Considering A Mac For The First Time

Hello to all the Mac users. I am considering to get a new Macbook Pro sometime during this holiday season. And I just wanted to figure out some things.

I am a student right now going to college soon. And I want a machine that is reliable, easy to use, and mobile. I have been living on campus already and know what to expect when I get to college. I am also avid gamer and need high performance rig for many uses. As you can see from my signature, I currently own different laptops depending on when I need it: library, gaming, airport, editing, etc.

I am absolutely in love with the corporate class warranty which works flawlessly on campus. I guess I need to take into consideration that I might need to get my machine fixed sometime while I attend school. What would be a good equivalent of Dell's Next Business Day On-Site Warranty?

And besides the student discount, is there any way/tip to get a mac really cheap?

I will definitely run Boot Camp in case I need Windows. Based on my background information and the kinds of systems that I use and need, what would you recommend? The 13inch model does not appeal so much as of now. The only Apple product I have ever owned is my 2 year old iPod Touch so any recommendation will be very appreciated!!

Thank you for your response in advance.

 

Apple rarely announces sales... apart from the student discounts. The only things that come to mind while putting "cheap" and "MAC" together are refurbished and ebay/amazon ( which will again likely be older/EOL/used pieces).

Apple's products are extremely reliable and stable. Plus Apple has a standard warranty across the board on all products. You can get AppleCare to increase your warranty period up to 3 years and avail unlimited telephone support ( the normal warranty gives you 90 days free telephone support, and 1 year walk-in service). Apple does not have any on-site warranty, at least I have never heard of it from anyone/anywhere. Also keep in mind that Apple does not provide accidental damage protection.

Since you are going to college, I would have recommended MBP 13 since it would be powerful enough for everything you need, and also run games moderately. However if you want maxed out specs for high-end gaming you will need to buy the high-end MBP 15 or the MBP 17.

 

I also run MBP 6750m with bootcamp and well its great but in your case i would recommend you look at m14x also. I was about to buy the m14x instead of my MBP but ended up buying the MBP for its more professional image.

If you like to game m14x is a very well build machine and definitely deserves a look, they also have additional discounts on laptops.

 

They do have discounts, true. But I feel Dell ruined the whole Alienware feel by buying the brand, and bringing it down to their standards. Alienwares were supposed to be high-end gaming rigs, and Dell has turned it into just another overweight multimedia gig. The M14x has a DDR3 GPU... . Even a HP DV6 comes with the HD6770... a vastly superior card with GDDR5 memory. In comparison, Apple has always maintained their trend of keeping each model at its level...

 

The definition of "on-site" as it applies to Apple means taking it into one of their retail stores. Fine if you have one near you, not so much if you don't.

 

I just bought a macbook air from B&H
paid for the 13” air 1230$ and 95$ for the apple care.
I think they have that price for 1 more week.
that is the best price you can find!

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/756787-REG/Apple_MC700LL_A_13_3_MacBook_Pro_Notebook.html

Go to ''click here..free softwer'' inside you will see the 50% price for the apple care

 

agreed. if your used to corporate on site, accidental or NBD warranty options, Apple has nothing like it. that kind of support is mainly Dell, Lenovo and HP business class units.

 

$95 for Apple Care for 3 years??

I also have a 13" MBA and the store quoted me $249 for Apple Care, which I ended up passing on.

 

with the other laptops you have.. why get a Macbook Pro? really?

I could understand if you wanted to use OSX... but your wanting to Bootcamp it? While you can game on 15" and 17" ones decently, its not what they were designed for. If you want to learn OSX and use it as the primary OS, and the primary purpose is anything other than gaming... then I say go for it.

 

I agree. Gaming under OS X isn't all that great to begin with as most titles tend to be sloppy ports from their Windows counterparts. Furthermore, you can find better gaming hardware in Windows units that come in at similar prices to the higher end 13" MBP and above. All-in-all, unless you fully plan to delve into the OS X universe and use that as your primary OS while relying on something else for gaming, I don't recommend going Mac.

I understand the need to run Windows on a Mac especially since some programs/functions are still Windows only but bootcamp is really nothing more than a tool. Bad driver implementation (especially for the 15" and 17" MBPs) show that it was never designed to allow Macs to run Windows as their primary OS. Some people do this but they represent the extreme minority of Mac owners.

 

Do you intend to sell one or two of your current laptops? I agree that there's really no room for a mac, and especially no room for a mac whereby you install bootcamp to play games. That's about as roundabout as possible for someone who already has 3 specialized laptops, one of them specialized for gaming.

 

Yes for 3 years, look at the link.
Only if you buy it with a new mac,
you bought the mac from apple store?
I'm from Israel and my mba is in NY, can't wait to get it.

Its my first mac,I was going for the new asus ux31 but after
many reviews I've read I decided to add the extra bucks.

