never thought I would be getting a mac

well a 3000 dollar vaio is top top of the line (Pentium 4-M, 2.4 GHz, 1024 MB RAM, 60 GB hard disk, 16.1 in display dvd-rw/cd-rw) ibm is really the only company that has more than one laptop over 3000 bucks. but then again apple only makes one too, although the average is much higher than pc. apple and pc both have their positives in negative. but if you are going to a school check with apple they might give you a discount. the university i goto gets a pretty nice 15% off. which helps alot, and will probably make me go with a new powerbook 15" when they get smart and put ddr ram in it. any way, if your into games then dont go with apple, but if you arent it really doesnt matter at all, except the price.

Originally posted by Michaelp
ah yes, just what I have been waiting for, a negative rant. Jester we are looking at laptops not a gaming machine. Indeed I also have a amd 1.53 512 ddr ge force 4, so I can see where your comming from with that. But apples do use a differnent type of processor that runs alot cooler, not sure on power but since you didnt provide any hard evidence your rant didnt help me any. As for "uber" os x is on a BSD core, if you are anything else other then a gamer then you would understand this opens up endless possiblilties. Price...well yes they are costy, but what..are you going to build me a laptop? I'm glad you suggested two laptops at the end of it but the Sony Vaio would be 3,000 also...so I dont see where that goes.. and as with all lcd screens there are dead pixels. But hey, you can lug around your crt on the plane while I'm on a laptop, personal choice I guess on that heh. Anyways thanks Jester..you just the type of person I was waiting for.

I never mentioned games, you can't even play decently on a geforce4 440 or a Radeon 9000. I was talking Photoshop which needs RAM and CPU speed... both of which even the cheapest ($1799) Powerbook lacks. It only has a 800Mhz CPU and only 256MB RAM. That is not fun when working with Photoshop... not even talking about 3ds max, Maya, Poser etc.

HERE, a Toshiba Satellite for $999 that has much better specs that the cheapest Powerbook... and will run Photoshop better. I guarantee it.

I would, however, stay away from some laptops manufacturers: Gateway and HP.

jester you keep saying that it ONLY 800 megahertz. But from what i understand the apple is on a different scale. From what was posted earlier in this thread an 800mgh on a mac is pretty much 2 gigahertz on a pc.

yes redeye, I need to look into the student discount. ;)

I think apple's laptop are much more competitively priced than their desktops. I've compared apple and PC laptops and they are usually just about the same price, when you really compare their features other than the processor.

A lot of the people on the mac boards I read are starting to really complain about the processors. Yes the megahertz on a G4 are different than on a Pentium 4, but it still can't compare to a 3ghz pentium 4 or a AMD 3000+. There's just no way. All the Mac users are waiting for the 970 chip from IBM, which is still all rumor at this point. I think it is a 64 bit chip, and will supposedly be quite fast. But until then, even Mac users are starting to admit the G4 has run its course, and needs to be replaced.

I think everyone here knows I've been a pretty blind Mac fan for a while, and have never even used one for a significant amount of time. And I still do really like them and think they are really nice machines and have a great OS.

But then I went online and priced a couple of PC's, and configured a AMD 3000+, 1gig of ram, Radeon 9800, 180gig HD, audigy2 6.1 sound, 19" monitor, DVD, 52x CD burner, Klipsch 5.1 speakers, etc for $2800. And that was thru one of the "gaming" manufacturers, so it was a little overpriced. Then I priced the top of the line PowerMac for almost the same money, with less HD space, half the RAM, weaker processors, much weaker video card, NO speakers (the klipsch speakers are $400 by themselves) and no monitor. If I added Apple's cheapest monitor (17" LCD, $700) that takes it to $3500, and it still isn't as fast as the PC.

So since I am on a tight budget and it will take me forever to save up that much money, I'm thinkin' I can get a lot more machine that will last a lot longer if I go with the PC.

Plus since Microsoft basically uses Apple as its R&D department and copies everything they do, if you just wait six months, you will have all the innovations on a PC that you do on an apple.

Like I said I think the apple laptops are fairly priced, but the desktops are just waaaaaaaaaay to expensive for me to consider, rationally. I want to like Apples a lot and do, but unless I had money to burn I just can't justify one.

honestly, when it comes to cpu speed people are rather spoiled. i run photoshop, flash, illustrator, dreamweaver, lightwave, and lots of other stuff on an athlon 800 and for the most part it performs just fine. sure, there's times i'd like more speed but as a whole its adequate for what i want to do.

chris

I have to agree with you there Fig. I have an 866 PIII, and the only slow-downs I really experience are RAM related I believe. Switching between apps, etc. I'd still rather buy a 3ghz AMD and have it last me another 4 years rather than a G4 that will feel slow in a couple of years.

/me throws my back out spinning my head around looking for the hidden cameras????? Is dek sounding pro-pc! Welcome back Dek! Hope you stay for a while this time.

It was a dark time for the deker. . . but i have realized that the almighty dollar will always win!!!

Thanks everyone for you input, I'm glad this didnt turn into a ___ sucks thread. I'm going to really have to sit down and think about this. Another factor of mine is that my college I got into uses only mac, so would be good to get familiar. Thanks again,
Michael