Why buy a Macbook?

[ROBSCIX]

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Bingo, that is the best reason to buy a Mac, if you like how it looks, well nothing else looks quite like Mac.

..and you cannot build a PC that looks pleasing?

 

[gevorg]

No one "have to" buy a mac.
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OSx86

 

[Hybrys]

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No one "have to" buy a mac.
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OSx86

You're late to the game.  >_>

 

[ayz]

 
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The people I know who are touting high end gaming rigs are all in their 20's, myself included. The people with lesser rigs usually just end up buying consoles. Yeah I agree with not wanting a headache from OS X part. My solution get an OS designed for the average person for both personal and professional use and that is easy to use. I'm talking about Windows by the way.
 
Stick with your 24'' iMac all you want no one is stopping you. I just prefer working on multiple displays. More screen real estate is always a good investment especially for power users like myself who can bring any computer (PC or Mac) to its knees. If you want aesthetically pleasing I'd go with carbon fiber or black aluminum. I really don't like Apple's designs; kind of feminine if you ask me. Small and dainty just isn't cool for guys. You need something that has rough edges and screams power. ASUS Lamborghini anyone? http://www.computing.dcu.ie/~humphrys/Notes/OS/Bitmaps/asus.jpg
 
For example I'd rather have this monitor: http://benchmarkreviews.com/images/stories/news-010307/Dell_Crystal_Monitor.jpg and a case like this: http://www.itechnews.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/corsair-obsidian-series-800d-pc-chassis.jpg.
 
 
Yes go buy it because it's shiny. Who cares if it's an overpriced laptop in a desktop chassis it's shiny and that's all that matters *sarcasm.*
 
 
7H3 L457 H0P3

 
Actually I've been using PCs all my life, and hacked the crap out of XP and was heavily involved in the design and customization scene, and I recently switched to a MBP and am happy with it. It's all preference, but there is really nothing I can do on a PC that I can't do on a mac, save gaming.
 
Did you really just cite the need for a masculine laptop? LOL. I'm not sure if you're terribly insecure or 15 years old...
 
anyways, this:
 
http://gallery.apartmenttherapy.com/photos/052209tiamikko/images/home_office1_small.jpg
 
looks infinitely better than
 
http://fro.instantspot.com/userfiles/080206/106/home-pc-setup-2.jpg
 
and a CPU tower with enough LEDs that it looks like it came out of the fast and the furious

 

[nraymond]

 
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I like the ideas about Quadro/FireGL, but I'm concerned about a few things regarding that.
 
Is there such a premium that it's worth it? (As you can tell, I'm a bang-for-buck kinda guy)
Are gaming instruction sets/optimizations still supported, offering similar performance?
Are there any latest gen Quadro/FireGL-based laptops?  (IE: 58XX or 400-series cards)
Paired with a 'latest gen' i5 or i7 QUAD core is required aswell.  Threaded support is abundant.
 
For everyone else trying to answer the question:
 
It's good that you like the OS, I still don't think that premium is worth it.  And no, the MBP doesn't have any better hardware than the ASUS... Exactly the opposite.  Even the quality of parts used.  <_<  So don't fall for that
 
Also, I don't really like the tongue-in-cheek slight towards me being immature, and thus wanting a better price-per-performance and top tier hardware.  It makes no sense, but you can justify it to yourself any way you'd like.  Other companies than Apple can make aesthetically good looking computers aswell.
 
Think of it this way.  I can get the ASUS ($1600), new $1000 headphones, and a $600 amp.  Or I can get a MBP for around $3200.  (MBP, 17", i7. 8gb ram, AppleCare)

Quadro/FireGL are nearly identical hardware to regular NVIDIA/ATI cards, but due to the PCI-Express hardware ID of the card, you can use the Quadro/FireGL drivers, which are optimized for certain OpenGL functions that work well (or at least benchmark well) in CAD and certain 3D modeling apps.  While NVIDA/ATI could release the same drivers for their retail cards, they have no incentive since people willing pay a price premium for those cards and don't really understand the hardware is basically the same.  ATI/NVIDIA also pay companies like Autodesk to make their Quadro/FireGL cards 'certified' for their applications, so that if you call up Autodesk support, and if you tell them what hardware you have, they'll give you a hard time if you're not using a Quadro/FireGL card.  (Back in the day companies like 3DLabs had OpenGL-specific cards like the Wildcat series that were just for CAD and 3D modelling, and NVIDIA/ATI were just 'consumer' card makers, but by tweaking their drivers and paying other companies money, NVIDIA/ATI have pushed all the dedicated OpenGL card makers out of the market.)
 
