Macbook Pro?

Every time I need a new computer, I tell myself I'm going to get a Mac, but then after a price check, I just get another PC.

It's that time again. Aside from the buy-in expense, is there any reason not to buy a Mac?

I am a computer geek. I am not a Mac fanboi. My work and home machines are Macs. They just work. I refuse to use anything else, because they don't.

I used the pro-level mac laptops for years, but my latest purchase was a "refurb" MacBook Air. Looked new to me when I got it, good warranty from Apple. Does everything I need for a fraction of the weight and cost of a Pro.

Any reason why you want the Pro over a lower-spec model?

peter wrote: I am a computer geek.

I am not a computer geek, and have no interest in being one. The computer is an appliance to me like a Camry is to a non car person. It was an expensive buy in, but I would buy another. It just works with no drama, and no BS.

I am a fan of unix based operating systems. I run linux primarily and os-x (on the same PC, actually, no hardware tax here). I "used" to really like the OS-X desktop but I do not want the newer ones - I stopped upgrading at Snow Leopard (2 major releases back). Everything afterward is less good for me and the way I work and more good for a tablet market (or so it seems). I also don't like walled gardens(The App Store). Pretty soon you will have to go there to install anything you can't compile yourself. My next rebuild will likely not include os-xat all.

So, my reason would be - their best work is behind them as far as I can tell. If I didn't own unconvertible software licenses for tools I paid good money for I'd be off it now instead of thinking I might have to bite the bullet and go to Mountain Lion.

I have had three. One was a refurb. Now that's a deal. It's treated as a new computer from the warranty and support standpoint, but it's cheaper. I have a emac and mac mini now and love them both.
I'm not a computer geek either. Like Zomby said, I don't want to be. I want to sit down and, gasp, be able to use my computer. With a mac I can do that.

If you buy a Mac, buy a refurb.

No reason not to, really. Most of them aren't actually "refurbished" but overages from bulk sales. Same warranty as new, big savings. If you're shopping, the list of refurbs in the Apple store can change at a moment's notice, and good deals can disappear fast. I've put computers in my cart, only to find out it was gone when I tried to check out. If you see a good deal and you're serious about it, don't hesitate.

jg

Get a mac worth the price.

peter wrote: I am a computer geek. I am not a Mac fanboi. My work and home machines are Macs. They just work. I refuse to use anything else, because they don't. I used the pro-level mac laptops for years, but my latest purchase was a "refurb" MacBook Air. Looked new to me when I got it, good warranty from Apple. Does everything I need for a fraction of the weight and cost of a Pro. Any reason why you want the Pro over a lower-spec model?

I've never been a big screen fan before, but I do like the 15" screen that I looked at and the Air is only available in 11 ad 13.

The Air is nice and light but doesn't feel quite as durable to me. And you can't add memory to an Air, though I'm not sure that I'd need to. I don't store any music or video, but I do keep a ton of photos on my computer.

Datsun1500 wrote: If you would have bought a Mac earlier, there would be no need to purchase a computer now...

Well actually about now you would have.

My MacBook Pro that I'm writing on right now,which is at least 5 years old, won't let me load the latest version of the OS.

I'm running Snow Leopard which is fine, but the newest OS has some features that are really cool and make it easier to work with and have features like your iPad & iPhone.

The previous upgrades were cosmetic in nature, this one goes way under the skin.

I'm about to spring for another iPad and those 27" iMacs just scream at me everytime I enter a store.

I just picked up a Macbook Pro as my new laptop. I tend to keep my machines a long time (last one was about seven years, the one before that is probably on Windows 95) and the big decider for me was the build quality. I couldn't bring myself to go with one of the retina display models with the SSD. Not upgradeable enough. A friend of mine who travels for a living runs an Air that runs Windows XP, simply due to the quality of the hardware. The price made me wince but I haven't thought about it since.

I wasn't smart enough to look for a refurb, though. I will next time. That means in about 2020 then...

Throw an AppleTV and a Time Machine into the mix and all of a sudden it's like living in the future. I can throw the display from the Mac (or the iPad) up on the TV to share with Janel or to watch streaming video like Hulu or the Bathurst 1000. The TV will stream audio or video out of my media library easily without interrupting what I'm doing if we want. It. All. Just. Works. I've done my time patching stuff together, I used to do it for a living. It's like going from a packet telephone hookup using ham radio to a cellphone.