 

A word of warning: The touchpad will not work well in Windows (an external mouse fixes that), it will run hotter in Windows, and the battery life will be shorter. Also, as I discuss in another thread, Word does not work as well on a Mac as it does in Windows, though it is acceptable (for most people, very acceptable). If you buy a Mac, plan to live mostly on the OSX side, or buy a Windows machine. Number one advantage of Mac over Window: Lack of code rot.

 

Thank you all very much for your explanation on the bootcamp. I actually did not realize that. Well I have been using Windows for quite some time and it is what I am most familiar with. If I get the mac, it will take me considerable time to get really comfortable with. And I have not had much bad experience with windows/pc so that isnt so much the reason to switch. And I am keeping my current machines, so I have pretty specialized ones for gaming, editing, etc. And I have a good desktop I am bringing for college.

I guess the reasons what I wanted to get one was for the good battery life and form factor. And I will have to really take into consideration that bootcamp might not be as smooth as I expected. I bet I will run windows as primary until I get more familiar with the OS X.

I was wondering what benefits would there be to have a mac/os x machine for college. I attend a private boarding school right now and literally half of the students here use macs. Although they are not a power user (gamers, editors), there seems to be a reason why it is so popular right? Can any of you users with this experience share what is the benefit of having it in college?

 

No it won't, it's easier than you think. When most people leave Windows to switch to OS X they see logical things in OS X that didn't make sense in Windows. We have a mixed computing environment in my family, Macs and Windows machines. The Windows machines have the most technical support needs. Just spent two days straight trying to add a printer in Windows 7. The printing ports names were so confusing and it just wouldn't work that I had to give up and use the developer's software we were trying to avoid.
On our Macs we just pressed Add a Printer in preferences and it found the connected and wireless printers, automatically downloaded the drivers and the Macs were running the printers without any of developer's bloated software. Same experience when connecting our scanners.

I will say that Microsoft dreams of having a customer like you, one that won't leave their system no matter what. They have nothing to worry about.

If you run Windows primarily on a machine that's not designed for Windows you will never use OS X. Buying it for the "pretty" is wasting money. The aesthetics and build quality come with the territory, a Mac is made to run OS X and the majority buy it for that one reason.

So...why not ask real users face to face how they feel about their Macs and OS X? Why ask faceless people on a forum? Those same people at your college could very well be some of the members on this forum. At least with asking users face to face you can see their setup and how they use OS X for school. Since you're considering using it for college wouldn't it be more logical to ask your collegiate peers around you about their Mac experience?

 

HLdan,

Thank you for the feedback. I have been asking many of my friend mac users and partially actually that is the reason why I got to consider getting a mac in the first place.

At this point I am trying to figure out how it can complement my uses in college and outside of the campus.

 

So I ended up getting the 13inch macbook pro. I am still learning how this works and figuring out for which tasks I might need it for. But pretty much, it is what I have expected.

 

Seriously...
a: stick the cd in and the driver installs. Connect printer
b: Connect printer and Windows automatic update finds a driver and you're away.

Try not to blame Microsoft for crappy oem drivers. Both are as bad as each other and that includes ApPple.

P.s. My neighbour still can't print to his mac & iPad and I'm not helping him. He sunk a whole load of money into stuff that doesn't work together.

 

Nice machines

 

They weren't blaming MS as a whole but rather complaining about the experience. Windows 7 has built-in functions for scanning documents, printing, and working with the card reader of a printer. So why should anyone have to instal bloated software just to do that? Therein lies the difference between Windows and OS X as, if the driver isn't natively available on Windows or t through MS's servers, you have to install the bloated software that came with the printer (even HP's minimal installation option still puts way too much stuff on a system). However, on OS X, only the driver is downloaded and installed if it is not already part of OS X.

I installed a new wireless printer for my apartment. It is an HP something or other that supports ePrint and has a large color touchscreen display. I simply went to the Printer system preferences, my Mac found the printer, it downloaded the ~50MB driver package, and that was it. I didn't have to do anything through HP and I wirelessly have full access to the printer including its scanning and card reading functionality. Go over to my Windows 7 nettop and it doesn't automatically find the printer. I have to go to HP's website, download their "driver only" package, install it, and then remove the additional software that was still put on there.

Hell, I didn't have to download any additional apps for my iPad 2 as it picked up the printer right away. So those are fundamental differences between what Apple and MS provide. Both are fine and Windows 7 would be a huge improvement if MS were to offer up drivers on their servers especially since I don't need a photo printing program as that functionality is built into Windows.

 

I just recently got a new Brother laser printer. I didn't need to install bloatware via the install disc on EITHER my Vaio or my MBP. Plugged the printer into each of them, they each found the appropriate driver automatically and installed it themselves. Done. Never took the disc out of the packaging.

 

Well yeah, that is nice for you and I have had similar experiences before with Windows. I was just giving another example of when bloated software had to be installed for something simple as hooking up a printer and how MS can change things for the better.

 

What are some unique security features built into the macs? I enjoy the fingerprint reader and smart card read when having to access windows log in and files that I designate.

I couldnt find any security feature except the password to log in. Any ideas?