Regarding this whole Mac/PC thing - I've been a PC/Mac user for about 20 years.  I also have a number of workstations in my house (Sun, HP, SGI, etc.)  I run many different operating systems at home across multiple systems (four private subnets).  Day job has been administering a network, now part of a global company, of almost entire Windows machines.  Where do I get my work done, and do all my productive stuff?  My Mac.  What do I use Windows/PCs for?  Games.
 
In my experience it's the people with the least amount of experience when it comes to different operating systems and hardware architectures that are the most preachy and close-minded.

 

[7H3L457H0P3]

 
 
 
Quote:

Did you really just cite the need for a masculine laptop? LOL. I'm not sure if you're terribly insecure or 15 years old...

 
 
Alright I'm going to take a step back before this conversation devolves into a "mine is bigger" argument. The point was I don't find Mac's that attractive. I'm not saying I want my own rave going on inside my case but PC's do have nicer chassis' and more customizations available when you spend more than the average PC user which is still less than a Mac user spends.
 
Anyway at this point my new approach will be linking some cool PC's I've seen around the web. Check bit-tech for cool mods. There's new ones every month. SLI zone usually has a few good ones. I like these ones:
 
http://www.toxel.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/casemods09.jpg
http://api.ning.com/files/7466U3ZMMqUhnPRnDF964EuIhcVDX51T1mZFzRN2gRGuBm1HQIWGqSV*BBhbreOB6gQ6ycisE42aws3xm8HDeJEtiipGH5u5/orac_pc_mod.jpg
 
Anyway I'm still considering a PC in a Mac Mini for a case mod. I'll take a look into to it Friday after my diff-eq test and run some pre-build renders. I'm trying to get ahead during the summer while still having a life so i have free time but not excessive amounts. Anyway if I like it I'll go ahead and build it tentatively in August once I'm out for the rest of summer, but before fall classes resume.
 
If anyone has some cool ideas for a case mod. I'm all ears. I've considered mods in common household items, mods in laptop form factors, or mods with external graphics cards (for upgrading and portability reasons). I'm still not sure exactly what I'm going to do, but I'd rather keep it cheap ($750 would be optimal), it's not a money issue it's just "saving is the new spending" and I want to build a new PC more for fun than out of need.
 
I still have a windows 95 PC and DOS PC that run amazingly well so it's not as if PC's are cursed and will explode because they are so vulnerable. I'm not going to say I've never had a virus because I'm sure I've had one even if I didn't realize it, but if you know what you are doing and don't do anything stupid your PC should be fine.
 
Just some pointers to people who have problems with viruses; most is common sense, but well common sense is not common:
1) You are not lucky, you didn't win anything. Don't click on these popups or anything that says you have a virus, or free software.
2) If a pop up is on your screen don't hit the exit button. Either "end process" through task manager (aka CTRL + ALT + DEL) or use "ALT +F4" which will terminate any program mid process.
3) Don't download stuff from shady sites and don't torrent or visit explicit webpages.
4) Delete your page files, cookies, history etc. not because your invisible or can't be tracked but because it free's up resources and speeds up your computer.
5) Use Google Chrome, or firefox if you must, avoid safari and internet explorer.
6) Don't download suspicious emails. Ignore emails from people you don't know and if you get some rubbish email from a friend or family that says check this so forth. Delete it.
7) INSTALL AN ANTI-VIRUS and pay money for an actual version. Windows, OS X, Linux you are all vulnerable despite what you think. PC's are just a bigger target. If you're going to attack a cyber installation, what would you rather inflict: a few million or several billion casualties. That's rhetorical no need to explain your diabolical plan to take over the world.
8) Nothing is secure on the internet. Not your passwords, not your email accounts, facebook security (ROFL). The internet is the easiest place to get information and people will.
9) Almost anything short of hardware failure is recoverable. If you take care of your PC and it slows down. It's not broken. Just clean it up, run a virus scan, or wipe the HDD and reinstall the OS, which you should do once every year or two just for upkeeping. It's not a PC thing it's a I'm using technology thing.

