what ADC is but as a university student you should be able to get educational discount which is around 15% on MBPs. There are also things like the Back to School offers where you can get £100 off an iPod on top of the other discounts.

 

[Chris1712]

Hey, the MacBook Pro is a great machine, really well built, sexy and has a great OS. Vista should run fine with all the peripherals like the iSight. Linux is also possible too.

If you are a mac hater you should give it a go just for a few weeks as it is a cool OS, just a little different to windows which takes getting used to. its a Unix OS so you can use all your unix commands like on linux etc, but also with other programs like word, itunes etc.

Not sure what ADC is but as a university student you should be able to get educational discount which is around 15% on MBPs. There are also things like the Back to School offers where you can get £100 off an iPod on top of the other discounts.

I do intend to have a tinker with mac os if/when i get it. I have messed about with them before, and can see the appeal for most tasks. Just im quite often using 3rd party (homebrew basically) programs for video processing/iso tinkering and things.

I agree they look great, and the aluminium is appealing to me, the price is probably about 100-150 more than equivalent spec elsewhere (Zepto is the only thing which comes close, but no DVI!) but it may well be worth it for the nicer look. The only problem is, if/when i mess it up, i won't have the faintest clue how to fix the thing like i would windows, but i guess ill pick it up!

ADC = Apple Developer Connection. Get a pretty large discount i hear (20% ish) provided you a dev/student dev! Will look into this further at a later date, im probably looking to purchase around september time, will the price decrease by then?

I', hearing rumours of a revised MBP around that time with Leopard? I assume thats the new MAC OS? Any guesses if this will affect price?

Again, thanks for any help i feel like such a n00b!

 

[Deleted member 329]

ive own lots of laptops over the years and after getting a macbook i really don't think i would buy another non apple laptop again, the build quality is amazing.