Should I buy an Apple laptop?

I'm getting an 800mhz 12" after work today. Thanks all.

OS wise OS X is second to none, it is stable as anything going, it looks nice. You can use it without tweaking a thing or get right into the nuts and bolts if you want.

As far as the hardware goes, build quality is second to none, my only gripe is that the headphone port broke, but this appears to have been fixed with better ports on newer models.

Buy a mac you won't be disappointed.

Plus apple just upped specs and cut prices on iBooks and powerbooks.

Which is slightly distressing...

OK, Mac happiness it is, although getting used to iTunes over Winamp is gonna take some work...

There's a version of Winamp for Mac but it's an Alpha and kinda light on features (stable but you can't fiddle with the settings like you can in windows).

As a result, I recently purchased a rather nice PC laptop. It cost AUD $2k. Specs: 12" TFT (1024x768), 1ghz Celeron, 20gb hdd, 256mb ram, DVD, ethernet, 56k modem, 3 USB ports, firewire.

Photos: one, two, three.

So far it works nicely.

so dave q ... please do keep up to date on this thread about your progress with iBook/OSX. i'm so perilously close to buying one of these that a good iBlog could push me over the edge.

isn't that 12" screen WAY too small to be useful?

Sean C! Glad you saw this thread; I obv. took yr advice re: the iBooks and took the plunge. So far, I'm pretty happy I did (although I'm holding off on a full thumbs up until I get another 512 megs of ram, hopefully soon...)

iBook: P92, 600 Mhz, 12.1", 128 MB, 20 GB, Combo Drive (DVD-CDRW), Internal Modem -

£475?

but I could still say that that's mem. is too lo.

I should take it and add some (cheap?) memory (easily?)?

Yes, you can. If I can do it, anyone can - Cozen you should get it.

http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~christi/cattery/second-golden-age.html

http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~christi/cattery/second-golden-age.html

My iBook is in the shop AGAIN. It keeps blowing through logic circuits like so many M&Ms. I am hoping Apple will just replace the computer at this point, but we'll see.

I don't mind it getting scuffed up, I mean I bought it so I could use it as a laptop (out and about &c.) it just ruins the overall prettiness.

What is 'blowing through logic circuits' and should I worry or is it that-computer specific?

You can get the fabric things at computer stores. I am not sure what they are called, but if you ask for a laptop screen protector fabric thingy doo, they might have it. I don't have one, since the keyboard marks seem easy to clean off. But my bf has one, because he is fussy.

One of my friends wraps her iBook in a scarf but her computer is still getting all scratched up so ah well!

So awesome! I can't wait until I dig its teeth into my high-end video stuff in a few months. I'm never going back to Windows. I may go to a *nix one day, but never back to MS.

Just wondering, though, are there any good programs for some simple WYSIWYG HTML? I don't need anything as mighty as Dreamweaver, however.

So... my old Powerbook G4 which I purchased in 2002 (I think) is finally on its last legs. The disk drive doesn't work and one of the hinges broke this weekend. While I can still use it, it has lost much of its functionality.
I'm thinking of buying a new MacBook but I'm wondering if there's any reason to believe that the prices on them will drop in the next few weeks/months?
Advice/suggestions?

(Blimey, toby's undergone a conversion) since 2002)

You might check the mac buyers guide:

http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/#MacBook

Should I get a MacBook Air? Does anyone have one here?

Problem with macbook air is its just too big and too expensive for a secondary/travel laptop

um, are you really willing to pay an extra $799 dollars so that your computer can be slightly (.32") thinner than the macbook? have you ever complained about the thickness of your laptop? because if not, than you might as well save your money.

manufactured demand say what

dayo otm

hey thank you so much everybody. it feels like when you google for some kind of tech problem & find some sort of utopian, 100% benevolent online commune of forum guys just helping out people dropping in, Welcome to the Board Jeff! Post your Error Log Alan Forbe, Posts: 11872 Old hand]. i really appreciate the hand-holding. i have to figure out what i can get. when i buy my new computer i will bump this thread every time i use it.

thank you x

early 2015 13 mba 8gb. buy now? not immediate necessity. mistrust what apple might do this year but havent read up

do you care about retina display?

^

no i don't think so. i don't do anything that relies on imgs and i prefer my films to look shitty. i havent had much interaction with retina either though so maybe just ignorance i will rue in the future. i imagine non-retina would have longer battery, which would def be more important

i'm pretty sure i know that the 2015 would be totally fine for my usage case tbh, i'm just fully not sure what i'll be missing out on from the 2016 lineup. and yknow that classic fake processor anxiety they do where it's like SKYLLAKE ugh how can i use this broadwell DOGSHIT when you could never tell in ur entire life

force touch i guess

i have totally lost track of the CPU situation but for me if you want a laptop now and you don't care about retina then get an air and max out the RAM

the dinky processor on the macbook is slower than the one in the air iirc, and the skylake is not in macbook pros, never mind the airs, so i don't think there's a massive cpu jump imminent

more likely i think is that they just ditch the air form factor?

MacBook Air likely dead walking, but that's no reason not to buy one now if it meets yr needs.

I got the latest one from work, and it's really not a great machine. The screen is really pretty poor, even by MacBook standards, and it seems to have weird hardware issues - kernel panics a lot when connecting devices or monitors, sometimes is reluctant to startup. This is probably just a lemon, mind, my 2011 11" is one of my favourite ever Macs.

my 2013 13" air is my favourite ever mac (os x sucks though)

I love love love the Macbook Air. It's so light! Why would Apple kill it?

is there a PHYSICAL reason a macbook air would intermittently make a noise that sounds like a quiet, brushed cymbal roll? i've been hearing it recently and i can't tell if it's the hardware or the software, whether i'm causing it, etc.

i thought maybe it could be connected to some kind of esoteric feedback for high-inertia/speed / long-distance two-finger scrolling in safari, but i can't replicate that - and i would have heard it doing this before if that were the case.

also i recently started running garageband, and the sound is recognizably musical, but other than that i have no ideas.

i say PHYSICAL because it almost sounds to me like something vibrating up to a resonant wave, like upon repeated trackpad swipes

I’d plug in headphones to see if it’s a software generated sound. If not, the only moving part would be a cooling fan, which may be gunked with dust.
My MacBook generates a quiet hiss when it turns on speakers to put out a sound - only audible in quiet environments, and lingers a couple of seconds after the sound.

i'll try that. this has the definite profile of an EVENT of some sort, but as far as i know i have done nothing that would have caused it to start happening. uncanny!!

i read a neat trick to grep fs_usage's output for 'aiff' to catch accesses to the system sounds' files, which unfortunately does not catch even other UI sound effects like trash-emptying, let alone whatever this is. but maybe i'll be able to spy something happening in the console if i'm ever paying enough attention when the sound happens again.