So, I've decided about 95% I'm getting a MacBook whenever the update occurs.

[Mephisto5]

It'll be my first, and words cannot express how excited I'll be to have it. (I've spent way too much time on the apple online store and customized the mid-ranged MB just the way I want.)

Fortunately, I know you're sick of hearing people ask when the MB update will come out, so I've no questions about that. it. But I have some questions.

Since I'm going to go to college in the fall for marine bio, I'll need some sort of word processing tool and a thing for presentations. I see that apple offers iWork with an education discount for only 71 dollars. Is this a good deal? I've grown up using Microsoft apps for school work, so would I be better off getting a version of that for mac?

And, for a question nowhere near the importance of the first, can the new MB be expected to handle the game Spore, or does the MBs relatively low graphics capabilities make it pointless to try? (I'm not interested in buying a pro, I've no need for one and I've no money for one. So this will not affect my purchase any.)

Thanks for all your help!

 

[Eidorian]

Get Office 2008 from your campus if possible. I strongly suggest against gaming on Macbooks.

 

[Chandler Adaway]

Get Office 2008 from your campus if possible.

I would also agree with this.
And I would buy office 08 over iWork just because it's more familiar for me.
Personally though, I think PC runs the office program better.
But, it would make sense why.

 

[Alx9876]

Dude you want to play games then buy a Sony PSP, PS3 or Xbox360.

Use computers for everything else.

 

[Eidorian]

Dude you want to play games then buy a Sony PSP, PS3 or Xbox360.

Use computers for everything else.

Sadly there are plenty of good computer games around as well.

 

[Super Intendo]

Sadly there are plenty of good computer games around as well.

but amazingly the price of building a PC has come down quite a bit of money.

I'm getting off topic though.

Spore will not run well on any current MacBook. Unless they include dedicated graphics in the next version (they wont) then it wont run well on that either.

I've heard pretty good things about open office. iWork cant be bad. Office 2004 would also be good! All of them are effective and cheap (or free!)

good luck!

 

[fleshman03]

I've heard pretty good things about open office. iWork cant be bad. Office 2004 would also be good! All of them are effective and cheap (or free!)

Having bought both, I strongly recommend getting iWork over office. Office is S.L.O.W and almost everything you will need can be done in iWork. (I haven't come across anything that I miss in work.) When you need to submit papers, just export a copy to your desktop as a .doc and delete it when your done. Keep the .pages file for your mac. That's what I've done and it just works so much better.

Can't speak about open office on mac but as a PC user of it, it worked very nicely. My only gripe was that the UI could have been better.

 

[BarryS]

iWork is great

iWork is great, certainly a much better interface than Office. Makes it very easy and pleasurable to create great documents and presentations, and will probably help you become better at this. I switched from PC to Mac recently. I don't miss Windows and I miss Office even less. There are a few very specific things on Office that a few people might miss. Fonts for Word which aren't on Pages, engineering spreadsheet applications which aren't on Numbers. The chances you'd miss these are small, and there are things you'd miss out on if you don't get iWork, which has a very extensive range of fonts and 'movie' qualities for presentations.

If you can get Office for Mac cheaply, or free, through your university then it is worth having it, just in case. However, you can get a free open source equivalent for Mac, NeoOffice (the Mac version of OpenOffice). You can use this to edit stuff created in iWork if you need to get the format identical with what a PC user will see when opening something in Office.

But, the main thing is, if you have a Mac get iWork. It's a crying shame not to have the native word processing etc application with all the aesthetic and interface advantages of Mac in general, and its highly useful and functional at what it does.

You can download both iWork and Office for Mac for free trial periods from the Apple website, so you might wan to test drive both and see what you think.

 

[Garemz]

Your MAcbook will run Spore or any other game you throw at it.

I play World Of Warcraft on my MB and it runs very well

Just max out the RAM and you'll be ok.

Congrats on deciding to purchase a Mac, I'm positive you wil enjoy the experience.

 

[illidian]

...Unless they include dedicated graphics in the next version (they wont) then it wont run well on that either...

Actually, Montevina IS supporting a new graphics chip, and is one of the biggest reasons for its delay. The x4500 is benching nearly equivalent to the nVidia 8400 and supports DirectX 10.

Your MAcbook will run Spore or any other game you throw at it.

I play World Of Warcraft on my MB and it runs very well...

That's just a flat out lie. The MacBook will not run "any" game, and will have problems with any graphics-intensive game released in the last several years.

World of Warcraft runs well on a MacBook not only because it is four years old (released in 2004), but also because Blizzard was able to optimize the game's graphics with their magic voodoo that other developers only dream of.

 

[applgeek]

it will barely run spore. but it will.

alx9876: I would like to say something right now but i will censor myself. I will say however that Spore Is a Pc/mac/iphone only game. He didnt say hardcore gaming. Do you think that someone who has excitedly bought a comparatively expensive computer wants to hear "buy this for games, you shouldnt get a mac for games"?

I think mephitso will be very happy with his/her first mac. I couldnt wait to rip open my macbook, even though it wasnt my first.

 

[heatmiser]

Dude you want to play games then buy a Sony PSP, PS3 or Xbox360.

Use computers for everything else.

Agreed. Don't waste money trying to game with computers. It's like buying a hovercraft to do the work of a car.

 

[Alx9876]

it will barely run spore. but it will.

alx9876: I would like to say something right now but i will censor myself. I will say however that Spore Is a Pc/mac/iphone only game. He didnt say hardcore gaming. Do you think that someone who has excitedly bought a comparatively expensive computer wants to hear "buy this for games, you shouldnt get a mac for games"?

I think mephitso will be very happy with his/her first mac. I couldnt wait to rip open my macbook, even though it wasnt my first.

There are so many different ways to game now days so why delay buying an Apple Computer just because you want to play a few games?

