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-   -   Thinking of defecting to a Apple: Macbook (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travel-technology/925261-thinking-defecting-apple-macbook.html)

dtsm Feb 24, 2009 5:12 pm


Originally Posted by brp (Post 11314819)
Of course, they were at around $180 in August and are now at about $90. So I'm not quite sure how you define plummet :)

Cheers.

Oooooops - my basis is low 20's, sorry. That run to 180-200 was short-lived after the first iPhone launch. It actually settled back down to 150's before the last crash.;)

Tummy Feb 24, 2009 7:23 pm


Originally Posted by thechamp (Post 11313975)
Overall I like the Mac better for business unless you do things via the web such as coding of websites and programs.

I do this all day long on my Mac.

Tummy Feb 24, 2009 7:35 pm


Originally Posted by pred02 (Post 11314331)
Question - MAC OS can support more than 3gig RAM like Vista? Also is it hard to add a solid state disc and ram to a Mac (I hope its not like the iPOD)?

I don't know the max the OS supports, but the MacPro towers support up to 32gb of memory and can use all of it. My Macbook supports up to 4gb and the 17" MacbookPro goes up to 8gb.

The upgrade is very easy, but you can order your MacBook with the SSD already installed from Apple. And for once, their prices are competitive with what you can get from 3rd party.

boberonicus Feb 24, 2009 10:52 pm


Originally Posted by pred02 (Post 11312207)
With the whole hassle of Vista versus XP, I really just need a laptop that is going to work, don't hassle about incompatibility, drivers, viruses, spam, etc. .

After about 20 years of PC use, I switched for these same reasons a year ago and have been very happy. I don't have anti-virus software - spam is unrelated. My MacBook Pro boots quickly, is really reliable, and a lot of things "just work." I think the real aha! moment was when I brought the (4 GB RAM) MBP home and it autoconfigured the wireless network and then (unprompted) magically found my network printer, and it all worked perfectly in under a minute: "would you like to use this as your default printer?"

That's in contrast to my XP-based Lenovo, which needed to know the wireless network type (WPA2), the encryption style (AES) before requesting the password, and "Add Printer" in Windows, which needed me to create a TCP/IP adapter, enter the IP of the printer, download a driver, and configure the laser printer for "raw LP" style before working properly. It was like moving from a Heathkit TV to a new LCD.

I would strongly suggest that you consider a $99 investment in Apple's One to One program. This buys you one year of personal training, which can be used at the rate of one hour per week, at any Apple store. I only used it four times over the past year, and they had trouble answering my tougher questions (setup TFTP, console cable adapters) but those few sessions helped increase my productivity a lot.

nmenaker Feb 25, 2009 8:26 am


Originally Posted by brp (Post 11314819)
Of course, they were at around $180 in August and are now at about $90. So I'm not quite sure how you define plummet :)

Cheers.

I was out at 200$, it was getting ridiculous.

LIH Prem Feb 25, 2009 8:56 am


Originally Posted by brp (Post 11312534)
As an example, my Moto RAZR has a mini-USB for power, so I figured I could charge it from my computer. Well, I could, but it required a special driver to set it in a power-supply mode. I had to go out and find the driver, then install it. For me, no problem. For someone who doesn't want to muck with this, could be a bigger deal. Of course, I don't know what would happen on a Mac if one plugged a RAZR into a USB port and it didn't have the power supply driver.

That's easy. It won't charge on a mac either without a driver, if you can find one for it. This is the Razr, not the PC, because they are doing something non-standard with usb power. Yeah, I have a Razr also, so I know what you are talking about w.r.t. needing the driver so it will charge when plugged into a standard usb computer port.

This really has nothing to do with this topic.

Anyway, if you have a mac, you're supposed to have an iphone. hahaha. (in addition to your collection of ipods, apple tv, airports, airport express, apple time machine, .mac subscription, etc, etc.)

-David

brp Feb 25, 2009 9:09 am


Originally Posted by LIH Prem (Post 11319476)
That's easy. It won't charge on a mac either without a driver, if you can find one for it. This is the Razr, not the PC, because they are doing something non-standard with usb power. Yeah, I have a Razr also, so I know what you are talking about w.r.t. needing the driver so it will charge when plugged into a standard usb computer port.

