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svakanda
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« on: July 09, 2009, 06:15:02 PM » |
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am looking at a 15" macbook pro...does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions? i have never owned a mac before...
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a ship is safe in the harbor, but that's not what it's for.
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isthisthingon
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« Reply #1 on: July 09, 2009, 06:40:04 PM » |
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I may do the same thing soon and would appreciate the same advice. I'll probably go with a back-breaking 17" maxed out with everything, unless Jobs slices my throat for the final 4'th GB of RAM  I'm not happy about contributing to Microsoft or Apple but so far MS has made the most from my purchases... |
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I would love to change the world, but they won't give me the source code.
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vsloathe
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« Reply #2 on: July 09, 2009, 08:24:32 PM » |
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The video cards in macbook pros are always at least one generation behind.
If you care about gaming.
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hai
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isthisthingon
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« Reply #3 on: July 09, 2009, 08:52:16 PM » |
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If you care about gaming. Boo - I do! |
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I would love to change the world, but they won't give me the source code.
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nutballs
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« Reply #4 on: July 09, 2009, 09:52:06 PM » |
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laptop and gaming do not belong in the same sentence. ever.
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I could eat a bowl of Alphabet Soup and shit a better argument than that.
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isthisthingon
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« Reply #5 on: July 09, 2009, 10:11:56 PM » |
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laptop and gaming do not belong in the same sentence. ever. For the most part I agree but lots of fun to be had with casual gaming. Diablo, for example, is a great laptop game that suffers little from lack of horsepower. Forget about anything first person shooter though. Also, with better graphic processing I find that movies suffer the screen jitters a lot less than bargain basement laptops.  |
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I would love to change the world, but they won't give me the source code.
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perkiset
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« Reply #6 on: July 09, 2009, 10:16:29 PM » |
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Agree, if you want a machine to game, get a water cooled desktop toy that's all about overcycling.
If you want a machine that will connect anywhere, do anything and be the best tool for the business job, get a Mac. Qualifications to say so: I've owned many and have a Windows, RedHat and Mac notebook still to this day. There is only one tool required for me to connect to any Windows, Mac or *nix environment easily and seamlessly. All your open source stuff will run fine. There are even compiled binaries out there for most of the prominent ones, provided you like the compile options they come with (I don't - I redid Apache, MySQL and PHP myself (which then also required a shitload of others, like libXML crypt, gd and so on) because I have very specific needs and desires for my applications).
There will be muscle memory issues. You've been a Windows hound for a long time. PinkHat fought for a couple weeks to make the Mac behave like Windows, when I finally dragged her kicking and screaming from Windows about 2 years ago. After she relaxed and let the Mac be it's own rhythm, she started getting really good results, really fast. Side note: if you want to talk to someone that was NOT about to be an Apple girl but at this point would not give up her Mac now to save her soul, call my wife ITTO. She has stories.
The anti-windows office stuff works fine. The emulators work great. It's just all around, the best tool for the job. It's worth the extra.
And now to the other question: another K for 4G ram is damn pricey - last time I checked, Crucial did not have that ram available yet, so they have a lock. 4G is nothing to sneaze at, and since you'll only have a core duo, that's prolly reasonable. Especially if you'll be running apps rather than VMs. The VMs chew the shit out of memory, so if you'll be doing a lot of that, may be worth the extra.
@ 2.9 v 3.06: My personal preference is usually more ram over a slightly higher clock. This may or may not resonate with you. Usually I'll by higher, because I get more satisfaction for longer than other people. I try to purchase into 3 years with a computer. I've been pretty successful at that for the last 20 years. $300 more for the extra cycles might very well be worth it - but if it's RAM or cycles, I'd go RAM.
Make sure you purchase a cheap 500G or 1T external to run the Time Machine. I promise, you'll thank me for that a dozen times before the year is out. Doesn't have to be expensive - a $100/Tb will do just fine. Trust me on this one. F'reals man.
When you're ready to talk EVDO or wide area WIFI or tethering, let me know, some pretty solid experience there as well.
Well that ought to get your gears spinning, I'm home now you can call if you'd like or we can do it later. Before you lay down cash, call me and I'll see what can be done with my connex. My discount rate is getting pretty solid.
/p
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It is now believed, that after having lived in one compound with 3 wives and never leaving the house for 5 years, Bin Laden called the U.S. Navy Seals himself.
