Why Macs are the Best!

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Sohail

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I found a good review to prove why the MacBook really is the best computer ever invented :-

MacBook Pros were designed with the multimedia artist in mind, which means it's the laptop of choice for people who work with audio, video, or large images as well as high-end applications. The new MacBook Pro, as usual, comes in three configurations: a 15-inch 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo model; a 15-inch 2.5GHz model; and a 17-inch 2.5GHz system. And they're the same price—$1,999, $2,499, and $2,799 respectively—as the previous models. You can also purchase a 2.6GHz Core 2 Duo chip as a build-to-order option for the 2.5GHz 15-inch or 17-inch model for an extra $250.

Inside and out


From the outside, the new 15-inch and 17-inch MacBook Pros are identical to their predecessors. All are one inch thick. All come in the same 14.1-inch and 15.4-inch light gray aluminum cases. The 15-inch MacBook Pro weighs 5.4 pounds; the 17-inch model weighs 6.8 pounds.
Both 15-inch models come with LED backlit anti-glare screens with resolutions of 1,440-by-900 pixels. These wide screens immediately illuminate to full brightness and are mercury-free. Glossy displays are available as an option for all models. The 17-inch MacBook Pro, which ships with standard LCD backlighting technology, has a resolution of 1,680-by-1,050 pixels. Apple offers high-resolution LED backlit screens as an option for the 17-inch model. These larger LED backlit displays, which are 1,920-by-1,200 pixels, are mercury-free, arsenic-free, and cost $100 extra. Macworld did not test the 17-inch LED model for this review.
The new MacBook Pros all ship with 2GB of installed RAM (upgradeable to 4GB) and an 8x SuperDrive. All models come with an Nvidia GeForce 8600M GT graphics processor; though the entry-level 2.4GHz model features 256MB of video memory, while the other two configurations offer 512MB. Each model has twice the video RAM as its predecessor. The 15-inch models have two USB 2.0 ports while the 17-inch model has three.
The 2.4GHz system comes with a 200GB hard drive, up from 120GB in the previous analogous model. The two 2.5GHz MacBook Pros offer 250GB of storage, with a 300GB hard drive available as a $75 build-to-order option for the 17-inch laptop. That compares with the 160GB hard drive in the older 15-inch high-end and 17-inch models.
While I'm excited that the MacBook Pro's new trackpad now supports multi-touch hand gestures, I found that because the trackpad is the same size as the previous models, the button often got in the way. That said, the button did not affect the performance of the gestures, which work with the following applications in addition to the Finder: iCal, Safari, Preview, QuickTime Player, DVD Player, iPhoto, Mail, Address Book, and Aperture 2.0.
One thing that has changed from the previous MacBook Pro is the row of function keys at the top of the keyboard. The location of the media, volume, and keyboard illumination keys has been changed, there are new keys to control Expose and Dashboard, and the NumLock key (as well as the rest of the numeric keypad) is now gone. However, the keyboard is nice and springy and has a comfortable, non-spongy feel.
Speed boost

With the new Penryn chips comes a boost to the MacBook Pro's shared L2 cache capacity to 6MB. The two 2.5GHz MacBook Pro models carry 6MB of L2 cache, up from 4MB in the previous models. Interestingly, the 15-inch 2.4GHz MacBook Pro has 3MB of L2 cache, a drop-off from its predecessor. Despite that, the low-end MacBook Pro often performed better than its older siblings in Macworld's battery of benchmark tests. And, while its Speedmark score registered 10 percent faster than last year's low-end model, other comparisons were more dramatic: The new 2.4GHz model was 23 percent faster than that older 2.2GHz system in our Photoshop test suite.
Even with less L2 cache, the new entry-level MacBook Pro finished just one point under last Fall's build-to-order MacBook Pro, which featured a 2.6GHz Core 2 Duo chip. The new machine was about 8 percent faster in Speedmark and 23 percent faster in the Photoshop suite. Packed with double the video memory, the new 2.5GHz MacBook Pro topped the older build-to-order machine in our Unreal Tournament test by some 21 percent.
If you were among the first to buy Apple's Intel pro laptop a couple of years back, it's interesting to note that the new 15-inch, 2.5GHz MacBook Pro scores reflect roughly a 50-percent boost in both Speedmark 5 tests and our Compressor tests. We also found the new model to be 36 percent faster than the older 2GHz MacBook Pro (
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) in our Photoshop suite and 31 percent faster in our Cinema 4D test.
And the low-end 2.4GHz MacBook Pro had a Speedmark score more than twice as fast as the PowerBook G4.
Insofar as non-scientific hands-on experience goes, these new MacBook Pros felt energetic: while startup time was about 25 seconds, launching Photoshop CS3 took about 8 seconds. Some of Apple's built-in apps, like Safari and iCal took a split second to launch.

Battery life

The 15-inch 2.5GHz MacBook Pro's battery life improved significantly, about 21 percent over the previous model, lasting 2 hours and 55 minutes, compared with 2 hours and 25 minutes for the 2.2GHz model. The battery boost for the new 17-inch model is a less-impressive 5 percent: 2 hours and 53 minutes for the 2.5GHz model as opposed to 2 hours and 45 minutes for the previous 2.4GHz model.
 
