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Should I buy a MAC?

F

FrostY09

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 15, 2009
2
0
I need a new laptop for University and with all the student incentives I was thinking of getting a 13' MBP or MBA. I was worried however that I may be paying a premium for an OS I might not need.

On my old windows laptop I used mostly:
firefox
Microsoft onenote
excel
word
outlook
iTunes
winavi
vlc media player
Photoshop
mathtype

are there equivalents for these on a MAC? Also, I was hoping to buy from an apple store and if I chose a MBP would they have versions with an SSD HD installed? Thank you!
 
FrostY09 said:
I need a new laptop for University and with all the student incentives I was thinking of getting a 13' MBP or MBA. I was worried however that I may be paying a premium for an OS I might not need.

On my old windows laptop I used mostly:
firefox
Microsoft onenote
excel
word
outlook
iTunes
winavi
vlc media player
Photoshop
mathtype

are there equivalents for these on a MAC? Also, I was hoping to buy from an apple store and if I chose a MBP would they have versions with an SSD HD installed? Thank you!
Click to expand...

Wow, nice list.
Everything on that list (except onenote and winavi) is for Mac. However for playing wmv, use Flip4Mac. Mathtype has a mac version. IF you bought from a retail store, i would be quite sure they wont carry the SSD for the MacBook, so you would have to select that from the Online store.
 
Everything on your list will run fine, except for iTunes...

Now seriously, the main reason someone would buy a Mac (not MAC) is the OS. If you want it in order to increase your sex life, you'd better leave it...
 
You're not going to be using OneNote on the Mac and there is really not equivalent that is as good. Entourage is the Mac version of Outlook.

For Photoshop, you can ask if Adobe will sell you a crossgrade disk so you can swap your Windows serial for a Mac serial. If they can't, then you'd either have to stick with what you have or buy a new copy.
 
I don't know if the serials are cross-platform, but if they are, he can always just download the trial and upgrade to full with the actual serial. But I'm pretty sure the serial IS cross-platform.
 
You do not want to buy a Mac.

There is no substitute for OneNote, and Entourage plain and simple sucks when compared to Outlook -- Entourage is slow and only has a small percentage of the features of Outlook.

Save your money, buy a Dell notebook with Windows 7 on it and be happy.
 
Winni said:
You do not want to buy a Mac.

There is no substitute for OneNote, and Entourage plain and simple sucks when compared to Outlook -- Entourage is slow and only has a small percentage of the features of Outlook.

Save your money, buy a Dell notebook with Windows 7 on it and be happy.
Click to expand...

Or maybe he could use Mail, et. al. and get used to a change. :confused:
 
money is obviously not a concern for you.

u can go ahead buy the mac and install windows on it with either bootcamp, or VMware, to use things that aren't available for mac.
 
Most of the things you stated you used are compatible with Mac. My advise is buy a Mac and bootcamp or virtual machine Windows for the odd application that you cant get on Mac.

:apple: KrayzieKray :apple:
 
I used one note all the time on windows, and started using circus ponies notebook on the mac. At first I didn't like it near as much until I learned all the shortcut keys. Now its hard for me to go back to one note I like Circus ponies notebook much better now.
 
Now is not the right time to be buying ANY computer.

Both Microsoft and Apple are about to release new versions of their operating systems in the coming weeks. Having tried Windows 7, it truly is the finest version of Windows I have ever used and it is significantly better than the version of OS X you'd get if you buy a Mac now.

I haven't tried Apple's new operating system, Snow Leopard, but the user reports I have read do not report anything outstanding, and there appear to be some significant stability issues in the current versions of the software that are being used.

I'd wait until both are on the market and then choose what is best for you. As others have pointed out you use a lot of Windows-only software and you'd also need to buy new versions of Office and Photoshop if you did switch. This wouldn't be the case if you got a computer with Windows 7.
 
neiltc13 said:
Now is not the right time to be buying ANY computer.

Both Microsoft and Apple are about to release new versions of their operating systems in the coming weeks. Having tried Windows 7, it truly is the finest version of Windows I have ever used and it is significantly better than the version of OS X you'd get if you buy a Mac now.

I haven't tried Apple's new operating system, Snow Leopard, but the user reports I have read do not report anything outstanding, and there appear to be some significant stability issues in the current versions of the software that are being used.

I'd wait until both are on the market and then choose what is best for you. As others have pointed out you use a lot of Windows-only software and you'd also need to buy new versions of Office and Photoshop if you did switch. This wouldn't be the case if you got a computer with Windows 7.
Click to expand...

No offense but neiltc13 you never say anything good about mac. Its always pro windows. Why do you even come to mac rumors? I completely feel the opposite about windows 7. Yes its improved over vista but definitely not worth buying a windows machine over.
 
Ok thanks for the replies. I have to buy a computer now because of university but snow leopard is quite cheap with the new macs and some laptops are eligible for a windows 7 upgrade.

A 13' MBP with AppleCare(+iPod) is similarly priced to a dell studio 15' with a 3 year warranty, so that was the reason I was considering getting a mac. I'm sort of suprised that the response was quite mixed. The Photoshop package I have is linked with my school so I might be able to transfer it easily, but I'd only be disappointed at losing it due to cost. I don't need it for anything.

One of the reasons why I was attracted to apple was because most consumers are very happy, they seem to be built well, they have a good warranty, and no other brands seem to be as appealing. Dell seem to have many critics, and Lenovo and Sony are expensive in England. I think I need a 13' laptop because I need to carry it round, but I also need it not to overheat like my previous one. Asus might be good?

I've hear good things about iWork and iLife but would I have to upgrade to the 2010 versions?
 
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