15" i7 MBP potential buyer advice

[JohnInDC]

Due to the recent passing of my windows desktop I find myself in the market for a new computer. After analyzing my real needs in a computer I thought about getting a desktop replacement laptop. I'm torn between a higher end win 7 machine and a MBP. I'm generally positive towards Apple products as I have an iPad, which I like a lot, and am on my second iPhone, iPhone 4. But I have several questions concerning the i7 15" MBP and was hoping the forum members here could help.

1. I like to game on my computer, but not really drawn to FPS's. Examples of games I play are; WoW, Everquest, Civilization series, and Command and Conquer. Does anyone have experience with these games and what are your thoughts?

2. Has anyone recently gone from Win 7 to the Mac OS and what are your impressions. I like Win 7.

3. What are your thoughts on the MBP I'm considering as a desktop replacement?

4. What are your impressions of using bootcamp? I work in a windows office.

5. I travel about once a month for work. Does anyone know if its possible to tether my iPad to a MBP thats connected to a RJ-45 internet connection? My favorite hotel at one of my work locations only has wired internet in the rooms.

I appreciate any advice or insight you feel like sharing beyond my questions. Also looking to buy after work today or NLT this weekend.

Thanks

John

 

[TheDrift-]

Due to the recent passing of my windows desktop I find myself in the market for a new computer. After analyzing my real needs in a computer I thought about getting a desktop replacement laptop. I'm torn between a higher end win 7 machine and a MBP. I'm generally positive towards Apple products as I have an iPad, which I like a lot, and am on my second iPhone, iPhone 4. But I have several questions concerning the i7 15" MBP and was hoping the forum members here could help.

1. I like to game on my computer, but not really drawn to FPS's. Examples of games I play are; WoW, Everquest, Civilization series, and Command and Conquer. Does anyone have experience with these games and what are your thoughts?

2. Has anyone recently gone from Win 7 to the Mac OS and what are your impressions. I like Win 7.

3. What are your thoughts on the MBP I'm considering as a desktop replacement?

4. What are your impressions of using bootcamp? I work in a windows office.

5. I travel about once a month for work. Does anyone know if its possible to tether my iPad to a MBP thats connected to a RJ-45 internet connection? My favorite hotel at one of my work locations only has wired internet in the rooms.

I appreciate any advice or insight you feel like sharing beyond my questions. Also looking to buy after work today or NLT this weekend.

Thanks

John

Well I'm a recent swopper but i can only answer a couple of your points.

1) I dont use mine to game but I read a lot of people do and WOW is fine, cant speak from expierence tho.

2) I used a programme called parrallels to install win 7 so I could use win 7 and os x at the same time. I thought I would be spending equal amounts of time in both, I have spent about 10 mins in win 7 tops, there's nothing wrong with it but OS X is just a much nicer place to be.

3) unless you really need that extra an i5 is a lot cheaper and you dont lose that much in performance.

4) I dont use bootcamp, I use parrallels, no probs but i have hardly used win 7

5) No idea

 

[amarcus]

1. Don't have high expectations. Macbook pro's are not gaming machines and will only smoothly play these games in bootcamp with low-medium settings. Running under OSX things are even worse but for the games listed (like civilization) it shouldn't make a difference.

2. I switched from vista and I initially had some teething problems adjusting to OSX. However after the initial break-in period I couldn't be happier. Having recently tried Windows 7 I've been moderately impressed. I believe you'll grow to appreciate both operating systems as they both have subtly different strengths and weaknesses. However you'll find yourself using OSX more. Perhaps not because it's any "better" but because it ties in more beautifully with the hardware.

3. I find the Macbook Pro a great desktop replacement and a very capable machine, barring heavy gaming of course.

4. Bootcamp is ok. It's sufficient but contains it's fair share of glitches that prevent it from being a truly seamless experience. It does the job and no more.

5. Yes, this will work fine.

My advice: Get the macbook pro you'll love it!

Adam

 

[JohnInDC]

Thanks guy your thoughts helped. One other thought, have experienced any heat problems with the MBP?

 

[GTghost]

Due to the recent passing of my windows desktop I find myself in the market for a new computer. After analyzing my real needs in a computer I thought about getting a desktop replacement laptop. I'm torn between a higher end win 7 machine and a MBP. I'm generally positive towards Apple products as I have an iPad, which I like a lot, and am on my second iPhone, iPhone 4. But I have several questions concerning the i7 15" MBP and was hoping the forum members here could help.

1. I like to game on my computer, but not really drawn to FPS's. Examples of games I play are; WoW, Everquest, Civilization series, and Command and Conquer. Does anyone have experience with these games and what are your thoughts?

2. Has anyone recently gone from Win 7 to the Mac OS and what are your impressions. I like Win 7.

3. What are your thoughts on the MBP I'm considering as a desktop replacement?

4. What are your impressions of using bootcamp? I work in a windows office.

5. I travel about once a month for work. Does anyone know if its possible to tether my iPad to a MBP thats connected to a RJ-45 internet connection? My favorite hotel at one of my work locations only has wired internet in the rooms.

I appreciate any advice or insight you feel like sharing beyond my questions. Also looking to buy after work today or NLT this weekend.

Thanks

John

1. Mac's are starting to get more and more games, I recently install Age of Empires, Counter strike, and Half life 2 and all games seem to run fine, not laggy at all and I usually get on average 80 frames per second. For games that arent for Mac, you can always use Crossover or play the game in a partitioned windows machine.

2. I actually just went from a desktop Win7 to MBP, I love the MBP ALOT more. Apples OS seems alot more stable and more user friendly. Start up times are alot quicker on the MBP. You dont have to worry about getting infected with viruses. OS X occasionally has some malicious exploits on Safari, but thats why they have Firefox for OSX .

3. Like I said before, MBP are great, I have been a Windows user for atleast 10 years and switched over to OS X and now I am thinking about buying an iMac too.

4. I currently have Windows 7 installed via bootcamp. So far everything seems to be working fine, but I dont use the win7 installed a whole lot.

5. Not sure about ipad and mbp tethering.

 

[man02195]

5. I travel about once a month for work. Does anyone know if its possible to tether my iPad to a MBP thats connected to a RJ-45 internet connection? My favorite hotel at one of my work locations only has wired internet in the rooms.
John

You can create a network on the MBP to share the RJ-45 connection.
Under the AirPort menu item, create a network, and connect to it from iPad.
Simple and works great.

 

[JohnInDC]

Thanks for the help. Ordered the 15" i7 MBP with the hi-def glossy screen and the 7200 rpm HD last night from the website.

John