Base MacBook Pro just been upgraded with a faster processor and a new glossy LCD screen option that shows more color saturation when watching photos and movies.

13.3 inch MacBook released with the glossy screen released. Choose either white or black.


http://www.apple.com

A cheap model was expected ($799+). The price is too little for what you get, and I can wait to hear the chorus of "Integrated graphics again". Hopefully the next edition gets something like the 965 chipset with advanced GPU etc that I mentioned previously, even a Express graphics card slot (for graphics and other boards, like capture). Any machine without these is not really good enough as far as I am concerned. A good video solution to help with processing vision from the future $799 h264 cameras is really needed, otherwise people will get so frustrated they will feel like throwing it against a a wall. A good video solution is better then faster processor (though still keeping dual core). It is a good office machine though, and you probably could do cineform (when ever the Mac version comes out).

A cheap model was expected ($799+). The price is too little for what you get, and I can wait to hear the chorus of "Integrated graphics again". Hopefully the next edition gets something like the 965 chipset with advanced GPU etc that I mentioned previously, even a Express graphics card slot (for graphics and other boards, like capture). Any machine without these is not really good enough as far as I am concerned. A good video solution to help with processing vision from the future $799 h264 cameras is really needed, otherwise people will get so frustrated they will feel like throwing it against a a wall. A good video solution is better then faster processor (though still keeping dual core). It is a good office machine though, and you probably could do cineform (when ever the Mac version comes out).

It's my belief that Apple aims at the educational/student market with the lower end laptop computers. It's something they can take to college with them and get some serious college type homework done. It's not positioned to be a video editing system with the higher end pro apps. That's the purpose of the Macbook Pro laptops. The last piece of the Apple transistion will be the high end Powermac systems and it remains to be seen what will be included there.

-gb-

Well, of course for students that is completely different, you definitely would want a honking great big discrete graphics GPU to play games with, or a $500 laptop to do word processing. The extra cost of a graphic circuit to outdo this system and provide better h264 functionality and GPU functions is not that great and can be covered int the price. But this is too close to an low cost off the reference plan design for me, if they wanted to charge this much they could have given a better GPU/graphics option, this machine will cost double of a cheap student machine. Being a duo core that is different, but still, for the price, a better GPU would have been better. This integrated graphics spec, is the sort of spec for the lowest spec Intel machines, and not worthy of a Mac, or a Duo core machine. Now I will have to decide where ever to buy this one, wait for the next version, or buy a Windows machine. Been waiting to convert to Mac fro a few years, this doesn't help.

Been waiting to convert to Mac fro a few years, this doesn't help.

Heck Wayne, do what I did. After much coaching, I held my nose, closed my eyes, and jumped into the Mac pool. Now I'm swimming around in it pretty good. But I keep both types of systems in my house so that I can reap the benefit of both worlds.

-gb-

I agree Wayne I think for the price Apple could have done better. The fact that the base model doesn't even include a dual layer DVD burner by default just shows Apple was trying to cripple this machine. Heck my $600 Gateway laptop had one, it also had a bigger screen, bigger hard drive and a 6-1 media card reader. Something this consumer base macbook really should have included.

On the other hand I really like the new design and color choices. I also liked the aluminum design but it's starting a get old. Hopefully in one or two more revisions Apple also offers a black Macbook Pro choice.

It would also be nice if future versions of all Macs with slot load drives included support for 8cm discs. The new Nintendo Wii supports this with it's slot load design and it's a cheaper game system. This would be a smart move on Apples part especailly with all those DVD camcorders and soon to be AVCHD camcorders out there that use the smaller discs. I'm surprised they haven't done it so far.

For as enlightened as Apple is about some things, they seem to be clueless when it comes to other things.

Well becoming a PC with MAC OS doesn't seem like a good move. But PowerPC chips weren't going anywhere either. Seems like the line between PC and MAC is separated now only by an inflated price and increasingly buggy OS.

Well becoming a PC with MAC OS doesn't seem like a good move. But PowerPC chips weren't going anywhere either. Seems like the line between PC and MAC is separated now only by an inflated price and increasingly buggy OS.

?????

