You guys have cookies apples!

Anyhow, I want to buy a laptop- a mac! I don't know which one to buy though. I can spend like 2k..

Not the Mac air.. that one sucks. I don't need my laptop to fit in an envelope, thanks.

It's not like you have much choice when you buy a mac, just compare the specs of the few models that exist .

I don't know much about specs though. As far as I know, the one that's more expensive is better

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Originally posted by Rolando
I don't know much about specs though. As far as I know, the one that's more expensive is better

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Decide on a screen size first, they have 13, 15 and 17 inch versions. 17 inch really isn't portable for outside the home. Personally I don't even like carrying a 15 inch (I have a 12 inch Toshiba Portege).

Is a mac really worth it? Maybe I should get something else?

Hmph.

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Originally posted by MenthiX
Decide on a screen size first, they have 13, 15 and 17 inch versions. 17 inch really isn't portable for outside the home. Personally I don't even like carrying a 15 inch (I have a 12 inch Toshiba Portege).

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Easy: don't get a mac.

What do I get then? Help me out

Though I thought I might like a mac

I just got the 2.4ghz new Macbook, It's a beautiful piece of sheer horsepower. I love it! The Illuminated keyboard is great, and the rest just functions perfectly. I'm even running Windows 7 in Parallels and it works great.

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Originally posted by wj
I just got the 2.4ghz new Macbook, It's a beautiful piece of sheer horsepower. I love it! The Illuminated keyboard is great, and the rest just functions perfectly. I'm even running Windows 7 in Parallels and it works great.

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The benefits of buying a MacBook as opposed to a normal laptop are the Mac OS and pretty hardware design. Have you used a Mac before? I wouldn't buy a Mac without trying it for a while first. After all it is an entire different OS and many applications you are used to may not be available on a Mac. You could still run Windows on a Mac, but then you would be paying a lot of money just for a pretty case. MacBooks are definitely more expensive than regular laptops with similar specs.

Visit an Apple store and give it a try, or even better would be lending one from a friend for a few days.

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Originally posted by Rolando
The MacbookPro of $1999 is the same as that macbook but just bigger screen, right?

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Meh, maybe I shouldn't get a mac. I'm so indecisive .

Can someone give me any good options, besides a mac?

The dell Adamo isn't even out yet though (as far as I could tell?). I want to get it by March or so.

I've got the new unibody Macbook and it a masterpiece of modern design. I dual boot Windows on it, so the OS is never an issue (although Mac OS X has some significant improvements, I can take a while to get used to). I wouldn't look back to a PC again.

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Originally posted by MenthiX
The benefits of buying a MacBook as opposed to a normal laptop are the Mac OS and pretty hardware design. Have you used a Mac before? I wouldn't buy a Mac without trying it for a while first. After all it is an entire different OS and many applications you are used to may not be available on a Mac. You could still run Windows on a Mac, but then you would be paying a lot of money just for a pretty case. MacBooks are definitely more expensive than regular laptops with similar specs.

Visit an Apple store and give it a try, or even better would be lending one from a friend for a few days.

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I carried a 15incher for three years, and i hated it... I got a 13" dell xps and i love it.... only two kgs, which is important if you plan on taking it along

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Originally posted by Rolando

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Originally posted by MenthiX
The benefits of buying a MacBook as opposed to a normal laptop are the Mac OS and pretty hardware design. Have you used a Mac before? I wouldn't buy a Mac without trying it for a while first. After all it is an entire different OS and many applications you are used to may not be available on a Mac. You could still run Windows on a Mac, but then you would be paying a lot of money just for a pretty case. MacBooks are definitely more expensive than regular laptops with similar specs.

Visit an Apple store and give it a try, or even better would be lending one from a friend for a few days.

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I've used a mac before. I like them, and I like the "pretty hardware." The only application I'll need is Microsoft Office, since I mainly want the laptop for uni notes. Btw, it's easy to convert them to Windows one right? And does the Mac's Microsoft Office have a compatibility mode with windows? hmph.

My mom's best friend from college is a mac distributor, so we might get them cheaper. I'll have to ask her.

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Thanks Nitro waiting for my mom's response.

I recently bought a 15" Dell XPS, and I'm totally in love with it.
Personally I went for 15" because it's small enough to fit in my backpack, yet big enough to program on. If you're only using it for school work, I'd suggest looking at the 13" one.

Also, make up your mind about what you want to do with it. If you honestly only want to do schoolwork on it, a 1000$ laptop is more than enough, and you sure as hell don't need a macbook

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Originally posted by TheBlasphemer
Personally I went for 15" because it's small enough to fit in my backpack, yet big enough to program on.

