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ThePriceSeliger

Mushhead
Mar 31, 2004
4,860
0
Denver, Colorado
Well my first day of classes at CU Boulder is the 25th and I'm on the journey for a new computer for myself. The campus is Mac and PC compatible but I'm almost hellbent on a Apple unless someone can give me a legitimate argument for getting a PC.

I'm thinking about a MacBook Pro. I'll be doing my normal school work which will consist of mainly word processing, but on-top of that, I'll need something to handle thousands among thousands of songs.

I also like to fool around with video and photo editing.

It will need to be small and travel well but also be tough.

Budget isn't an issue YET.
 
T

ThePriceSeliger

Mushhead
Mar 31, 2004
4,860
0
Denver, Colorado
Can that one I linked to handle what I'm trying to do? Also, I have a external hard drive just in case because my IBM I own now can't handle my music or videos.

Also, are the video and photo editing software decent? I'm not looking for a professional suit but something with the basics.

And I'll be getting the Microsoft suit with it.
 
-dustin

-dustin

boring
Jun 10, 2002
7,155
1
austin
Yes, it'll work.

the photo software that comes with it is nothing to get excited about. i've got 3 different photo editing programs on my black MacBook and none are quite up to PSP or PS standards, in my book.

careful with the MS Office stuff. not all Excel files will transfer over. Basic stuff, yeah...more complex, no. Open Office works alright. these won't be issues for you until you get into more advanced classes, i believe.

mine gets pretty damn hot.

if your iPods were originally hooked up to a Windows machine, the software cannot be upated on a Mac machine.

Obviously, don't buy software until school starts so that you can utilize the discount that I'm sure CU will give you. You'll probably get a discount on the 'puter, too.

i love my black MacBook.
 
buildyourown

buildyourown

Turbo Monkey
Feb 9, 2004
4,832
0
South Seattle
What is your major. If it's anything technical, get you might as well get used to a pc.
Getting to use a Mac in the workplace is very rare, and in some fields, impossible. There is lots of technical software that just won't run on a Mac, period.

edit: and when it comes to laptops, you can get sooo much more for your money with a pc.
 
DirtyDog

DirtyDog

Gang probed by the Golden Banana
Aug 2, 2005
6,598
0
buildyourown said:
What is your major. If it's anything technical, get you might as well get used to a pc.
Getting to use a Mac in the workplace is very rare, and in some fields, impossible. There is lots of technical software that just won't run on a Mac, period.

edit: and when it comes to laptops, you can get sooo much more for your money with a pc.
Click to expand...
Thats not so true anymore. Engineering maybe. Lots of big companies are starting to integrate Macs into their IT plans. I toured a major law firm this weekend that was all Mac.

Get the Mac.
 
buildyourown

buildyourown

Turbo Monkey
Feb 9, 2004
4,832
0
South Seattle
DirtyDog said:
Thats not so true anymore. Engineering maybe. Lots of big companies are starting to integrate Macs into their IT plans. I toured a major law firm this weekend that was all Mac.

Get the Mac.
Click to expand...

Like I said, anything technical that might require high-end software. I'm not talking photoshop high-end, but $15-60k software.
And there are still many companies that have no wiggle room on the mac/pc thing.

I'm just saying that you might want to take your field of study into consideration. No matter how much better you think a Mac is, the ability to use a pc well is still a huge asset.
 
D

dirtboyracer

Chimp
Dec 10, 2006
35
0
Macbook. Use bootcamp if you need to run PC software. I just got the Pro for college and am really liking it. Much easier to use then a PC.
 
DirtyDog

DirtyDog

Gang probed by the Golden Banana
Aug 2, 2005
6,598
0
narlus said:
i'm still waiting to hear of one engineering firm that uses apple.
Click to expand...
Maybe you misunderstood, but I stated that engineering would be the exception to the trend of moving towards Macs in the corporate world.
 
jimmydean

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
41,136
13,308
Portland, OR
narlus said:
i'm still waiting to hear of one engineering firm that uses apple.
Click to expand...
Depending on what your idea of "engineering" is, a lot of places I have worked with and/or for have used Mac's. IMO the best of both worlds with the Intel CPU and BSD.

