Apple vs. Windows 7 - I'm leaning toward an Apple, but...

[NoisyDante]

Just bought a Macbook Pro, 13". Comes with snow leopard and iLife.

Any suggestions for peripherals or add-ons? I'm only going to be using it to surf the web, store our photos and video, that kind of thing.

Well it already comes with 2gigs of ram and a decent harddrive, so no real need to upgrade those just yet.  I listed some of my favorite apps earlier on this page, most of which were free.  Perhaps it might be an idea to get an external firewire harddrive to store your photos and music as a backup so in the event of a crash or something you won't lose anything memorable.

[DucaChic]

Just bought a Macbook Pro, 13". Comes with snow leopard and iLife. Any suggestions for peripherals or add-ons? I'm only going to be using it to surf the web, store our photos and video, that kind of thing.

The iLife Suite is pretty sweet. iPhoto is very good at editing, cataloging and categorizing your photos. My husband uses Photoshop Elements for his creative photo work, but I have never found a need for it with the new iPhoto.

The Time Machine Back Up utility works very well, but you will need an External Hard Drive to utilize it. Any External Drive that uses USB 2 will work well; I have used Lacie Drives for Years with very good results (There are plenty of others that work well too). The Apple Time Machine Hard Drive / Wireless Access Point is not worth all the hype in my opinion.

As for Web Surfing, Safari is good, Firefox works well on the Mac and may look more familiar to former Windows users.

Best Wishes with it.

[JBubble]

Cool, thanks ladies and gents.

[jerryz]

I cannot see why anyone would buy  a MAC when you can buy 2 windows machines for the same money , the Mac is good  but its not twice as good ...so ripoff or trendy FAD .also outside of USA when Macs go wrong your on your own wheras windows machines can be fixed anywhere.

[derby]

I cannot see why anyone would buy  a MAC when you can buy 2 windows machines for the same money , the Mac is good  but its not twice as good ...so ripoff or trendy FAD .also outside of USA when Macs go wrong your on your own wheras windows machines can be fixed anywhere.

i've posted price comparisons on the forum previously. no matter what you think, you're not going to get two identically spec'd windows machines for the price of one apple.

as expensive as they are, mac pros (with the server-grade processors) are downright bargains compared to hp and dell workstations (real workstations, not the consumer desktop machines).

now is a "low time" for the macbook pro, as it's due for a refresh. if i hadn't gotten such a good deal on my new one (purchased in november), i would've waited for the new model.

regarding "when macs go wrong," are you referring to hardware issues or just general support? in the last decade, i've only had to take my hardware in for service once (out of warranty, free of charge system board replacement due to a bad nvidia gpu). had i not had an apple store close to me, they would've paid for shipping both ways.

if your'e referring to os/software support, i'd think your support options would be about even.

[NoisyDante]

regarding "when macs go wrong," are you referring to hardware issues or just general support? in the last decade, i've only had to take my hardware in for service once (out of warranty, free of charge system board replacement due to a bad nvidia gpu). had i not had an apple store close to me, they would've paid for shipping both ways.

I have a Powerbook I bought in 2003, and it's still running fine.  The G5 I bought in 2005 handles all of my post production apps, had one issue with it in '06 but I traced it to a faulty ram chip, which was replaced for free, and never had a problem since.  Macs are damn solid.

[Venom51]

I'd get a Mac. The ability to run another OS, solid construction, etc, etc, make it the better choice. Also, the Mac version of MS Office may not be great but it's still an option. Personally, I prefer iWork ($79). I don't number crunch in a way that has forced me to move away from Numbers and the ease of use is awesome.

Also, the AppleStore offers 1:1. if I'm not mistaken, if you purchase it with your Mac, a representative will transfer your pc data to your Mac and you can schedule 1:1 training sessions for a year. Many of my friends have opted for it and love it.

 

[fouramdesigns]

1+ for the Mac. On my 10th system, started in 99' with OS9 on a 1st Gen iMac. You can't go wrong, and you can tri boot the OS ( I have OSX, Windoze 7 Ult, adding Ubuntu Linux). The system just does what it's suppose to, a monkey can use it, IT can mod it till their hearts content in the Terminal. No viruses to date, sleek aluminum case design, not that ugly plastic crap that's bulky. And this is coming from a Dell employee. 

[Desmostro]

...We have full time employees who just fix PCs all day. We don't need anyone for the Macs because they actually work. Hello? What does that tell you? Does anyone want to say PCs are less expensive? Include the IT guy, down time and recalculate. 

Windows is like work, APPLE is like play. 
        

I cannot see why anyone would buy  a MAC when you can buy 2 windows machines for the same money , the Mac is good  but its not twice as good ...so ripoff or trendy FAD .also outside of USA when Macs go wrong your on your own wheras windows machines can be fixed anywhere.

[jerryz]

My friend Booker has a Macbook pro only 2 years old which failed a few weeks ago and even in singapore they cant fix it , he bought a Dell instead.
My daughter is a MAC fiend she and her husband own 18 of the things.
here in Thailand Its a no brainer I can go to any Mall and buy 2 high spec windows laptops for the price of one Macbook pro .

[factorPlayer]

PC = gaming
Mac = everything else.

and a PC won't get you laid. 

/thread

[Popeye the Sailor]

PC = gaming
Mac = everything else.

and a PC won't get you laid. 

/thread

Jesus, what sort of ports are they putting in macs these days?

[factorPlayer]

Jobs' next great idea 

[DarkDuc696]

My friend Booker has a Macbook pro only 2 years old which failed a few weeks ago and even in singapore they cant fix it , he bought a Dell instead.
My daughter is a MAC fiend she and her husband own 18 of the things.
here in Thailand Its a no brainer I can go to any Mall and buy 2 high spec windows laptops for the price of one Macbook pro .

Chances are, your friends Macbook failed for the same reason most have.  Nvidia has admitted that their GPU caused a large number of logic boards to fail. Mine actually just went out 2 weeks ago as well (free repair even though it was out of warranty).  That being said, the Mac OSX holds up incredibly well and depending on how it comes back, I may be able to comment on how it holds up to hardware failure. LOL For those wanting to use office programs on it, I've found that the Iwork programs work great for me and export to windows formats fairly well.  At least none of my college professors have commented on any problems because of it...