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When you stack things up, the Macbook is worth it, I did a quick comparison of a Macbook and a Dell XPS M1330. IMHO, the Macbook wins.

Example:
Macbook 2.4ghz - $1599
Dell XPS M1330 - Near Identical specs, $1523

It always bugs me when people go "Oh why pay so much extra for a Mac when you can get a nice dell for $800". It's BS. Granted, you have pretty limited options as far as customizing the hardware, but the Macs are very nice machines. And if you can get it with a student discount, they are that much cheaper.

The really nice features of the new macbook that are worth the extra $76? Illuminated Keyboard, Magsafe power adapter (this is worth it's weight in gold), Great base software package, Multi-touch trackpad (you'd think it's kind of gimmicky, but it's very useful), solid metal case (very solid build quality), Generally better battery life (This has been true with every mac I've owned, from my old iBook to my latest Macbook, they smoke the battery life of comparable PC's without the need for a giant battery bulge).

On top of that, all the components are easy to access and it performs very well. And any system that does virtualization that well is a big plus in my book (I usually run three OSs at once. OS X, Windows 7, and Server 2008)

(edit)
The other thing to keep in mind, If you look at a laptop like the M1530 or alike, most have an almost identical screen resolution to their 13" counter parts (1280x800). So all you are gaining with a 15" model is larger pixels and usually a keyboard with a few extra keys, though usually the same size as the 13". Oh, and they tend to weigh a few extra pounds.
(/edit)

btw, My major gripe about the XPS 1330/1530 is the fact the battery bulges out at the bottom to fit in extra battery cells. This is also true with many other laptops these days, They bulge out the battery pack to fit more cells, but it makes the laptops a little bit of an odd shape. And yes, I am aware that you can get them with a smaller battery, but the smaller batteries run time is practically useless in my opinion compared to a Macbook which acomplishes usually a better runtime then a PC with a extended life battery without the bulge.

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Originally posted by wj
When you stack things up, the Macbook is worth it, I did a quick comparison of a Macbook and a Dell XPS M1330. IMHO, the Macbook wins.

Example:
Macbook 2.4ghz - $1599
Dell XPS M1330 - Near Identical specs, $1523

It always bugs me when people go "Oh why pay so much extra for a Mac when you can get a nice dell for $800". It's BS. Granted, you have pretty limited options as far as customizing the hardware, but the Macs are very nice machines. And if you can get it with a student discount, they are that much cheaper.

The really nice features of the new macbook that are worth the extra $76? Illuminated Keyboard, Magsafe power adapter (this is worth it's weight in gold), Great base software package, Multi-touch trackpad (you'd think it's kind of gimmicky, but it's very useful), solid metal case (very solid build quality), Generally better battery life (This has been true with every mac I've owned, from my old iBook to my latest Macbook, they smoke the battery life of comparable PC's without the need for a giant battery bulge).

On top of that, all the components are easy to access and it performs very well. And any system that does virtualization that well is a big plus in my book (I usually run three OSs at once. OS X, Windows 7, and Server 2008)

(edit)
The other thing to keep in mind, If you look at a laptop like the M1530 or alike, most have an almost identical screen resolution to their 13" counter parts (1280x800). So all you are gaining with a 15" model is larger pixels and usually a keyboard with a few extra keys, though usually the same size as the 13". Oh, and they tend to weigh a few extra pounds.
(/edit)

btw, My major gripe about the XPS 1330/1530 is the fact the battery bulges out at the bottom to fit in extra battery cells. This is also true with many other laptops these days, They bulge out the battery pack to fit more cells, but it makes the laptops a little bit of an odd shape. And yes, I am aware that you can get them with a smaller battery, but the smaller batteries run time is practically useless in my opinion compared to a Macbook which acomplishes usually a better runtime then a PC with a extended life battery without the bulge.

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quote:

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Originally posted by wj

(edit)
The other thing to keep in mind, If you look at a laptop like the M1530 or alike, most have an almost identical screen resolution to their 13" counter parts (1280x800). So all you are gaining with a 15" model is larger pixels and usually a keyboard with a few extra keys, though usually the same size as the 13". Oh, and they tend to weigh a few extra pounds.
(/edit)

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quote:

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Originally posted by wj

btw, My major gripe about the XPS 1330/1530 is the fact the battery bulges out at the bottom to fit in extra battery cells. This is also true with many other laptops these days, They bulge out the battery pack to fit more cells, but it makes the laptops a little bit of an odd shape. And yes, I am aware that you can get them with a smaller battery, but the smaller batteries run time is practically useless in my opinion compared to a Macbook which acomplishes usually a better runtime then a PC with a extended life battery without the bulge.

