Loading ...
To MacBook Pro or Not?
I’m not a Mac user. I have two brothers who are Mac fans, but I’ve never owned one and apart from using them occasionally at Uni, they’re not intuitive to me like the Windoze environment with which I am so familiar. I like the look of Macs but then that’s purely because of the aesthetic. (It’s also the reason I like those new VeeDubs!)
So, the question now is whether or not to convert. I’m going to spend some of my scholarship money buying a laptop because I’ll need one for visiting far away places, and if I want to jump into the world of the Apple Mac, now’s the time to do it.
The problem being, Apple just (and I mean this month) released it’s brand new Intel Core Duo chip MacBook Pro. From all accounts this thing ‘corners like it’s on rails’ (in joke with Abu Yasmin) but here’s the catch. It’s the first release, so you know how there are always bugs to iron out with the first release of anything and a lot of Mac software (written for the G4 chip) has to be run through an emulator. The Powerbooks are being phased out with the introduction of the MacBook, but presumably not the lower-end iBooks.
Anyway, maybe I have some Mac readers out there, your thoughts? To buy or not to buy? Or should I just go with plain, old, familiar PC?
Tags: Useful Stuff
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
February 23rd, 2006 at 10:38 pm
Macs are good. Macpro? No idea. Macs were the first to be intuitive, windows then copied the WYSWYG thing. Best thing about macs is no virus worries at all–yet. they are also pretty consistently good quality machines with probably a longer life than most pcs.
February 23rd, 2006 at 11:50 pm
First of all, no computer interface is truly “intuitive.” Each one must be learned. As you stated, Windows “feels intuitive” to you because you are familiar with it. Given time, you could become just as familiar with Mac OS X.
As a GNU/Linux user, and free software advocate, I cannot advise you one way or the other. I think both choices (Windows and Mac OS X) will ultimately leave you deficient.
Nevertheless, from the standpoint of security, stability, and power, there is no question that Mac OS X (based on a Unix/BSD/NeXT combo) is far superior to Windows. Also, I’ve been told that these new Mactels will use “universal binaries” to run software. In other words, the “emulator” will not be required because both x86 and PowerPC binaries will be included in the software packages.
There is also a plethora of free and open source software available for Mac OS X, much more so than Windows.
March 5th, 2006 at 5:45 am
Go mac.
April 17th, 2006 at 11:27 pm
I’ve been a Mac user for a very long time and I might warn you that I switched to PC for most of my work (still have macs), however it doesn’t sound like you are going to be using your mac for anything that you won’t be able to do easier and faster on the mac.
The MacBook pro is a very very good machine, it is one of the fastest (if not the fastest) laptops available today. To be honest if you can afford a mac then it is definately worth considering, with the factors like no viruses, spyware etc. Remember that there are disadvantages, you may find that software you have on the PC won’t be available on the mac, and you might find that hardware is more expensive and you have less selection too. (Also don’t buy a non-intel chip mac now because they’re outta date and much slower).
April 18th, 2006 at 10:15 am
I’ve since discovered there is low support for Macs at my place of work. I ended up getting a second-hand PC laptop and will wait a year until upgrading to the swooshy MacPro, so that the bugs of the first generation release can be ironed out, and hopefully some support for Mac will increase. *sigh* One day I will own one of those beautiful machines.