Yeah, I read this afternoon that you can purchase it at anytime BEFORE the warranty ends.
thinking about my next mac... looking at the mac book air
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Yeah, I read this afternoon that you can purchase it at anytime BEFORE the warranty ends.
I feel a little left out on the Apple train. The one and ONLY Apple computer I have ever used or even see in person was an Apple II back in 1991 or so. Maybe it is time to take a look at one? I guess the fact that I got a Microsoft cert back in the late 90's has always kept me using PCs.
I was firmly in the winter camp for many years, and then took a flyer on one of the strawberry iMacs. It was the first of the line. I didn't like the os9 that Apple was using at the time, but jumped on the beta of OSX and I've been almost all Mac since. There just is no comparison to what you saw way back when.
a couple of consideration for you in deciding between models. the big thing to watch out 4 is the keyboard and you might find the 1on the 11 inch to be a little small for your liking. do some serious typing on it and the 13 inch before you make your decision.
also, aren't you eligible for an academic discount? I don't know how much they are but that could be a deciding factor in price etc.
are they using traditional form factor ssds or are they using the m-sata module that plugs into the connector? if it is the m-sata you will find your storage upgrade options limited.
finally, will be 11 inch screen be big enough at your normal sitting distance?
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also, aren't you eligible for an academic discount? I don't know how much they are but that could be a deciding factor in price etc.
are they using traditional form factor ssds or are they using the m-sata module that plugs into the connector? if it is the m-sata you will find your storage upgrade options limited.
finally, will be 11 inch screen be big enough at your normal sitting distance?
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John - the keyboard is actually exactly the same as on my mbp; surprising for sure, but the keyboards on both airs are the same; and I think the 11 will work for how I sit with it -- I am cognizant of that issue though. When you are in a Best Buy, check them out side by side - kind of surprising how Apple has managed to keep the keyboards really functional. Some of it is less dead space on the edges.
The academic discount on the airs is just $50, and the sale price is actually better than that. Its disappointing actually.
Planning to order it this week. Still debating whether to go refurbished or new; basically $50 difference. I appreciate the argument for refurbished, but its a small price difference.
What are the advantages of a Mac these days versus a good PC? I mean I have no experience with Apple products, except the old Apple IIe I used in school.. I always strayed away from them cuz I never knew anyone that used one. The software availabilty seems trivial at best. But I hear they are really stable and powerful. What are your generic thoughts on Apple computers? I am just curious if I should maybe look at one. As I have never even seen one in action I am just wanting to get a handle on the general why of a Mac.
Actually, the software is not at all trivial. I have found a ton of very good - and often very creative - mac programs that I did not have on the pc. For example, I organize much of my work using a great information manager/database called DevonThink Professional. Mac only, game changer for my research, teaching, and indeed, overall computing.
My mac is incredibly stable and powerful. It manages memory extremely well; I reboot it maybe once every couple weeks; it rarely hiccups; it has far less security concerns than a pc (just because of the sandbox approach taken to memory for each program). And the hardware is top notch. Yeah, you pay for it, but my mbp is a beast.
Oh there is a learning curve - for me about 3 weeks -to truly begin to grasp the Apple way of doing things, and to retrain my brain to use the Command and not Control key. But it was worth it.
We need a new laptop, our little netbook we use in the living room for everyday surfing is starting to get a little rough. Maybe I will find a newer used mac since all we use it for is surfing it might be a good way to get into mac's and get a feel for them. We have had a few laps now and we actually use them more than our desktop since we do more surfing in front of the tv than anything anymore. I just haven't found one yet that can put up with a daily beating. ALOT of charger issues and hinge problems from the constant movement and use. Right now my netbook has its charger hard wired to the inside and the power button is just two wires sticking out of the hole where the button used to be haha. Kids don't use it but they still find ways to abuse it.
Two good options -- go to the Apple Store's refurbished sales - as was pointed out above in this thread. You can get a 128GB 11" mba for $999. OR look around for a "white" mac book. I suspect you can find one for around $800 or so. More money than a "netbook" for both, but both would be very powerful.
I have $215 in Amazon credit coming to me from trading-in some textbooks, and as soon as it shows up, I am ordering my air.
I agree 100% with Rocky on this. The only time we reboot our Macs at home is when we have software updates that require a reboot. I cringe every time I use my Windows 7 Lenovo laptop at work but when I get home and need to use a computer I use my Mac and it's like a night and day comparison. My work laptop has crashed a few times already this month. Knock on wood my Mac at home hasn't crashed once. I've had Firefox crash on my Mac but it has only been the 1 time. Firefox at work has crashed several times this month.
I had heard before that viruses are virtually non existant on a mac. Are they really that good? I am just nervous about gettin hold of one and it not be what I want. One question I do have is can you upgrade a mac in the way you can a pc? Like I know a laptop is pretty much only upgradable in the RAM sense. But if you had a desktop mac can you upgrade lets say the graphic card, or the processor etc.... And could you if you had lets say a tower model replace the motherboard as long as it is the same form factor or are they pretty much custom for each model. I might be setting myself up to look like an ass here, but that just goes to show I have never even been around a mac haha. I feel amish when it comes to apple products.
We use Sophos Anti-virus on both of our machines and quite frankly haven't had one virus/malware issue yet. That's not to say that we will never encounter one though. I would recommend an anti-virus software for any machine regardless.