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perkiset
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« Reply #7 on: July 09, 2009, 10:18:47 PM » |
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For the most part I agree but lots of fun to be had with casual gaming. Diablo, for example, is a great laptop game that suffers little from lack of horsepower. Forget about anything first person shooter though. Also, with better graphic processing I find that movies suffer the screen jitters a lot less than bargain basement laptops. ... dont sell the machine short. It can do some ROCKING work. For example, after hours mine is literally my entire keyboard rig now. Think about it: I don't carry all those 'boards anymore - I run Logic and virtual instruments and it *sounds better.* That is not a processing light activity, it about likens to kill the poor thing - but it hangs in there pretty durn good. It's not my 8 core (or the new hyper 8s that essentially have 16...) but it does the job. Weighing notebook to notebook, rather than notebook to desktop, it will be at the top of the class. |
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It is now believed, that after having lived in one compound with 3 wives and never leaving the house for 5 years, Bin Laden called the U.S. Navy Seals himself.
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isthisthingon
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« Reply #8 on: July 09, 2009, 10:29:01 PM » |
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Weighing notebook to notebook, rather than notebook to desktop, it will be at the top of the class. For the price I hope so  But nutballs is essentially correct and I know this from an embarrassingly vast level of gaming experience: you just can't fit a video card with the horsepower I've been spoiled by inside a laptop, period. I've even flirted with the dual 1/2 gig PCIe card setup cuz I'm such a gaming snob. But honestly I'd never expect a laptop to handle all these ridiculous "needs". Thanks for the advice perk!!!!!  |
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I would love to change the world, but they won't give me the source code.
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perkiset
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« Reply #9 on: July 09, 2009, 10:36:44 PM » |
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NW lad. There are other benefits that I'd be happy to expound upon but alas, they do not belong in public. if you seriously go this direction, that'll have to be a landline talk |
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It is now believed, that after having lived in one compound with 3 wives and never leaving the house for 5 years, Bin Laden called the U.S. Navy Seals himself.
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vsloathe
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« Reply #10 on: July 10, 2009, 06:18:29 AM » |
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Yeah my laptop is a beast. Freakin huge. It's considered a "gaming laptop". Nuts, I'd wager it probably has more horsepower than your desktop  |
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hai
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svakanda
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« Reply #11 on: July 10, 2009, 07:03:01 AM » |
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i have a nice gaming desktop, i really want a laptop primarily for work, travel, and business. One thing that attracts me to the MacBook Pro is I have this idea in my head that the new ones batteries last for 7 hours! Is this for real? Hell, even five hours and I'd be delighted, and that is probably more realistic if the box says 7. But also...how well do the batteries hold up to the test of time? My last HP laptop after a couple years couldn't even hold a charge for 30 minutes? like bleh...what do you guys think about apples batteries?
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a ship is safe in the harbor, but that's not what it's for.
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vsloathe
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« Reply #12 on: July 10, 2009, 07:21:21 AM » |
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Don't have experience with their batteries, except in my iPhone.
They have netbooks now that last like 10+ hours though. Only a couple hundy to pick one up too. Guess it depends on your needs.
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hai
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perkiset
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« Reply #13 on: July 10, 2009, 10:02:29 AM » |
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Oh yeah, forgot to mention: I HATE my 17" on a plane. It's just too friggin' huge and when the food blister in the seat in front of me can't settle down and bounces about with my 'book open, I fear for my drink and my machine. Really. It does adjust OK when I plug it into a projector, and it plays movies REALLY nicely when we settle down in a hotel room  but I would be hard pressed to tell you that, with virtual desktops, the extra couple inches really increases my ability to code on the thing. I just don't know if you'd find it really worth it. I just put all the things I'm working on on a different Space and voila, all the desktop room I need. So I don't know if that's a good expenditure for you. Both #1 daughter and wife have the 15", and it seems a bit more easy to maneuver about. Even rolley-briefcases for mine are more expensive. Daughter's new 15" pro is really really nice. What you might consider, is getting a 15" and then getting a 24" cinema monitor or something (I have a few clients with exactly that rig, plus plug in kbd, mouse et al) - the display is STUNNING and they really like the desktop feel and then the pick up and go. Might be worth a thought. |
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It is now believed, that after having lived in one compound with 3 wives and never leaving the house for 5 years, Bin Laden called the U.S. Navy Seals himself.
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isthisthingon
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« Reply #14 on: July 10, 2009, 10:47:11 AM » |
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What you might consider, is getting a 15" and then getting a 24" cinema monitor or something (I have a few clients with exactly that rig, plus plug in kbd, mouse et al) - the display is STUNNING and they really like the desktop feel and then the pick up and go. Might be worth a thought. I'll bet it is. But charging $899 for a 24" monitor is a crime tho! Can't I just buy a top-notch 22" for $199.99 at Best Buy and call it a day? |
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I would love to change the world, but they won't give me the source code.
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