MacBook

[simon275]

I have been a PC Windows person since forever. I know there are a few people I will be getting a new laptop for University I am thinking of getting a Macbook. How much of a jump is it from Windows to MAC? Will it be totally confusing and it will be an expensive white paperweight? Or will it be easy to pickup? Hope you all can shed some light on this for me. I am sick of reading articles and I need some good honest experienced opinions.

All this laptop will be for is word, music and a little bit of video editing.

Cheers

(yes I have used linux)

[Bucko]

I'm a PC man too, but my Sister swears by Apple. I've used her laptops before and I could navigate around fairly easily and do most things.
I'd say after about a week you should be fine. If I spent more time on hers I could pick it up properly.

As for what you can do with it, I'm not sure just due to not spending enough time on it.

[Produkt]

I don't know what it is... but after using PC's for almost 15 years now, I find macs extremely cumbersome. but the only instance I get to use them for extended periods is through uni, and in that sense they are locked up because the administration is a bunch of tards...

There is a fully enable Unix Terminal you can access if you have admin rights on a mac, so there is a lot to do there, and seeing as UT3 is multi platform, the good stuff still comes to you, you cant play any steam based games yet, but soon its possible, and if you get desperate you can boot camp the sucker

the jokes going around are, aside from not being able to run the exact same programs, using a mac is like sticking your task bar on the top of the screen...

you'll need to learn new keyboard shortcuts but thats not too hard :P instead of exe's you get dmg packages... which is like the red hat RPM but simpler...

if you notice mac are popular among the older demographic, which means its very simple... just do me a favor... don't be a tard and actually buy anti-virus... I know mac viruses are possible but you really have to piss some one off to get one.

[Scotty]

Mac's aren't hard to pick up atall. I've used Winodws PCs for a long time when i get the chance to use a Mac i won't let anyone else on as i love them <3...Thats another story...

Going from Windows to Mac OS isn't that much of a jump it will take some time to get used to but most programs are avalible for Macs that you have on Windows. Microsoft Office for example, depending on what you do Macs have the software. Apart from gaming... For your Music if its playing theres iTunes or what ever you want really, there are many Editing programs on the Mac for music, A new mac comes with iLife 06 which contains GarageBand which i haven't personally used but apparently is a good program.

For Video editing there is iMovie HD which is a nice app, much better than Moviemaker, but others like Final Cut are avalible for more money. I've used iMOve which is a older version and its pretty darn good imo.

[luciusad2004]

I thought picking up on a mac was pretty easy as well. Im not sure were u live or your proximity to a store but if you can find an apple store you could try one out (they are few and far between from what i understand but they are out there). Apparently some best buys carry them, at least they have them on their website. I dont know if best by would let you try one before you buy one though. But as i said I think its a pretty simple OS to work with.

[simon275]

I could walk to a store selling apple comps and there are about a 15 places selling macs within 10 mins drive. Including two offical apple stores.

Yeah I am seriously considering it. I have had a play at various stores on mac books a few times and they are all very nice.

Watch this space

[Sakker]

Hey, I started using PC's first. Have been using windows for a long time, but when I decided to go to college I decided I wanted to buy a laptop as well as my desktop. I started to look around, and had trouble finding anything I liked that I KNEW would last all 4 years of college. I started reading reviews for everything, then I stumbled across a great review for the intel macbooks, and I fell in love. I read about people who are still using g3 desktops, and using the clamshell mac laptop. Everyone I asked told me that mac computers are extremely durable, lasting several times that of a pc.
With that information I started to look into what I should expect, and came across some very interesting stuff. I bought my macbook a couple of months ago, and that day I was almost instantly familiar with everything. It is extremely easy to use, and understand. I use it for everything, except gaming (because its a laptop not because its a mac). I also still have several useful links on different programs you should get, what to expect and that sort of things, heres a couple of them:
http://www.applegeeks.com/sm/index.php/topic,1781.0.html
http://www.applegeeks.com/sm/index.php/topic,8054.0.html
Applegeeks is a webcomic, the illustrator and author work on macs, and love them, in their forum they have a section dedicated to "Macish Talk" in that section you can find everything from advice on what to get (the first link) to what to expect (the second link) and new tech that apple is putting out.

Theres my 2cents.

Btw when I go home for breaks from college, the only thing I bring with me is my macbook, and it does everything I need.

[simon275]

Thanks for that. Cool webcomic. +rep