On a Macbook, Mac Mini, and iMac you can upgrade the hard drive and RAM pretty easily. On our Mac Mini it's just removing the bottom cover by turning it to the unlocked position and after removing the cover the RAM and hard drive are right there. The graphics are on board so you can't change that.
On a Mac tower desktop it's just like a PC where you can upgrade the RAM, hard drive, optical drive, and graphics card. I've never seen anyone change out the motherboard for a newer one on the Mac tower, but I don't see why you couldn't as long as like you said the form factor was the same and it was an Apple motherboard.
Thanks for the info. Like I said I have never even tinkered with a mac before so I felt kinda stupid askin` questions like that. When it comes to a PC I can hang with the best builder, but a mac just never found me. I really appreciate u taking the time to fill me in. +1
Not a problem! That's what I'm here for. I will always take time out to help others. 
I think the main reason Macs don't have issues with viruses is how the Mac OS is designed. Every time you install an application it prompts you for your password. This is because the OS is based off of Unix which requires super user access in order to install anything.
I've been around computers for over 25 years and was a PC guy for a long time. I got tired of Windows crashing and viruses and said screw it. I got my first Mac Mini back in 2008, but swapped back to a PC the following year due to my last urge to play PC games with hardcore hardware. When my wife's 5 year old PC finally cratered last year we decided to switch her to a Mac. My desktop I had built earlier last year was a power hog and I got tired of Windows issues plus it was turning into a heater. When I bought her Mac Mini I got one for me. We have been very happy with them ever since.
I think the main reason Macs don't have issues with viruses is how the Mac OS is designed. Every time you install an application it prompts you for your password. This is because the OS is based off of Unix which requires super user access in order to install anything.
I've been around computers for over 25 years and was a PC guy for a long time. I got tired of Windows crashing and viruses and said screw it. I got my first Mac Mini back in 2008, but swapped back to a PC the following year due to my last urge to play PC games with hardcore hardware. When my wife's 5 year old PC finally cratered last year we decided to switch her to a Mac. My desktop I had built earlier last year was a power hog and I got tired of Windows issues plus it was turning into a heater. When I bought her Mac Mini I got one for me. We have been very happy with them ever since.
There have been something like two mac trojans the past year, but the way the Linux code that underlies OSX works, it makes it MUCH harder for a virus to do the damage that can occur in Windows. Each program operates in its own "sandbox" and any effort to go outside of it, to another part of the hard drive would trigger the OS admin password being needed. But even still, I keep the Sophos program running, just in case.
AND of course if you are running a Windows VM, that can get infected like any other windows system. Although in that case the worst thing that would happen is having to delete the VM and starting over.
Oh, and upgrading ram on the macbook pro is easy as long as you have the smallest philips head screwdriver known to man. Seriously. REALLY REALLY small.
I just had an HDD replaced in my 2007 24" iMac. Brought it home, used my Lion install dvd to re-install base OSX. Last step was to use migration assistant to
restore users/apps/settings from a Timemachine backup. In less than 3 hrs, I was 100% back to where I was before the HDD failure. First time I've had a hard
disk failure in any of my macs. Process was very easy and worked as expected.
restore users/apps/settings from a Timemachine backup. In less than 3 hrs, I was 100% back to where I was before the HDD failure. First time I've had a hard
disk failure in any of my macs. Process was very easy and worked as expected.
Thanks to you guys for fillin me in. I use Ubuntu on my netbook right now because windows just ran way too slow for me and I like the simplicity of linux and the fact that it seems to handle low memory situation much better. I had heard that viruses were very uncommon on a Linux based system, I did not know however that the mac os was based on the linux structure.
Again, Thanks to those who threw there two cents at me I greatly appreciate it. Looks like next month when I get my new lappy I am going to jump into a mac.
One last question, will the Mac work with my home network file sharing and media share.. Currently I use Tversity to share from my netbook and desktop to my D* reciever and PS3. If I get a Mac lappy will it play nice with my PC's on the network also?
Again, Thanks to those who threw there two cents at me I greatly appreciate it. Looks like next month when I get my new lappy I am going to jump into a mac.
One last question, will the Mac work with my home network file sharing and media share.. Currently I use Tversity to share from my netbook and desktop to my D* reciever and PS3. If I get a Mac lappy will it play nice with my PC's on the network also?
oh my, just now finally took a look at the macs... Went to that powermax.com and took a look. On my desktop I have a Intel I5 2.67Ghz... Which is a 4 core processor that has more than enough power to run just about anything anymore with haste... I know I heard that Mac started using Intel processors on some of their boards now. I guess what my question is, is how do Apples processors stack up to an Intel PC processor as far as speed is concerned. Was looking on that site at a powerbook G4 1.5Ghz... I guess I could research it myself but I know that it's better just to ask someone who has owned the product to get a real good look at what they are really all about. Thanks in advance for the help.
If you get any of the Macs with G4 or G5 chips in them, you won't be compatible with much of the newer software and OS versions. If it were me, I would look at something much newer with Intel CPUs in them. You'll spend more money for sure, but I think you'll be much happier.
The PowerPCs that came before the Intel changeover were plenty powerful enough in their day, but that day is long past.
The PowerPCs that came before the Intel changeover were plenty powerful enough in their day, but that day is long past.
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