FAO Mac Owners

[futura]

Re: FAO Mac Owners

well said, though if I was to get the 17" MBP,it's still nearly a grand more than any 17" Dual Core Notebook PC you'd get...

I have to disclose I used a student discount to get my MBP. That put it at $2500 w/o shipping.

I priced out an equally (as equal as I could get) Dell Inspiron and it was $200 less.

I just priced it out again (Dell) and came to around $2,271 with the similar features.

I compare Vista Ultimate to OSX. Plus you get the other iLife software, et. al. bundled.

I felt like $200 wasn't enough to quibble. A grand, sure. Another assumption: for a laptop, I'd rather spend a bit more for something quality that's going to last because it's going to be dragged around to who knows where. Whereas my desktop sits at home safe and sound. So, going off-name for a laptop is a bit riskier in terms of quick, reliable support. Certainly, both Dell and Apple have their support issues as well.

If you truly price out TCO, I can't find much proof that the Apple is that much more expensive than a comparable PC TCO.


Besides - you lust after brushed aluminum and the glowing white Apple on the back of the case like the rest of us. Dive in, the water's fine.

Go MBP. You're a power-user. You'll regret the MB.

[asdf_admin]

Re: FAO Mac Owners

yes some more.

when searching for "Mac" in the UK Apple Store, the listing for the Mac Pro is:
Mac Pro
Now quad-core or 8-core processing power.
Configure yours today.

Rumors that Apple would incorporate two of Intel's Quad-core chips into a Mac Pro to produce an 8-core Mac Pro have been ongoing since late last year.

Update: Apple appears to have found it and have removed the text from their site.

[asdf_admin]

Re: FAO Mac Owners

Here is some more news.

The new Xeon L5320 and L5310 processors consume only 12.5 watts of electricity per core, using 35-60% less power than the existing quad-core Xeons.The L5320 operates at 1.86 GHz and the L5310 at 1.60 GHz. They both feature 8M bytes of on-die cache for faster memory data communication. In quantities of 1,000 units, the L5320 is priced at US$519 and the L5310 at $455.
No word on whether or not Apple is planning on using the newest Quad-core processors in upcoming Macs, despite persistent rumors of Apple introducing a 8-Core Mac Pro. These new processors, however, feature a slower clock speed (1.60GHz, 1.86GHz) than the existing less power-efficient (2.66GHz) Clovertown Quad-core processors.

For readers interested in the top end of performance, Intel revealed last week that later this year, they will be releasing a higher end 3.0GHz version of its Quad-core Xeon for customers who aren't concerned with power consumption.

The current 2.66GHz Quad-cores or these upcoming high end chips appear to be the most likely candidates for future 8-Core Mac Pro models, as power consumption is not a major consideration for Apple's high end desktop machines.

[asdf_admin]

Re: FAO Mac Owners

I am also stuck between mac pro & macbook pro. I kinda like the desktop overall, but having all that 64 portable firing power is pretty nice.

[asdf_admin]

Re: FAO Mac Owners

here is also a good place to look for a reduction in cost. they are refurb but still carry the year warranty. if i trust any company, it will be apple.

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/6124001/wo/OM4inhcFc2re20nRZB62us60LBW/2.0.0.21.1.0.8.7.1.0.1.1

it updates at least a couple times a week. so not too bad.

[Kamal]

Re: FAO Mac Owners

well said, though if I was to get the 17" MBP,it's still nearly a grand more than any 17" Dual Core Notebook PC you'd get...

[futura]

Re: FAO Mac Owners

right on -- although I'm not really a gamer and I don't use CAD, so it probably wouldn't make much difference to me, right?

I went with a MBP 17" when the Core 2 Duo's were rolled. They run cooler and it performs great.

I run Parallels regularly with 2 GB of RAM. I think you should go 2 GB. The reason is this - when you run Parallels the config asks you how much RAM to allocate to the windows virtual machine. If you imagine your Windows machine running on X amount of RAM - you want to make sure it has that much to entertain itself.

I allocate between 900MB and 1GB of RAM to the Parallels and Windows performs fine. I run two XP boxes, and a Vista Parallels. Never run them all at the same time, as I'm sure performance would suffer.

On one of the XP I do video editing withy Sony Vegas. Works awesome. I have a LaCie firewire 800 drive that holds my content, which I share right from the mac through Parallels.

