Hello everyone!
Just wanted to let everyone know my impressions of the late 2008 MBP from the perspective of a life-long PC user. I've had it for about 2 weeks now... and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT.
I've been a life-long PC user that does a little bit of everything - I game, I do photo-editing, I run a business online, I do university level work on it, etc. And no, I am not a product of Apple's incredibly clever and witty marketing schemes - I've been contemplating switching for a very long time but was too afraid to leave my comfort zone. I was also quite skeptical of Macs, but when I tried my friend's early '08 MBP, then saw the redesign on Oct. 14, I knew I had to switch.
All I've seen so far on this boards are posts about little problems people have had on their MBP, but so far I've experienced absolutely no problems. My system has not crashed once. It runs faster than any PC of comparable spec... and it looks absolutely gorgeous - I get comments about it at school on a regular basis.
But let me briefly analyze my experience so far based on the fact that I am switching from a comparably spec'd PC laptop computer...
Gaming
I don't game that much. I play CoD4 and Guitar Hero III off XP in BootCamp. Performance-wise, it's brilliant. I had a similarly spec'd Dell Inspiron with an 8600 GT and I can honestly say it's been running about 20%-40% quicker. I can comfortably run this game on the highest settings (on 1280x800). On Guitar Hero 3, it runs even better. What I don't like about gaming on this rig is the fact that I must utilize BootCamp to access these games. This is a huge tradeoff as I absolutely hate Windows XP.
The fact that I must allocate drive space to even harbor XP on my system is a little drag as well. Overall, I'm extremely happy with gaming on this system. Again, I must state that switching from a PC laptop with comparable settings, the MBP does blow it out of the water.
If you're a moderate gamer, the MBP does it. I am excited to run CoD5 when it comes out in a few days.
Photo Editing and Website Development
Clearly, given the performance boost, my PS CS3 and DW CS3 runs much quicker. I can especially tell when editing large graphics when I turn my 9600 GT on.
Overall, in this department, the Mac wins hands-down in every aspect. I can't really see an advantage of using a comparably spec'd PC in this category. I am using the exact same programs as I did on the PC, therefore usability-wise, it's pretty much identical.
School Work
This is a category where you would assume no difference... and to tell you the truth, there hasn't been much, although I did find the Mac version of Microsoft Word is quite bizarre compared to its PC version. Is it better or worse? I have absolutely no idea since I'm still learning how to use it.
I do love the fact that I can export documents into PDF files right out of the box. However, writing school papers has been a drag so far as citing in this new Word is bizarre. Maybe I'm not used to it yet...
I have iWork '08. Pages simply doesn't live up to Word in terms of academic writing. Sorry.
General Usage and Final Comments
Leopard is fast, easy, and efficient. I could write 1000 more words on this section, but I'll try to condense it...
The four finger gestures are absolutely God-sent. I use Expose constantly and it is a real time saver. Using MultiClutch, I am able to apply gestures to several different applications as well. Surfing the web, given these gestures, is MUCH quicker and more pleasurable.
iTunes is great. I even used iTunes on my PC... tunes load instantly with no lag. My Dell had annoying feedback when I plugged in headphones in - I get absolutely no feedback on my new MBP.
Finder, I must say, is the only thing so far I don't like. Perhaps I'm still not used to it, but File Explorer on Vista was fairly straight forward. I do like Leopard's organizational system in Finder, but the way you navigate and manipulate files can be a bitch. My friend suggested a program called "PathFinder" - maybe I'll look into it.
Most of the information is intended for people who are considering switching or buying the new uni-body MBP. I have read all the various faults on the other threads and I can't say they've been applicable to my machine. I absolutely love it. The build quality is amazing, the glass LED backlit screen is phenomenal, battery life was MUCH better than my 9-cell Dell laptop...
I can't say enough!
Just wanted to let everyone know my impressions of the late 2008 MBP from the perspective of a life-long PC user. I've had it for about 2 weeks now... and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT.
I've been a life-long PC user that does a little bit of everything - I game, I do photo-editing, I run a business online, I do university level work on it, etc. And no, I am not a product of Apple's incredibly clever and witty marketing schemes - I've been contemplating switching for a very long time but was too afraid to leave my comfort zone. I was also quite skeptical of Macs, but when I tried my friend's early '08 MBP, then saw the redesign on Oct. 14, I knew I had to switch.
All I've seen so far on this boards are posts about little problems people have had on their MBP, but so far I've experienced absolutely no problems. My system has not crashed once. It runs faster than any PC of comparable spec... and it looks absolutely gorgeous - I get comments about it at school on a regular basis.
But let me briefly analyze my experience so far based on the fact that I am switching from a comparably spec'd PC laptop computer...
Gaming
I don't game that much. I play CoD4 and Guitar Hero III off XP in BootCamp. Performance-wise, it's brilliant. I had a similarly spec'd Dell Inspiron with an 8600 GT and I can honestly say it's been running about 20%-40% quicker. I can comfortably run this game on the highest settings (on 1280x800). On Guitar Hero 3, it runs even better. What I don't like about gaming on this rig is the fact that I must utilize BootCamp to access these games. This is a huge tradeoff as I absolutely hate Windows XP.
The fact that I must allocate drive space to even harbor XP on my system is a little drag as well. Overall, I'm extremely happy with gaming on this system. Again, I must state that switching from a PC laptop with comparable settings, the MBP does blow it out of the water.
If you're a moderate gamer, the MBP does it. I am excited to run CoD5 when it comes out in a few days.
Photo Editing and Website Development
Clearly, given the performance boost, my PS CS3 and DW CS3 runs much quicker. I can especially tell when editing large graphics when I turn my 9600 GT on.
Overall, in this department, the Mac wins hands-down in every aspect. I can't really see an advantage of using a comparably spec'd PC in this category. I am using the exact same programs as I did on the PC, therefore usability-wise, it's pretty much identical.
School Work
This is a category where you would assume no difference... and to tell you the truth, there hasn't been much, although I did find the Mac version of Microsoft Word is quite bizarre compared to its PC version. Is it better or worse? I have absolutely no idea since I'm still learning how to use it.
I do love the fact that I can export documents into PDF files right out of the box. However, writing school papers has been a drag so far as citing in this new Word is bizarre. Maybe I'm not used to it yet...
I have iWork '08. Pages simply doesn't live up to Word in terms of academic writing. Sorry.
General Usage and Final Comments
Leopard is fast, easy, and efficient. I could write 1000 more words on this section, but I'll try to condense it...
The four finger gestures are absolutely God-sent. I use Expose constantly and it is a real time saver. Using MultiClutch, I am able to apply gestures to several different applications as well. Surfing the web, given these gestures, is MUCH quicker and more pleasurable.
iTunes is great. I even used iTunes on my PC... tunes load instantly with no lag. My Dell had annoying feedback when I plugged in headphones in - I get absolutely no feedback on my new MBP.
Finder, I must say, is the only thing so far I don't like. Perhaps I'm still not used to it, but File Explorer on Vista was fairly straight forward. I do like Leopard's organizational system in Finder, but the way you navigate and manipulate files can be a bitch. My friend suggested a program called "PathFinder" - maybe I'll look into it.
Most of the information is intended for people who are considering switching or buying the new uni-body MBP. I have read all the various faults on the other threads and I can't say they've been applicable to my machine. I absolutely love it. The build quality is amazing, the glass LED backlit screen is phenomenal, battery life was MUCH better than my 9-cell Dell laptop...
I can't say enough!
