I currently have a toshiba satellite and have been a windows guy all my life. I have only used a mac a couple times and really liked the simplicity of the system. I am in the market for a new laptop and am debating between a sony p8400 running vista or a macbook (or mbp). I really like the mbp cosmetically, but I do not know a lot about it and it seems very similar internally to the sony and yet carries a $800 higher price tag. Someone please tell me why its so expensive and if its worth it.
Also..I'm a student, and the majority of my computer use is for web surfing/emailing, word processing, and spreadsheets. I do a little pictures and videos but nothing extreme
thank you
Only you can decide if a Mac makes sense for you. I can tell you why I think the hardware is good or what makes me prefer the operating system but you have to justify it or not to yourself.
First thing I'd say is that I used to prefer the Microsoft products big time. In fact I still get paid to do so at work, and I do a lot of work there with Windows Server and products like Sharepoint and Exchange and SQL Server that run on top of Windows Server, and these do work very well.
I used to be a Microsoft MVP too. If you don't know, these are people who Microsoft "recognise and reward" for making big contributions to the community around Microsoft products. I received that award for about 9 years in a row up until the year Vista was released. So what made me change my tune? What justified a Mac to me?
My first mac was in late 2003 just after OS X 10.3 (aka 'Panther') was released. I was un-interested in older versions of Mac OS prior to the current 10.x series but decided that OS X was starting to look interesting, and with 10.3 being a new release around the time I had some spare cash, I decided to lay down the cash and get a 800Mhz (I think) 12" G4 iBook. It was about the cheapest laptop they had available at the time and so was a "low risk" way of trying out Apple stuff for me.
This laptop was an amazing beast to me. Being small it was very portable, which worked out well for me with taking a laptop when I travel around for work or leisure, and it seemed very well built and seemed like it was put together with a lot more care and attention than a lot of other Windows-based laptops at the time. Little touches like the power indicator in the charger plug, and fantastic battery life compared to my previous laptops all felt so nice to me.
After running this laptop for a few years, I upgraded to a black macbook core duo as soon as these became available with Apple's switch to Intel. The iBook was still going strong but I'd basically outgrown it. I managed to sell it on Ebay, with Office 2004 and OS X 10.4 disks for only slightly less than I paid for it new, showing how Apple kit can hold its value.
The Macbook is great. While I was still a MVP, testing Vista, I had beta versions of Vista running on the macbook quite happily and I still maintain that Apple actually make some of the nicer platforms for Windows XP and Vista. The Macbook has also been every bit as reliable as the iBook - neither have given me much trouble at all, and the one time I did ring Apple about problems with the battery life on my Macbook, they sorted it out for me no trouble at all.
This brings me to one of the great things about Apple kit. Apple make the hardware and the operating system. If you have a problem like my one with poor battery life and you ring Apple up, it's *their* problem. You're not going to get told "It's an operating system issue, we just make the hardware, ring Microsoft" and you're not then going to be told "I don't know why you got sent to speak to us... it's clearly hardware not software so you need to speak to the people who make the hardware". Doesn't happen with Apple, as they make both it's always *their* problem either way.
Same thing shines through day to day use of the hardware and software. As Apple produce a limited range of hardware and only two operating system editions (OS X and OS X server), things just tend to work a lot better. You get far less odd issues with things like laptop sleep not working right or bad drivers or anything like that which you seem to see sometimes in the Windows world. This isn't a "Windows sucks" point, in fact given the diversity of what Windows has to support it's a miracle it works as well as it does, but rather a point where the relative simplicity of what Apple have to deal with works in their favour.
Malware is an interesting point that deserves calling out. One of the things I used to be a MS-MVP for was security back in the day, and while I was working with "enterprise" security rather than home security, it's clear that Microsoft have had a big problem with security issues in the past which means you have to spend a lot of time and effort and (yes, sometimes) money on securing your Windows system.
OS X isn't magically immune to malware and anyone that tells you otherwise is an idiot with a remarkably poor appreciation of how computers actually work. However, due to a combination of factors, OS X is currently more or less a malware free zone when compared to Windows. You don't really need a virus scanner or a spyware remover on your Apple system, just a bit of care and common sense will suffice for most people. If you hate spending time and money on malware removal tools for Windows or if your work is very important to you and you can't afford for it to be disrupted by some stupidity then this might be all the justification you need by itself to buy a Mac.
I won't go into whether or not the OS is so much better than Windows, though I do think the gap between OS X 10.5 and Vista is larger than the gap between OS X 10.3. I think the best thing to say here is try it for yourself and see. You have to be prepared to give a new OS time and to get used to it, same as with anything new. One thing I will say about OS X is that it tends to "stay out of the way" a lot more than Windows when you are working.
I'd strongly suggest to anyone who has to cross the divide between Windows and OS X in *either* direction that you have to take the new system on its own values instead of trying to force it into working the way your 'old' system did and getting frustrated when it can't pretend to be something it isn't.
And don't forget, with a Mac, you're buying a computer that can run OS X, Windows OR Linux. Part of the benefit is that extra choice, right there. I might not be a typical user, but this last bit alone is worth the price of admission for me.
Whew! reading this again, it's turned into a giant post. I guess I can't tell you why *you* should buy a Mac but I have told you what made me do so. Hope that wasn't too boring and actually helps!
