Microsoft is Our Friend

[harcosparky]

Qhat about the plastic macbooks? Do they suck because they are made of plastic?

YES !!!!

I bet you thought I was a "fanboy " and would never trash an Apple product. Fooled ya, huh?

The aluminum case will never show the wear that a plastic case will show over time. The two materials have totally different wear characteristics. However both will show abuse, but that's not what I am talking about.

My oldest son owned on of the white plastic notebooks ( G4 iBook ) neither he nor I will ever own one of the plastic ones again.

We had a similar experience to this poster ....

My two year old 2.16 White Macbook has chips galore on it, and I baby this thing. Another friend of mine had to fight Apple tooth and nail to replace the casing on hers because it goes little hairline cracks all over it. The plastic casing is pretty s**tty.

We had hopes for the Macbook line when the aluminum bodies were introduced. Now they have been bumped into the PRO lineup and all that is left in the Macbook line is the White Plastic one. That's a shame, now there is no Macbook I could recommend.

 

[Cabbit]

What's your video card?

The GMA 950

 

[Cabbit]

LULZ!

sorry, as much as i love macs...no self respecting gamer would ever succumb to mac gaming as the only viable option. mac ports are inferior and majority of gamers who do game on macs utilize bootcamp. if anyone wants to game then buy a 13" mbp and use the money you saved vs a 15" mbp and build a desktop gaming rig.

You mean no self respecting FPS gamer would use a Mac or is it so odd that i can be quite happy playing games like Age of Empires 2/3, World of Warcraft, Starcraft, Half Life 2(under cedega), Rollercoaster Tycoon 3, Doom 3, Transport Tycoon, Alice, Unreal Tournament 2004. All quite happily with a reasonable frame rate, medium settings and usually native resolution. I am sure when i move up to a 9400m GPU i will be able to get even smoother gameplay and turn more fancy shadows on and maybe get the newer version of Unreal Tournament.

 

[Eidorian]

The GMA 950

You mean no self respecting FPS gamer would use a Mac or is it so odd that i can be quite happy playing games like Age of Empires 2/3, World of Warcraft, Starcraft, Half Life 2(under cedega), Rollercoaster Tycoon 3, Doom 3, Transport Tycoon, Alice, Unreal Tournament 2004. All quite happily with a reasonable frame rate, medium settings and usually native resolution. I am sure when i move up to a 9400m GPU i will be able to get even smoother gameplay and turn more fancy shadows on and maybe get the newer version of Unreal Tournament.

5+ year old games and some that don't even need 3D acceleration hardware.

 

[RiCEADDiCTBOY]

5+ year old games and some that don't even need 3D acceleration hardware.

these are the same "gamers" that complain about paying more than 4.99 for a gaming app...when the same games retail double that on "other" handhelds.

and people want games on ipod touch/iphones but, think they are too expensive? apple gamers are the worse imo.

bringing up games that are 7+ year old isn't a very good argument btw. *yawn*

reasonable frame rate, medium settings and usually native resolution

old as hell games running in medium settings = fail. nothing to be proud about on a 1500+ dollar machine in 2009.

 

[silentsage]

For the educational market, Apple did the right thing by not burdening the 13" MBP (and the new 15" MBP for $1599) with a more powerful graphics chip. Most of the folks in college now who are into gaming are using dedicated gaming consoles (xboxes and Wiis). They do this mostly because they enjoy being able to play the games with several friends at once. That can't be done easily on any laptop.

At the risk of generalizing, most of the students need enough graphics power to watch videos of classes downloaded from the net, and the usual Youtube stuff.

Regarding PCs, I think the real issue is the overall value of the laptop and its associated software, for the money that is spent, rather than build quality. You can buy a less expensive Windows laptop than the MB or MBP 13. This is a subjective area, but my sense is that it would be hard to find a combination of price, materials, and integrated software applications (e.g., iTunes/iPhone/iPod/iPhoto/Macs) that are much better than the low-end Apple offerings. I know several folks at college who are really fond of their Apple equipment. I don't see the same level of attachment for the Windows-based machines. I think it's because the students see this equipment as a means to access their music, photos, and other stuff, and also get school work done. At the end of the day, for a portion of the students, it's a lifestyle thing.

 

[Eidorian]

For the educational market, Apple did the right thing by not burdening the 13" MBP (and the new 15" MBP for $1599) with a more powerful graphics chip. Most of the folks in college now who are into gaming are using dedicated gaming consoles (xboxes and Wiis). They do this mostly because they enjoy being able to play the games with several friends at once. That can't be done easily on any laptop.

At the risk of generalizing, most of the students need enough graphics power to watch videos of classes downloaded from the net, and the usual Youtube stuff.

I wouldn't ignore the PC gaming market. I don't understand where the idea that you should get a Mac and console comes from.

There aren't any console games that I want and I didn't get any in college either. I can't tell you how many hours I spent gaming on my computer in college.

I wouldn't even mention Flash video playback in OS X. It's abysmal.

