My 12" PowerBook recently celebrated its fourth birthday. Not only is it still going strong—I replaced its aging 40gb 4200rpm drive with a 100gb 7200rpm drive as a kind of birthday present—it is still managing to amaze me at how much more than simply a computer it is. It’s more like a pet, I think. (And I’ve certainly met many dogs that are less engaging, which is not to mention cats.)
At G4/867MHz, its pace is positively glacial compared to some of these newer machines, but it still handles tasks confidently. I would therefore agree with those who say that speed ought not to be a deciding factor, especially since whatever you choose will likely still be dependable in four years’ time.
Go for screen real estate. Hooking an external monitor up to a laptop is simply not that ideal a solution, in my opinion. This is chiefly because the extra monitor will cause your laptop to run hotter and harder, but also because it never quite looks “right” (I wish I could quantify this, believe me).
I feel - or felt - the same about my beloved 12" G4 PowerBook. And I was planning to keep it for another year, until I could get either 1) a MacBook in an aluminum casing, or 2) a mythical 13" MacBook Pro (come on Apple, get with it!).
On Friday, while heading home from a business trip, I was talking on the phone as I approached my car in the airport parking lot. I was folding my suit jacket, fishing for keys, finding the parking lot ticket, getting my money out, opening the sun roof, etc.
I pulled out of the parking space and felt the car going over a small bump. I looked in the mirror and saw that I had RUN OVER my Timbuktu messenger bag, with my Mac inside. I had left it sitting on the pavement next to the car.
At home I opened the lid and hit the power button. The machine turned on. The hard drive was intact. But the display was 90% destroyed. The slot drive was crushed, the battery casing bent (my car is a 1984 Mercedes and weighs 5,000 lbs).
Alas, not worth getting a new display and case. So I bought a 15" 2.2Ghz MB Pro and am happy (and the promotions were good - $200 off an iPod, $110 off AppleCare and $30 off a .mac renewal). But the machine seems HUGE. I miss my G4 and I know at least one or two of you will understand the feeling.
Just moved from a windows machine to a Macbook Pro, 15 inch screen. It is a magical machine but if I were going to use it ONLY to write, I would have bought a MacBook and saved the money. I would also have gotten a wireless keyboard for 79 dollars to keep me from spending all of my money at the Chiropractor.
It runs tiger perfectly well and I am very happy with it… and it runs my copy of scrivener fine as well… hell I don’t think I will upgrade the OS… I like stable OSs, and quite frankly after all the vista nightmares, I am very much upgrade shy.
This machine replaced my old trusty WIN machine (hold the boos, that tablet was just hitting the what seven year mark and was finally dying) And the extra screen space is actually a luxury… and it is about as heavy as that tablet, which is a sub notebook in size.
I use the machine for writing and some art. Loaded my copy of Corel Painter and it runs fine. Granted, when I need more real estate I will run over to the gaming windows machine… or when I need more speed for heavy 3D applications
But this is MY primary box. The gaming machine is used for 3D applications and layout of final product. (And my hubby uses it for what it was primarily bought, gaming on line_)
Reality is I could not justify the extra thousand bucks or so… to get the pro model… not after buying that gaming machine…
Yes I could make people drool, and no, we are not adopting.Suffice it to say that its capabilities make running VUE a joy, when Vista decides to behave… and I don’t believe any Mac machine would approximate it… due to its upper end 3D hardware.
So if you are looking for a machine to use for writing… I’d say the Macbook is more than sufficient. Just remember, to take care of your machine… it is a tool, and like any tool this needs good maintainance. (Yes next pay day… will be getting the disk maintainance utilities.)
Remember that the people who draw 3-D graphics are part of Apple’s core constituency.
No, I don’t have one, and no, I definitely don’t want to get into a “my system is better than yours” contest, but the days when Macs were overpriced and underpowered are long gone.
The machine was not your standard off the shelf, but designed for this.
And trust me, I was looking at MAC when it came time to replace the other gaming machine, but alas until more online games come online… this house will have a win machine. We buy a top of the line dedicated machine every eight years or so… and I can justify it since I also use it for 3D…
And the eight core came out to the market a couple months after this machine was ordered… four cores, and two Nvidias dedicated top of the line video cards…
And as I said… it is not your HP off the self… and when he was doing some testing… he started having some horrible lagging… well they told him, but your machine…
That is where the are you adopting came from… his testing bed was better than the developers had…
I also discovered an odd bug on Word '07… it froze every five pages or so when putting in an index (which I-works does not have a capacity to do) I contacted MS… well your machine is slow.
After laughing I sent them the stats.
I guess we have a bug.
I guess you do (and I hope they fix it, and don’t introduce it in the MAC '08 version)
From the amount of research I have done on Mac’s and what I personally know of PC’s. Pound for pound, I have found a lower priced PC with better hardware Stats then Mac everytime. In my opinion, Mac’s sell for for their aesthetic appeal, and of course, OS-X. I am buying a Mac for scrivener, and because I dislike Vista. Just waiting to see the announcement for the new subnotebook from apple this Jan. More then likely I will continue purchasing Mac’s from then on as well. However, If someone asked me what to buy for the best bang for buck, It would almost always be a PC. Hardware wise, Apple charges to much for it.
Yes, I’ve heard this argument. It’s (heh heh) an Apples and oranges comparison.
It’s not the sheer ram or chip speed, it’s what the operating system can do with them. That’s why, on a gigaHertz per pound basis, the PC can look like the better bargain. Until you try to do the same things with it.
Hmm, I’d have to say it’s the better OS + the controlled hardware that make Macs so nice.
You can get a Windows machine that matches in specs for cheaper but nine times out of ten you will need special drivers, etc. if you ever plan to reinstall/upgrade your OS.
You can use any flavor of Linux and almost match the security and stability of OSX but will need to do much configuration if your machine is a newer model.
It’s very difficult to compare. But from my initial research the old axiom of Macs being more expensive is no longer true. Here are some web sites with excellent, detailed price comparisons. Also consider the resale value, which gives you extra dollars to offset any upgrade purchases…
Too many factors in a WIN-MAC shoot-out to decide on the basis of one or two.
Consider:
speed,
comfort,
versatility,
aesthetics,
variety of software,
efficiency of software,
applicability of software,
support.
Then you can add in the ineffable WOW factor, and whether it’s Bill Gates or Steve Jobs you want to keep off the unemployment line.
A large-population survey of people who had switched from one to the other might prove interesting, but might also prove nothing.
After a brief flirtation with dead-end Kaypros and several years with Windows (employment-enforced) I got out on my own, found Mac, and never considered switching back.
I have four macs and two PCs in the house, and I certainly know which I prefer.
Although it’s horses for courses and personal preference, when using the same programs on the Mac or PC (eg, Photoshop, Dreamweaver) I much prefer the interface of the Mac versions.
Plus they look great. I like the Aesthetics of the hardware just as much as the aesthetics of the software.
I started off with a PC* (because that is what my father had), but as I wanted to work in design, I had to switch to Mac. Which took me no time at all to pick up, as it was logical and easy (we’re talking OS 7 here btw) and I’ve never looked back!
* Actually, to be totally accurate, I started off with a commodore 64. Those were the days.
shame on you! How on Earth could someone as aesthetically perceptive as yourself, stomach going out with somebody wholived in his Doc Martins,tch!tch!tch!
vic
Me too. I loved that thing - well, certain aspects of it. Old as it was it had some of the best games I’ve ever seen, bad graphics and all. Word processing was no picnic, though.
