Jump to content

Get a MAC!


cantthinkofanickname

Recommended Posts

cantthinkofanickname

My old laptop is well, old.Shall I get a MAC.?1. They seem to cost more.2. Only use 5400 rpm drives3. Only have 2 USB 2 ports.4. Why have both versions of firewire ports?5. I need to use my current windows Apps. licenses.Is there a solution. I need to discuss this with you guys to convince me. Have say £1500 to spend. Need it mainly for website dev. and hard work in that arena.Thanks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1. They may appear to cost more, but if you take a similarly configured Windows laptop, you will be looking at about the same cost. Apple does not sell cheap, low end machines, since it would likely degrade the user experience.2. There are some 5400 rpm drives out that will out-perform 7200 drives. These use a new technology called perpendicular recording. I do not know if Apple is using those drives or not.3. I agree. I want more USB ports as well.4. You are going to find there are many more mac accessories out there that run on firewire than USB. In some cases, they will simply perform better.5. Parallels desktop may be the solution for you, since you can run Windows apps while logged into your OSX user account.Does that help?Adam

Link to comment
Share on other sites

cantthinkofanickname

With the USB ports I have found that if a hub is used things like scanners and eqmt. which requires two way negotiation often fails or hangs. Is this anyones experience? I usually have 4 things connected.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

RichNRockville

One problem with many usb hubs is that many devices like the hubs with external power. Get a external powered hub and that could solve your problem. But YMMV... Rich

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've run into isolated cases where I have to plug a device into the USB port on the computer and not a hub. It's been a while so it may not be the case anymore though. And this was on Winders XP.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just a note: My Mac (a MacBook Pro 17) has 3 USB ports, one FireWire 400, and one FireWire 800 port. That's enough for me. I did switch to using FireWire with my iPod, but I can't think of another USB device I need to connect that would give me a need for four USB ports. Sure, I'd like four USB ports, but I know of no other notebook PC that offers four (though I'm sure a few must).I'm in the midst of writing a series on the Mac vs. PC costs. Macs are only more expensive if you want a somewhat odd collection of features that Apple doesn't offer. There are many, many other combinations of market positions with Wintel machines. One of those positions is the cheap and dirty Windows box with a lot of substandard parts lacking in important options. Apple doesn't make a comparable machine. For years I've been counseling people not to buy those machines. They have much shorter shelf lives -- and in the end, they're not bargain. They also tend to be laden with a lot of near-spyware-like software by third parties. Notice that Dell's new small business line, I think it's called Vosotro, very tactfully "doesn't include trialware." That trialware is crap that other companies pay Dell and other PC makers to preinstall. It takes up a ton of overhead and bogs down your system. It's like planned obsolence because it just turns your Windows machine to mush in a couple of years. Apple doesn't do that.To answer your question, if you're adventurous and this is a personal machine, there is no good reason not to buy a Mac. Be prepared for an adjustment, but it is not a really steep learning curve.-- Scot

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good points, Scot. I look forward to your analysis.My wife and I have been loitering at the Mac store at the mall and we are definitely switching to Mac when we are able to financially (no knock against prices...we won't buy low-tier specs). She's a teacher so we can get a discount on our purchase. I'm really looking forward to switching...well maybe not transitioning our data, but the endpoint.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