A Macbook or Macbook Pro is and excellent move. Not only do you run OS X Tiger at full speed but with Bootcamp you run WinXP at native speeds as well. If I want low cost virtualization then I get Parallels for $50. Now can I do that with a PC? No I can't if running OS X is what I need to do.

As for the increasingly buggy OS comment it's clear you have no idea what you're talking about. I run both XP and OS X and neither OS has given me much problem.

Another thing. Integrated graphics are STANDARD for most PC laptops in this range. From Sony to Toshiba to HP they all utilize GMA950 Intel IG. Why people think Apple can miraculously add in discrete graphics and the same Intel Core Duo chip and somehow end up cheaper.

Ask yourself this.

Why am I still buying PC laptops with VGA ports??? (Macbook has DVI out)
Why am I still buying PC laptops with 4-pin Firewire connectors?
Why doesn't Microsoft have something equivalent to iLife coming standard?

The truth is Apple's isn't going to waste your time adding in cheapo card readers or tossing in legacy analog video ports. You get the full powered Firewire not the "diet" stuff that's useless. iSight is integrated now so that you have instant video conferencing.

People choose Apple because they want a workable solution. There's a synergy to Macs that PC users just don't quite understand yet.

Heck Wayne, do what I did. After much coaching, I held my nose, closed my eyes, and jumped into the Mac pool. Now I'm swimming around in it pretty good. But I keep both types of systems in my house so that I can reap the benefit of both worlds.

-gb-

I agree, but I can't afford two systems, the new camera, the display, the equipment costs etc, something has to give. If I had that sort of money I would just buy a Pro and lump it, and buy the next version, or go and buy the Sharp with 3D LCD, now there is a worthy product type for Apple to sell.

Mike,

Yes, it's all Black and White to me now ;)

Yes, there are many details missed, cute design, cute color, but there are other details such as you mentioned that are necessary for a luxury top tier brand. You have to show up the cheap Bottom tier Taiwanese brands. Metal casing is a nice idea.

Marco,

The Power based Cell is good, well, the best for the moment, and the latest Power processor is heading to 5Ghz in multi configuration. I suspect that Intel showed Steve something extra special though, and that is why they choose to go with them (apart from low power issues, and neglect by Power processor).

Harrison, integrated is common on cheaper machines, sure some more expensive machines also use it (and no doubt it is now more common because the 950 was supposed to be a lot better then it has turned out) but not the ones I'll buy. For a more expensive machine better graphic solutions were common, I will have to check this years crop, because of the 950 issue I mentioned above though. This is not a $500 machine, sure the dual core adds a, bit, but in real life there is much more to processing, and for the sort of office/student processing that does not require GPU power, it does not require dual core either. To think, I turned down a 3Ghz+, Radeon 9700 Toshiba to wait for this machine at a similar price, and that machine would significantly perform better than this machine in software that mattered.

There has been low rung laptops with video cameras since at least last year.

Do you think a Macbook is a workstation, it is not the Pro, it is the cheap one.

But yes Synergy, I agree, so many empires running around mad around one giant empire, instead of interpolating together.

I still feel they should have stayed with the PowerPC chips. You already have hacks blurring the lines between PC and MAX



Harrison

I've had mac before iNTEL came along and it was much sweeter then. The iIN everything is just iMarketing. Legacy parts will always be a part of PC, it's just a sad fact that PC users have to deal with due to noobs. Macs were great at their peak, now it's just the OS that runs the show. Sure you get higher end parts, but if you spend a little -extra PCs have the iSame parts.

The thing that burns me is the TV commercials where Max don't get viri, PLEASE! MAC/OS was never a big target, NOW it is, and just wait for more viri/mal. I agree it is still a superior OS though, XP bites in comparison. :) I just don't feel it was a good move on Apple's part. If they could have had Intel AT LEAST not have the same chip model named, maybe something like "by Intel" rather that "The same P4 chip as that POS $499 PC you have" they'd be better off, know what I mean?

Marco ..no worries man.

I think we all realize that we're more of Power Users and that while the Macbooks and minis are nice what we really want are the powerful machines.

I'm curious ...how's that Pentium D system of yours working? I think my next homebuilt will be either a Intel Conroe or Athlon. Haven't decided yet really.

