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    Buying a MacBook?

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    • soloS Offline
      solo
      last edited by

      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.

      http://www.solos-art.com

      If you see a toilet in your dreams do not use it.

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      • G Offline
        geh4evr
        last edited by

        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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        • G Offline
          geh4evr
          last edited by

          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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          • EdsonE Offline
            Edson
            last edited by

            @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.

            edson mahfuz, architect| porto alegre • brasil
            http://www.mahfuz.arq.br

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            • B Offline
              bertb
              last edited by

              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

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              • B Offline
                bertb
                last edited by

                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 ??

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                • Mike LuceyM Offline
                  Mike Lucey
                  last edited by

                  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 😉

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                  • G Offline
                    geh4evr
                    last edited by

                    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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                    • Mike LuceyM Offline
                      Mike Lucey
                      last edited by

                      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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                      • C Offline
                        chango70
                        last edited by

                        @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.

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                        • G Offline
                          geh4evr
                          last edited by

                          Thanks for that link, Jing certainly looks like a handy app.

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