Apple's new MacBook Pro

[Chris Foltz]

Ok, let me start off by saying I've not used a Mac more than about 3 times in my life but the new MacBook Pro with the Intel Core Duo processor is intriguing me. I'm going to be in the market for a new laptop in the next few months. Does anyone use a Mac or more specifically, has anyone had an opportunity to test drive the new MacBook Pro. It's obviously a little more pricey than a Windows based laptop but might be worth it. Thoughts?

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebO...nclm=MacBookPro

 

[Robert Dewey]

It depends on what kind of applications you want to use. Most of the popular games and office applications are available on Mac... But other applications (like GRLevelWhatever) may not be.

Out of all the notebooks I have owned, my iBook was definitely the most appealing (visually) and built solid. Unlike 100% of all other notebooks, it didn't fall apart, it wasn't flimsy, generated almost no noise, and didn't get hot.

If you have the money, I would say definitely go for it.

 

[John Wetter]

MacBook Pro is probably a nice computer. Here's something cool though... It's intel based. Dual boot it! Use the mac when you can so that you can use its better (IMHO) OS, and then go over to Windoze when you need to run other apps such as GRLevelx, SwiftWx, or whatever you're running.

-John

 

[Chris Foltz]

John,

That's the exact and, to be honest, only reason I was looking at it. I've seen the Intel commercials over the past few weeks and it piqued my curiosity. I've heard great things about Mac's in terms of reliability and durability. I was thinking that it would be able to better withstand the rigors of storm chasing while providing some of the upside of a Mac. Depending on how the offers for grad school go, it might be in my future.

 

[Robert Edmonds]

*edit just noticed it said duo not dual, so I don't know how similar a dual processor is to a dual core processor

I don't know about the macs. But I have had experience with dual processors. With windows, don't know about macs, some to most of the applications I had didn't utilize the dual processors. With me it was ok because some of the apps I did operate used both, but if your apps don't use them you just paying more for the coolness factor. Another factor to look into is RAM speed. That seems to me to be one of the major choke points in the processing power of your computer. I can’t rap on macs to bad because if you have the software at least you can run Linux apps and the mac os at the same time. For me I have to reboot to switch between OS.

 

[Robert Dewey]

Originally posted by Chris Foltz
I've heard great things about Mac's in terms of reliability and durability. I was thinking that it would be able to better withstand the rigors of storm chasing while providing some of the upside of a Mac. Depending on how the offers for grad school go, it might be in my future.

While it's built solid, the reason for it being reliable (at least in a software-not-crashing sense) is because all of the hardware and drivers are specifically designed for each other. With a Windows machine, everything has "generic" driver support - for example, you can take Windows XP and put it on just about an x86 system. You can't take OSX and put it on any PC, even with the new x86 platform. All of the drivers are built for maximum stability.

So, while you can probably load Windows onto it (dual boot)... It probably won't be as stable as OSX. In fact, I'm not so sure that the hardware inside the notebook has drivers for Windows. Just somethin to think about before jumping in.

 

[Brian Press]

I am A Mac guy and yes, I would recomend the Mac Book Pro. I'm not %100 sure you will be able to boot it in Windows though. It has been talked about but not a sure thing.

Keep an eye on macrumors.com and you will get some insight to whats coming out and when.

I love my mac's. And yes the Duo is just liek a dual processor, it just have the two processors on one card. Apple has revenlty released a QUAD Power Mac. Wheee. That thing would smoke. i do ton's of music production as well as video work and i love the power of my Dual G5 Power Mac.

You will never regret getting a Mac.

B.p.

 

[Robert Dewey]

I really like the new Macs though, even if they can't boot into Windows. They run most of the software I use, and I can easily login to another *nix machine.

Not to mention, they are built solid and look awesome.

 

[John Wetter]

Yes, the core duo is a dual core processor. It's basically two Pentium M's... So, it is a dual core computer (not exactly but it's being nit-picky...AMD has the only true dual-core proc). Anyways... The motherboard is an intel motherboard, the optical drive is from Sony, and the hard drive from Hitachi, the graphics from ATI, so I can't imagine it will be hard for Windows... The case though is Mac's powerbook case. My powerbook is indestructable. I've gone through two Windows laptops in the time I've had my powerbook. I can't wait to get a macbook pro. I have been a windows fan all my life just due to its universalness, but OS X is awesome.

It still is a problem chasing though... All of the software I want for chasing is Windows based, so we're back full circle. You need Windows to chase, IMO. It's too bad really...

-John