Macbook...

[Enchanted_Stevi]

So I've been thinking about getting a macbook. I have awhile to save up. I'm thinking about getting a new job(that pays more lol) and that will give me a raise. The only time I'll gte a raise at where I work now is if the minimum wage goes up LOL So I was just wondering if anyone here has a macbook and if they love them and if its worth the money. From what I hear they are worth the money.

[jaycee]

WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
:laugh:
Hold that thought! Soon Apple should be releasing a new set of Macbooks with the newer Intel i3/i5 processors. Are they worth it? Probably not - there isn't much in the way of power saving, as the advancement is mostly in performance, which you probably won't need. But it does mean that their old editions will be sold much cheaper when the new models are released. They should be coming soon, as most other companies are jumping on the Intel i3/i5 bandwagon, and Apple can't afford to get left behind for too long - their fan base can only hold out for so long...
And, yes, Macbooks are good notebooks - http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=5105&review=apple+macbook+pro+13. I'm guessing you'll only need the standard Macbook instead of the Pro, however...
Also, OS X is, IMO, better than W7, so there's that too...
So, in conclusion, just wait about another month, and you should be able to buy one of their current makes for a couple hundred dollars less. :)

[louielouie2000]

I have had a Macbook for a little over a year now, one of the first of the new little ones with the aluminum chassis. It's the best decision I've ever made. This thing has amazing battery life, still runs like the day it was new, it's easy to use, compact, intuitive, no worrying about installing drivers, no worrying about viruses. These things just work correctly, period. I love all of the little neat features too: such as the power cord is magnetic: if you trip on it, it instantly unplugs your computer and it won't fall. The clickable trackpad is worth the price of admission alone. I don't know why nobody thought of it before now. My Macbook is never, ever off if I'm conscious. :lol: All of my friends have loved using mine so much, that they've gone out and bought their own Macbooks too! They're just great, easy to use, high quality, long lasting machines. You WON'T be disappointed. :thumbsup:

[mylittledemon]

I had a Macbook that lasted 4 years. Good little thing. Um... I have an iMac now and I prefer it much more... it's faster and has the RAM kicked up to 12 GB. Sweet little machine. If you need the portability though, guess you gotta go with a Macbook. ;)

[jaycee]

I have had a Macbook for a little over a year now, one of the first of the new little ones with the aluminum chassis. It's the best decision I've ever made. This thing has amazing battery life, still runs like the day it was new, it's easy to use, compact, intuitive, no worrying about installing drivers, no worrying about viruses. These things just work correctly, period. I love all of the little neat features too: such as the power cord is magnetic: if you trip on it, it instantly unplugs your computer and it won't fall. The clickable trackpad is worth the price of admission alone. I don't know why nobody thought of it before now. My Macbook is never, ever off if I'm conscious. :lol: All of my friends have loved using mine so much, that they've gone out and bought their own Macbooks too! They're just great, easy to use, high quality, long lasting machines. You WON'T be disappointed. :thumbsup:

That's all pretty accurate, except I'm not sure about the clickable trackpad - haven't all trackpads been that way for several years now? :shrug:

[LiamMcConville]

I bought a MacBook for school this past summer. I love it, I've always wanted a Mac, and I'm glad I put the money down. I bought the 15", but if I had to do it over again I probably would have bought the 12". The 15" is wonderful, but I use my desktop PC at home and have no reason to carry around a giant laptop for school.

I'm sure it'll come in handy when I move out in a few years, though.

The only downside I've faced with this computer is the unibody-keyboard. I spilled a tablespoon of cranberry juice into the computer, and to fix it as Apple wanted to, it would have ran about $600.00 even under warranty.

Instead, I got the keys replaced individually and that was free. :shrug:

[carrie721]

^ on the upside if your laptop ever gets a UTI you'll have nothing to worry about.

[Enchanted_Stevi]

Thanks guys! I'm thinking about getting one in the next couple months. I just gotta save up A LOT after my trip to Disney next week. I'll obviously be on a payment plan cause I cant fork up $1000 up front lol Well I could but I dont have the heart to just give up $1000 on the spot lol

[LiamMcConville]

^ on the upside if your laptop ever gets a UTI you'll have nothing to worry about.

:lol: & I thank you for posting.

[carrie721]

:lol: & I thank you for posting.

that's right. come to me with all your computer problems, folks, i'm a genius.

[GypsyBlueEyes]

I am going to be graduating soon and I want to get a new computer afterwards. I've pretty much put mine through hell and back with all the stuff I've downloaded and carrying it back and forth across campus. I have an HP (and I do love it) but I want to get a Macbook as well. I was wondering though...I've heard once that there are a lot of compatibility issues with them. Is this still true? I have extra programs like photoshop and so on and I download a lot of music and stuff. Would switching to a Macbook complicate things too much???

