Help me buy a laptop this week! (Impt: Mac or Pc?)

Heh, hi guys. Been a long time

I' ve gotten into the Art course for my University, so these months have been hectic.

Need some help mostly from laptop-owners and the tech guys. Otherwise, you should prolly just hit the Back button.

Okay, I' m going to get a laptop this week for school. The big question is whether I want a Mac or a PC. Budget is not ' totally' a problem, but I don' t think I' ll be able to get a Macbook Pro for one, so that' s out of the picture.

I' m in the Arts, Design and Media course. Most people would assume I should get a Mac then. But honestly any high-powered rendering and stuff (which would be next year for my Year 2 course) would be done on the workstations in the school itself. However, Mac is more stable, and comes with free packed in Adobe Premium CS3, which is very nice (pirated stuff for Mac is hard to come by).


I didn' t bring my roadshow brochures so I can' t state the models today, but I can list some of the features I remembered as well as the brands and price.

Acer: Most bang for buck. $1800+ (cheapest) Comes packed in with a better graphics card than the standard Intel Express Chipset that comes packed in with most of the other roadshow. A couple of extras, but it' s its cheap price that makes it a consideration.

Cons: Acer doesn' t have the best build quailty. Otherwise, it' s okay, if pretty standard.

Macbook: $2400+ Well, it' s Mac. Free upgrade to Leopard OS X, a free 1 GB iPod Shuffle, packed in with the full Adobe CS3 Premium Pro suite. Extremely good for a graphics student like me. Aesthetically the most appealing.

Cons: Graphics card is the standard chipset (on Macbook Pro has a most advanced graphics card). I can' t run most of my games/other applications on it w/o Boot-Camp and Windows XP/Vista. I' ll have to learn a whole new OS (although I do have a year till I need to use it more vigourously).

The others, Fujitsu, Toshiba, are all under consideration. But if I' m going to get a standard laptop, I might as well get the cheapest.

The way it is, using a Mac might be fun. But see, I might not be able to run Psychonauts on it =/

Unless someone can tell me that the Intel Express Chipset can do that, then I parition the hard drive and use Boot-Camp so that I can still use Windows.

Welcome back

Macs looks coolest


sorry for not being that constructive!

I' ve gotten a couple of PCs (one desktop and one laptop) from ibuypower.com which are set up as gaming rigs, but work well for the 3D animation and video editing apps that I run. I like them because they are fairly customizable and they don' t preload a bunch of garbage software on them. Not sure if there are any issues with them shipping to your location though.

I don' t know what Macs have to offer in terms of software for your needs. Assuming you dont want to play games in terms of hardware all you really have to be conserned with is a fast CPU having 2GB of Ram and knowing what screen size you want.

If you want to play any game at all a PC is your only choice, onboard graphics is useless for games. If not the Mac seems like a good option if it comes with Adobe Premium CS3. The problem with Macs is that they' re always overpriced for the hardware you get. But as I said Adobe Premium CS3 is expensive so you might get your value there.

Whatever you get, make sure it has an Intel C2D.

The Macbook is your best option. With Boot Camp (free) you can create a FAT32 partition and use your existing Windows XP install discs and Windows will run in its native environment. Then the CD you burned from Boot Camp will install drivers in Windows for specific functions such as particular buttons on your Mac keyboard as well as the ability to choose your startup disc (Windows or OS X). You won' t be able to play many Windows games on it due to the video card, but laptops aren' t meant for games anyway. That' s what consoles are for.

OS X isn' t hard to learn, but it might be a bit of a hassle to have an OS that doesn' t suck when you are used to one that does. I suggest using any standard two-button USB mouse with it, though. It works in OS X natively. That' s another thing, you don' t have to install drivers for every little goddamned thing.

Get a Macbook.

(pirated stuff for Mac is hard to come by).

You' ve answered your own question.

If I had oodles of cash for hardware/software, I' d buy a very very expensive Mac.

Reality check? PC' s are better for my wallet.

I' ve tried to use macs. But hell I just cant ' get' them.

Change is inevitable. Except from a vending machine.

Viva La Revolution! erm, I mean Viva La Wii!