Regards.

Here's an article on the next generation 965 chipset graphics, I gather that things will be way better then the 950, but according to this it will be still way bad:

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=31239

Here we see a comparison between the 950 and the 965, and see how much is not supported, or software emulated, on the 950.

http://www.hkepc.com/bbs/attachments_dir/ext_jpg/g965-2_81LQbpsUkQOf.jpg

The 965 may not be a gaming dream, but it looks better for video. What do you think?

Time will tell.

Nice! (chipsets)

The dual-core is working amazingly. I started late last year with a Pentium D 830 and a couple months ago a situation came up where the 830 was needed for a system build, the only replacement available at the time was the 930. Granted both are the same clock speed, the 930 is 65nm and 4MB cache though. I noticed a HUGE difference in response and temp. The 930 runs nice and cool and is snappy fast, it also overclocks close to 4GHz on air cooling (i just need faster ram).

Before all that I had the P4 3.06GHz, 1MB cache. My wife now has it. The biggest thing for me was the multitasking. I can run so many things at once without so much as a hiccup. 2GB ram helps. Premiere runs great, especially when I set the priortiy to HIGH or REALTIME. BF2 runs quite fast as well.

If you have the money, give AMD's duo a try, they're a couple steps ahead of intel's duo.

I think maybe Apple should just open their OS to all PC's.
Sure they can't support all the hardware out there like Windows can, but at least those who want to run it can build machines to fit the bill. And over time more hardware vendors will build drivers for MacOS.

I think those who like Apple hardware will always buy Apple hardware because of it's style and build quality.
But it would open up applications like Final Cut pro to a lot more people. And let those who are weary get a taste of MacOS without the price tag of totally new hardware.

I know people say "but Apple is a hardware company"
I think the only reason they are a hardware company is because you need their hardware to run their software. They've never given themselves a big chance to be a software company for other hardware. But I think if they did they'd do well. Look how popular itunes and quicktime is on Windows.

Yes that would be wonderful! I would love to legitimately run OSX on my current rig, I'm sure it would be lightning fast. It's too bad they don't do that. Gates would probably not like that direct competition, who knows. I think apple is just as much software as hardware, like you said they need that hardware to run their OS, but now that intel is in the picture, those lines are blurring...

Dual Turion has not tested good, something about being like the old architecture.

Saw a Dual Opteron Mac OS compatible clone last week fro $499 (was news article somewhere) but as you can see:

http://www.alibaba.com/catalog/10895402/PowerPC_G6_Macintosh.html

Gone.

Try www.archive.org for history.

I would not mind buying one of these. But the drivers etc would need to be kept upto date for custom hardware, and coincidentally, Apple just announced they are closing their core all of a sudden for some reason.

Realistically, imagine running a Mac OSX on a four socket Opteron MB.

How much parallel can Mac-OS, applications, and games, get? I had a design idea for a case mechanism where I can fit in dozen little custom blade servers in a few hundred KW. I wish I new of somebody to implement it. Or, I could just get a PS3 and put Mac OSX on it :( .

Another blow to the Apple camp

http://theinquirer.net/?article=31810

With the exception of Harrision it sounds like none of you have ever even used a mac recently, let alone a macbook.

Believe it or not a macbook with 1-2gb of ram runs final cut studio pretty damn amazing, the only program that is lacking is motion really.

This notebook is not over priced, build or find a notebook with the same specs and see how much it costs without considering stupid rebates or cupons(because they are not it's real price, hell even some apple rebates can be found out there) and you'll see a similar sony or what have isn't less expensive, certainly not by a margin worth compaining about that much.

Opening up OSX would be a terrible idea just like porting fcp. Use the two for more than 5 minutes (know a bit about what you are doing) and you'll understand why on a forum like this so many people use them.

I have, but I am not really disagreeing with you either. Max have always been known to be superior to PC in the media area, that's a given. I was merely saying the lines are a bit blurred as the only real dif. now is the OS. I run premium high end i386 parts in my system, just as Mac does. So add the OS and viola --- (i know it's not THAT simple, but close) :)

Here is a piece of software that is supposed to enable your PC to become a Mac:

http://theinquirer.net/?article=31760
http://osx.portraitofakite.com/

How to build, a Mac PC:
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,1886910,00.asp

That Mac Clone I mentioned (you would not believe the trouble to find this again). Nice, picture, theoretically you could construct something similar with legal, bought, software:

http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/11/mac-g6-now-available-for-499/

Yeah don't they have a version PC users can buy?

