Macbook vs PC Laptop for school use

Wait, you're planning on running Vista as your primary OS? I'm not sure I follow your statements exactly, so correct me if I'm wrong.

I mean, buy whatever hardware you want, if you're not going to spend most of your time in OS X, there's not too many reasons to buy a MacBook, unless you just really love the form factor.

Also, if you ARE going to buy a MacBook, don't buy the RAM from Apple. Just buy RAM on your own—cheaper that way.

As far as price goes, Apple tends to put a bit of extra cost on their notebooks. This is mainly because they are a small company and rely on hardware profit margins to stay afloat, unlike Dell who slice their margins down to razor-thin levels and rely on volume to make it up. Like I said, if you're not planning on running OS X most of the time, don't bother. That said, if you're INTERESTED in OS X, the MacBook is clearly the way to go.

Finally, in terms of features and what you want to do with it, a MacBook would easily accomplish those tasks you listed (and more). Well, except for the using µTorrent, a Windows-only application (however, there are obviously torrent programs for OS X—I recommend Azureus, personally). It comes standard with WiFi and Bluetooth as well as gigabit ethernet, and obviously it has a DVD-RW drive and USB ports.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Mucknuggle

I want it to be Vista ready so that I can continue to use it with updated stuff once people stop making XP updates. And you know, it'd be nice to be able to not use XP. I will definitely probably be using Mac OSX as my primary OS if I got the Macbook. If I do get a Macbook, I'd like to purchase it when Leopard ships with it (well, I guess that I could always download the OS and install it myself....). I basically only need Windows because some of my lecture recordings don't work on Macs. Will Bootcamp run Vista?

BootCamp of course does not officially support Vista yet (though some people have managed to get the beta to boot). BootCamp is still beta software and will be until it ships as an official feature of Leopard. Of course, Leopard doesn't ship until Spring of '07, so I'd imagine Vista will be supported just fine by then. But, you might not want to wait THAT long to get a MacBook.

I would wait through the month of September though. As Intel's Merom mobile processor (Core 2 Duo instead of the Yonah Core Duo that currently occupies the sub-Mac Pro line) is debuting, I'd imagine we'll see updates across the board to this newer, faster dual-core chip. This might come as early as the Apple Paris Expo in September. So, keep your eyes peeled and check the rumor sites (MacRumors is a good place to find a collection of credible rumors) to see what's up.

Also, what format are your lectures in that you can't listen to them on a Mac? The only audio format I know of that won't play on a Mac is WMA that has DRM on it. Everything else is supported one way or another.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Mucknuggle

EDIT: Also, is it easy to pirate Mac software? e.g. Microsoft Office, the new version of Mac Os X?

If you know where to look. If you decide to go Mac, drop me a line. I'll see what I can do to hook you up.

And yeah, I'd say if you just want Windows for stuff like that, you'd be better served by Parallels than BootCamp. You only really need BootCamp if you want to be playing Windows-only games. So, uh, I agree with Dayvon. Way to be on top of things, man.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by Mucknuggle

I more or less decided to go Mac with my laptop a while ago, but the Integrated Graphics bother me a shit ton. Also, I'm so used to OS X now thanks to constantly using it in the lab with our G5 and 23 inch widescreen display. I miss the F9 function in Windows. However, I'm still a total Mac noob.

I didn't even know F9 had any particular function in Windows. What does that do, exactly? And, I mean, integrated graphics are a bit of a bummer but given what you want to be doing with the machine, I'd say they're plenty adequate. However, you're certainly free to wait.

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One last question: re Word 2004, my friend was mentioning something about it being able to record as you type, but he didn't explain. Does it playback an audio recording and sync what I've typed with it or something?

It has a "note-taking mode" that will record audio while you're also typing notes, but I don't think it syncs your typing. Also keep in mind that you need to get professors' permission to record them.

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This parallel thing is an OS X program that runs Windows while OS X is running? Won't that totally suck up your system resources?

Well, not entirely. It's not like the old Virtual PC, which had to completely translate x86 instructions into stuff the Mac's PowerPC could grok. Fortunately those days are over. I mean, you might not want to run other massively intense tasks while using Parallels, but I've heard that the speed is quite acceptable.

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Davyon: How well does parallel run while using say, Media Player Classic to play a video with one of the more resource heavy codecs?

Again, I think you'll find that between QT and VLC, there's not much you can't play in OS X, media file-wise.

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Also, the free iPod Nano is tempting. I've got an iPod video, but I can't exactly use that while I do cardio since I don't want to destroy the moving parts while I'm jogging. The Nano would be of great use.

It is a nice deal, but it's probably designed to help move MacBooks before the chip switch. I'd imagine the deal is set to run out shortly before the machines are revved. It's unlikely you'll be able to get a new, Core 2 Duo-powered MacBook AND the free iPod nano.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?