Should I buy an Apple laptop?

equivalent

designer or something

absolutely require mac os

In which case, stay the fuck home and get a desktop machine.

t seems to be the only reason to buy one is if you are a designer or something and absolutely require mac os.

i agree they are overpriced but apple laptops have always been. if you do web development and require a unix installation though having one is nice, that way you don't have to deal with some annoying linux package.

os x is a fucking miracle compared with other operating systems, is the reason to get one

although have people now booted os x onto all manner of intel boxen? i would imagine they have

i can't get past the NO CD DRIVE thing, with the macbook Air.

although have people now booted os x onto all manner of intel boxen? i would imagine they have

has this happened? I didn't think so

are you saying its easy to install unix on a mac? i read reviews and the consensus seems to be that getting a macbook is the better option.

Mac OS X is Unix

or at least *nix

have people really not managed to patch Leopard to work on even ONE (1x) make-model of non-Apple machine?? not saying it's trivial but given the interest and the talent out there i would have bet cash money someone had done it

http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/Installation_Guides

haha

it's instructions like this which i guess explain the continuing popularity of all-apple systems:

"MAKE SURE TO SET THE JUMPER CORRECTLY. CABLE SELECT WILL NOT WORK PROPERLY."

There's also the fact that you cannot safely apply updates. There's no telling which one will render yr PC unbootable.

Was about to get a Macbook Pro, but a Dell will be thousands less for a superior machine. And it's not a fucking Mac.

ya, i wish apple would make a computer that wasn't a fucking mac already

thousands less would = free. i haven't used a pc laptop for a while but after using one this weekend i'd have to say i'd be loathed to get one even if they were "thousands less".

is it loathe or loathed?

not getting the overpriced thing, go check out some vaios if you want a corporation shitting in your wallet

loathe

or "loth"?

I think loth.

If you mean reluctant, it's "loath." Not loathe, which is how I see it spelled 90% of the time.

Apple laptops are quite expensive. I might get an Acer.

Was about to get a Macbook Pro, but a Dell will be thousands less for a superior machine.

superior how? it depends on what you want your machine for. if you need a machine for doing basic word processing, internet surfing, and some business applications, by all means buy a dell. if you want to do any web development or multimedia anything, get a mac. this has been true for years and continues to be true.

Dells have no resale value

i require a superior machine to match my superior attitude

superior how? it depends on what you want your machine for. if you need a machine for doing basic word processing, internet surfing, and some business applications, by all means buy a dell. if you want to do any web development or multimedia anything, get a mac. this has been true for years and continues to be true.

-- akm, Monday, April 28, 2008 12:11 PM (23 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

Why is that? I have asked this question a few times and never got a decent response. I think the people I've asked either didn't know how to explain, or really did not know.

It seems to be the only reason to buy one is if you are a designer or something and absolutely require mac os.

I wonder how long people will continue to believe this total myth?

I'm waiting for blu-ray, hope they roll it out to the entire line as I'd love a smaller black mac book.

better for web development because of the unix backend and default php and apache installations (putting these things on windows is a pain in the ass and will invariably have platform differences from any production box you're going to migrate your code to great than the differences w/ the Mac *nix version); better for multimedia because the machines just seem faster and better able to handle it (this may not be true under the latest OS release? I think I heard there were many problems with photoshop, for instance, I think because it wasn't written to take full advantage of leopard or something); you also can use things like Final Cut and all the other hokier built into the OS things like Imovie and stuff which aren't there for windows

if you really want to spend like £300 on a laptop get an ibook off ebay, they're still good, don't get some celeron piece of shit

xpost, development sure, but everyone still thinks Macs are superior for design which just isn't true. They're more pleasant to use in general, but the ability to run Final Cut is their only real "design" advantage. As for this: "better for multimedia because the machines just seem faster and better able to handle it", I just don't think you're going to see a huge difference on similarly spec'd mac or pc machines.

I would never ever ever recommend someone to buy a non-Intel Mac now..

As for this: "better for multimedia because the machines just seem faster and better able to handle it", I just don't think you're going to see a huge difference on similarly spec'd mac or pc machines.

-- Spencer Chow, Monday, April 28, 2008 3:17 PM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

Quartz.

So Quartz helps with more than just the OS interface? I still don't see a huge difference on similarly spec'd machines running typical photoshop stuff etc. The price difference is much less now though so I'm largely moving to Mac.

unless you need to use microsoft-specific office and communication apps for business purposes, I still rate the lower risk profile of OS X for anything. I don't want to ever have to deal with rebuilding my system from a backup just because I forgot to patch Flash and went to a website which is perfectly legimitate 363 days out of the year but happens to have been pwnt by one of the automated sql injectors running around lately. Never having to blow a whole weekend pulling teeth to fix my home jukebox is worth the $$$, to me

and linux has nothing I want or need to run plus still pulling teeth occasionally

I bought a MB Pro a few months ago. It's a refurbished one (knock wood, buying applecare before the 1yr. warranty expires) but it's more than what I need, and the price was excellent. If/when I am unemployed it will probably come in very handy.

