Macbook or MBP?

[GibsonMarshall]

I'm new here. This is a pretty cool forum you all have. It's nice to see something like this.

Anyway, I've been a windows user and haven't ever used a Mac. I've been wanting to pick one up for a while, but never really have gotten around to it because I'm always buying guitars and guitar amplifiers.

I've been looking at several laptops Apple offers. Some folks at Harmony-Central told me I would be all right with the Macbook and others have told me I should just go all out and get a Macbook Pro. I would like to start fooling around with recording music. The MBP has the upgrade to the 7200 RPM 200 GB HD. I've read in several places that the faster hard drive would be beneficial for what I would be doing with it. The regular Macbook would be easier on the wallet, but I'm not too worried about that.

Also, I've been worried about switching from Windows to Apple. I know the way you go about doing things on a Mac is a little bit different. Other than that, they look pretty cool and I'm tired of having to buy a million different programs for maintenance.

Chime in and tell me what you guys think. You're the experts!

 

[forafireescape]

Go for the MBP. It'll be better to have the speed, more memory, etc. for what you're going to use it for.

I switched from PC to Mac less than a year ago. Let me tell you, it was probably the best decision I ever made. Don't even worry about having trouble switching. Macs are so user-friendly that it's ridiculous. You'll wonder why you stayed with Windows so long. (Especially Vista...gross.)

And of course, there's always all of us to help you

 

[marykay9507]

MacBook Pro all the way!!

Switching is pretty easy-- plus, when you buy at a store, you can bring in the old pc (as long as it functions) and they will transfer your data for you-- makes it easier so you don't have to worry about that stuff and can enjoy your new computer right out of the box when they are done!

 

[GibsonMarshall]

Thanks for the replies!

I've got another question. Every time I've seen a screen shot of a Mac it's always running multiple programs at once. Can you Maximize one particular program and have it take up most, if not all, of the screen?

 

[forafireescape]

Definitely - you can resize the program windows just like you would on a PC to make one in the forefront. Is that what you mean?

 

[GibsonMarshall]

Definitely - you can resize the program windows just like you would on a PC to make one in the forefront. Is that what you mean?

Yeah, I guess. HAHA!

Let's say I'm running one application... IE: Safari .... I can make the "window" that I'm using to view Safari take up most, if not all, of the screen.

Even with Windows, I never have been one to run several million different things at once. I don't run multiple tabs in Firefox and I don't leave my e-mail up all of the time.

 

[forafireescape]

Yup - you can make it take up the whole screen (but not the dock [little thing on the bottom for your programs] or menu bar [has the file menu, edit menu, etc.]). Macs have this sweet thing where you can "show all windows" - it makes all the windows small so you can see them all at once and click on the one you want to be in front (Safari, in your example).

 

[GibsonMarshall]

Yup - you can make it take up the whole screen (but not the dock [little thing on the bottom for your programs] or menu bar [has the file menu, edit menu, etc.]). Macs have this sweet thing where you can "show all windows" - it makes all the windows small so you can see them all at once and click on the one you want to be in front (Safari, in your example).

Awesome! That makes me feel A LOT better! I like the dock at the bottom. It looks cool and it's definitely different.

I appreciate the help!

 

[forafireescape]

No problem!

In the interest of not breaking the "this is not an instant message forum for you to go back and forth on" rule, I'd totally answer any of your questions as a newly-switched Mac user - you can find my contact info in my profile

Best of luck!

 

[Csmitte]

buy a MBP you will not ever turn back, there are alot of similarities between reular PC's but I would not trade my MBP in for a personally built by bill gates Regular pc. My MBP works so well and its fun to use. I use every Program on it that gave me except garage band. So i say buy a MBP you will be pleased.

Cheers

 

[iCeFuSiOn]

I'd go with the MacBook Pro, you surely won't regret it! I recently switched from Windows to Mac OS X and I absolutely love it (which is saying a lot coming from a Microsoft Windows Shell/User MVP!)

 

[Mantasis]

The switch from windows to osx is absolute bliss.

Windows can sometimes be a hassle, as most of them don't completely fill the screen and manually enlargening them can only be done from one corner.

Also, I just sent my mbp in, after exactly one month of using it, it seems to have a problem with the RAM. I don't know how long it'll take to get fixed, but I'm warning you, these notebooks can have a lot of hardware problems...

 

[Twe Foju]

if you want speed? then there is just 1 word for you

MBP!

and dont worry of switching from Windows to MacOS

as i can tell you, it will not even took 10 minutes before you're familiar with Mac OS

welcome to the club

 

[ucfgrad93]

I recently had the same decision to make. I chose the MBP mainly for its larger screen.