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winlux

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That all sounds very nice. I have been thinking about getting a mac at some point or another, but they have always been too expensive for what you get, specially now that they are using intel chips. I have to say one thing though... The design of the pc itself looks really amazing for most of their products. However if you are really serious about all the multimedia things may I suggest you check out SGI machines. Their entry level computers are not too badly priced but those things deliver some serious horsepower when it comes to graphics, multimedia and the likes.

Wouldn't mind having one some day
 

HomerJ

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The only problem I have with Macs is the price. They have normal x86 hardware, but cost more than similar x86 machines.
 

alexandgruntz

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Macs? Meh.

I'm planning to build a cheap PC with a Core 2 Duo, 2GB of RAM and at least a 200GB HDD - for about NZ$700.

Evidence of price concerns.
 

TechAsh

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A problem I have with MACs is that you can't buy spare parts for when something goes wrong. You have to take it to a repair shop to get it fixed.
Also you can't just upgrade one component, if you want more memory you could be stuck.

I agree that they often look nicer than a PC and quite often MACs are more compact butI still think PCs are best because of their flexibility.
 
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Hazirak

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My problem with Macs is not only the price, but they seem to have some of the most rabid fanboys I've ever seen. One journalist once wrote an article basically praising the hell out of the Mac he had bought and was typing the article on. 900 word article. In it, he mentioned in 70 words the two things he didn't like: the price, and the low amount of memory when compared against a similar PC. He got more hate mail from Apple fans wondering 'what the hell do you have against Macs?' than from PC fans wondering 'what the hell do you have against PCs?' That kind of behavior is what drives me away from the brand in general - who needs enemies when you have 'friends' like that?

Besides, my ThinkPad gets better battery life than all three notebooks mentioned - on average, 4 or 5 hours during normal use.
 

Sohail

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Well i need more memory and that's for sure... I think i can upgrade it though, i am taking mine to the apple store soon so i will see what happens.
 

FalseHope

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Are you kidding me? Mac the best? HA! PC all the way ;) Mac's are too expensive, and weird for that matter. PC's are the best ;) Even though the Mac will one day replace all PC's, I think.
 

LHVWB

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Windows may be unstable but, it has much more programs made for it than Mac, if you wanna do some mucking around then why not use linux or windows which give you more control.
 
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rlodge

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Yeah and they have more viruses too ;).
I've been messing with PCs since 1992 (online at least) and in all these years I've never had a virus or trojan or worm found on my system. And no, that doesn't mean I didn't know where to look.

Macs are nice but they have their place just like wintel and linux machines. The big inhibitor to them taking a stronger hold in the market is their price. People used to having a computer around will ask "Why is the Mac so expensive?". Newbies to the PC world will look at the Mac and say "I'm not spending that much on something I may not like.".

I have a Powerbook G4 that works fine for me right along with my Windows and Linux based PCs. Will I buy another Mac? Maybe but I personally have more fun tinkering with my PCs.
 

Archkronos

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My £600 Dell lappy has better specs and a much cheaper price tag.

Minus the weird gesture thingy.
 

Scott B

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Macs may be good, but you can get a PC with the same specs for a fraction of the price.
 

HomerJ

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Hmmm, this thread has made me remember another problem I have with Macs beyond the price. The lack of upgradability is a killer.

I need upgradability. I payed $80 for 1GB of RAM when I bought my PC (one year ago), planning to upgrade it later. I bought 3GBs for $75 recently. I could also buy a processor for about $300 that was $800 back then, but I'm still waiting for the price to go down further. It really helps keep prices down when you can upgrade, since you can get the basic machine now, and improve upon it later for a fraction of the price.
 

Mekryd

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Yeah and they have more viruses too ;).
And OS/2 has fewer virii than Mac OSX. =P

OSX actually has its rather large share of security flaws (moreso than Vista, which has security features up the bum to the point of dreadfully uncomfortable until you turn them off). The reason no one writes virii fo the mac? Because hardly anyone uses them.

I wonder why.
 

alexandgruntz

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Let's say the screen on your Mac died. You'd have to take the whole machine in to get it repaired or replaced, possibly at the expense of money and your privacy. (Think HDD)

Now lets say the same happened on a standard PC desktop. Unplug the monitor, use a spare and get a new one. Set it up and done.
 
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Hazirak

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Yeah and they have more viruses too ;).
As Macs become more popular, you'll find them getting more malware targeted for them, and this favorite argument of most every Mac fan I've met will be completely invalid - who cares how many viruses your system can avoid if you still have to go out and buy antivirus software for it at the end of the day? Whether or not it actually prevents an infection, it's still taking up the same amount of memory at the end of the day.
 

HomerJ

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Seeing as Mac OS is Unix-based, it probably is more secure than Windows. Since people run as unprivileged users most of the time, it is less likely that malware will be able to gain root access and trash the entire system. Although, it could easily trash the user's home directory, which could destroy all sorts of important data.
 

rlodge

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In short why MACS are crap, latest model nice design but check this out http://apcmag.com/7839/macbook_air_top_10_things_wrong_with_it
Wow! I even looked at one at Best Buy and didn't notice all that stuff missing. I guess since I wasn't planning to buy one I really didn't look that hard. Looks like Apple downsized the paperweight. :biggrin:

It's nice that they slimlined the laptop but not at the expense of carrying a 10 pound laptop case to carry all the missing hardware.
 
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