 

You seriously couldn't find any security features that OS X has?

The fingerprint reader that you talk about is not a security feature. It might be advertised as such but it just allows for a simpler login procedure. Your system may also have the ability to encrypt files on its hard drive using your fingerprint but that can be done with passwords too. The fingerprint option is no different than using a built-in webcam to login or even a vocal scan.

Smart cards have pretty much flopped and weren't the success that businesses and government agencies wanted them to be. I work for a section of the U.S. government and my badge is a smart card. They implemented "new" desktops that had smart card readers built into the keyboards. What did they end up doing? Abandoning the whole thing. It just wasn't for my building either as HQ in DC did the same thing. Everyone has a smart card badge but they perform the same as our other non-smart card badges.

Either way, that is something that is even hard to find in the Windows world. What next, are you going to ask if Macs have a single, dim, orange LED light above the display to illuminate the keyboard? Macs have never been focused on what businesses want and the same thing goes for desktops and notebooks from other companies. You have to specifically hunt down business models from Dell, HP, Lenovo (though they pretty much are focused on business use), etc. to find those features.

 

Thanks for the link. That pretty much covers what I need I guess. I got this mac for non business use, but was just wondering if it had any features. Yea the smart cards are pretty much useless except for very specific usage.

 

I am now considering a mac after chewing through another windows based machine..... And no my sony vaio picked up nothing on my printer installation

Can we not run vmware on the mac instead of bootcamp?

Seems to me it would be less stress on the macs operating system and you would have a fully functional windows application to work with

Anybody try it?

 

Virtual machines can be run under OS X instead of bootcamp. I actually recommend Parallels 7 over VMWare Fusion as Parallels has full support of Lions new functions (full screen operation, gestures, etc.). The only thing is that running a Windows VM consumes more resources than just running Windows itself. It can be an issue if people want to game or run a Windows only processor intensive program. Otherwise, for everyday operation, the performance of Windows in a VM should be fine with any Core i processor (and probably even Core 2 Duos).

 

I'm working on my MBP 15 (recently bought from a seller right on this forum), and running my Winders apps in Parallels (v6) and it's working outstanding.

I set it up originally on the Wife's MBP13 as kind of a POC (for my potential migration to Mac/OSX), installed XP, worked pretty good (4GB, 2.4Ghz C2D), running on my i7 quad, 2.3 with 8GB of RAM is pretty swell

Used the Parallels Migration Tool on my existing HP, it built an image out my Windows, the OS, programs (I told it not to bundle in my Pics/Music/etc., since I moved those manually). Move the external drive over imported it to my Mac (again with Parallels Migration). Poof! My existing Windows setup is totally ported over to my Mac in a VM ... no need to reinstall the OS, apps, setup my dev tools etc.

Also running my existing Logitech KB and Mouse, works perfect across both platforms (just a few mappings to remember ... love my backlit K800 and MX mouse), and running my 24" external with the 15" on the side (BTW, love the HR + AG option on this 15").

Parallels also has a slick mode called Coherence, where just a Windows stub runs, so your app runs in "native" OSX windows, and things like the Start Menu is a menu in the OSX main menu. Bootcamp basically puts you into Windows, no OSX, no resource sharing, etc.

I can also run Winders full screen, but switch over to OSX, or Parallels Tools added a bunch of apps into my Windows Start Menu, so when I'm full screen, I can still easily run things like Mail, iCal, several others. I applied "Mac Look" which styles the windows to match OSX Now in Coherence, they barely even stand out as non-Mac apps

I still think I may want to migrate my development storage to the Mac side, to prevent it from being "trapped" in a VM ... I did notice just last night you can flag a VM to be part of a Time Machine backup, but mine is kind of huge, not sure if it does the whole thing, or just the User files.

Here's a pic, pretty cool, I'm running a Winders app (VS2010), you can see the Start Menu, and my native OSX desktop, OSX Chrome (all on my external display), and on my integrated monitor, iTunes:






I wanted to add that if you don't use OSX for other than just a VM host, or don't use it at all (like staying in a BC), then it's probably not worth the extra expense. Sure the hardware looks great, the Apple support is pretty outstanding, but for me, I wanted many of the OSX perks, and I want to run Mac apps like [native] iTunes, iPhoto, iCal, cloud support, etc., and I scored a copy of Office '11 for Mac, so if I'm not developing, I'm pretty much in OSX only.

 

Why there is a fingerprint reader is to conceal your password. As there is a problem with people/cameras looking at your keyboard while typing so is there a problem with fingerprint copying. It's probably easier to copy your password from an security camera than to grab your fingerprint and rebuild it.

There is also a huge difference from an fingerprint to an webcam or voice login since they are very easily copied.

 

your signature tell's that you have already enjoyed the beasts power and now you want a laptop which is capable of college work and also a MaC
So, MBA 13 is a right choice
because you have all the big rigs and now there is a need of a rig which is capable of some mobility and have a long battery life and do great college work So............MBA 13 is the correct one..