Laptop or Ibook

Rooky007 · 4 Jan 2007 at 18:01

Laptop or macbook

I am thinking of buying a new laptop and thinking whether to go down the apple route for a change? what is the real different apart from the os???

I be using it a lot for internet browsing email and odd works that all.

any suggestions

cheers

stuppy · 4 Jan 2007 at 18:11

If you really do mean an iBook and not a Macbook, then er... personally I wouldn't as its old technology now. iBooks work on PowerPC chips which are now phased out of Apples product line. So you will have to get one second-hand probably.

If you dont mind second-hand stuff and are after a bargin, then yeah an iBook is ok. It will browse and do emails and office and all that jazz. You won't be able to run Windows through Parallels or BootCamp though as you need an Intel Mac for that.

There is no real difference between a Laptop and an Apple Laptop other then its Operating System. Apple products look way cooler though

Rooky007 · 4 Jan 2007 at 18:13

stuppy said:
If you really do mean an iBook and not a Macbook, then er... personally I wouldn't as its old technology now. iBooks work on PowerPC chips which are now phased out of Apples product line. So you will have to get one second-hand probably.

If you dont mind second-hand stuff and are after a bargin, then yeah an iBook is ok. It will browse and do emails and office and all that jazz. You won't be able to run Windows through Parallels or BootCamp though as you need an Intel Mac for that.

There is no real difference between a Laptop and an Apple Laptop other then its Operating System. Apple products look way cooler though

Sorry Yeah I do mean the Macbook the new Due core processer they got on them now. Is this a good choice are they faster than laptop etc. also am i able to run windows stuff on that one do you know since you mention about it

cheers

stuppy · 4 Jan 2007 at 20:13

The Macbook is an excellent computer. I myself have the Pro version - which has a dedicated graphics card, bigger screen etc. CPU/MEM/HDD can all be configured pretty much the same. I personally think the notebook itself, and MacOSX are excellent. I class myself as a full time MacOSX user now. When I do use my Windows rig for gaming, it feels clumsy and fumbly compared to OSX.

You can run Windows in either Parallels which is virtualisation meaning you can run windows as the same time as MacOSX (no 3D graphics though) or, you can Boot Camp it which actually installs Windows on a seperate partition and you boot into it out of MacOSX. This method gives you full access to all the hardware of the computer.

Me personally I would go with the Macbook. Yes you can get a Windows laptop with a better graphics support etc for the same price, but if you are not bothered about gaming on it then Macbook all the way. That is not to say you cannot game on the Macbook, it just doesnt have dedicate graphics, so... well im sure you figre the rest.

Mr Spew · 4 Jan 2007 at 21:00

Getting used to Mac OSX can take time and frustrate you - if you've had Windows all your life and you're only curious about Macs, go for the Windows-based laptop and perhaps trial a cheap Mac Mini (one in trading right now) and see if you can get used to the operating system. Generally, I find Windows faster to use, Firefox on Windows is brilliant, but sluggish and barely supported on Mac. Internet browsing on Macs isn't great (using a Core Duo Mac Mini myself full-time), and MSN Messenger is also a load of gash (Adium is better but has much less in terms of features compared to MSN Messenger for Windows).

Rooky007 · 4 Jan 2007 at 21:03

Mr Spew said:
Getting used to Mac OSX can take time and frustrate you - if you've had Windows all your life and you're only curious about Macs, go for the Windows-based laptop and perhaps trial a cheap Mac Mini (one in trading right now) and see if you can get used to the operating system. Generally, I find Windows faster to use, Firefox on Windows is brilliant, but sluggish and barely supported on Mac. Internet browsing on Macs isn't great (using a Core Duo Mac Mini myself full-time), and MSN Messenger is also a load of gash (Adium is better but has much less in terms of features compared to MSN Messenger for Windows).

That somthing I like to hear. Hmmm so Mac is a no no for MSN then also browsing on the mac is not as good than on Windows then hmmmm. Just to trying to decide what to do. As I want to get a laptop that will be fast for a few years and the like. Many laptops on the market are loaded with loads of rubbish these days and this makes me mad....

Isnt the Mac own browser anygood for the net?

Mr Spew · 4 Jan 2007 at 21:11

Rookies said:
That somthing I like to hear. Hmmm so Mac is a no no for MSN then also browsing on the mac is not as good than on Windows then hmmmm. Just to trying to decide what to do. As I want to get a laptop that will be fast for a few years and the like. Many laptops on the market are loaded with loads of rubbish these days and this makes me mad....

Isnt the Mac own browser anygood for the net?

Their 'own' browser is Safari, it never remembers any of my passwords and just isn't that good. Camino is the closest thing to Firefox that isn't Firefox, but it's not great and like Firefox on the Mac, struggles on dense *ahem* MySpace pages and slowed my machine to a crawl earlier.

Honestly, go Windows if you're looking for internet and e-mail, Outlook is great for what it is an syncs with most phones perfectly if that's your bag, basic desktop software is just better on a Windows machine, Macs are really heavily biased towards designers, but it's nothing you can't do on a PC really since Photoshop is on both platforms.

Rooky007 · 4 Jan 2007 at 21:19

Mr Spew said:
Their 'own' browser is Safari, it never remembers any of my passwords and just isn't that good. Camino is the closest thing to Firefox that isn't Firefox, but it's not great and like Firefox on the Mac, struggles on dense *ahem* MySpace pages and slowed my machine to a crawl earlier.

Honestly, go Windows if you're looking for internet and e-mail, Outlook is great for what it is an syncs with most phones perfectly if that's your bag, basic desktop software is just better on a Windows machine, Macs are really heavily biased towards designers, but it's nothing you can't do on a PC really since Photoshop is on both platforms.

New Laptop it is then

As you say Outlook is great on it As I do have MS Office 2003 and the like I got a lot of software for Windows. I even just got myself Photoshop 5 as I do a lot of photo when out for a walk in the peak district.

Now it down to what laptop ha ha ha