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Introducing Kalani Luana| Author | Post |
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| axlsfury Senior Member  1110 Posts 7/04 |  Posted - Jun 3 2010 : 9:56AMWanted to get some opinions on this. I need to buy a new laptop. I want something powerful as I typically run lots of programs at the same time. I need to work on windows and office programs for work (ppt, excel, word etc) I'm also interested in obtaining Adobe Creative Suite as I have an interest in learning about design - so something powerful enough to manage this with ease is what I'm after. I live in Canada, so the prices for a MacBook Pro 15" are about $1800 While I noticed that lots of PC high end laptops top out around a grand. Should I be looking at a Lenovo T Series thinkpad as well? Need some help. Thanks in advance! [Link] |
| ChodeMasterJ Perpetual Marxist 5405 Posts 4/03 | Posted - Jun 4 2010 : 1:27AM [Link] |
| jrsl76 Senior Member Perfection 4024 Posts 8/07 | Posted - Jun 4 2010 : 2:18AM [Link] |
| DrP0rn0 Senior Member 1836 Posts 5/04 | Posted - Jun 8 2010 : 1:06PM "Using Windows": If you need specific Windows programs that aren't available for OSX (the Mac's operating system) you can run Windows in a virtual machine on the mac. Parallels and VMWare both do a very good job and integrate well with the Mac. For example, you can run Windows programs and cut and paste between them and Mac programs just as if they were native. Great technology. MS Office: Office is available for the Mac if you really need it. If you don't need "Office", Open Office works really well for many people. The Mac version called Neo Office has a very Mac look and feel and of course it's free. Caution: The Mac version of MS Office works great as far as I can tell. BUT, there's a big but: Formatting in Word can be different from Windows version to mac version. So if you author a document on Mac Word and give it to someone with Windows Word there can be differences in things like line to line spacing, etc. If you absolutely must use Word and interact with Windows users, you're probably best off running Office inside a Windows virtual machine on your Mac. Performance: Mac laptops run very fast assuming you have enough RAM for the the program(s) you want to run together. If you're going to be doing high end graphics work, be sure you get the "real" video chip as opposed to the integrated Intel graphics. For normal graphics you won't know the difference. If you do high end work it'll make a difference. Price: Macs appear to be more expensive on the surface until you consider a few things. Try this: Pick out a PC laptop that you like. Now equip it exactly like a Macbook pro. 15" screen with the same (or better) resolution, built in camera, microphone, and speakers. Give it the same processor, RAM, hard drive, and make sure it has bluetooth and Wifi N (802.11n). You may or may not find other laptops with Firewire800 ports on them. You almost certainly won't find others with a magsafe power connector, or aluminum unibody construction. When you add all of this up, it's nearly impossible to equip a PC laptop like an MBP and have it be cheaper. Generally speaking, the MBP ends up being less money when compared to a similarly equipped PC laptop. Most people don't do those comparisons. What about longevity? In my experience, Macs tend to have a much longer life than PCs. My friends with a 3 year old macbook still use it daily and only want to upgrade the hard drive because they've filled it with pictures. Three years ago an 80 GB drive seemed big.  So really, their investment has lasted longer than the majority of PC laptops will. How many times have they had to rebuild the OS on that laptop in 3 years? Zero. Try to find a friend with a PC laptop 3 years old that hasn't had to reinstall the OS. You *might* find 2 in 10 if you're lucky, or if you know a lot of old ladies with laptops. [:P)] It really comes down to whether or not you're comfortable with the platform or not. If you are, it's a no brainer. Dr. P [Link] |
| axlsfury Senior Member 1110 Posts 7/04 | Posted - Jun 9 2010 : 12:27PM [Link] |
| ChodeMasterJ Perpetual Marxist 5405 Posts 4/03 | Posted - Jun 10 2010 : 1:33AM You'll love it.[Link] |
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