 

[vvaffles]

I just totally love Windows VS OSX debates
 
 
I believe that apple achieves stability by imposing limits, Let me just begin by saying that its not nessarly a bad thing. What I mean by imposing limits is that you will never get the newest and fastest hardware in apple products, and you will never get the newest and fastest ways to run the products you have. Why? Because apple test the hardware to death with the software that they have, and they can do this because they build the OS and the computer. Also, OSX doesn’t run on a driver system, but a kext system and it won’t have the newest updates from nvidia or intel or the original hardware makers. The flip side to this is that you have a smooth running system, and minimize software conflicts. This is one of the main reasons why windows crashs and BSODs, because of driver conflicts and error in coding.
 
I’m personally a windows guy, bought a macbook a while back then switched back to windows. I can’t justify paying more for a lower speced computer. However I really did love the osx experience. It’s the little things that makes osx great, it is really, really polished compared to windows. That said, I will leave a passage that I left on laptopreviews forum a while back, which I believe still applys
 
“To me OSX is like a Swiss army knife, it might not have every tool, but it has basically everything you need, its smooth, snappy and it works with almost everything you throw at it. The system and the operating system is made by the same manufacture and it shows, especially in boot up and shut down times.

Windows 7 is like a whole bag of tools, it’s not as light weight, but it will have those star shaped screw drivers that you won’t find in a swiss army knife. meaning if its something out of the ordinary and you just really need it to work, chances are you are going to get it working on windows other than OSX, not to mention the community support base for windows is just way bigger (doesn't always mean better) than OSX 

Theres really no clear winner in this category, really comes down to personal preference and fanboyism”
 

 

[marcello]

Quote:

...
 
Just some pointers to people who have problems with viruses; most is common sense, but well common sense is not common:
1) You are not lucky, you didn't win anything. Don't click on these popups or anything that says you have a virus, or free software.
2) If a pop up is on your screen don't hit the exit button. Either "end process" through task manager (aka CTRL + ALT + DEL) or use "ALT +F4" which will terminate any program mid process.
3) Don't download stuff from shady sites and don't torrent or visit explicit webpages.
4) Delete your page files, cookies, history etc. not because your invisible or can't be tracked but because it free's up resources and speeds up your computer.
5) Use Google Chrome, or firefox if you must, avoid safari and internet explorer.
6) Don't download suspicious emails. Ignore emails from people you don't know and if you get some rubbish email from a friend or family that says check this so forth. Delete it.
7) INSTALL AN ANTI-VIRUS and pay money for an actual version. Windows, OS X, Linux you are all vulnerable despite what you think. PC's are just a bigger target. If you're going to attack a cyber installation, what would you rather inflict: a few million or several billion casualties. That's rhetorical no need to explain your diabolical plan to take over the world.
...

Don't, don't don't,delete,use, don't, INSTALL,...... In Windows world you must behave according it's rules and RESTRICTIONS, otherwise something broke or something terrible happen. I will call it like this:
 
"don't ask what vista can do for you, ask vista what you can do."
 
it's 2010 and why the hell I can't move a window, that is frozen? in mac if something froze, it's just the program inside the window and I can move it where I want. In fact Windows still has several UI bugs and with its aggresive vision to be on every computer on Earth, no to be "cool" and usable, they just ignore it and they focus on selling. I hate that company.