There really isn' t much different about the Mac. You just need to get used to the DOCK and also the fact that you can put stuff where you want. Apps usually go in the APPLICATIONS folder, but they don' t have to. You also don' t have to set up system preferences to go into certain folders like the APPLICATIONS folder. Let' s see what else... oh, the X (red button) does not terminate applications, it only closes the window. You have to press Apple + Q or select QUIT from the file menu to quit the app. The yellow - button will shrink the open window to the DOCK (so will double-clicking the window' s title bar) and the green + button will make the window as big as it can get. Press it again to restore its original size.

mac = apple
apple = evil horrible horrible itunes

therefore mac = horrible horrible itunes x OS.

one button mouse. No game support. Annoying ads.

Me no want!


Anyway, Windows Xp is good.

Change is inevitable. Except from a vending machine.

Viva La Revolution! erm, I mean Viva La Wii!

Yeah iTunes isn' t that great. But unless you have an iPod you don' t have to download it. Hell I don' t think you need it even if you have an iPod. You can download Quicktime without iTunes, but most PC users aren' t smart enough to figure it out. Fortunately iTunes is nothing like OS X.

All Macs come with the so-called " mighty mouse" which is a two button mouse. Yeah, it sucks, but you can use any USB mouse on the planet.

Not much in the way of games on the Mac, but that' s why you boot up into Windows XP if you really must play computer games. Remember, Macs can run Windows just as well as PCs can, and they don' t need a floppy drive from the year 1942. I bet your PC has a floppy drive, right? Right?

Yeah, the ads are kind of lame. But I don' t watch TV commercials since I mute them all if I actually watch TV. At least their ads are in HD unlike most other ads.

You want it and you know it!!!

Windows XP is a crappy OS. Sure, better than Vista, 2000, 98, 3.11 etc, but just because it' s the best Windows evar doesn' t mean it is a good OS. It sucks when it comes to RAM usage and the OS itself is poorly programmed and designed.

I bet your PC has a floppy drive, right? Right?

Nope. I dont think you can even buy pc' s now with floppy since 2005

I guess I got to give Mac' s a chance, isnt it true you cant upgrade a mac?, if it was made by someone other than apple, it would be great, Apple have these great products that sound good on paper [like the iphone] but when in use I found they are very resticking and hinder you more than anything else [again like the iphone, ipod and anything with a i infact]

Guess I have bias against Apple, so Macs arent my Specialty. Anyway, everybody uses windows Xp, it isnt the best designed, but it is the most popular and you cant dismiss that when buying a laptop or whatever for college, maybe people expect you to have Xp?

Change is inevitable. Except from a vending machine.

Viva La Revolution! erm, I mean Viva La Wii!

Yeah iTunes isn' t that great. But unless you have an iPod you don' t have to download it. Hell I don' t think you need it even if you have an iPod. You can download Quicktime without iTunes, but most PC users aren' t smart enough to figure it out. Fortunately iTunes is nothing like OS X.

Nope, if I remember correctly you have to get shafted with iTunes when you download Quicktime from the Apple page. But I didn' t hunt around for a better solution, I just floated it over to the recycle bin.

Anyway, who has an iPod with the original OS any more? Triple-boot RockBox, Linux & iTunes for the win!

when buying a laptop or whatever for college, maybe people expect you to have Xp?

Some Uni' s are now actually pushing brand names for PCs and laptops. If your course requires certain software available for a specific OS, they' ll tell you.

Nope, if I remember correctly you have to get shafted with iTunes when you download Quicktime from the Apple page. But I didn' t hunt around for a better solution, I just floated it over to the recycle bin.

I think they changed that again and now we can download them seperately as before.

Thank God.

Well, throwing away (none of this GAY recycling crap) iTunes before installing is the best option if you were indeed forced to download both. Downloading Quicktime has always been accomplished by going to www.apple.com/quicktime/download so I don' t know where it was combined with iTunes.

I will have to agree with the Macbook and I' ve been looking to get one for a couple of years now since my degree does deal with media editing. Right now, I have a computer that handles everything but, when I get ideas or whatnot. I sometimes wish that I had a Mac laptop with me to at least get a rough draft started.

Games are your best friend as long as you don' t start talking to them.

Well, the point is pretty much lost now. I bought a Fujitsu E84

I know, I know, most of you were chanting Mac~Mac~Maaaac...and honestly I considered it to the end.

But ultimately, spec-wise the Fujitsu was as powerful or even more so than the Macbook (granted, some of that processor speed is going into too many background applications, like an antivirus program), plus it came with a newer graphics card, bigger screen size, and well, it was pretty sleek looking as well.

I decided I want something I could use for anything. I still got my Adboe CS3 Creative Suite free (I' m not sure if its Pro though), I don' t have to worry about my tablet driver, and I can install my games on it.