 

[Cabbit]

these are the same "gamers" that complain about paying more than 4.99 for a gaming app...when the same games retail double that on "other" handhelds.

and people want games on ipod touch/iphones but, think they are too expensive? apple gamers are the worse imo.

bringing up games that are 7+ year old isn't a very good argument btw. *yawn*



old as hell games running in medium settings = fail. nothing to be proud about on a 1500+ dollar machine in 2009.

My computer is closer to 3 years old laddy and whether a game is 1 year or 20 years old it is still a game, after a year it does not suddenly get unclassified as a game.
If you need to play the latest re hack of last years game with better graphics by all means get a quad SLi gaming rig and go liquid cool it. If your happy playing the odd game that you can easily replay over and over and add a few games to your collection every year then you don't need the latest and greatest and funnily enough my games aren't less entertaining and have not suddenly stopped working not that much faster graphics hardware is available.

 

[Eidorian]

My computer is closer to 3 years old laddy and whether a game is 1 year or 20 years old it is still a game, after a year it does not suddenly get unclassified as a game.
If you need to play the latest re hack of last years game with better graphics by all means get a quad SLi gaming rig and go liquid cool it. If your happy playing the odd game that you can easily replay over and over and add a few games to your collection every year then you don't need the latest and greatest and funnily enough my games aren't less entertaining and have not suddenly stopped working not that much faster graphics hardware is available.

Throwing out near buzzwords doesn't help much. You're only going to see that on Tom's Hardware or with someone that really has money to burn every few months on their hobby.

Par for the course is a 7750/E5200 with 4 GB of RAM and a HD4850/9800GTX+. You're looking at $500 at most in that area.

Laptop gaming is still hovering at a casual status unless you want to really throw money at it. The 9400M G is the best thing to happen to Intel's mobile platform in ages. I can say the same for the mobile 780G for AMD as well.

 

[lixuelai]

I bought both my MBA and MBP on Ebay with Live cashback. Microsoft PAID me to buy Apple hardware.

 

[thecheda]

Touche

My two year old 2.16 White Macbook has chips galore on it, and I baby this thing. Another friend of mine had to fight Apple tooth and nail to replace the casing on hers because it goes little hairline cracks all over it. The plastic casing is pretty s**tty.

I have personally seen two people with the SAME crack in the plastic. The area where the right palm touches, cracks open and exposes the insides of the Macbook (this is the older white Macbooks).

 

[Cabbit]

Throwing out near buzzwords doesn't help much. You're only going to see that on Tom's Hardware or with someone that really has money to burn every few months on their hobby.

Par for the course is a 7750/E5200 with 4 GB of RAM and a HD4850/9800GTX+. You're looking at $500 at most in that area.

Laptop gaming is still hovering at a casual status unless you want to really throw money at it. The 9400M G is the best thing to happen to Intel's mobile platform in ages. I can say the same for the mobile 780G for AMD as well.

Calling something that is a name a manufacture gave to there technology a buzzword is a bit of laddy and you know SLi is not just for the hobbyist is comes in pre build machines for average joe and a good amount of motherboards ship with the support that anyone can upgrade to a SLi setup cheaply.

"Par for the course is a 7750/E5200 with 4 GB of RAM and a HD4850/9800GTX+. You're looking at $500 at most in that area." What about the case, cooling, a good PSU, is that generic ram or high quality ram, what about a good motherboard from Gigibyte or similar so you have a solid foundation for this computer, and a good cpu cooler.

 

[Eidorian]

Calling something that is a name a manufacture gave to there technology a buzzword is a bit of laddy and you know SLi is not just for the hobbyist is comes in pre build machines for average joe and a good amount of motherboards ship with the support that anyone can upgrade to a SLi setup cheaply.

SLI is a joke given the cost of the board and the power supply needed for the marginal gain over a single more powerful card. Average Joe isn't buying something with nForce on it. Crossfire is much cheaper on P45 and 790 but still greatly unnecessary.

If you're going to bring out Average Joe slide on down to a 4670 on a Dell OEM 305W power supply with 19A over a single +12V rail. Great for TF2 and CoD4 at 1280 x 1024 or even 1680 x 1050.

Failing that try finding a Green Edition 9600/9800GT or HD4830.

"Par for the course is a 7750/E5200 with 4 GB of RAM and a HD4850/9800GTX+. You're looking at $500 at most in that area." What about the case, cooling, a good PSU, is that generic ram or high quality ram, what about a good motherboard from Gigibyte or similar so you have a solid foundation for this computer, and a good cpu cooler.

ASUS/Gigabyte boards, Antec/Corasir PSU, and Crucial RAM. It's not like they're expensive.

 

[RiCEADDiCTBOY]

ever heard of lan parties? i know those dominated my college experience way over consoles. they still do in a military environment as well. we gather our laptops / desktops and go at it in COD4.

also, babyjenniferLB arguments humor me at best.

 

[colourfastt]

ever heard of lan parties? i know those dominated my college experience way over consoles. they still do in a military environment as well. we gather our laptops / desktops and go at it in COD4.

also, babyjenniferLB arguments humor me at best.

Typical for a teenager.

 

[Eidorian]

Typical for a teenager.

