Buying a MacBook?
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Jacob,
I have been using Win PCs and Laptops since 1985. I bought one
of the original IBM Twin Floppy PCs! I friend of mine was using
a Mac and I was quite jealous but because of Acad I had to stick
with the Win machines.Once Apple decided to use the Intel chip and provide Bootcamp
there was NO CONTEST. I jumped on the Apple train over a year
ago and have NEVER looked back.If you want a machine that is TOTALLY reliable and fun to use
with no worries about viruses and such GO FOR A MAC! I promise
you, you will not be disappointed, just ask any Win to Mac
Switcher out here.BTW, there are strong arguments that many Win programs run
faster under Apple Bootcamp! I have NO DIFFICULTIES in this
area.I have operated my MacBook Pro in Spain under HOT conditions
with NO ill effects, both Csaba and Coen can testify to this
as they used it also there.The ONLY advise I would give you is to get the best Apple you
can afford although the 13" MacBook looks good and I imagine
this screen should work well with 1280x800. I really like the
New Look Mac Books, single slab of aluminum and a glass touch
pad with no button! I look forward to seeing the 17" model soon.My FINAL piece of advise is this, YOUR Apple MacBook will be
still WORTH a decent amount of money in two years time if you
take care of it. Can the same be said for a Win Notebook? In
my experience the answer is NO! You pay for the quality BUT
in return it pays for itself
Mike
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I am slightly concerned about switching back and forth between integrated graphics and discrete graphics card. Is that tested on SU?
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Hi Chango,
I don't understand exactly what you mean. I run some PC programs
on the Mac under Parallels (quick switch) but it does not utilise
the FULL power of the Graphics Card for all programs. When I need
full power of the GC I switch to Bootcamp. SU run perfectly in
Bootcamp but I rarely need to do this.Check these out, quite funny, http://www.apple.com/getamac/ads/
Mike
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For what it may be worth, I've been using a Mac Book Pro for quite a while, both Bootcamping into Windows XP SP3, as well as with VMWare Fusion.
I run Windows-native applications that require higher-end graphics by booting through Bootcamp (such as AutoCAD 2009), and those that aren't as demanding running VMWare. Of course, I considered the higher end of the CPUs (I believe it's clocked at 2.6GHz) and got it with 4GB of RAM.
Hope this helps.
Cheers,
- Diego -
PS Mike, you beat me to the punch, er, reply
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Mike. Doesn't the new Pros switch between integrated NVIDIA GeForce 9400M and discrete 9600M GT with 512MB graphics? Thanks for the link, its halirious. Seriously though I've not really experienced much problems with Vista Ultimate 64-bit. I used to have a G4 Powerbook Pro 12". That used to crash more. My dad's using it now. Whats really cool about the new Macs for me is the construction process. Making it out of single piece of Aluminium is just great! Integrating the touch-pad and button is very clever too! I'd advise people to wait for the next refresh. Since Intel is due to release its new CPU (Nehalem) lineup anytime now. I heard it supports multi-threading. Does that mean you get to render 2x faster?
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Mike! You, Among other things, Have helped convince me to go ahead with it. I am going to buy a Macbook! I've decided to go for the 13 inch one, with the Nvidia 9400, and the 2.0 Ghz Processor. I figure it's the best balance between money and performance. Plus it's Shiny
Anyway Mike, soon I'll probably either be thanking you very much, Or thinking your evil for recommending it to me
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I dunno, not knocking a Mac now as I do have one and they are fine and well, but 13"? that's rather small for a work machine, If you are planning to use it for 3D apps that is. Sure you can connect another monitor to it, but that just defeats the purpose of a laptop.
Another thing I would be a little careful about is integrated vs dedicated video cards, I really would recommend a dedicated card if there is a choice. I recently did a lot of investigation before buying a laptop, I settled for a machine with a dedicated video card and it really does make a world of difference in performance.
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Jacob, I had a look at the rig you intend to purchase and unfortunately there is no dedicated video card option, in other words instead of a seperate video card connected to your mobo within the shroud you have a Nvidea chip that's integrated into the mobo, which does not have it's own dedicated ram but actually shares with your system resources.
I do not want to change your mind or suggest you are making a mistake, I also do not want to make any comparisons between Mac's and PC's but for the price you intend paying you could get a decent sized PC based rig with dedicated graphics and a better CPU clock speed.
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Pete, I don't mean to sound dense, But wouldn't a Nvidia be a Dedicated Graphics Card? As for the size, What I'm using at the moment is only a 12.1" screen, so the mac is much better.
Oh, and also Pete, did you get my PM about that flight?
