From One Extreme to Another, Alienware to ...Macbook Pro?

Long story short I've had my Alienware for months but find myself itching to (legally) run OSX after using Macbooks are my previous job (Best Buy) and the local Apple store.

While my computer runs great it doesn't run games like I wish my laptop would. I "tested" myself for the past 2 months to see if I could just flat out drop PC gaming and go straight console and so far, with the new television, I'm FAR happier. The only games I find myself wanting to play even a little are Source Engine games and possibly Starcraft 2 (Both the MBP should run fine)

The laptop is noisy and is plastic. I just don't like it as much as the macbooks, that metal design is really sleek and enjoyable.

So here's why I WANT a Macbook:

• I'm tired of Windows, Though I would dual boot Win7 for a few select programs
• Sleek design, Build Quality, General Quality
• Cool features and peripherals PCs just don't have
• RELIABLE And "Does What I Want" without jumping through 10 million hoops (Or at least.. that's what I'm told)
• Final Cut Pro
• Better Synergy between devices (If I got a Macbook I'd most likely buy an iPhone. I like iTunes but HATE it on Windows) I'm due for an upgrade any minute and was waiting for a new Droid (but 100% honestly only because I dislike how iTunes uses processes on Windows)
• Better for editing music (As opposed to the Alienware)
• I can see it lasting longer (3+ years) while I'm already imagining replacing the Alienware less than 2 years down the road.

Here's What I'm Concerned About or Need Answers For:

• Noise, Is there an excessive amount?
• Heat while gaming (If I ever want to again), Is there an excessive amount?
• WILL THIS HANDLE Editing HD Content and previewing HD Content in Sony VEGAS smoothly? (This is MAJOR for me)
• Is the difference between 2.0 and 2.2ghz processor speeds worth the difference in price for what I'm doing?
• 15 vs 17 Inch, Opinions?
• Any tips I should know about if I order?
• Any way to save some money outside of the education discount (Which I'll be using - Have a parent who's a public school teacher)
• Anything I'd need to know about a new Mac?
• Only having one drive, I'd like to get something a bit faster (7200RPM). Any 750gb models I should look at or anything I should know about when putting a new HDD in?
• Is it possible (or cheaper) to upgrade from 4gb to 8gb myself?

Hopefully you guys can answer my questions and "convert me". I hope to see some responses soon!

Thanks.

 

I made this switch recently from an Alienware m15x to the Mac in my specs and I couldn't be happier. As far as 15'' VS 17" I say if you can afford it, go for the 17" and even if not, the 15" is still super awesome.

I'm using a Momentus XT and love it, quick boot times and haven't had any issues at all.

The loudness of the fans is going to be something I think you'll enjoy. Coming from an Alienware, you'll definitely appreciate the quietness of the Macbook compared to the Alienware.

Upgrades, I say it'd be cheaper yes to upgrade yourself and you could do it at the same time you toss in that Momentus XT in haha.

One of the best things about the Macbooks is the hoops you WON'T have to jump through. You simply download and install a program and click it to use it. No adjusting settings, updating drivers, and all that other crap you had to do with Windows.

 

This is specifically what I want. I stopped school after Highschool for 2 years and now that I'm getting into education again (and working 40 hour weeks, but that's temporary) I just don't have time to educate myself and learn about that crap.

It really shows in my gaming.. I used to have no problem learning complex games or tweaking them, Now I just don't have the time or patience and want to enjoy games as ENTERTAINMENT rather than a hobby. Sliding a disk in a system is much easier

Where did you sell your Alienware? Ebay seems like a bad idea as I've had issues before (Buyers saying I didnt ship an item, I did and provided a signed tracking list from UPS, Ebay refunds them and screws me), Craigslist seems like a possibility?

Also, Have you tried editing any videos on yours (specifically in HD). What did you think about how it handled?

EDIT: Had another question. I've seen people complain of dead pixels. Would I be better to buy from the store itself so I could return it easier or could I return online products to the store itself (In the case of a dead pixel) Can I even order custom specs through the store?

 

I have had a MBP 13" and 15" I got rid of those so that I could get a great gaming laptop. So I ditched the Mac and went to a Alienware M11x R1 I loved it. Portable, light, and played the games I play great! I then got rid of the M11x R1 for a AUSU G51J to play me games on. WOW talk about loud!! Finally I made up my mind and said ENOUGH!!! I am a mac person!! I went back to a MBP 13"

With my 2010 MBP 13" I am play my games I play (COD4, MoH, Battlefield and so on) in Windows with no problems!!