This notebook is not over priced, build or find a notebook with the same specs and see how much it costs...

Compared to the three basic MacBook computers at $1099, 1299 and 1499, you can get similarly configured Dell Inspiron E1405 laptops for $899, 1101 and 1129 respectively (with 1GB memory). After doing this exercise I'm puzzled why the most expensive MacBook costs $200 more than the middle one; does it cost that much to buy black plastic?

Opening up OSX would be a terrible idea just like porting fcp.

Only because it would hurt Apple's profit margins by subjecting them to competition for selling hardware. But there are plenty of us who might consider using Apple software if it ran on standard PC hardware, so they could make up some of the lost revenue that way. It's almost inevitable now that someone will find a way to run the Mac OS on stock PCs unless Apple's lawyers are successful at preventing that, so why not just accept it and let it happen? It's time. :-)

Are you referring to something like this off of both Dell and Mac's websites?

MAC:
$2,799.00
17-inch widescreen display
1680 x 1050 resolution
2.16GHz Intel Core Duo(1)
1GB (single SODIMM) 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM
120GB 5400-rpm Serial ATA hard drive
8x double-layer SuperDrive
ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 with 256MB GDDR3 memory
One FireWire 400, one FireWire 800, and three USB 2.0 ports
-----------------------------
DELL
Inspiron E1705 Qty 1

Inspiron E1705 Intel® Core™ Duo Processor T2600 (2.16GHz/667MHz FSB)
Genuine Windows® XP Home Edition
LCD Panel 17 inch Wide Screen XGA+ Display
Memory 2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz
Video Card 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 7900 GS
Hard Drive 100GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive
Network Card Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
Combo/DVD+RW Drives 8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability
Sound Options Integrated Audio
Wireless Networking Cards Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 802.11a/g Mini Card (54Mbps)
Primary Battery 80 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Hardware Warranty 2Yr Ltd Warranty, 2Yr At-Home Service, and 2Yr HW Warranty Support
Wireless Personal Networking Card Dell Wireless 350 Bluetooth Internal(2.0 + Enhanced Data Rate)

TOTAL:$2,687.88


You're paying for style, quality, and the OS on Max. The above shows you COULD POSSIBLY get much more from the Dell.

I wouldn't call the above "much" more from the Dell - the only thing you're getting is more ram. Also, with the Macbook, you're getting a higher resolution display, firewire 800, and you can upgrade to a 100gb/7200 rpm drive for nothing on the macbook - I'd say they're both equal with each one having little things the other doesn't have, but I wouldn't say the dell is any better.

I wouldn't call the above "much" more from the Dell - the only thing you're getting is more ram. Also, with the Macbook, you're getting a higher resolution display, firewire 800, and you can upgrade to a 100gb/7200 rpm drive for nothing on the macbook - I'd say they're both equal with each one having little things the other doesn't have, but I wouldn't say the dell is any better.

Actually Andrew, it's FW 400.

Any way, I think Evean and Harrison have good points. The "power" of a Mac has always been more about the tight integration of hardware and software creating very usable machines, not spec sheets and tech info.

The MacBook is not the entry level machine either. The iBook is still going to be in the line but reintroduced. It will be the entry level. There is also a Gamers Dream laptop in the works as well as a MacBook "Thin". With all of this and new iPods coming out soon, I can hardly wait to see wht the tower Macs will do when switched to Intel.

Performance wise, the new core duo Mac Minis will run EVERYTHING our dual 2ghz G5 runs, including Motion, and run it faster. It's quite amazing really.

Dave, no intent of arguing, but the Macbook discussed above is the 17 inch Macbook Pro which DOES have firewire 800 built in as well as firewire 400.

I do agree however, it is the integration of everything that is a big part of why Mac is what it is. It's more about the software in my opinion anyway and how everything is designed for and runs so smoothly under Mac OSX.