cantthinkofanickname

You are right that Windows machines come with loads of crud one doesn't need, silly cut down office stuff and subscription offers. In fact my broadband supplier (UK) gives me Norton Antivirus as part of the package so I don't want that either.Do MACs really come so unencumbered?I need a laptop and I develope websites part time(!). I often have 8 apps. running (4 browsers, dreamweaver, word, excel, etc.) and I don't want to wait for disc shunting so I need max RAM (=> 3Gbyte). I need a well built one to last about 5yrs. My current laptop is 4yrs old and is 1.6GHz still running well but the keyboard is missing occasionally. It's interesting to note that the speed of processors has not changed much in that time due to the IC technology reaching a peak now so I'm not expecting speeds to rise much beyond 3GHz so a 2GHz proc. should be good for the next few years. I need a better screen though.I suspect with a MAC I will be running all my existing apps under the emulator but would like to swap to the MAC OS frequently (say if one of them, a graphics program is running under MAC).Does anyone know if I can run it like that and keep apps in "suspension" ready to continue at the press of a key? I must know these things else it will be a waste of money. So that's my question at the moment.Cheers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Does anyone know if I can run it like that and keep apps in "suspension" ready to continue at the press of a key? I must know these things else it will be a waste of money. So that's my question at the moment.
You absolutely can do this. I'm not at home or I'd post a screen shot of my PowerBook with 3 browsers (that's all I've got), DW, Word, and Excel all running at the same time. Switching between them is very simple.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

cantthinkofanickname
You absolutely can do this. I'm not at home or I'd post a screen shot of my PowerBook with 3 browsers (that's all I've got), DW, Word, and Excel all running at the same time. Switching between them is very simple.
Ah! yes, but they are windows apps. I meant between say word and a Mac. OS app. on the other OS OR even to a Linux OS app if I had 3 OSs installed?
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Beta 2 for OS X
Sorry but for someone considering buying a computer with a completely new OS on it, I would never recommend running any beta on it. It is hard enough trying to fumble one's way around a new OS without the added quirks of some software that is still in beta.twocents.gif
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...
Guest LilBambi

Yes, some Toshiba and Sony laptops also have 4 USB 2.0 ports as well.I have two USB 2.0 ports on my Mac Mini and I switch back and forth between the printer and External USB and Flash drives easily. But I am considering getting a powered USB HUB as well so I don't have to do that. Eventually I would like to get an External hard drive case that does both USB 2.0 and Firewire so I can take advantage of the Mac Mini's Firewire port instead for the External drive. I have found some on eBay that are not too expensive. Most are internally powered they say. Not sure about those for some devices.Either way, as Scot said, the learning curve is not bad at all. The Mac just works as advertised. It has a UNIX backbone so if you have ever used Linux or BSD much of it will make sense right out of the box. If you are using Windows, the GUI works similarly to both Linux/BSD and Windows with minor differences. Most of these differences can be gotten around if you don't care for them. Others actually are more efficient for the tasks you use.If you get an Intel Mac, most any Mac OS X virtualization software will work such as Parallels, VMWare's Fusion, etc. so you can run your existing copy of Dreamweaver etc. If you have a version that comes with both Mac and Windows versions on the disk, so much the better. Same with things like Adobe Photoshop, and other programs that you might need.So far it's been a wonderful choice for me; although I do not give up one OS to make use of another. I still have Windows and Linux computers as well because I like variety. <_>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

cantthinkofanickname
Yes, some Toshiba and Sony laptops also have 4 USB 2.0 ports as well.I have two USB 2.0 ports on my Mac Mini and I switch back and forth between the printer and External USB and Flash drives easily. But I am considering getting a powered USB HUB as well so I don't have to do that. Eventually I would like to get an External hard drive case that does both USB 2.0 and Firewire so I can take advantage of the Mac Mini's Firewire port instead for the External drive. I have found some on eBay that are not too expensive. Most are internally powered they say. Not sure about those for some devices.
I assume you're pulling the USB plugs out to swap devices. Watch this as the USB sockets are not very robust and after a time will weaken giving bad connections (use a USB extender cable which also makes it easier to chage devices). I've found with a hub even if it's powered, my scanner will not run and frequently hangs. Although the drivers may be better now I would prefer 4 USBs for permanent connections. Anyone experience problems running a scanner (or any USB device that requires a more complex 2-way protocol) to drive it?Anyway I'm nearly decided to go for a MACpro 15" screen. "2GB" memory as minimum. It will have to radio to my BT Hub (UK) as all my Eths are used up. It will have to be a refurbished one as it looks like to get Windows I will have to buy an XPPro new. Any ideas?Thanks
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...