As far as heat is concerned. When I play my games I run a Swissgear Dual Fan cooling pad under it and I also run SMCfanControl so that I can adjust the RPM of the exhaust fan. All I can so is I am happier now then ever before.

As far as dead pixels.. I have never had a problem with MBP's or MB's having any dead pixels. If your concerned about that I would definitely recommend getting the Apple Care no matter where you buy it from. I got mine off Craigslist from a guy that is local and I went out and bought Apple Care the other day for mine.

MBP's are one of the best machines in my opinion to edit HD video on.

 

I sold my Alienware on Craigslist. I got lucky and had no issues with being ripped off. As long as your smart (meet in a public place, invest a couple bucks in a counterfeit pen, and check the bills) you'll be fine.

I've never had any issues with dead pixels and I'm sure if you did, Apple would replace your machine or fix them ASAP.

If you buy yours online, at the Apple store, or from a authorized dealer, you can return it to any of those same places as far as I know.

If you decide to go the Mac route, you won't be disappointed thats for sure. As far as getting the Iphone and having that cross-capability, it's definitely a perfect match. You can even get apps to use your Iphone as a Trackpad and keyboard for your Macbook if your plugged into an HDTV across the room for instance.

A little extra advice I would like to give...buy a Speck Case for it and a sleeve.

Oh and one more thing, if space is a huge priority for you, you can always replace the optical bay with another hard drive, giving you up to 1.5 TB of space.

 

i agree 100% with you!! :wink: :yes: :yes: :yes:

 

Or how about just keeping your laptop and save some $$$? I highly doubt you can sell the thing for more than 80% it's worth. To me anyway.. selling an brand new expensive laptop for another just isn't entirely practical.

Or how about a Macbook Air (Sandy Bridge refresh coming in a month) if you're desperate for OSX? You wouldn't game on the comp anyway... and source games runs perfectly on the integrated HD 3000.

Something tells me your daddy's loaded but em, whatever suits you best I guess... just making a suggestion.

 

I'll try for 85% and call it a good experience.

Also - "my daddy is loaded"? Sorry? I live and pay for things myself. This Alienware is being paid for via monthly payments of $250 (Though I have the money in the bank to pay it off instantly, I'm collecting interest)

What the heck kind of comment is that?

 

Well OP stated he was interested in a larger HDD, so I'd say the Macbook Air is out of the question there. As far as selling one high end laptop for another. I bought my M15x for $1600 back in May of 2010 and sold it for $1400+a $200 Apple gift card. So I got exactly what I paid for it toward my Macbook Pro. So I think selling one for another is entirely practical.

 

I'll try for 85% and call it a good experience.

Also - "my daddy is loaded"? Sorry? I live and pay for things myself. This Alienware is being paid for via monthly payments of $250 (Though I have the money in the bank to pay it off instantly, I'm collecting interest)

What the heck kind of comment is that?

Tomorrow (before work cy007) I think I'll make a nice little craigslist post and see what I can do.

 

I think that comment was a jealousy comment. I definitely wouldn't sweat it. Also you may want to try to sell your laptop here on the NBR Marketplace. I know there are tons of people on here that drool over the specs you have on that M17x!

 

Woh man.. calm down! Didn't mean p' you off, it's just have seen a lot of indecisive spoiled brats in life and somehow automatically throught your were one of em, apologies! Maybe it's the "tone" of your post that gave me the assumption? Haha whatever.

Anyhow, back to topic. Actually sold my 2011 15" MBP a month ago because nothing I did with it justified its cost... besides, I'd probably never get a mac again because quite frankly I'm not a major fan of the "streamlined" (and I'm trying to be polite ) OSX interface. Maybe things would change with OSX Lion? We'd see.

As for selling your comp for 85% its cost... it's actually quite possible. I keep on forgetting how much less accepting people are to second hand goods in Asia... my bad.

Just remember. Good experience or no, you'd still be losing money in the process. I'd recommend getting something cheaper such as a MBP 13 (for more storage) or Macbook Air w/ external drive to minimize the loss, so to speak.

 

Look bro, just because I don't agree with his comp purchasing "habits" doesn't mean I'm jealous.

At the risk of discrediting myself, actually just sold a 2011 15" MBP around a month ago for 85% its original price (Macs have better resale value remember). Got the Samsung RF411 just two days ago and though it's a value product and the screen's not what I expected it to be, it's speediness+responsiveness alone compensates for what I find lacking.

But I digress..
Everyone has their own preferences; I understand that. While some of my former statements were utterly baseless, as I said, all I was trying to do is give some advice. Whether he/she follows said recommendation(s) is his/her choice.