It's probably pointless to debate relative pricing, but Dell is currently offering a discount which produces the following. Note that the screen resolution on this configuration is 1920x1200...

Inspiron E1705 Intel® Core™ Duo Processor T2600 (2.16GHz/667MHz FSB)
Operating System (Office software not included) Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005
LCD Panel 17 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen UXGA Display with TrueLife™
Memory FREE!1GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz
Video Card 256MB NVIDA® GeForce™ Go 7800
Hard Drive 120GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
Network Card Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 6.0
Combo/DVD+RW Drives 8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability
Sound Options Integrated Audio
Wireless Networking Cards Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 802.11a/g Mini Card (54Mbps)
Office Software (not included in Windows XP) Microsoft Works Suite 2006- Includes MICROSOFT WORD plus much more!
Anti-Virus/Security Suite (Pre-installed) McAfee Security Center with VirusScan, Firewall, Spyware Removal, 15-months
Primary Battery 53 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Hardware Warranty 1Yr Ltd Warranty, 1Yr At-Home Service, and 1Yr HW Warranty Support
Dial-Up Internet Access 6 Months of America Online Membership Included
Wireless Personal Networking Card Dell Wireless 350 Bluetooth Internal(2.0 + Enhanced Data Rate)
Miscellaneous Award Winning Service and Support
Mobile Broadband No Broadband Expresscard technology is available in the market now
Operating System Re-Installation CD PC Restore recovery system by Symantec
Dell Digital Entertainment Starter Entertainment Pack - Basic digital Music, Photo and Game experience

TOTAL:$2,104.44

P.S. Don't get me wrong, the new Macs are looking good. You still pay a premium though for Apple's pure monopoly on selling Mac OS-compatible computers.

Are you referring to something like this off of both Dell and Mac's websites?

Wow, that DELL sounds good:
+ 1GB
+ Video Card 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 7900 GS (instead of the Radeon 1600, which I heard is not as good as the large number would suggest).
+ Is that Mac super drive a dual layer recorder?

But seriously, it was about the price difference of the cheaper laptops, and for many laptops you actually get Black cheaper ;). Just take the cheapest similar 1 core machine, and realise all the extra is for one core and one Mac OS package ;).

The MacBook is not the entry level machine either. The iBook is still going to be in the line but reintroduced. It will be the entry level. There is also a Gamers Dream laptop in the works as well as a MacBook "Thin". With all of this and new iPods coming out soon, I can hardly wait to see what the tower Macs will do when switched to Intel.

Dave, this is good news, have you got links to where you have heard about these things, I have looked through the rumour sites, and can't find any mention of them? Is this cheaper laptop to be a solo or a Power PC core. As long as they have got 965, or a good for video GPU chip, and enough processing speed, I don't care too much ;).

Dave, this is good news, have you got links to where you have heard about these things, I have looked through the rumour sites, and can't find any mention of them? Is this cheaper laptop to be a solo or a Power PC core. As long as they have got 965, or a good for video GPU chip, and enough processing speed, I don't care too much ;).

Check out macrumors.com and macosrumors.com. The first one is better.

As I mentioned to Wayne earlier in this thread, I run both OS platforms here at my home. This message is coming in from my Compaq laptop. Last year, I purchased an Apple system after bad mouthing them for twenty years. The hardware is nice, and that synergy is there as has been mentioned. But the one glaring difference I see between unpacking a new Apple and my Compaq (also 1 year old and purchased after the iMac) with Win XP is the bundled software. There is real value in the iLife suite of applications if you do anything media related. The quality of instrument loops and sound effects offered with the latest version of Garage Band are nothing short of stellar. iWeb builds nice websites too.

This is software I would have to buy to get equivalent functionality from my Windows based system. So, yeah I look at the few hundred dollars more as going towards having very robust user applications right out of the box. Apple is not a roll your own company. They build tightly integrated, turnkey systems that come out of the box ready to rock. And then, Final Cut Studio is the icing on the cake after you buy it.

