apple computer

I dont know about macs.
But if i were you i'd install Linux on your old PC, i like that much better.

 

I am a BIG mac fan.. My family has.. 1 MacBook (newer one) and i have a iBook G4 (not available anymore). I love them soo much. They have fast internet, and stuff, BUT you cant play many games compared to PC. Just to warn you.. But what kind of computer are you looking for? A laptop? Desktop? Any specifics?




-Luis

 

If you are just wanting a good general purpose laptop, a MacBook would be perfect. I have one I use for college and its great. I think they are even having a promotion right now that if you buy one for school you can get a free iPod touch, after a rebate.

 

yep they do.. Since its " back to school " season (!)

 

Yeah, I totally recommend you get a Macbook laptop. Though it's a bit on the expensive side, it's totally useful for school and all that. You barely have to worry about getting a virus and all that suckness that goes with windows.

As for games, if you still have the installation disk to your windows xp or any other kind of windows, you can use a program called bootcamp so you can change your mac into a windows and go back and forth between them. I'm pretty sure that games would work if you do it that way. :icon_bigg

 

I love Macs but you should know the MacBooks and MacBook Pros are pretty heavy. So if you have to lug it around a lot, you might want to consider something else, unless you have tons of money and don't mind the under-poweredness of the MacBook Air.

OS X (the current Apple operating system) is UNIX-based, much like Linux, so it's pretty stable overall.

 

My MacBook Pro isn't that heavy... o.o Then again, I don't think a lot of things are heavy, so, hm. xD I'd reccomend a MacBook Pro just for the larger screen... 17" of awesomeness.

 

Which one you want depends what you want to do.

If you want something to bring with you, you'd want one of the notebooks. The Macbook Air IMHO is too expensive and limited to bother with. The MacBook Pro is larger, higher spec, and more expensive than the Macbook. Looking at friends' notebooks I found the 13" Macbook to be a very portable size. The power of the MacBook is sufficient for most general computing uses. Unfortunately Apple seems to be the only company I know that sells consumer notebook computers for more than $1000 that only have 1GB of RAM, an 80GB Hard drive, Intel's craptastic video, and no DVD burner. Oh and unlike even the $500 PC notebooks, if you want to hook it up to a data projector, or a second monitor you have to buy a special adapter.

If you are only going to be sitting at a desk the iMac would be the best bang /buck and is fairly compact, and gives you a pretty big screen.

The Powermac is very powerful, very easy to service, but very expensive.

The Powermac is easy to service, the Macbook is OK, but the rest of Macintosh computers are more difficult to service than their PC counterparts (EG: harder to upgrade HD, RAM, optical drive). I've swapped those components in every computer I've owned so for me that's a major negative.

 

I recently won a MacBook and had never used a Mac up to that point. I was a Windows person. But I found it was great, almost better than Windows. My one complaint is that it didn't come with a good, I don't know what you call it, word processor?, Like Microsoft office. But it was easy enough to go buy it for Macs and install it

 

There is Open Office based Neo office which crashes less, and integrates with MacOS a bit better than the "official port". The next version of Open Office is supposed to be native Aqua.

 

You mean the Mac Pro, right, not a Powermac? There isn't a "Powermac" as far as I know.

 

Yes, yes I do mean Mac Pro. To prove I'm not crazy, the Power Mac did exist until the introduction of the Intel based Mac Pro.

 

Ah ok... I thought it sounded vaguely familiar but I knew it wasn't current.

 

I have a MacBook. It's absolutely perfect for what I need (I don't play too many games). If you have a Windows Install disc, just use Boot Camp if you want games. The new 2.4 GHz processors can probably handle all but the most intensive ones, but I'm not sure about the graphics card. Mine barely plays the Sims 2 on medium settings. I just use it for music, movies, internet, and schoolwork. I get about 3-4 hours per charge (at full brightness and WiFi on), so I think that's really respectable. I also LOVE the MagSafe power adaptor... I can plug it in while the room is dark, and it's saved my laptop twice (and I'm careful with it). The case is holding up better than I thought it would. I don't have any scratches, only a black streak from the case's zipper. However, the palm rest on the keyboard gets kind of black/gray, like graphite, if you don't clean it.

I got it during a promotion last year (07/07/07, lol), so I got a free 4GB red iPod nano and a free Canon printer. Get it from the Apple store if you want the free stuff, or online from a retailer that doesn't charge tax or shipping if you want to save money without getting the iPod Touch.

 

The MacBook graphics card isn't heavy-duty enough for most modern games. If you want to game on a Mac laptop, you'll want a MacBook Pro--they have quite good graphics cards.

 

To be brutally honest older Macbooks came with the Intel GMA950 graphics which is one of the worst graphics processors known to man kind. Dirt cheap integrated solutions from ATI and nVidia beat it sitting down. Newer Macbooks ship with the Intel X3100, which better than the 950 is still really crappy. Intel makes graphics cards that aren't to standard, meaning gaming developers either have to include work arounds or flat out refuse to run on Intel graphics. My older desktop has an Intel 810 graphics adapter which does a much worse job of playing videos and (older) video games than my even older ATI card.

The Intel video "solutions" in the Macbook shares RAM with the system RAM. Most Macbooks ship with 1GB of RAM and of that you're stealing some for video. If you siphon off 144MB that leaves 880MB RAM remaining, which, combined with a crappy graphics card is going to be below the requirements for any remotely new game. The 80GB hard drive in the low end Macbooks is also going to be full by the time you install MacOS, Mac applications, MP3's, videos, photos, Windows, and any games. Also the exhaust vent for the Macbook is right under the monitor so when the system is going full bore it's really loud. (The vent placement also precludes closing the lid while the machine is running.)

Simply put the Macbook isn't a gaming machine.

Newer MacBook Pros are equipped with a 256 or 512MB Nvidia geForce 8600 which is pretty good by laptop standards, a relatively roomy 200GB drive, and 2GB of RAM. If you want to game, and you want a portable Apple computer, the Macbook pro is the only way to go.

Note: The vast majority of the criticism in this post is not aimed at Apple but rather Intel for making and foisting shitty graphics adapters on computer users the world over.

 

It's okay to bash Apple, you know. They aren't perfect. :lol:

 

I think that overall, a Macbook will suit you. It may not be suited for gaming, but it can handle web browsing and all that jazz just fine. In three or four years, you'll probably want to replace your laptop anyways. A lot of friends I know who have a Macbook complain that the overall materials its made out of isn't that great and that the hinges and plastic that the macbook is made out of wear out relatively easily.