thinking about getting a Mac notebook

[Chili Pepper]

Friend of mine has one, and we were editing some pics of the kids at the lake, and i was impressed, but not real savvy as to the advantages and disadvantages. Primarily use excel, word, outlook, and Firefox, and whatever photo software. thanks in advance for any guidance.

PS - where's the best place to buy?

[gst528i]

Buy it at mac store and buy the apple care warranty on it. they will cover anything including accidental damage. Also if you getting a mac for that use be sure to get parallel software so u can run windows at the same time. It already comes with bootcamp that will let u load either operating system but can only run one at a time. parallel will run both simulataneously. Also see if go to school u get a 10 percent discount and a free ipod. That 10 percent is alot considering apple price don't fluctuate or go on sale. good luck and you will love you macbook or pro.

[Carlos_E]

If you buy direct from Apple you'll have to pay sales tax. If your order from a computer site you won't pay taxes and can use that money to buy the Apple Care extended warranty.

http://www.macmall.com/macmall/searc...ource=mwb11175
http://www.cdw.com/content/brands/apple/default.aspx

[Bryan2]

keep in mind parrallels will only allow direct x 8 so if you want to run games on it think about 5 years back only.

[0tolerance]

yea you deffinately wouldnt get a mac to run games..

other issues are, that alot of programs arent mac compatible.
im not a big fan of macs, but if your into anything like recording music, video and photo editing.. macs are the way to go.
if you just want an every day computer... a windows machine is alot more simple and friendly to use..

i was amazed that mac laptops didnt have right click!

[Carlos_E]

keep in mind parrallels will only allow direct x 8 so if you want to run games on it think about 5 years back only.

If he wants to play games he can use Boot Camp which comes for free and he can fully boot into Windows XP or Vista.

[Carlos_E]

yea you deffinately wouldnt get a mac to run games..

other issues are, that alot of programs arent mac compatible.
im not a big fan of macs, but if your into anything like recording music, video and photo editing.. macs are the way to go.
if you just want an every day computer... a windows machine is alot more simple and friendly to use..

i was amazed that mac laptops didnt have right click!

Intel Macs can dual boot Mac OS X and Windows. You get 2 computers in one. It does have a right click. You just don't know how to do it. Place two fingers on the track pad to right click.

[DNoMac]

Or hold control + click. There are a lot of false assumptions about macs. Personally, I think they are easier to use than PCs. I use a mac at home and PC all day at work.

[g0dsend]

You can play games on a mac, but would prob get very low fps. The mac running the windows os would take up alot of ram, and the processes would be slower.

[0tolerance]

i know that you can bring up the alternate menu ..... just that i physically have a right click on the laptop, unless you purchase a special mouse.
i dont have many false assumptions on macs, i can use them... i just find for your average joe whos going to buy a mac that they are jumping into the deep end if they are used to using windows and their programs.

[Carlos_E]

i know that you can bring up the alternate menu ..... just that i physically have a right click on the laptop, unless you purchase a special mouse.
i dont have many false assumptions on macs, i can use them... i just find for your average joe whos going to buy a mac that they are jumping into the deep end if they are used to using windows and their programs.

Our execs bought MacBook Pros to run windows full time. PC World did a test and the fastest laptop in Windows Vista was a MacBook Pro.

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/03...re_duo_laptop/

[B4ckfire479]

macbook air is a nice machine...thin and light

[Gettothechoppa]

yea you deffinately wouldnt get a mac to run games..

other issues are, that alot of programs arent mac compatible.
im not a big fan of macs, but if your into anything like recording music, video and photo editing.. macs are the way to go.
if you just want an every day computer... a windows machine is alot more simple and friendly to use..

i was amazed that mac laptops didnt have right click!

If you decide to get a mac there are alot of conversion programs out there such as flip4mac etc that will allow you to run windows based programs. If you like the feal of a windows based computer you might want to get a mac with a intel chip installed this will allow you to install windows on the mac and run both operating systems. Im a microsoft tech if you have some further questions feal free to ask. Just a heads up I am a microsoft tech but guess what kind of computers I use in my home? Heres a hint.........its not windows

[0tolerance]

im a microsoft tech aswell lol.
CISCO tech aswell..

But thats off topic.

In the end both machines will do the job.
i use the mac air quite frequently and if your the kind of person who is willing to learn how to use stuff, mac isnt hard to adapt to..
its just far out different from a windows based operating system.

i recommend Macs in general if you are going to be doing photo,movie or song creating, brilliat software for that.

But from my personal experiences...
windows is just easy with every day stuff, because a large majority of people are using it.

And what is the point of buying a Mac laptop to run windows?
the benchmarks are there.. but your average joe user wont really notice too much of a difference.

[Garbanzo Dude]

What do you guys think about getting a used or new one from ebay....can you still buy the warranty? from apple of course

[Reed]

Now I am by no means a computer expert but I read in a computer magazine article while waiting for a haircut that Macs actually run Windows quicker and better then any PC. Thought that was kinda funny. I got a Macbook, its been great so far. And I'm sure you can buy extended warranties