 

[Adda]

It's worth it if you use a lot of OpenGL applications and want good performance, you can do soft mods turning Radeon cards in to FireGL/FirePro or Geforce cards in to Quadro's.
But this will only give you the Direct3D advantages of the professinal cards, the OpenGL features require a different video BIOS.
Also, laptops based on professional cards are business laptops and they are of better quality than any consumer laptop, extended warranties are cheap as well, at least on ThinkPad's.
Playing games on a Quadro or FireGL/FirePro is no problem at all, the drivers may not be as optimized as the Geforce/Radeon counterparts but the difference is minimal.
If you are using OpenGL applications, you won't need the DirectX 11 features as OpenGL has actually supported the fancy DX11 features for quite a while.
An upcomming HP Elitebook 8540w will be based on the FirePro M5800 (Radeon HD 5650/5750), Dell Precision M6500 has a FirePro M7740 (Radeon HD 5850), Lenovo ThinkPad W510 uses the Quadro FX 880M (Geforce GT 330M), W701 uses Quadro FX 2800M or 3800M (Geforce 9800M GT/Geforce GTX 280M).
All these models use Core i5/i7, I don't know bout the HP or Dell, but both ThinkPads have quad core CPU's.
 
I actually didn't find my W510 expensive at all compared to what I got for my money.
The ThinkPad community is extensive, the hardware maintenance manual shows you how to take them apart step by step, spare parts are easy to get a hold of, servicing ThinkPads is relatively simple, ThinkVantage system update is wonderful and the ThinkLight can be used as a reading lamp (unlike some other keyboard illumination techniques).
Lastly, ThinkPads have the best input devices you can get on any laptop, especially the keyboard and TrackPoint, I wish I could get a W510 without that damn TouchPad.
 
I'm a computer technician, and have serviced a ton of different laptops from many brands.
 

I like the ideas about Quadro/FireGL, but I'm concerned about a few things regarding that.
 
Is there such a premium that it's worth it? (As you can tell, I'm a bang-for-buck kinda guy)
Are gaming instruction sets/optimizations still supported, offering similar performance?
Are there any latest gen Quadro/FireGL-based laptops?  (IE: 58XX or 400-series cards)
Paired with a 'latest gen' i5 or i7 QUAD core is required aswell.  Threaded support is abundant.

 

[ayz]

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To sum it up, Mac = Bose products.

this argument would be valid if 90% of all headphones broke like skullcandys

 

[ayz]

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Anyway at this point my new approach will be linking some cool PC's I've seen around the web. Check bit-tech for cool mods. There's new ones every month. SLI zone usually has a few good ones. I like these ones:
 
http://api.ning.com/files/7466U3ZMMqUhnPRnDF964EuIhcVDX51T1mZFzRN2gRGuBm1HQIWGqSV*BBhbreOB6gQ6ycisE42aws3xm8HDeJEtiipGH5u5/orac_pc_mod.jpg
 

 
uhhhh
 
really dude
 

 

[Adda]

Quote:

..and you cannot build a PC that looks pleasing?

Yes you can, personally I don't see any reason what so ever to buy a Mac, but many people seem to think Mac's look amazing.
When discussing with people who bought a Mac it all comes down to the fact that they like how it looks and feels.
This makes them want to like it so much that they talk about stuff they know nothing about, to make the Mac look better than it really is.
This is a ugly generalization, I know, and not always the case, just a tendency we all know very well when people love their Skullcandy's or Bose gear.

 

[grokit]

Is there any way to re-map the modifier keys in Windows? I can't find a way to in the keyboard properties.
 
That is one thing that I like about OSX for sure, the ability to customize little things like hat.

 

[mckinetic]

Since op is clearly a power user, and already seems to know a lot about how to hackintosh, its not any stretch for someone to recommend that he do it.  As far as I can tell, he know a lot more about it than I do.  He's just having trouble making up his mind.
 
Hello, I don't think anyone who has read some of the things op has posted would come to the conclusion he's having trouble making up his mind. His mind is fully made up and just wants to declare his beliefs. Unfortunately I fell into the trap as many of you have. This is the same argument, driven by two well meaning sides, APPL vs PC, with not a shred of hope to see any resolution or stoppage. Yuck.

 

[tfarney]

Hybrys, I think you should go to your local computer discounter, pick up the cheapest netbook on sale that day, then take it home and install OSX on it. Think how impressed all the other kids at school will be when they see that you accomplished, for $300, what they paid $1200 for! You will bask in their admiration and your certain superiority and everything will run as seamlessly as it would on a Mac. Yeah, that should work. Let us know how that goes.
 
Tim