On another XP I do software development with visual studio 2005 and sql server 2005. Works awesome.

On the Vista box, I haven't decked it out yet and moved there for dev, but it runs Office 2007 and general stuff. You don't get the Aero interface on Vista (but may if Parallels gets the 3D stuff going, since it needs directX.)

to be clear, Sony Vegas doesn't need DirectX, and video playback is perfectly fine. However, any software (games, but some other stuff) that requires DirectX may not run. There is a very minimal DirectX emulation on the Parallels VM, but like the full-on DirectX 9/10, etc. will not have any 3D acceleration.

The MBP 17" w/ 2GB RAM works awesome, and is a productive powerhouse for me.

I'm looking forward to Parallels supporting the 3D acceleration, as well as multi-core support. Right now, your Parallels VM would run on 1 core of your box.

You know, waiting for Leopard to avoid the upgrade cost may be worth it. I'm guessing Apple will release new hardware. However, if you look at what's available in hardware - Intel hasn't released any new chips - no super-new-tiny hard drives are available... so really other than some lip-gloss, I'm not quite sure what would come out in the MBP range.

I've heard new ipods... new Mac Pro's (the Mac desktop models)... and possibly new MacBooks.

I'm guessing the MBP will not have a major new release with Leopard, and even if they do, will be just some fine-tuning.

I'm happy with my second-gen Intel MBP running the Core 2 Duo (Merom) and it works great.

I only say all that because if you run it on a MacBook, make sure to pull up that matrix/table that Apple has comparing all their products. The MacBook has on-board video - the MBP has a dedicated ATI X1300 video card... and so on. You get better expandability. I wanted to make sure I had flexibility long-term.

No doubt, you'll not regret your choice.

Kamal, you should move. I've read your other posts and note that you're an avid PC guy. The Mac at least on the laptop front is awesome. I still can't say I'd go there with my desktop though... it's just too pricey and you can custom-build a PC for cheaper.

I love it.

Enjoy.

[beanzncheez]

Re: FAO Mac Owners

Just go with 2GB. It's not like it's gonna hurt you to be prepared. Ha ha.

[asdf_admin]

Re: FAO Mac Owners

http://www.macrumors.com/

this is really the cool link for apple products. based on history and model release it kinda gives you a base for when new models will come out. I am pretty sure when Leopard rolls out apple will update their product line. This something constant they do.

link: http://guides.macrumors.com/Buyer's_Guide_(time-ordered)

In regards to 1 gig or 2 gig ... tough call. I would tell you to go with 2 gig just because the way they have the slots available in a mac book/mac book pro. If you are going with a mac pro I would not be concerned just because you have more slots aval and you can buy more memory.

There is a method to their madness, there are two slots on the Macbook, so if you go with 1 gig make sure it is a 1 gig stick, sometimes apple will toss in 2 x 512 to give you the 1 gig. Now when you want to upgrade to 2 gig you have to buy all new memory and you can not expand with the current that you all ready have. so be very careful in your selection. I believe the mac books come in the 1 gig stick. the mac pros come in 2 x 512, but they have many slots aval so you can expand on the with just buying more 512. so pick your battle carefully.

[Troklo]

Re: FAO Mac Owners

Oh and like asdf said if your going mac wait until leopard comes out

[Troklo]

Re: FAO Mac Owners

I run windows on my mac via Boot camp and it works just fine (play lots of games, half life, doom 3, etc..), I think 1gb is more than enough, Parllels is good if your not running big programs, if so its better to run them with boot camp.

[toasty]

Re: FAO Mac Owners

Supposedly in the next version of Parallels they will be giving partial 3D support as well...

right on -- although I'm not really a gamer and I don't use CAD, so it probably wouldn't make much difference to me, right?

[Caley Martin]

Re: FAO Mac Owners

Supposedly in the next version of Parallels they will be giving partial 3D support as well...

[Kamal]

Re: FAO Mac Owners

Thx the links. I think I will be getting the 15" mac book pro for christmas.

[toasty]

Re: FAO Mac Owners

Here's the link:

http://www.parallels.com/en/products/desktop/

Here's a review, too:

http://www.macworld.com/2006/06/reviews/parallels/index.php

Big pimpin', seriously...