 

I recently made the switch from AW (old school m15x & M11X R1) to the MBP 15" 2011 2.2 model and couldn't be happier. I made the switch because I felt the 2011 refresh finally brought the MBP hardware up to competitive standards (Sandy Bridge, upper mainstream GPU) + Thunderbolt (storage + DIY Vidock down the line for futureproofing). Everything just works, with no virus security worries (malware is easily avoided with some common sense). And of course, Sandy Bridge performance beats my two previous AW laptops combined.

To answer some of the OP's questions:

Here's What I'm Concerned About or Need Answers For:
Noise, Is there an excessive amount?
- Not anymore so than the AW's.
Heat while gaming (If I ever want to again), Is there an excessive amount?
- I average about high 80's (CPU) and 80-82 deg (GPU) in Bootcamp while gaming. Not ideal, but manageable. I sometimes undervolt my GPU to get my temps in the 70's.
WILL THIS HANDLE Editing HD Content and previewing HD Content in Sony VEGAS smoothly? (This is MAJOR for me)
Is the difference between 2.0 and 2.2ghz processor speeds worth the difference in price for what I'm doing?
- Yes, and not because of the CPU speeds, but for the GPU upgrade, I think its definitely worth going 2.2 if you game at all.
15 vs 17 Inch, Opinions?
- I think the 15" is a good size for portability, power, and screen size.
Any tips I should know about if I order?
Any way to save some money outside of the education discount (Which I'll be using - Have a parent who's a public school teacher)
Anything I'd need to know about a new Mac?
- You'll be spending some more money on apps - there's a ton of useful apps that aren't available on Windows.
- You'll also likely spend some more money on accessories...I bought an Incase hardshell case, Apple wireless keyboard, Applecare, screen protector, and keyboard protector.
Only having one drive, I'd like to get something a bit faster (7200RPM). Any 750gb models I should look at or anything I should know about when putting a new HDD in?
- I got a Seagate Momentus XT 500gb in mine, which is decent. HDD performance will still be a bottleneck overall unless you go SSD. You can swap out your optical drive for an "Optibay" second hard drive if you need more storage.
Is it possible (or cheaper) to upgrade from 4gb to 8gb myself?
- Yes, go with the Kingston HyperX 1600 PnP sticks for the best performance.

 

/agree with everything here.

Also if you are looking into buying from apple.com, I may he able to help you get a little bit of a discount, just shoot me a private message and I'll explain the process.

 

PM'd

Also spent an hour or two before work messing with macbooks / looking at the accessories. I'm pretty sold on them, really my only concern is how it would handle HD video in final cut or (bootcamped windows) Sony Vegas.

Now just to sell this thing

 

Hey X3NIA Didn't think I'd see you outside of the A/W forum...

You've got PM.

 

Ugh craigslist is being a PITA

A bunch of jealous cut-throat sellers (I guess?) keep flagging my ads and I can't get it listed for more than 2 hours.

This is awful.

 

I dit it last year; going from Alienware M15x to Macbook Pro 15"

No regrets? No !

That's year it is gonna be Alienware M17x (for gaming) and MBP 2012 to work !

 

Make a copy of your post and just re-post it. Not a big deal....people are just jack offs sometimes....

 

The 15" or 17" MBP can handle full editing of 1080p HD videos without issues. Hell, I do that now with my 13" MBP (with the dual-core Core i7 and 8GB with Intel HD 3000 graphics) under OS X and it hasn't had any problems. I haven't tried Vegas Video under Windows but, last time I checked, my 13" MBP more than meets the minimum requirements for HD video editing. So, if my 13" MBP can do it now problems, the quad-core 15" and 17" models are going to be fine.

MB and MBP models have also been able to effectively playback HD video content for a while now and Snow Leopard (or maybe one of its updates) introduced the ability to offload video decoding to the GPU. The Intel HD 3000 (and even 4500MHD), ATI HD series and anything AMD labeled, and any Nvidia card beyond a ~GeForce 8800 can all playback 1080p content hassle free. Even in iTunes, I can fire up an HD videos (though it is only 720p) my CPU usage sits at 1-2% as if I was playing an mp3 file.

 

Kornchild, with that Droid X, your contract should be almost up I'm assuming, you gonna jump on the IPhone bandwagon?

 

what issues are you having if you are pretty much used to the AW, try something that needs alot less maintanance, gaming units tend to be like performance cars and women, high maintanance

yes, subjective, subjective

some features yes but peripherals?