Would you please elaborate?

On campus you're going to enjoy 100 Mbit speeds anyways but there is a social aspect to a LAN party given the dorm culture and plenty of usable space. This still applies to people out of college as well.

 

[RiCEADDiCTBOY]

Typical for a teenager.

wtf? how ignorant can you be?

i'm 25 and a medic. it is not uncommon for my medical team and peers to get together for lan parties and etc. also, age does not dictate relevancy on anything. status quo is bs.

my korean cousins, uncles, and aunts get together as well for pc gaming. asian or not it facilities social fun and gathering. since when does age present an invisible ceiling on what can or cannot occur?

i want to kick you sideways for even bothering to post.

 

[HLdan]

We had hopes for the Macbook line when the aluminum bodies were introduced. Now they have been bumped into the PRO lineup and all that is left in the Macbook line is the White Plastic one. That's a shame, now there is no Macbook I could recommend.

Man, your post is so flawed it's difficult to even laugh at it. Let's see, the Unibody Macbook was $1299 and according to you, you liked it then. Now it's been upgraded to a Macbook Pro and it's $100 less. What reason do you have that you can't recommend it anymore? Would you prefer for it to have the "Macbook" label without the "Pro" and priced back to $1299 so you can recommend it?

 

[Eidorian]

Man, your post is so flawed it's difficult to even laugh at it. Let's see, the Unibody Macbook was $1299 and according to you, you liked it then. Now it's been upgraded to a Macbook Pro and it's $100 less. What reason do you have that you can't recommend it anymore? Would you prefer for it to have the "Macbook" label without the "Pro" and priced back to $1299 so you can recommend it?

I think they wanted Apple to get rid of the plastic MacBook entirely instead of just renaming the Unibody MacBook a Macbook Pro.

 

[NoSmokingBandit]

YES !!!!

I bet you thought I was a "fanboy " and would never trash an Apple product. Fooled ya, huh?

Can you blame me for jumping to that conclusion?
Its good to hear that you actually have reason to your claims unlike a large amount of people here.

Imo, the problem with the plastic macbooks is that they are white. The black seems much less prone to getting stained and gross. I have an ancient PIII toshiba laptop that is black plastic and it looks like new minus a few scratches on the lid. I see your point though, and im glad you arent a mindless drone

 

[harcosparky]

Once again not everyone gets a corporate discount either.

My point in mentioning the corporate discount is there are probably many walking around who are entitled to it without even knowing.

We had no idea, the Apple Store Clerk ASKED us where our son worked. When we told him he informed us we could have another discount.

True not everyone gets one .... but is that any reason to not ask for it.

By the way, we did not have to show any proof, he just entered it in the system and the discount was given.

 

[Eidorian]

My point in mentioning the corporate discount is there are probably many walking around who are entitled to it without even knowing.

We had no idea, the Apple Store Clerk ASKED us where our son worked. When we told him he informed us we could have another discount.

True not everyone gets one .... but is that any reason to not ask for it.

By the way, we did not have to show any proof, he just entered it in the system and the discount was given.

They let you off easy. You have to bring your corporate ID here to get the discount.

 

[harcosparky]

Can you blame me for jumping to that conclusion?
Its good to hear that you actually have reason to your claims unlike a large amount of people here.

Imo, the problem with the plastic macbooks is that they are white. The black seems much less prone to getting stained and gross. I have an ancient PIII toshiba laptop that is black plastic and it looks like new minus a few scratches on the lid. I see your point though, and im glad you arent a mindless drone

I liked the black one, for the reasons you stated.

At least with Apple the color is through and through. You buy those cheesy Windows notebooks and many have a plating over plastic. When they wear off they look hideous. I remember one HP Pavillion that I had years ago, within 6 months my palms had worn off the plating below the keyboard and that looked horrible.

This is another reason I came to love the Apple metal cases.

 

[harcosparky]

Man, your post is so flawed it's difficult to even laugh at it. Let's see, the Unibody Macbook was $1299 and according to you, you liked it then. Now it's been upgraded to a Macbook Pro and it's $100 less. What reason do you have that you can't recommend it anymore? Would you prefer for it to have the "Macbook" label without the "Pro" and priced back to $1299 so you can recommend it?

No your post is flawed.

You see when there was an Aluminum Macbook, I had no problems recommending the Macbook. Now there is only the White plastic Macbook and I cannot recommend that for reasons stated previously.

What is the reason I can no longer recommend buying an Aluminum Macbook???

Because according to Apple, they do not make it anymore!

How can I recommend something that is no longer being made.

Can I recommend the 13" Macbook Pro? Hell yes !!!

 

[harcosparky]

They let you off easy. You have to bring your corporate ID here to get the discount.

I would imagine a Paystub would work as well. After all, you just need to prove your employment.

I do recall when my son first was employed with McDonalds they gave him a book that listed a lot of discounts with many places, but McDonalds does not issue corporate ID cards. Who know, maybe when the Apple clerk looked it up, his information told him there was no corporate ID cards.

I don't know, just know the clerk asked, we told him got the discount.