Unlike Vista that sucks ass for anything.
 
BigMike

BigMike

BrokenbikeMike
Jul 29, 2003
8,931
0
Montgomery county MD
dirtboyracer said:
Macbook. Use bootcamp if you need to run PC software. I just got the Pro for college and am really liking it. Much easier to use then a PC.
Click to expand...
Screw BootCamp! Use Parallels or VMWare!

I vote Mac too, I have a Macbook Pro (1st version) and my Wife has a MacBook. The only real difference in them is the screen size, and dedicated video card. The Pro has a video card, the MacBook uses integrated video.

There are other differences too, keyboard, latch, backlight, proc. speed, etc, but in terms of actual usable power, they are basically on par.


Unless you need it right now, I would wait. Once you are at school, you can get it cheaper through the school, AND, they are due out for updates soon. The old computer thing is if you NEED now, buy, if not, wait.

http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/#MacBook
 
Sandwich

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,061
5,970
borcester rhymes
jimmydean said:
Depending on what your idea of "engineering" is, a lot of places I have worked with and/or for have used Mac's. IMO the best of both worlds with the Intel CPU and BSD.

Unlike Vista that sucks ass for anything.
Click to expand...
I haven't had one problem with Vista yet on my newly built PC, including running office 2000 and every other game I've installed. What am I missing? Do I need to be a mac user in order to have vista not work for me? Because I'm really, really satisfied with the install. In fact, I had a problem (which I caused by trying to hack vista to run dreamscene), and reverted back to an earlier point which fixed everything.

Please help, I want my PC to perform as poorly as everyone else is suggesting to me that it should be. Right now, I have no problems! Help me, Mac users!
 
Last edited:
binary visions

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,098
1,144
NC
Sandwich said:
Please help, I want my PC to perform as poorly as everyone else is suggesting to me that it should be. Right now, I have no problems! Help me, Mac users!
Click to expand...
I agree. I must be doing something wrong. All of the dozen or so Vista installations I have rolled out in the past 6 months or so perform flawlessly - I wish I could have this horrible experience that everyone else is having.
 
T

ThePriceSeliger

Mushhead
Mar 31, 2004
4,860
0
Denver, Colorado
binary visions said:
I agree. I must be doing something wrong. All of the dozen or so Vista installations I have rolled out in the past 6 months or so perform flawlessly - I wish I could have this horrible experience that everyone else is having.
Click to expand...
I will send you my computer and you can enjoy all the awfulness of it. It will make you want to punch children it's so frustrating.
 
RenegadeRick

RenegadeRick

98th percentile on my SAT & all I got was this tin
Feb 22, 2006
1,458
0
riding the fine line between genius and insanity
binary visions said:
I agree. I must be doing something wrong. All of the dozen or so Vista installations I have rolled out in the past 6 months or so perform flawlessly - I wish I could have this horrible experience that everyone else is having.
Click to expand...
Wanna take the time to argue that the Mac is just a PC with an additional "I'm a Mac" chip that is checked by their operating system to prevent it from running (legitimately) on PC hardware?

It always amuses me when the Mac people point out that the coolest thing their Macs can do is run Windows. What's up with that? :bonk:
 
BigMike

BigMike

BrokenbikeMike
Jul 29, 2003
8,931
0
Montgomery county MD
ThePriceSeliger said:
I don't know a ton about the software with Macs, but is Leopard standard on them now? If not, is it recommended?

I'm most likely going tomorrow afternoon to pick it out. Is there anything I should know beforehand to purchase when I get it?
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If you buy a new Mac, Leopard is standard. If you have an older Mac, Leopard is "recommended" but not needed. It's like running Win2K or XP instead of Vista. I'm running 10.4.11 on three computers, and 10.3.9 on one computer (which I admittedly don't use anymore, it's in storage right now, but it was in use a few months ago)

The only thing you should know before you purchase it is to get the fastest processor you can afford, and get the least amount of RAM. Then upgrade your RAM yourself from OWC and save yourself some bucks.