[louielouie2000]

That's all pretty accurate, except I'm not sure about the clickable trackpad - haven't all trackpads been that way for several years now? :shrug:

Even my other half's new Dell still utilizes mouse buttons below his track pad. His pad definitely isn't clickable either. And his trackpad is so tiny too. I love the size and utility of the Mac one: you can double or single click with the pad, you can use it to scroll, zoom in/zoom out, enlarge text, etc. I think it's a brilliant little feature. :thumbsup:

[louielouie2000]

I was wondering though...I've heard once that there are a lot of compatibility issues with them. Is this still true? I have extra programs like photoshop and so on and I download a lot of music and stuff. Would switching to a Macbook complicate things too much???

Most all programs on PC are available for Mac (not all, mind you). I am running the Microsoft Office suite on mine (I'd rather not have ANYTHING Microsoft on my computer, but unfortunately their software is the world standard). Unfortunately, you'll probably have to buy/download all of your programs again for Mac compatibility. Unless there's some secret I'm unaware of.

Thankfully compatibility isn't an issue with hardware. Things like cameras, printers, and such don't even require any software installation or driver installation on Macs. You just plug them in and the computer instantly recognizes them an they work. Easy as pie. :woohoo:

[jaycee]

Most all programs on PC are available for Mac (not all, mind you). I am running the Microsoft Office suite on mine (I'd rather not have ANYTHING Microsoft on my computer, but unfortunately their software is the world standard).

Open Office has excellent support for MO formats, and many others. http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=5249&review=openoffice+3.1+review I regularly use Open Office and save documents with .doc instead of .odt, .xls instead of .ods etc. (and, yes, it supports the XML formats too), because they're the more common formats.

[JazmenFlowers]

I've been a Mac convert for several years and I have never, not even once, regretted it. everything is so much simpler and faster and worthwhile when using a Mac.

[jaycee]

Open Office has excellent support for MO formats, and many others. http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=5249&review=openoffice+3.1+review I regularly use Open Office and save documents with .doc instead of .odt, .xls instead of .ods etc. (and, yes, it supports the XML formats too), because they're the more common formats.

I just realised - doesn't iWork also have decent format import/export?

[GypsyBlueEyes]

Most all programs on PC are available for Mac (not all, mind you). I am running the Microsoft Office suite on mine (I'd rather not have ANYTHING Microsoft on my computer, but unfortunately their software is the world standard). Unfortunately, you'll probably have to buy/download all of your programs again for Mac compatibility. Unless there's some secret I'm unaware of.

Thankfully compatibility isn't an issue with hardware. Things like cameras, printers, and such don't even require any software installation or driver installation on Macs. You just plug them in and the computer instantly recognizes them an they work. Easy as pie. :woohoo:

Thanks for the info :)

[jaycee]

Apple's finally refreshed their notebooks now - http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=5606&news=apple+macbook+pro+2010+new. I'd still recommend buying the older versions though, as the performance gains are probably something along the lines of some applications opening in 5sec instead of 4sec, and others opening in 0.5sec instead of 0.4sec, if you know what I mean. I'm still not convinced by the power saving claims, but if you want to be sure, wait for the above site to do a proper review of the new units, and compare them to the reviews of the old line.
Remember, however, that I'm still an advocate of FOSS, and I consider OS X only a little better than W7 - OS X is UNIX based, and releases some of its source code as Darwin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin_%28operating_system%29), but still uses closed components and charges high premiums... heck, most FOSS projects are free of charge, because if developers charge for them, some smart cookies will usually buy the software, take the source code, recreate it, and legally redistribute it free of charge. Case in point - Red Hat Enterprise Linux vs. CentOS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CentOS).
Don't forget that plenty of open-source apps run on OS X if you'd still prefer it to a Linux distro, for example OpenOffice (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenOffice.org) and, of course, Mozilla Firefox (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozilla_Firefox).
And, no, I'm not preaching, I'm simply showing everyone the little-known alternatives. It's up to you to take the initiative and make the switch, but I'm always more than happy to help make it easier. :)

[Sahara]

I've been completely converted to Mac since I started using them in college and can't wait to get one of my own. I'm currently using a HP notebook and it's a little trouper though ... apart from a fried battery, there's no sign of it dying for a good while yet. When it does, though, I'll definitely be switching.

[Sahara]

This thing has amazing battery life, still runs like the day it was new, it's easy to use, compact, intuitive, no worrying about installing drivers, no worrying about viruses.

That's particularly impressive. There's nothing better than a brand new machine that just flies along. :nod:

[Sahara]

Sorry to bump, but can I ask for opinions on iWork versus Office for Mac? Are there compatibility issues?

[jaycee]

Here's an informative, if only slightly brief, review of iWork - http://www.cnet.com.au/apple-iwork-09-339294634.htm.
As far as I'm concerned, the choice isn't between iWork and MSO for Mac, but between iWork and OpenOffice - http://www.openoffice.org/. Of course OpenOffice is free, so you should try that first, and if it's not to your liking (I'd be surprised if it wasn't, as the interface is based on MSO 2003), try iWork. But I wouldn't bother with MSO for Mac. Irrespective of having to learn a new interface that, although rather pretty, is inefficient, it has various limitations - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Office_2008_for_Mac#Limitations.
All three office suites support .doc and .docx, although the defaults are different for each suite.
If it means anything, a friend of mine and die-hard Mac fan uses OpenOffice, and enthusiastically promotes its use. :)