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I just got a Dell Studio XPS 1640 and I think its pretty cool. It does have its pros and cons. If you want to talk about it, we can do so over WLM when you're free

As for getting a mac, I did look at the MacBook Pro 15 and thought it was cool (I did so after ordering my Dell )

Edit: Just noticed we're comparing machines now. Well, I was going to go for the Dell XPS M1530 (it is amazing!) but when I called Dell up to place an order, the guy on the Sales team told me that they were shutting down the line and he suggested the Dell Studio XPS 1640 instead. Though a bit pricy, it is pretty good on performance (which is what I was looking for tbh).
And I agree with TB, the M1530 beats the MacBook Pro

TB: one question. How does the 1080p screen look? can you give me a desktop screenshot? I had a chance to upgrade the screen though it costed 10K INR more (which is a lot since I'm already paying 76K INR for the laptop).
I got the 720p and that looks pretty good. The normal DVDRip movies I had would have looked crap on a 1080p so I just stuck with the 720p
My parents just about didn't mind me paying twice as much for this laptop as a "normal one" (the ones most people here get cost around 35-40K INR) so I didn't want to push it further, even though I'm paid for the entire thing

I don't think I have you on WLM, do I? If not I'll pm you my addy later.

Anyhow, my mom's friend offered me a 25% discount, so I don't know. Might still get something else if I find it better than the apple I chose.. if I don't decide soon though I'll just get the mac.

Do you want performance?

You can get an alienware m15x from as low as $1100.

I just specced one out to 2k, and you could get 9800gt graphics card (fastest graphics card in a 15 inch laptop), 2.5 dual core 6mb cache, 500gb hardrive (up to 1tb), and a 1440x900 (can upgrade to 1920x900) resolution all for $1900.

Downside: It's quite a brick

One of the main upsides: Graphical power, Has smartbay, which means you can easily add another battery, harddrive, blu-ray drive, just by sliding it into the side.
The battery life on it is amazing for such a powerhouse. I get 6 hours when intergrated.
Oh and the cool lights

I've a pretty powerful computer, so I'm mainly looking for a lightweight, efficient laptop. I want it to be powerful too, but not too much, if you know what I mean.

get a thinkpad

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Originally posted by ShawnZ
get a thinkpad

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I was wondering, does anyone know any laptop with the "same" specs as the 2.4ghZ mac (or better), $1600 or less?

I'm still not sure if I want to buy the mac. If I don't get any responses I'll just buy it tomorrow though

get a thinkpad

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Originally posted by nimicitor
Lenovo ThinkPad
HP Pavilion TX2520
Dell XPS 1330
Dell Studio 17

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Originally posted by Rolando
I was wondering, does anyone know any laptop with the "same" specs as the 2.4ghZ mac (or better), $1600 or less?

I'm still not sure if I want to buy the mac. If I don't get any responses I'll just buy it tomorrow though

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Originally posted by John Anderton

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Originally posted by nimicitor
Lenovo ThinkPad
HP Pavilion TX2520
Dell XPS 1330
Dell Studio 17

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Dell XPS 1330 is a line which (at least in India) has been killed.
Dell Studio 17 sucks balls imo. They increased the price (99k inr -> 121k inr) and still have the same old sucky config. It was good when it came out but it isn't any more. Also, its a desktop replacement and not really a laptop. I've seen it and trust me, its something you don't want to be carrying around.

I have a Dell Studio XPS 1640 and I find its quite good. It does have a few flaws (like it heats up a lot when playing games and is kept on your bed; expected since the gfx card is working over time and not enough ventilation)

I'm always available for a full config and and benchmarks you want to run. I have the P8600 with 4gb ram running WinVista Home Premium x64 with an Intel 5300 Wireless card.

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Originally posted by Adeptus

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Originally posted by Rolando
I was wondering, does anyone know any laptop with the "same" specs as the 2.4ghZ mac (or better), $1600 or less?

I'm still not sure if I want to buy the mac. If I don't get any responses I'll just buy it tomorrow though

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I can never understand the reasoning of people who consider Macbook as "just another laptop" and throw it on their list along with Dells and whatnot, to ultimately decide based on specs and/or price. You should make up your mind on whether you want a Mac or not.  If you don't, it shouldn't be on your list.  If you do, it should only be a question of which Apple model you want and all the other things shouldn't be on your list.

Although they are good overall quality laptops and can even run Windows (after jumping through some hoops), that is not what you should buy a Mac for.  Buy one only if you intend to use it properly -- if you want / plan to run OS X.

By the way, I think you would enjoy it.  I like mine.

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I'm now posting from my brand new mac

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Originally posted by Rolando
I'm now posting from my brand new mac

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