It' ll be my ' desktop' really. It' s more powerful than my current home computer (Pentium 4 XD That thing' s OLD!). Which is great because the damn thing wears a ton!

So now, need some basic laptop owner' s tips...besides to not keep the laptop on my lap for over 2 hours.

PS: I just started it up. Windows Vista' s got a looooong load time. Then I got a blank black screen I think I' ll let my bro handle it later...

PPS: Suggestions for antivirus programs etc. My bro has a kind of standard set-up for computers, and we usually use McAfee plus AdAware Professional. PeerGuardian 2 as well.

What is Vista doing on laptop' s?, they are not desktops and do not have the power for it. Upgrade to Xp asap, Vista is only meant for desktops right now.

Change is inevitable. Except from a vending machine.

Viva La Revolution! erm, I mean Viva La Wii!

Don' t know. All the roadshow laptops was coming with Windows Vista (except the Macs naturally).

My bro' s going to help me ' upgrade' later tonight. Should be up and running XP by tomorrow morning.

So far, besides the long start-up time, Vista' s actually pretty nice; but yeah, I' m no fool. Maybe give it 2-3 years...

make sure you have the Vista install disc and your activation key, As it could come in handy sometime in the future.

Change is inevitable. Except from a vending machine.

Viva La Revolution! erm, I mean Viva La Wii!

I just started it up. Windows Vista' s got a looooong load time. Then I got a blank black scree

Nice! It didn' t waste any time at all.

Nice! It didn' t waste any time at all.

Actually, I found out that its supposed to do that, on laptops anyway. I even closed it thinking it had shutdown by itself, which turns out to just put it in suspend mode. An hour later and I opened it up again and the set-up was complete w/o a hitch.

Bummer that the included MS Office ' 07 doesn' t come packed in fully activated I might need to get it with my student discount.

the included MS Office ' 07 doesn' t come packed

Get Openoffice instead, its the excat same thing as Office but its free. If you thinking about buying Office or whatever.

Change is inevitable. Except from a vending machine.

Viva La Revolution! erm, I mean Viva La Wii!

ORIGINAL: Silentbomber

the included MS Office ' 07 doesn' t come packed

Get Openoffice instead, its the excat same thing as Office but its free. If you thinking about buying Office or whatever.

It' s not the same thing, its ok if you just need a word processor but if you use it for work or school I don' t recommend it.

Get Openoffice instead, its the excat same thing as Office but its free. If you thinking about buying Office or whatever.

Well... it' s better than Word Pad. I guess.

Their paint & slide-show applications are horrendous. I' ve had to use them one or two times in a pinch.

Awful.

Really, All i ever used it for was word documents, but that all I need Office for either, so I rather that than going to pirate some software.

Change is inevitable. Except from a vending machine.

Viva La Revolution! erm, I mean Viva La Wii!

I' ll prolly still buy Office. Compatibility is more important to me than price right now.

Btw, sending this on my latop It' s got great Wi-Fi speed

Just d/l Firefox now. IE 7 is like it, but I' d rather go with the Fox, heh.

ORIGINAL: Byakko


PPS: Suggestions for antivirus programs etc. My bro has a kind of standard set-up for computers, and we usually use McAfee plus AdAware Professional. PeerGuardian 2 as well.

Get NOD32. Infinitely better than any other AV out there - especially those bloatware abominations like Norton/McAfee. I' ve tried many others and nothing comes close to its speed/efficiency/effectiveness. Download the trial and I guarantee you' ll want the full version.

You should turn off Aero Glass. It' s a useless feature that cuts a chunk out of performance.

Aero Glass?

Just d/l Firefox now. IE 7 is like it, but I' d rather go with the Fox, heh.

Shame you have to pollute your PC with IE7, but as long as you' ve got Firefox, you' re golden.

Aero Glass?

its on Vista, All it does [to my knowledge] is that it makes the windows look cool, that transparent affect right? it eats up resorces aparently.

I think turning off that UAC shit is more important, seriously, that was retarded.

Change is inevitable. Except from a vending machine.

Viva La Revolution! erm, I mean Viva La Wii!

I think turning off that UAC shit is more important, seriously, that was retarded.

Yeah that to.

I turn off all the unnecessary graphical effects... mouse shadows, weird window opening/closing animations. To hell with all that!

I' ll be back at the command line interface if you guys need me.