Opinions regarding Mac Book Pro please!

[tokugawa]

Anybody with Mac knowledge please respond.

After 15 years of using nothing but PCs I am now seriously considering switiching over to a Mac.

I was thinking of getting the following Mac Book Pro:

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APP...MTE3MTA&node=home/shop_mac/family/macbook_pro

- 15 inch glossy widescreen
- 2.4 ghz duo core
- 4 GB of Ram
- 250 GB 5400 RPM HD
- GeForce 8600 256 MB Graphics Card

Now the above computer has been priced out at $2349 on the Mac Site before taxes. Personally this is about the maximum I would like to spend on a computer.

Now the purpose for getting this computer is as follows:

1.) Replaces my desktop - this will be my primary computer
2.) Internet surfing
3.) Music and video manipulation
4.) May configure this for a dual boot system

Anyway, here are my questions:

1.) What do you think about the above configuration?
2.) What do people think about 7200 rpm HD? If I spend an extra $50, I can get a 200 GB 7200 rpm HD. Would that be better than getting a 250 GB 5400 rpm HD? I have been told that 7200 rpm HDs can get very hot and can be a drain on the battery.

Again any information regarding this topic would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[mercyshooter]

In my opinion, Mac's user interface is not that user friendly!!

 

[Kinman]

In my opinion, Mac's user interface is not that user friendly!!

Two points:

1. Not that user friendly compared to what? There is nothing in the world of Windows, from 98 to Vista that is anywhere near as user friendly. Linux, unless you really know what you are doing, and have some understanding of internals, is even less so. In fact, the underlying operating system for OS X is a form of Unix/Linux.

2. Try using a current Mac with OS X 10.2 and up, give it a fair chance, and then come back and we can discuss this further. Until you do, you won't understand why there are masses of people moving to Macintosh.

Kinman

 

[Miss*Bijou]

There is a reason why anyone switching from PC to Mac will never go back.

It takes a bit of time to get comfortable with Mac after being used to a PC but it really doesn't take that long, and you will wonder why you didn't do it a long time ago.

I will never go back to using a PC. Never. Ever. Jamais. Even if you paid me.

 

[Miss*Bijou]

oh! also...

Make sure you purchase the AppleCare Protection Plan! You have one year to buy it (from day of purchase) and it extends your warranty for an extra 2 years... It is SO worth it.

http://www.apple.com/support/products/

 

[HavingFun]

I was like you. I have used PC for all school years and more but when I was looking for new laptop, it was either Toshiba because I had absolutely trouble free Toshiba for MANY years or MacBook pro. I picked Mac after weeks of thinking and talking to people, even thought Mac was more expensive.

I have used Mac for 6 months and I do appreciate how it was constructed and I think that the extra money I spent was worth it. There were a lot of thinking making of this machine and I can see why people like Mac.

I am completely sold on this Mac and I am a born again MacBook user and I dont think I will buy another PC in long long time.

Cons: not many softwares
it takes time to adjust to Mac thinking
more expensive

I know I dont tell you much but once you buy it and try it, you will understand what Im saying.
If money is not the issue, buy Mac, and I dont think you will go back to PC.
My Mac is totally user friendly and it is simple to use.

I dont know about other mac laptops but I bought top of the line MacBook Pro because I can write off for my business and mine can run windows also

I hope this helps somewhat

 

[bob_knob]

All good suggestions here so far.


Apple is opening the first western Canadian Apple store in Pacific center.

You might want to look at a refurbished Mac and up grade the Ram and stuff. The reason I say that is you can still get the extended warrantee, which is rock solid, and Macs hold up very well. You could move up to 17” widescreen, buy aftermarket ram and still pay less or just as much.

I have a new IMac, but I also still have an 8-year-old mushroom IMac(G4). It has been on 24/7(bittorrent downloading) for most of those 8 years. It was on and running 3 years ago when a serious fire broke out. It sucked a ton of smoke and soot though it. After the fire I got back in, shut it down, took it in and had it cleaned. The guys at Simply Computing could not believe how dirty it was inside. They replaced the fan ($30) and it runs Tiger no problem to this day. Other than the fan everything else is still original. Macs are solid, if you don’t have trouble in the first 3 years, (warrantee) they last forever.