to mac or not to mac?

MichaelHo

MichaelHo

MichaelHo

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Joined
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London, UK
hi guys
thinking of getting a laptop. main things i would use it for are internet browsing, word processing, listening to music. other things which are less important are playing games once in a while, syncing my windows mobile 5 phone with outlook.
im thinking of the new macbooks, reasonably priced, good specs and looks good. I want something that is a good size, not too big. decent battery life and most importantly a good, clear screen.
I was wondering if there were any advantages of the mac over a windows laptop? also what is the mac version of microsoft office? and will these files be readable by ms office for windows? would i be able to network the macbook to a windows pc over wi fi? my printer is connected to a pc and i would need to send the files over to that pc to get it printed out.
does anyone sync their mobile phone to their mac for contacts and calender details?

edit*
im not desperately in need of this laptop, are there going to be any new improvements to macs in the near future that is worth waiting for? e.g. new OS etc.
Thanks.
Michael.
 
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A MacBook or MacBook Pro would suit you quite nicely. You can opt for a glazing on the screen too I think (well you can in the states, so I'd be surprised if you couldn't here).

Mac documents will work on Windows, you just have to add ".doc" at the end, or whatever, as Macs don't use the Windows filename structure. Networking and printing should both work fine, although I can't comment about the phone.

Also with a new Mac, you have the advantage of being able to use Windows on it anyway with Boot Camp. So if there wasn't anything that you were able to do, Windows is always available.

I'm getting a MacBook Pro pretty soon though, so I'm biased I guess :rolleyes: :cool:

// EDIT // Forgot to say ... the glazing's free as well :)
 
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Energize said:
Id just stick with a normal laptop, much better price to performance/features ratio.
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With the MacBook the pendulum has swung the other way. To get as much machine as you do for that money with a Dell or other you'd have to spend about 200 more.

Mac it all the way. You'll fall in love and not want to go back. :D

/Posting from Vista :o
 
thanks for the replies.
how do you macbook users find the noise levels? my sister has a sony laptop and boy is it loud!
also does the black macbook have any problems with getting too hot?
 
BillytheImpaler said:
With the MacBook the pendulum has swung the other way. To get as much machine as you do for that money with a Dell or other you'd have to spend about 200 more.
Click to expand...

My post was referring to the macbook, normal dells give better performance for the price.
 
MichaelHo said:
thanks for the replies.
how do you macbook users find the noise levels? my sister has a sony laptop and boy is it loud!
also does the black macbook have any problems with getting too hot?
Click to expand...
Don't get a black one. They get you for an extra 100 just to make it black instead of white.
 
MichaelHo said:
thanks for the replies.
how do you macbook users find the noise levels? my sister has a sony laptop and boy is it loud!
also does the black macbook have any problems with getting too hot?
Click to expand...

I have a 1.83ghz one :)
It's SILENT 95% of the time!

You will love it, the screen is so much better than i thought it would be. OS X really is fantastic for what you want to do. Come over to the OS X forum if you have any more specific questions.

Are you in education? as if so you can get a 15% discount.
 
Energize said:
My post was referring to the macbook, normal ****s give better performance for the price.
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I just had a look on their site and a laptop with the same spec as the baseline 1.83GHz core duo MacBook costs about £679 (£70 less than the MacBook). That does come with a larger screen - (advantage or disadvantage? could argue both ways). One thing is for sure; it doesn't look half as good as the MacBook and it doesn't come with all the excellent software the MacBook does out of the box (iPhoto, iMovie HD, iDVD, Garage Band, iTunes etc.).

P.S. If you're in education you can get the MacBook for £636 :)
 
A lot of software you get with the macbook you can just as good software for free, as for the looks, I for one prefer the Dells to the macs design and that bloody apple.
 
if their build quality was a little better and they didnt get ridiculously hot id have got a macbook by now.. im gonna wait a little while see if they fix anything :d
 
a few mixed views here.
which macbook is the best power per pound (or whatever that phrase is), the white 2gigz 60GB hd with superdrive?

i am in education and it was the student discount that inspired me to look further at the macbook. do any other companies do student discount? e.g. dell?

just refering to the first post, are there any advantages of using the mac over a windows laptop?

thanks.
Michael.
 
MichaelHo said:
just refering to the first post, are there any advantages of using the mac over a windows laptop?
Click to expand...

You can run either operating system on either type of computer so go for which is best performance for money.
 
Matt said:
I have a 1.83ghz one :)
It's SILENT 95% of the time!

You will love it, the screen is so much better than i thought it would be. OS X really is fantastic for what you want to do. Come over to the OS X forum if you have any more specific questions.

Are you in education? as if so you can get a 15% discount.
Click to expand...

popped into the apple store today and fell in love with the macbook. perfect size and performance was better than expected.
the apple store adviser said the student discount was 8% and on the site when i click on the further education link it only give me about 5% off. how would i get 15% off?

Al Vallario said i can get a macbook for £636, how?
 
MichaelHo said:
popped into the apple store today and fell in love with the macbook. perfect size and performance was better than expected.
the apple store adviser said the student discount was 8% and on the site when i click on the further education link it only give me about 5% off. how would i get 15% off?

Al Vallario said i can get a macbook for £636, how?
Click to expand...

call them and say you are in higher education
 
You either phone them (probably easiest), use the education site from within a university network, or use the NUS site :)
 
just gave them a call and they offered me student pack also.
I got a quote for the black macbook, about £900 standard with the student discount.
i wanted to make it 1 gig ram and they also offered me a student pack which inc. a bag, 3 yr warranty and ms office for mac.
so black macbook with 1gig ram and student pack comes to £1159. to get all of this on the apple site at normal price would come to £1480. its quite a big saving.
the only thing that is tempting me to get the student pack is the 3 yr warranty, i dont usually get extended warranty on goods but im not sure how reliable macs are.
is it worth getting this student pack?
 
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