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Hmmm... It's a very difficult choice. I honestly don't know what to do. I love being able to use almost any program I want right now on my current PC(Although Slowly). And the idea of not having access to some of those programs with a Mac annoys me a little. And now that I think about it, I'm going to spend a whole load of Cash on what could turn out to be something that doesn't agree with me...
I will have to sleep on it.
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@remus said:
If your want something to do some serious work (3d stuff, video editing etc.) id say go for a PC, if you want something to do the emails on, a bit of image processing (and perhaps even a little bit of modelling, given the new graphics chips theyve got in them) id go for a mac.
remus,
with all due respect, yours is the opinion of someone who does not know what he is talking about. you must be kidding! macs have been known for their high performance, especially heavy duty 3D stuff and video editing. just check the specs of the macbook pros released in the last 2 years. with them the big macpros (the cheese graters) are no longer needed for profesional work unless you are editing movies. and the latest models come with 512 mb nvidia cards and 4gb ram out of the box! a macbook book coupled with a large screen is a fantastic setup.
regards.
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About the use of both GPU's together have a look at this
http://www.macrumors.com/2008/10/22/macbook-pros-nvidia-chipsets-can-support-dual-gpu-and-8gb-ram/
Could make a big difference -
This morning Benchmark Results.zipI also got some testresults from the 'old' and the alu 15" Pro,
Cannot open or interprete them so if there is someone who can ?? -
Jacob,
You really MUST take it for a test drive of at least try one
out near you.Pete has made a good point about the screen size and resolution.
If there is any way you can stretch to a 15" with with better
resolution all the better.Another possibility might be to buy a used 17" with 1920x1200
resolution on eBay or such.I think you will be pleased with the Mac as they work well and
cause virtually no hassle. OSX is much more reliable than Vista
as can be seen from the many comments on the Net.Mike
PS: I did a quick search at eBay UK http://shop.ebay.co.uk/?_from=R40&_trksid=m38&_nkw=17%22+MacBook+Pro+
and see a lot of used 17" MacBook Pros there. They are not being
given away but but still a lot cheaper than full retail. This
just helpt to prove my point that Macs hold their value on the
market -
Well, I bought it today. I got the 13"...
I'm never going back to anything other than a Mac! It is the nicest to use thing I've ever seen. It's simple, powerful, And because it's new to me. Fun!
Performance wise, It's perfect for what I need it for. It's able to tackle SketchUp fine, It can handle some of my other Hobby Programs, And tomorrow I'm buying X-Plane for it. All in all, it's Marvelous.!
Thank you guys for your support.
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Well done Jacob,
I'm sure you will continue to have lots of FUN with the MacBook.
Be sure to check out the Useful Apple Apps thread that I started
some time ago as it has a lot of useful programs that will help
you get used to a very productive with your Mac. Here is the link,
http://www.sketchucation.com/forums/scf/viewtopic.php?f=72&t=6369
I must add a few more that I have recently come across!Chango,
You have a good point about the choice of GCs in the MacBook Pro
range. It would be nice to have options in this area like their
Desktop 8 Core Pro range but I imagine they look on a laptop a
simply that and see no need to beef it up to a desktop level. In
a way it makes a certain amount of sense if one thinks about it
as it helps with overall reliability.Mike
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@edson said:
@remus said:
If your want something to do some serious work (3d stuff, video editing etc.) id say go for a PC, if you want something to do the emails on, a bit of image processing (and perhaps even a little bit of modelling, given the new graphics chips theyve got in them) id go for a mac.
remus,
with all due respect, yours is the opinion of someone who does not know what he is talking about. you must be kidding! macs have been known for their high performance, especially heavy duty 3D stuff and video editing. just check the specs of the macbook pros released in the last 2 years. with them the big macpros (the cheese graters) are no longer needed for profesional work unless you are editing movies. and the latest models come with 512 mb nvidia cards and 4gb ram out of the box! a macbook book coupled with a large screen is a fantastic setup.
regards.
Now now lets not get into a Mac vs PC spat here. I know what Remus meant when he said PC are better. If you are truely professional about 3D then usually you'd go for a workstation class graphics card like NVIDIA
Quadro FX 2700M Graphics with 512MB2 dedicated memory or NVIDIA Quadro FX 3700M Graphics with 1GB2 dedicated memory at top end. Like in this Dell Precision M6400 Mobile Workstation here. http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/workstation-precision-m6400?c=uk&cs=ukbsdt1&l=en&s=bsd. The OpenGL drivers in those graphics card are optimized and updated regularly. The problem with Macbook Pro line of Notebooks is that they don't give you a choice. And Nvidia 9600M GT is a GAMES CARD with limited OpenGL support! So if I had the money, I wouldn't consider a Mac for professional work. -
Thanks for that link, Jing certainly looks like a handy app.
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