So Quartz helps with more than just the OS interface? I still don't see a huge difference on similarly spec'd machines running typical photoshop stuff etc. The price difference is much less now though so I'm largely moving to Mac.

-- Spencer Chow, Monday, April 28, 2008 3:36 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

Not in Adobe products (they don't even have 64 bit Photoshop working on OS X) but Final Cut, iMovie, and Aperture have Quartz acceleration.

unless you need to use microsoft-specific office and communication apps for business purposes, I still rate the lower risk profile of OS X for anything. I don't want to ever have to deal with rebuilding my system from a backup just because I forgot to patch Flash and went to a website which is perfectly legimitate 363 days out of the year but happens to have been pwnt by one of the automated sql injectors running around lately. Never having to blow a whole weekend pulling teeth to fix my home jukebox is worth the $$$, to me

-- El Tomboto, Monday, April 28, 2008 3:41 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

Being able to rebuild from a time machine backup is nice, too.

multiple x-post - look for Applecare on Ebay. I got it for my MBP and Mac Pro for about a third of what Apple charges retail, and it registered fine.

I would never ever ever recommend someone to buy a non-Intel Mac now..

even over some nasty inspiron?

If the Mac thing ain't yr thing, then don't get one, fine. Just don't pretend that there's some kind of equivalency going on between OS X and Windows and that the only real difference is the hardware.

moral equivalency

OK so 'equivalent' was not correct, OSX is far superior to windows. I like Apple, and I bought an MBP because I figured £200-300 was worth it to have a play with OSX. I loved OSX, but I tried to reformat and my OSX DVD broken so I installed Ubuntu and I've been pretty happy with it. Now I see that to buy a Mac is about £500 more than a 'PC' with the same hardware inside and I just wonder if that half-grand justifies itself?

Maybe it does - what are the technical reasons that certain industries require Mac OS? I'm not an expert on this but I was talking to a designer friend the other day who claimed that if he bought a Windows machine he would be 'laughed out of the office'.

Already addressed upthread

There are technical reasons, but it's not the type of thing you can make a black-and-white case out of. For every Mac tit in the chamber, there's a Wintel tat in the clip. To properly evaluate whether Mac or Windows or Linux or whatever is right for you or yr company, you've either got to spend plenty of quality time with each platform or discuss the matter with someone whose needs are similar to yrs and who has done this. And if you choose wrong, you can choose again later and it all counts under the former category.

I've been "the industry" for 12 years now, and I've had Mac OS, Mac OS X, Windows, Solaris, IRIX, FreeBSD, NetBSD, NeXTSTEP, and Linux as my regular desktop OS in that time. Of those, Mac OS X has been and still is by far what makes me personally most productive. Other folks' experiences obviously differ from mine, yet I wouldn't claim that their opinions on the matter are any less valid. You need to use what works best for you and stop fretting about making the wrong choice.

Let me boil it down into a couple sentences: If you are not confident enough to choose a computer based on yr own knowledge, find someone you trust and take their advice. When you are confident enough, you may discard the previous advice.

m not an expert on this but I was talking to a designer friend the other day who claimed that if he bought a Windows machine he would be 'laughed out of the office'.

well this is probably just down to snobbery

graphic design requires mac os because the industry came up with it...a Mac SE, postscript, ATM, Pagemaker, Laserwriters. While there'd be plenty of textbook publishers working with Ventura Publisher on PCs and whatnot, the Mac desktop publishing revolution was real and became standard and still is. Years later compatibility became a big issue, I still remember the days of working at one of the top printers in NYC and getting powerpoint and word and publisher files and having to output pages to postscript to place in quark just to do large format printing. At this point, the actual software is virtually identical, but the industry is filled with designers who contrary to some opinions, are not on the cutting edge of anything and still want to use Quark 3.32 or whatever it was. The entire industry is lurching towards InDesign, some places more quickly then others, but Quark 6 (or 4) on a Mac is still the only thing most print designers are comfortable working with.

YES

Okay Jed, not thousands less sorry, but well over a thousand less.

Pretty much I need it for running Pro Tools, which doesn't run on Leopard (also it's unlikey to for a good while).

Jon, I've had my last computer since about 2001 (and am hanging onto it to do retarded internet shit), if this is anything similar then I'm forgetting about resale value.

Finally, I find Macs difficult to use. I'm sure I could work it out in a week or so, but why bother? I prefer PCs.

Pro Tools does run on Windows.