OSX isn't without flaws and hiccups and you can crash a Mac too. But OSX is a GUI for the BSD Unix it sits on top of. And that's why I really like it. Knowing I am running Unix is what gives me peace of mind, not the fact that I am using an Apple branded system. It's much like Windows95/98/Me in that you could open a DOS window and drop to command line stuff whenever you wanted. Just open the terminal app in OSX and you are staring at a Unix command line interface.

Please, don't label me as one of those 'mac afficiandos' because I don't praise every move they make. But with Windows hardware being as affordable as it is, I sunk the extra cash into the iMac and now I have the best of both worlds.

-gb-

osx has finally given the mac platform the professional operating system that it's never really had before, and that is very interesting... but it still limits you to less than 10% of the software apps that are on the market right now, so it's not a viable alternative for me.

software is what sells hardware.

i need professional encoding software, which means that it has to be a windows o.s., and dvdsp is the only compelling reason i can think of to throw away 20 years worth of pc software licenses... edit and encode on the pc, author serious dvd's on the mac... so it's the dual-boot capability that's going to sell me on those new mac laptops, and even that will be contingent on how well dvdsp handles hi-def dvd creation in future releases... and whether or not there will ever be a pc dvd authoring app that can compare to dvdsp.

Check out macrumors.com and macosrumors.com. The first one is better.

I did, checked macrumors, think secret, and appleinsider, didn't see anything about additional laptops?

Greg, pity that they only have one button for their mouse, 3 would be better, with options for 5 or seven (the manufacturer of one of my mice, makes eight button wireless, with track ball on top, and optical mouse underneath). Another thing is the location of the menu bar, if it could be location and window location sensitive, it would be better. I don't need to select a window then go to the bare and select the options back and forwards, whats wrong with the bar on the window, you select which window and option in one click.

Do any of these cheap laptops ship with an office suite and other software, surely that is something to way upto against Ilife (and the OS upgrades to fixed and enhanced versions of XP are free)?

So there are other compensations, and Apple could do he same. But I agree that Mac OSX is better, just wish it was smaller. Maybe they could make the BSD support optional, with optional Linux support, I understand that takes up a good deal of the space? If Apple wanted a truly revolutionary OS with a virtual engine to match (rather then all this dated Free OS stuff) there is an very efficient, very compact, option on the market at the moment, called "Intent" by Taos systems). They have some Open media format group which has many major consumer electronics manufacturers signed, some of which are also shareholders in Taos. The size is a fraction of other modern OS systems, and the efficiency more, and the speed probably too (this is an educated guess at the moment).

Greg, pity that they only have one button for their mouse, 3 would be better

The Macs have worked fine with 3 button mice for years now, they just don't ship with one. Buy the 3rd party mouse of your choice and use 3 buttons and scroll wheels to your heart's content...

The Macs have worked fine with 3 button mice for years now, they just don't ship with one. Buy the 3rd party mouse of your choice and use 3 buttons and scroll wheels to your heart's content...

I did exactly what Boyd said when I bought my iMac last year. I went straight over to the accesories aisle and picked out a 5 button Microsoft bluetooth mouse. It has OSX drivers and I can customize the mouse speed and program the buttons as well. The main side button is programmed to bring up dashboard and one of my widgets has stock quotes. At anytime during the day I want to check on stock prices, I just press my right thumb to show it, then again to make it disappear.

Right-clicking the mouse is the equivalent of command-click which essentially does the same thing that Windows does. It brings up a contextual menu.

Dan,

It may be DVDSP for you, but for me it was LiveType. I can't find a Windows app anywhere that does what this software does. I can even create my own livetype fonts if I want to take the time to do it.

You probably already know this, but DVDSP can already author HD DVD material. Speculation is that the forthcoming Powermac tower replacement might include a Blu-Ray burner so that would cover whichever format emerges for HD content delivery. If that happens, I would expect a patch or upgrade for DVDSP that would author Blu-Ray as well.

The 10 percent of the available apps is going to become a moot issue now that the Intel based Macs will boot into Windows. I saw Canon running their Windows only Console software on an iMac at NAB. Cindy, from Canon, told me that the program 'just flew' runnning on that system.

