MAC Book Pro
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Ilya said:
How did you get that for $999. That is $400 less.
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Ilya said:
I am running parallels with win xp for a few applications. Works great. I have 1gb allocated to it, and it had been fine. I could increase it's memory, but probably won't. Takes about 20 seconds to boot and iI can run my programs like a Mac app in coherence mode. No need for boot camp for me.
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rockymtnhigh said:
Memorial Day sale!
Actually they said it's $200 off. $1199 is the standard price for this model.
I had some concerns about the 13" inch screen, but I think I can live with that. I like the overall size an the weight of this laptop though. And the good battery life too. First, I thought about buying the Air, but figured that for the same money I get much better specs in the Pro plus the upgradability! Two things I definitely want to upgrade: the RAM and the Hard Drive - should be easy enough.
rockymtnhigh said:
2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4 Gb 1067 MHz DDR3
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Crossover is a "wine" program, commonly used in linux boxes (which of course the mac is, of sorts), but it only supports certain programs. I had forgotten all about it, but when I looked, the handful of programs I need from windows, are not listed. I think Parallels is well worth the money (I think you can get it for around $70; I got mine on an academic discount for $40.
It takes about 20 seconds to load up XP on my mbp, and once it is loaded, you can just go to the folder called XP Apps in the Doc, and pick the program you want and it runs pretty quick. I am pretty much using it for Dreamweaver, since I do not have a license for it on my mac; and it is flawless. My mbp hard drive shows up as a network drive, and I have access to everything.
I knew it could not be the core i7 at that price. But its a great price, so you should be happy. Mine topped out at $1650 once Apple Care, iWork, and the DVI adapter were added in.
I am thinking of getting my wife a MAC Book Pro for her birthday (even against my own advice). Here HP laptop screen died and I am now using it as a desktop in my classroom.
For what she wants to do, and now that I have had time to think about it, and the fact that she wants one, I think this will be a better option for her and her needs as she is not very OS literate but can quickly learn to do what she needs to do and will discover and research how to do these things. I need to know about comparable comparison to Windows based PC. IOW, is memory RAM and Processor speed a 1 to 1 comparison, or does a MAC need less to do the same (I noticed many of these laptops have specs that are less than a Windows PC)? How easy it is to update and switch parts compared to Windows based laptops (add more memory, change the hard drive, ex)?
She is mostly going to use it for her on-line courses she will be taking for her Masters Degree in Chemistry, on-line banking, surfing the web, checking e-mail, and running some Chemistry software (I know this software is compatible with Windows but I don't know about MAC OS).
What should I look for?
For what she wants to do, and now that I have had time to think about it, and the fact that she wants one, I think this will be a better option for her and her needs as she is not very OS literate but can quickly learn to do what she needs to do and will discover and research how to do these things. I need to know about comparable comparison to Windows based PC. IOW, is memory RAM and Processor speed a 1 to 1 comparison, or does a MAC need less to do the same (I noticed many of these laptops have specs that are less than a Windows PC)? How easy it is to update and switch parts compared to Windows based laptops (add more memory, change the hard drive, ex)?
She is mostly going to use it for her on-line courses she will be taking for her Masters Degree in Chemistry, on-line banking, surfing the web, checking e-mail, and running some Chemistry software (I know this software is compatible with Windows but I don't know about MAC OS).
What should I look for?
Anand has a nice review of the 27" iMac that functionality-wise
more or less it's the 2011 MacBook Pro mated to a 27-inch LED backlit Cinema Display.
Has a rundown of the advantages and shortcomings of Apple hardware/software/ecosystem...
Diogen.
more or less it's the 2011 MacBook Pro mated to a 27-inch LED backlit Cinema Display.
Has a rundown of the advantages and shortcomings of Apple hardware/software/ecosystem...
Diogen.
Just read the review.
His analysis applies to most of Apple hardware (adjust to your needs)
and is probably as objective as it can possibly be in today's world...
Diogen.
I found that the 4GB of ram for normal stuff, word processing, web, email, was fine. It was only when I started heavy multi-tasking, running Parallels in conjunction with SPSS and all of the above, that I wanted the extra boost from the 8GB of ram. But I am not an ordinary user by any means. When I got the machine last week, my initial reaction was that this machine runs very smooth, memory wise it seemed more than up to the task.
I would think you would want a machine with 4GB, I would not pay Apple for the 8GB version - they charge too much, and I bought the 8GB ram upgrade for $78 from Amazon. I have never seen the mbp run face to face with an Air, or indeed, with any other mbp's, so I am probably not able to make any comparisons. I suspect the machine Ilya got, for $1000, with an i5, would be great for her. The Macbook Air is really neat in terms of how thin and light it is, but it really is the Apple version of a netbook from what I have seen.
Dodger, you know I have never been an Apple fan, but I have been eating a bunch of crow this week -- I really like this hardware and the OS, while it has things that irritate the hell out of me, runs smooth. Initial boot is something like 20 seconds, and when you wake it up from sleep mode, the darn thing turns on instanteously, and 5 seconds later, once wi-fi connects, it is good to go.
SO, in the end, I think I'd probably go for a mbp; much more memory, faster architecture than the mac books and mac book airs.
My dept would have bought me the 15" quad-core i7, but I wanted nothing to do with it. Its a heavy beast. Way too big. The 13" mbp is light, easy to carry, and close to my ideal "laptop" size. I have a 14" toshiba W7 machine, and my last work machine was a 12" Fujitsu Lifebook tablet.
I just read it, but most of criticisms were pretty narrow -- yes, the cooling on the mbp is not great; that's always been an apple problem, but the concern about GPU performance is only relevant if you are playing games; I have not not a complaint in terms of graphics or video using it. And the concerns about video encoding -- I get it, but who wants to do serious video encoding on a laptop; that's what desktop workstations loaded with top of the line equipment are for.
...and that was my point.
If you do nothing that Anand has problem with - it will work fine for you...
Diogen.