I've never been an Apple fanboy, but I've come to appreciate quality hardware and a good user interface. Apple somehow took over our house. Although I do still use the old Toshiba laptop to tune the ECU in the Miata.

I tend to the geek-y side when it comes to computers, and while I've never owned a mac, I can't say anything bad about them, except that they cost too dang much. If linux wasn't so darn good, I'd have a mac, 'cause gosh do I hate Windoze!

Datsun1500 wrote:

Woody wrote: Every time I need a new computer, I tell myself I'm going to get a Mac, but then after a price check, I just get another PC.

You have answered your own question right there. The Mac you buy Today will be the same one you will use in 5 years. How many PC's would you have bought? If you would have bought a Mac earlier, there would be no need to purchase a computer now...

That's not exactly the case.

My everyday laptop is the same one that I bought in 2005. It's a cheap Toshiba Satellite. The ones that I have bought since were for my wife (one) and daughter (several). I did buy a replacement for the Toshiba a couple of years ago when I thought it was beginning to fail. That one spec'd out nicely, but when it arrived, I hated it for a couple of reasons. It ended up replacing the last remaining desktop in the house and I kept using the little old XP Toshiba. But, now the Toshiba is going to become my garage laptop and that's why I think it's Mac time.

I'm not a computer guy at all. If I can't fix it with hand tools, I'm useless, which is why I think I'm going to be dependent on the Apple store, at least for the first one. I need to pick one out, hand them my PC and say, "Put this stuff on there. I'll be back in an hour."

I've heard good things about MacMall, but my eyes glaze over when I have to think about setting up a computer myself.

Zomby Woof wrote: I am not a computer geek, and have no interest in being one. The computer is an appliance to me like a Camry is to a non car person. It was an expensive buy in, but I would buy another. It just works with no drama, and no BS.

This is why I love my Macs. I don't have to berkeley around on my work/home TOOL just to get it to work. I have serious Linux servers/disk arrays/what have you to keep me up at night. This stuff just works.

Datsun1500 wrote: You have answered your own question right there. The Mac you buy Today will be the same one you will use in 5 years. How many PC's would you have bought?

My computer purchasing/upgrading budget took a nosedive after buying a Mac. Other than adding aftermarket RAM here and there, no upgrades. And they last! The only reason I gave my Mom my G4 laptop was that I needed an Intel Mac to run some video stuff. That G4 lasted her several more years. IIRC, it ran from 2004 to late 2011. Impressive IMHO.

Keith Tanner wrote: It. All. Just. Works. I've never been an Apple fanboy, but I've come to appreciate quality hardware and a good user interface.

QFT.

And FWIW, I recently stopped caring about the upgradability. This little laptop can handle my DSLR images in Aperture. Other than that, it's a glorified web interface. The instant-boot SSDs are the E36 M3. I may eat these words later, but I really don't see running into a hardware ceiling on this thing.

Thems my thoughts.

AHH!

The ONLY reason not to move to Mac from a Windows PC is if you're one of those hardcore Excel users whose fingers are curled into shortcuts and macros. The Mac versions of Office have always, and will always suck hardcore. If you've got Office shortcuts hardwired into your fingers, they're not the same on the Mac, and you'll be super frustrated.

There! Finally found a reason :)

The reason not to buy a mac is if it doesn't run the applications you want to run. If you want to do email, web browsing, and IM, no problem. If you want to run major applications (Photoshop, Office, etc) then most of those are available for both, so again, no problem (although there are typically small differences between them).

If, on the other hand, you spend a lot of time using some less-popular application that simply isn't available for the mac, then you're probably better off running Windows. You can use VMware Fusion to run Windows in a virtual machine under MacOS, and then run your Windows apps there, but it's more complicated, slower, chews through memory like you wouldn't believe, and even then there are some applications that just don't work properly under VMware, usually those that want to talk to external devices.

I hace a MacBook Pro that I use 99% of the time, and an old refurb Lenovo Thinkpad running Windows for the Hydra Miata tuning software, VDCS (VW/Audi interface software), the Bentley electronic shop manual for the Audi, the data acquisition analysis software for the Miata, etc.

The biggest single thing you can't do with a Mac is PC games.

