Few questions

I dont own a mac but and thinking about getting one and i have a few questions. first off im not a fan of OSX so i would like to use win7, so how much will it cost for me to dualboot (cost of dual boot program plus win7 plus any other software i need free or not free)? also i know you can get 5-6hours on OSX (so ive been told, correct me if im wrong) how long of a battery life would i get with win7? Thanks in advance

 

Don't get a Mac if you just want to run Windows.

 

It would be priceless to watch the two OS's go head to head!

I think you mean dual boot.

 

Seconded.

Battery life will be 2-3 hours depending on which model you get. You'll have to pay for a Windows license (Boot Camp is free), the mouse drivers are not great, and it gets fairly hot under processor-intensive tasks.

 

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/s...r_store&landing=notebooks&a1=Category&v1=ENVY

Here ya go, and it's probably cheaper in the long run

Seriously, the only real reason to buy a mac is for OS X. If you're absolutely dead set on a mac tho, the Arrandale refresh is [allegedly] coming in the next few weeks. Definitely something worth thinking about.


Responding to the heat issue in windows via bootcamp, you can set SMC fan control in OS X and then reboot [not shutdown and restart] into Windows 7 and it'll keep your SMC fan control settings running (cumbersome, annoying, but possible).

 

I agree as well. Although it may grow on you if you give it a chance. I was highly anti-Mac without even giving it more than a quick glance at the Apple store. Once I gave it a real chance I felt stupid for being so closed minded. Now you'd have to pry my Mac from my cold dead fingers to get it from me. Well unless you are handing me a newer model in return.

 

That's what most anti-mac people are like, they have never used a Mac or just used it at a Apple store for a couple of min and they say they don't like it. It took me a couple weeks to get a good feel for OS X, there is no way you could tell if you liked it or not by using it at a Apple store for a couple of min. Before I got a Mac, I had never used one before, I didn't even use one before I ordered mine, and now I love it, and I believe I will always have a Mac.

 

So true! Of course there will always be those who still wont like it.

I guess my biggest question for the OP is why he wants a Mac when he just paid almost $3000 for a Sony Z? Maybe its for his wife or a travel computer but it just seemed odd to me. http://forum.notebookreview.com/search.php?searchid=4690230&pp=20

 

I have to throw my vote in here too. I had no specific reason to justify my dislike of Macs. I finally sat down and gave it an honest try anad within a week of that I had bought my first Mac. That was two years ago now and I will never go back to a Windows based machine.

If you aren't buying a Mac for OSX, you're buying it for the wrong reasons.

 

I think the OP should qualify exactly why he dislikes OSX. If he truly envisions strictly using Windows with absolutely no intention of ever using OSX then I agree he shouldn't buy a mac.

But if he's open to using OSX or at least giving it a good try, then why not get a Mac. Yeah Windows doesn't run flawlessly on a Mac but it does run fine for most people. I get less battery life and it would occasionally warm up more than usual but for the most part it works great. And if I decide to ever ditch the mac at least it should fetch a good dollar second hand; I never really lost any money on them so far.

That's how I was two years ago. I was indifferent to the whole mac/OSX thing and I had a specific set of apps under windows that I always used. I was mistakenly under the impression that if I switch to OSX I would be giving up my computing comfort zone but two weeks into using OSX I really got used to it and loved many of its nuances, and two weeks after that I had replaced all my beloved windows apps with mac equivalents that, for the most part and surprisingly, were better and easier to use.

Not saying the OP should get a mac but if he's at least a little like me then he should strongly consider it. Frankly, in my case, I wish I had bought a mac sooner.