IMO as a 20 year Apple user subjective to misleading depending on use or application

agreed it is fun but for pro content I use Avid and Premier for more features and customization.

VERY true, i Tunes is an abomination and even outright malware on windows

oh? it depends on your software and NOT your hardware. our AV dept uses both mac and wintel units to equal use and quality. do note the cirrus logic audio chip in all the MBP's is an abomination for sound quality, ( worse than realtek ) if your serious get an external DAC

with apple care and absolutly no user damage possibly, I tend to make sure I swap out atleast every 18 mos

depends on use, you work it hard for awhile and the 6000 rpm fan are irritating at least.

depends on what you call heat, for a similar specced wintel unit it will run hotter ( in my case 90c+ vs 65c )

since vegas now supports GPU accelleration .... it will be ok in windows on the MBP 15" or 17" but on par with a much lower cost unit. ( PM me for details ) it will NOT however run on OSX

not really

17" for work and a 15" if you want portability

make sure you get applecare within the first year, parts and repairs are a NASTY suprise be aware if you want acciental protection contact your insurance company or another provider Apple does not have any type of acciental or on site warranty service

depends on whatyou will be doing with it

Momentus XT500 is nice but any 9.5 mm drive is good. 12s will fit in some models but tend to make the drive run hotter with less airflow .. ( personal obervation )

MUCH

 

If there's someone to be jealous about.. I've got to say, it gonna be you.

 

I'm sure the OP's questions have already been answered, but:

 

True, but there aren't really any decent media players for Windows. . Not that there are any for OSX either.

I've yet to encounter any media player that includes all the functionality I use, with the quality that I want, and an interface that I'm willing to put up with for any extended period of time.

One of those big gaps in technology these days.

 

agreed somewhat, many of the interfaces arent too pretty, I tend to use FOOBAR with skins. I cant put up with ITunes at all as most of my music collection is all lossless audio and iTunes just cant support it at all on either platform so to me it would be a huge DOWNDRADE in quality ). hate to admit it but WMP with alot of customizing does work nice, as well as KMPlayer. I havnt tried many players the last couple years as ve been low on play time to try the newer stuff out.

 

convert to alac... easy enough

 

then it becomes propriatory and a pain to run over the network to mutiple media servers and many devices.

 

ALAC might be proprietary and it isn't compatible with many other devices (if any outside of the Apple universe) but it is becoming more universal in the software world. foobar2000 can decode ALAC files, WMP can do the same with the proper plug-ins, I believe Winamp now has built-in support for ALAC, dBpowerAMP can decode and even encode ALAC files, XLD has the built-in ability to do the same, and the list goes on. I would say that ALAC compatibility is actually further than WMA Lossless but still behind LPCM, FLAC, and maybe even WavPack.

Then again, lossy encoders have come such a long way since the mid 90's that most people would fail a proper blind ABX test comparing the source lossless material to even 128kbps VBR iTunes AAC.

 

1.) There's nothing wrong with iTunes. Just a lot of people who have yet to use it and organize their enough to take advantage of it properly.

2.) Windows: Foobar2000 undboutedly has all the features you want on Windows.

3.) OSX: Decibel, Fidelia and Audrivana are all *superior* audio players in OSX.

 

Look at your quote, I answered almost everything.

 

Fixed that post for ya.

Hardly surprising, but always funny to see. Especially when people don't fully know what they're talking about. You're about as transparent as plexiglass, dude.

 

i liked my alienware m11x better, however due to inferior quality on alienware's part on it's hinges, my m11x hinge broke after only 2 months of light use, and at about that same point, I decided to give apple a try since i have never owned a mac b4 in my life, and it would be a good learning experience just to experience the OS. The thing that got me interested at the time was the long battery life and the ability to dualboot into windows. I have the 2010 mbp13 model that was advertised as having 10 hr battery life.

 

I'd like you to sit down and pick apart my post. I come from a household that contains a 27 inch imac, a macbook unibody and a unibody macbook pro, as well as a number of other windows laptops. How can I be biased if I love my mac? Biased towards what?

 

you are biased agasint the almighty Steve Jobs and the RDF and drinking the koolaid.

 

Wow this sounds like my journey. Had an 08 umb traded for a sager gaming 15, then got an m11x dor portable gaming but then went back to Mac on 2010 13"pro before getting this 2011 15". Games very well mostly just sc2 lately. But yeah always come back haha even when I get a gaming itch. I got a 360 and ps3 also.

I'm just a you tuber but iMovie has been great for my editing needs.