Macs have always been happier running big graphics programs like Photoshop anyhow :)

I do the same thing - the old PC laptop is going to be kept for the PC-only applications. Tune the Miata, talk to the V8 PCM, load the BMW software, and I'll probably discover something else...

I've had a Macbook Pro 13" for several years, and the one thing I'd do differently is get the 15" model just because a larger screen is nicer (I don't carry it around all that much so compact size isn't as much of a concern.) I do normally use it plugged into a 21" monitor, so as long as I'm at my desk it's fine.

Getting ready to order a Mac Mini here, it will go into my home theatre stack, and it will do my general email and web surfing, as well as take all my media to the stereo. The MacBook Pro 13" that we have, which is 3+ years old now will likely get a memory upgrade (only 2Mb currently), but other than the occasional spinning beach ball, it's still running great, and I expect it to go longer. I was going to send our eMac to my parents for general web duties, but instead I dropped it on my ankle, and seperated the case from the screen. IT STILL WORKED, though the screen was quite glitchy, and would randomly cut out, so it went to recycling...

That said, I do still have an older PC laptop in case there is something that I need that won't run on OSX.

codrus wrote: The biggest single thing you can't do with a Mac is PC games.

Not a gamer, either, so there's another obstacle out of the way. The only PC game I ever played was Rally Trophy and I haven't touched it in years.

I have a Macbook Pro I've had for about a year. I bought it mainly to screw around with home recording, and it does very well for that. I do enjoy web surfing with it too. I never got around to installing Office for Mac, but it's certainly cheap enough.

Honestly though, I'm posting this from my Ubuntu machine. I can't say it does anything better than the Mac, and in fact I seem to have minor annoyance issues with it from time to time. But the Mac cost more than many cars I've owned(Including each of the Europas ) so I feel the need to treat it with kid gloves, and as such I don't use it if my hands are the slightest bit dirty(almost always), I don't like toting it around for fear of damage or theft, and it ends up being either left in it's bag, or unplugged, off and covered up on my 'music' desk.

But short of a Toughbook/Alienware-type Windows laptop, the Mac is just so much more robust and well designed/built than any Windows laptop.

I'd say if you can swing the $$ there's no reason not to buy one. If you don't like it, you'll still get 80% of the value for it used 3-years from now. Try finding a Windows machine that will hold its value that well!

The ONLY reason not to move to Mac from a Windows PC is if you're one of those hardcore Excel users whose fingers are curled into shortcuts and macros. The Mac versions of Office have always, and will always suck hardcore. If you've got Office shortcuts hardwired into your fingers, they're not the same on the Mac, and you'll be super frustrated. There! Finally found a reason :)

Why would you use Excel on any computer?

Numbers on the Mac (as well as Pages) are so much smaller, faster and easier to use than Excel. Plus you can output to Excel files and open Excel with them.

It's true I's not a engineer, but I build some fairly complex spread sheets and do graphing and I've not come close to reaching the limits of Pages & Numbers.

Anything to get away from the evil empire MS

As far as playing PC games, well the Mac will do that too.

Straight from Apple you can boot either in Mac OS or Windoze.

If you want to run them both at the same time then Parllels or Fusionware is for you. Soon, very soon that capability will be part of the OS on Mac.

carguy123 wrote: If you want to run them both at the same time then Parllels or Fusionware is for you. Soon, very soon that capability will be part of the OS on Mac.

Or, just install VirtualBox and run your Windoze software without having to reboot from linux or os-x for FREE. I keep a couple virtual machines around for testing software or keeping client access VPN stuff straight. It is nice because all my VMs sit on a 2nd drive accessible from either OS so I can start them no matter what OS I booted to. I can copy them off to my laptop all pre-configured... it's good stuff. Because MS and Apple are both evil empires. I like to keep from tying myself to anyone to tightly unless they are willing to let me have the source code :)

Bottom line though (diatribe aside) is you can have Excel native in Windows on your OS-X desktop if you already own it so that is not a legitimate reason not to go Apple.

Holy crap, these things are expensive!

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/family/macbook_pro

http://www.macconnection.com/

Get a mac. Ive had this one for over 2 years and its just as fast as the day i got it. I have had zero problems. I plan on having for at least 4-5 more years. They are that good.

This is from a guy who has zero interest in computers.

Woody wrote: Holy crap, these things are expensive! http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/family/macbook_pro

You're looking in the wrong place!

Go refurb!

And yes, they're expensive.