-gb-

I've been a PC fan boy for quite some time now, learning more and more everyday... but after the past few months working fluently with iMacs and G5 Macs, I can honestly say they are better for what I do. Now I was quite skeptical about getting a Mac until I found renewed confidence in Bootcamp and XP (as I want to run Sony Vegas Video and Battlefield 2 AHEM.... I mean, um, other cool programs.... hehe). I just ordered my new 17" Macbookpro, which should arrive at my doorstep in a week and a half.

Will be FAT32 paritioning the HDD and installing Windows XP as well as my Windows based programs. Will also be installing some Crucial 1 gig sticks of memory. So far from all the benchmarks, reviews, and personal experience with them at the store, it looks and will be phenomenal. Just need Microsoft to come out with a better Virtual PC later this year...

Hmmm, love BF2 -tee hee.

Be aware of the 4GB file size limit on FAT32.....

The Macs have worked fine with 3 button mice for years now, they just don't ship with one. Buy the 3rd party mouse of your choice and use 3 buttons and scroll wheels to your heart's content...

Sounds good guys, but carrying around a mouse with your single button laptop is not my idea of fun (I had to do that with an old notebook once). I wonder if additional buttons are available as a stick on accessory?

I really don't get the "it only has one button" argument. Sure, I admit I thought the same thing but after a week of using Mac, you really do get used to only having one button and it isn't a big deal in any way.

There's a synergy to Macs that PC users just don't quite understand yet.

Is it like the people who still drive old VW Beetles? You know, the ones that are overpriced, underpowered, break down all the time, and really only survive because of the "cool" factor?
I've diven VW Beetles. They do look cool, but I'd rather own a real car.

However, I *AM* glad Apple is finally putting out a product in black. Maybe people will start to take them seriously as professional products now.

(ok, THAT was a joke!) ;)

I really don't get the "it only has one button" argument. Sure, I admit I thought the same thing but after a week of using Mac, you really do get used to only having one button and it isn't a big deal in any way.
That is why birds and rats can live their lives is a cage, they don't know better. Another interesting illustration, that apparently somebody did, they put fleas in a jar, the fleas normally jump high enough to jump out, but they put a lid on, and the fleas kept hitting the lid, ding ding ding, until they hit it less and less. After a number of days, they learned to stop jumping so high, and the lid could be taken off, and the fleas would no longer jump out. Yes, an extra button comes in useful sometimes when one is too awkward, I prefer five for really special occasions.


I checked that other site that Dave mentioned, and got an rumor gold mine on new products:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=68128

I have not seen other rumor sites reporting on this information, which makes me a little suspect. It was going in Area51 anyway.

Thanks

Wayne.

Sounds good guys, but carrying around a mouse with your single button laptop is not my idea of fun (I had to do that with an old notebook once). I wonder if additional buttons are available as a stick on accessory?

Wayne,

Wouldn't you be carrying your laptop in a protective case anyway? Just an FYI, here (http://us.kensington.com/html/1743.html) is the mouse I use with my laptop. Granted, my laptop is a Windows laptop, but the guy who turned me on to it was using it with his Apple Powerbook. The price shown on their website is full msrp. I got mine for a little over $30USD at a big box store.

If you currently have any laptop, I still recommend this mouse. Smaller, but fully functional.

-gb-

Sounds good guys, but carrying around a mouse with your single button laptop is not my idea of fun (I had to do that with an old notebook once). I wonder if additional buttons are available as a stick on accessory?

If your using the new macbook or 17" macbook pro, you can tap with one finger on the track pad for left click and two fingers for right click.

or

You press on the button below the trackpad for left click and
if you press the button with two fingers on the trackpad it counts as a right click.

Either one works and they aren't too hard.

Unfortunately they haven't added that functionality to the 15" macbook pro, hopefully a future firmware update will.

But yeah if you want a macbook or 17" macbook pro you've got something as good as a right click and trust me it's not hard to do, I personally prefer tapping the trackpad to clicking buttons.

Thanks, sounds good, if a bit indirect. Standard old digitisers would not be able to differentiate between one or two fingers in the past, so either they do now and an upgrade would work, or its just the 17inch model. Still prefer multiple buttons for games though.

So, I might be buying a Apple laptop after all, if the rumors of the gaming Macbook come in cheap, or the thin with GPU (the latter the ATI model though boys, the better for GPU programming support).