That's my take on it. I would suggest getting the Computer and forget about gaming altogether on it. If you can pull it off then do it. If you can't don't worry about it.

I plan on buying a Macbook very very soon. You think I give a crap about gaming even a little? I have many other uses for a computer and keyboard gaming sucks.

Which is why I have a few consoles at home with controllers. If you want to run old 16 bit emulators then that's cool too. Otherwise don't add extra stress to the problem.

 

[David G.]

You can download both iWork and Office for Mac for free trial periods from the Apple website, so you might wan to test drive both and see what you think.

There are trial copies already on the HDD so downloading them is unneeded.

 

[Breegy]

It'll be my first, and words cannot express how excited I'll be to have it. (I've spent way too much time on the apple online store and customized the mid-ranged MB just the way I want.)

Fortunately, I know you're sick of hearing people ask when the MB update will come out, so I've no questions about that. it. But I have some questions.

Me too!

I frequent the apple store and set up my specs, compare prices with different specs, and even other Mac computers. I keep going back and forth in my head between black and white, 2GB RAM or 4GB RAM, should I wait for the update, or should I not?

I'm still almost completley undecided on all of those things. I've read a million threads on each of those different options and I just can't decide. I imagine it will get down to the very minute where I have enough money to afford what I want. Only time will tell. Seeing as only time will help me earn enough money to spend!

And, for a question nowhere near the importance of the first, can the new MB be expected to handle the game Spore, or does the MBs relatively low graphics capabilities make it pointless to try? (I'm not interested in buying a pro, I've no need for one and I've no money for one. So this will not affect my purchase any.)

I've also been doubting my decision since everyone says MacBooks can't game. I played Guild Wars on my 5-year old Gateway computer with it only dying occasionally, and while I don't remember exactly, as old and cheap as that thing was, I doubt it had very good graphics or memory. I've decided that I'm not going to doubt MacBooks until I try for myself. Even if it dies on occassion, chances are it will still work decently. Maybe the update will bring everyone good news.

As for the other programs, I don't know what to answer. Because most likely I won't purchase anything, I'll probably resort to something slightly less legal. (I only earn minimum wage, so don't hate.)

 

[Mephisto5]

Oh no guys, don't get me wrong. Whether or not the MB can play games will NOT effect whether or not I buy one. I was just asking because I heard that Spore would require comparatively low-specs than other games coming out. With the mixed messages I'm getting I'll definitely check out the demo before(if) I purchase it, but I won't be surprised at all if it doesn't run well. I can live just as happily (maybe even more since it'd be one less distraction) without a game on it.

I refuse to use the open-source office, because even though I'll be getting my first mac, it won't be the first time I've used one. I used a REALLY old Mac tower (Blue & White) at my brother's lab and NeoOffice completely wrecked the thing whenever I was forced to use it, which was often. I totally developed an aversion to it, thanks to all of the glitches the software had, and how it made the entire machine freeze, while scanning xrays barely slowed it down. So, I've developed a complete aversion to it, and there's no point trying to talk me into it.

 

[eXan]

Oh no guys, don't get me wrong. Whether or not the MB can play games will NOT effect whether or not I buy one. I was just asking because I heard that Spore would require comparatively low-specs than other games coming out. With the mixed messages I'm getting I'll definitely check out the demo before(if) I purchase it, but I won't be surprised at all if it doesn't run well. I can live just as happily (maybe even more since it'd be one less distraction) without a game on it.

I refuse to use the open-source office, because even though I'll be getting my first mac, it won't be the first time I've used one. I used a REALLY old Mac tower (Blue & White) at my brother's lab and NeoOffice completely wrecked the thing whenever I was forced to use it, which was often. I totally developed an aversion to it, thanks to all of the glitches the software had, and how it made the entire machine freeze, while scanning xrays barely slowed it down. So, I've developed a complete aversion to it, and there's no point trying to talk me into it.

NeoOffice is improving very fast. Just a year ago I didn't like it, but now its a very decent set of applications.

 

[ManWithhat]

Actually, Montevina IS supporting a new graphics chip, and is one of the biggest reasons for its delay. The x4500 is benching nearly equivalent to the nVidia 8400 and supports DirectX 10.

Here's the article:
http://www.notebookjournal.de/praxis/79/2

The x4500, which is currently in BETA drivers, is nearly double the x3100 and right under the GeForce 8400m GS. That's a huge boost, and considering drivers are usually updated following the release yielding somewhere around a 15-20% performance increase during its lifecycle, you can expect them to increase quite a bit. It's looking promising.

 

[eXan]

Here's the article:
http://www.notebookjournal.de/praxis/79/2

The x4500, which is currently in BETA drivers, is nearly double the x3100 and right under the GeForce 8400m GS. That's a huge boost, and considering drivers are usually updated following the release yielding somewhere around a 15-20% performance increase during its lifecycle, you can expect them to increase quite a bit. It's looking promising.

I remember people were saying same things about X3100 when it was about to come out - that it was 2x as fast as GMA950. But what did we get? In most cases its the same and in some cases its either slower than GMA950 or certain games don't even work on it.

Integrated graphics is still integrated graphics, no matter how you put it...

 

[Chappers]

You can always play Halo

 

[ManWithhat]

I remember people were saying same things about X3100 when it was about to come out - that it was 2x as fast as GMA950.

Perhaps, but the article I linked to is an actual benchmark of the CURRENT beta drivers. It's not a projected speed; it's already performing at nearly double what the x3100 was.

Integrated graphics will always be integrated graphics, but as you can see from the benchmarks -- it's gaining quickly on the 8400m GS 128MB dedicated card, which is a great performer in my HP laptop. With intel promising competition for Nvidia in the integrated graphics market, competition will be racing.