XSeries-forum

Hi everyone thought I would find out what your thoughts are on macbooks, now I have never owned an apple so will be a new convert If I go ahead with purchase. Just wanted to find out if anyone found going from pc to mac a problem in any areas ie software used, calendars,syncing etc.

The apple range is rather large but I need a decent size screen as 13.3 way to small for me so going for a macbook pro 15 with intel i5 processor does anyone have of these. Is there any benefits using an apple rather than pc?



Thanks

Macbook Pro with 15" is an expensive bit of kit.

2 Macs in household 1x13.3 Macbook & the other a 13.3" Macbook Pro.

On the 13.3 screen units the pro does little more than the basic macbook & essentially you pay for a metal case & I think a little more RAM.........I do like the look & feel of it though.

I bought both of them quite recently for my daughters.

I don't use the Manbooks I am not allowed ,(I kid you not)..I mainly help admin this site on a Toshiba Satelite. That said I guess I would happily buy a Macbook to replace it albeit I am hoping my sensible surfing habits, (using IE7 &/or Firefox), dont cause it to have too many problems.

I bought them because in recent months we have had an old Mesh desktop die as well as a Satelite Pro. I just got fed up with constantly spending money to fix things & the frustration of computers breaking or going wrong. I bought them because I wanted durability of product & because I am yet to be convinced that a Microsoft OS can provide the same resilience to trojans/viruses etc.

Best thing to do if unsure re what they do, how they function sync & what software to go for is to go to an Apple Store & tell them your essential needs.

You should be aware that a new Mac OS is due in Summer this year so maybe wait or consider looking to upgrade later if you think it worthwhile.

Apart from cost the only comment I would make re sceeensize is that the quality of images & resolution on the latest 13.3 screens really is superb and far easier to look at and work with than the 15" screen I am typing in here. The 15" units are obviously less portable. Most portbale Macbook is the air but I would be scared of easily damaging it.

Worth picking up a 3 yr warranty ................applecare or whatever they call it.

Worth phoning the uk apple store online as sometimes they can give a better price than instore - they also have refurb units occasionally though ours were bought new.

HTH

I have 3 in the household and they work, full stop. No messing about, no issues.

Regarding operating system upgrades - as they are only £28, I would not wait for that as you can easily apply later on if so desired. With the Office suite loaded, and a very nice web browser, there is nothing really you can't do that you can on a Windows machine.

It does take a little of getting used to as some of the quick shortcuts that you might use in Windows are not there (or are very different keys).

Thanks guys I will also get AppleCare but was told by apple you have upto 12 months to purchase. I will pop by apple store and have a little play again.

I have AppleCare which I bought with the last Macbook, it also coveres all other bits such as Timecapsule, Airport etc. So when my 3 year old TimeCapsule died, I got a free new one even though I had no warranty on it, but it was covered by the last AppleCare I bought.

If you have children in full time education, the discount is substantial as well. Think it was about 20-25%.

I have know idea what these are please explain. Thanks

TimeCapsule: Wireless network base unit, contains a hard drive as well (1 Tb) and whenever you switch the Mac on, it will back up your Mac automatically to the hard drive of this wireless unit. So you can retrieve any file back, hour by hour, day by day until the disk is full and then it starts dropping the oldest files.

Must have to be honest, is a wireless N transmitter as well.

Airport Express: You plug that in a power socket somewhere and it can extend your wireless network (needed if thick walls or just a big house or lots of floors in the house). You can connect a printer to it so you can print to that printer, wirelesly, from anywhere in the house. Also allows connection of speakers or hifi systems so you can play iTunes music on that hifi wirelessly. If you have an iPod Touch or iPhone, you can change music from that and play it anywhere you like in the house.

I've been a mac user for years. I'm usually the person people turn to to give them a hand when they get stuck with computers, and I always tell them to switch to macs, few struggle once they do, unless they struggle with the concept of computers in the first place

Time capsule sounds excellent although something I most probably would not want use as currently dont back up much at all, I use different laptops for work & home so dont generally store much. I was just looking at an apple forum and most people where saying it is sensible to get the best processor you can then just upgrade ram & hard drive as and when required. What do you guys think?

Hard drive is cheap, but the bigger the drive the more power it consumes and the shorter the battery life. Standard 250 Gb I think now.

What are you going to use it for? I have found that the cheapest model is actually powerful enough for the most difficult jobs.

[quote=""pvr""]Hard drive is cheap, but the bigger the drive the more power it consumes and the shorter the battery life. Standard 250 Gb I think now.

What are you going to use it for? I have found that the cheapest model is actually powerful enough for the most difficult jobs.[/quote]

I am going for the model below which seems to be the base model of the 15 size screen macbook pro, I use mainly for picture editing, video and all other normal home us. So nothing more than the normal use really, I have been using IBM for the last 7 years which always work fine and the warranty is excellent. The problem with IBM is the machine after a few years really starts to lose performance hence me finally deciding to try a mac. I should of also said football manager as well.

Specifications
2.4GHz Intel Core i5
4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x2GB
320GB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm
SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
MacBook Pro 15-inch Glossy Widescreen Display
None
Backlit Keyboard (British) & User's Guide (English) £1530 all in

As an option, would you consider an external monitor (say 24" or so which is just over £100) and buy a smaller Mac (for about £800) ?

[quote=""pvr""]As an option, would you consider an external monitor (say 24" or so which is just over £100) and buy a smaller Mac (for about £800) ?[/quote]

I almost considered that route but I use the laptop all over the house even in the t----- so did not look any further. Give thought though as would tick a lot of boxes.

Surely 13.3 inches is enough for anyone to play with in the t-----

[quote=""AW8""]Surely 13.3 inches is enough for anyone to play with in the t----- [/quote]

Depends what you watching