Also, you should get a free iPod, or credit toward one with the purchase of a new computer as a student. (Proof will be required, if you have your student ID already, take it with you)

If you already have an iPod, get the free one and sell it on eBay without opening the box first. Put that money toward your new computer. Don't buy any software until you find out if your school provides you with it. If they don't, get everything from the computer store at school, or Academic Superstore

For more information than you can possibly handle, or any questions you may have, check MacRumors Forums
 
T

ThePriceSeliger

Mushhead
Mar 31, 2004
4,860
0
Denver, Colorado
Why should I upgrade the ram myself and not get the computer with the fastest processor and the most ram?

Edit: Sorry for the ignorance, I don't know a damn thing about computers anymore.
 
DirtyDog

DirtyDog

Gang probed by the Golden Banana
Aug 2, 2005
6,598
0
RenegadeRick said:
I humbly accept your gentle correction.
Care to share some things that a Mac can do that a PC can't?
Click to expand...
I'm not the person to ask. I don't really care. I just like Mac software better in general. I own a bunch of computers, Mac and PC, so I get to compare them on a daily basis. I prefer Mac. But I'm not going to be a Mac crusader or have a silly argument about it.
 
RenegadeRick

RenegadeRick

98th percentile on my SAT & all I got was this tin
Feb 22, 2006
1,458
0
riding the fine line between genius and insanity
ThePriceSeliger said:
Be reliable?
Click to expand...
Marketing hype.

Macs are PC's They use the same CPUs, same RAM, same graphic hardware.
I won't convince you of this, but it doesn't make it untrue.

I'm not saying that Mac's aren't nice computers. They are plenty nice. Just not special and different like the fanbois want you to believe. That is all.
 
BigMike

BigMike

BrokenbikeMike
Jul 29, 2003
8,931
0
Montgomery county MD
ThePriceSeliger said:
Why should I upgrade the ram myself and not get the computer with the fastest processor and the most ram?

Edit: Sorry for the ignorance, I don't know a damn thing about computers anymore.
Click to expand...
Apple Ram is WAY too expensive. If you get a MacBook with 1GB RAM, upgrading to 4GB is $300. If you get a MacBook with 2GB RAM, upgrading to 4GB is $200.

You can get 4GB (2x2GB) sticks of RAM from OWC for $95

It's cheaper to get the smallest HDD available too and install your own, but installing a HDD in a MacBook is a little more complicated.


This goes for all Mac Computers. They will even tell you that in the store. I needed a stick of RAM in a pinch for my MacBook Pro, went to the Apple Store, and they tried to talk me out of getting it from the Apple Store. When I got my Mac Pro, I got it with 1GB RAM and a 250GB HDD. That was the least you could get at that time. I immediately ordered 4GB RAM and 500GB HDD, and got BOTH of those upgrades for what it would have cost for just the HDDs from Apple.
 
binary visions

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,098
1,144
NC
ThePriceSeliger said:
Be reliable?
Click to expand...
Funny, but in 12 years of being involved in PC support of varying types, I've seen plenty of unreliable Macs, and plenty of reliable PCs.

Anyway, I'm not turning this into a Mac vs. PC debate. They're both excellent systems, each with their own pluses and minuses. If you want to buy a Mac, buy a Mac.
 
Sandwich

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,061
5,970
borcester rhymes
RenegadeRick said:
I humbly accept your gentle correction.
Care to share some things that a Mac can do that a PC can't?
Click to expand...
MACTALKER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111111juanjuanjuan

have one button mouses?

but seriously folks...go to a store...click some mouses...see which one you like better. I'm a big proponent of windows-based PCs because they're 1/3 the cost of a mac that's the same speed. Macs are better for people who don't much about computers and just want it to work right the first time. I hand-picked every single component in my computer over the course of a few months...it works perfectly. If you buy a mac, you don't have to do that...but then you have to pay $300 for crappier ram than I got for $85... Apple makes a mean laptop...but it costs way more than the equivalent PC version.
 
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