This really has nothing to do with this topic.

Actually, it does. It speaks to the ability to do non-standard things through (extremely simple- maybe 2 minutes from google search to working) configuration. For those OK with doing a little work it seems like they may be able to do more (I had a feeling that the charging on the Mac was a likely no-go, but I wasn't sure)).

I can certainly see why someone may not want to configure for anything; others are OK with that, and can do more.

As for the comment about "magically" finding wireless items and adding them- I'd rather it wanted to know something about my encryption and password the first time before adding anything to my LAN. But that's just me :) My XP machines have found all the stuff out there right off the bat, and they do know what encryption I'm using...but I have to enter the password the first time...then it just works, each and every time.

Cheers.

LIH Prem Feb 25, 2009 9:21 am


Originally Posted by brp (Post 11319566)
Actually, it does. It speaks to the ability to do non-standard things through (extremely simple- maybe 2 minutes from google search to working) configuration. For those OK with doing a little work it seems like they may be able to do more (I had a feeling that the charging on the Mac was a likely no-go, but I wasn't sure)).

Not really any different on a PC or a MAC for the Razr. Again, it's because of the Razr, not the computer or standard USB software on the computer.

http://blog.gruby.com/2006/11/27/cha...razr-over-usb/

You can write drivers and/or custom apps for either platform or both if you want to. And you can find them out there also.

-David

trekkie Feb 25, 2009 9:22 am

apple: typically more expensive but more reliable and less crashes and less viruses and anti-spyware.

ms windows: typically cheaper, easier to adapt but the cost and time involved to stop viruses and anti-spyware is quite straining. Each and every single update in the past have also been merely a "top-up" to existing software and due to its code, it will always be vulnerable to attacks.

brp Feb 25, 2009 9:39 am


Originally Posted by LIH Prem (Post 11319645)
Not really any different on a PC or a MAC for the Razr. Again, it's because of the Razr, not the computer or standard USB software on the computer.

http://blog.gruby.com/2006/11/27/cha...razr-over-usb/

You can write drivers and/or custom apps for either platform or both if you want to. And you can find them out there also.

-David

Oh, I fully realize that it's the RAZR and not the USB port. This is a non-standard application. I was just commenting that it's frightfully easy and fast to configure this to work on a Windows box, and wasn't sure about the Mac. Your comment about the Mac driver- "if you can find one for it" made me think it was not so easy. I found many locations for Windows driver in a matter of seconds, and it was a trivial install process...and just worked.

Cheers.

SNA_Flyer Feb 25, 2009 10:27 am

I switched back to Mac three years ago - having deserted the platform since 1995 - and couldn't be happier. I'll never go back to Windows in it's current form (Vista).

bowdenj Feb 25, 2009 3:20 pm

Make sure you ask for student discount ($50.00 on a Macbook or so) - Best Buy and usually Apple store doesn't ask for student ID.

dtsm Feb 25, 2009 5:38 pm


Originally Posted by nmenaker (Post 11319288)
I was out at 200$, it was getting ridiculous.

I hope you bought another MBA with your capital gains :)

richard Feb 25, 2009 9:28 pm

I love my Macbook Pro. I switched a few months back but still have an XP Thinkpad also.

I don't like on the Mac:

1. Lack of End and Home keys operating the way they "should"
2. My Blackberry just doesn't work, tried everything...doesn't sync

RichMSN Feb 25, 2009 10:11 pm

I have a MacBook, bought in November.

I have multiple operating system partitions:

(1) Work (our software is Windows) - Vista. I can run the image either as a virtual machine in VMware Fusion or I can boot it natively.

(2) Home - Mac.

I replaced the boot menu with this:

http://refit.sourceforge.net/

Now when I boot my machine, I get a screen that asks me whether I want my Mac or Windows. If I don't choose one in 120 seconds (I configured this), the Mac boots. (The Boot Camp boot menu required a press of the "option" key in order to give a choice and I'd miss it 75% of the time when I wanted to boot into Windows and I'd have to reboot AGAIN.)

Best of both worlds.


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