How good for college?

5 hours battery for the new $1300 new MacBook sounds very promising. Does the disparity between Windows and Mac programs and companies not offering software for Macs get troublesome, or is there software (I've heard of Bootcamp?) that prevents that? I'll be doing mainly internet browsing and college work on Microsoft Word, though I might do occasional gaming if a few friends in my local dorms have games that I can borrow. I'm comparing this to the Dell M1330 and the HP DV3500T, and I think eventually battery life might become an issue, but I don't know if the change from Windows to MAC OSX will be easy to handle.

 

The battery life is not 5 hours, its much less from what ive read, so dont take there word for it just yet. Just wait for a few more reviews. You usually have to charge/discharge the battery a few times before full potential!!!

 

When do these come out, November? I mean yeah I have an iPhone 3G and the battery life is definitely not 6 hours with Wi-Fi web browsing from what Apple said. Will CES 2009 bring any new laptops that will compete with MacBooks?

 

you can get just about 4 hours of battery life if you turn your screen brightness to the lowest setting while web browsing and web processing.
As for windows, it works perfectly with bootcamp. It's super easy to install (more so than installing windows on a PC). All the new mac computers come with the bootcamp software which will take you step by step to setup windows on a mac. With bootcamp you can have both OSX and XP/Vista at the same time, so there shouldn't be any compromise.

 

Do you have to buy Vista, or can you just get it from a friend who has the Vista Disc?

 

In short, yes. One disk per system. HOWEVER, check with your college. I know at my university, they can give you free copies of Vista or XP since they have an open license for academic use.

 

you need to have your own copy of xp/vista. that would be the legal thing to do.

 

Just specifically, you probably won't be running into any issues in terms of software, unless you're using some Windows-exclusive applications like for architectural software. It sounds like the majority of your work will be word processing, in which Mac OS X has free programs, cheap ones (iWork '08) and Microsoft Office for Mac if you need Office. So I doubt you'll be running into software issues.

Switching to Mac OS X really isn't hard, I doubt it'll take you more than two weeks. I got used to it in about a week or so, its really straight-forward and consistent throughout the OS. I definitely recommend these two guides for new switchers:

www.apple.com/support/switch101
www.apple.com/support/mac101

Boot Camp lets your Mac dual boot to Windows or Linux. You do need your own legal copy of Windows, but other than that its all taken care of for you!

 

So I can have the Windows screen (With the toolbar) appear on the actual Macbook screen, not just the MacBook have Vista in the background in order to run .EXE files?

So for $1300 compared to this $1100 HP 13" laptop, is it a little better in some sense? I still have to wait a while before I start college, but this MacBook might just be my top choice if it can hold its own against fierce competition.

# • Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium with Service Pack 1 (32-bit)
# • Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo Processor T5800 (2.0GHz)
# • 13.3" diagonal WXGA High-Definition HP LED BrightView Widescreen Display (1280 x 800)
# • 3GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
# • 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 9300M GS
# • 250GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
# • HP Imprint Finish (Intersect) + Microphone + Webcam + Fingerprint Reader for LED Display
# • HP Color Matching Keyboard
# • Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-card with Bluetooth
# • Integrated 56K Modem
# • SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support
# • 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery

 

So specifically, if you use Boot Camp, your MacBook turns into any other PC if you want it to. If you choose to boot into Windows, Mac OS X isn't running and you're running Windows on it just like any other PC. If you choose to boot into Mac, then Windows isn't running and you're just using Mac OS X.

The MacBook has a superior 2.0 GHz processor to the HP's T5800, and it also has a better graphics card. The rest of the specs are about the same, but of course design and thickness are also factors and I think the MacBook wins in design (subjective of course).

 

I personally would just avoid the hp, due to last generation and the current generation's temps from my experience were unacceptable without a cooler.

 

Depends on what you do in uni, Office 2008 is very troublesome on Mac 2003 is absolute fine tho, and when I was at uni I had a Powerbook, which is really awekard to use as some of my uni sites had to use IE for activeX and some compatiblity issues with office on win and mac, then there was this UML, I had to take my laptop in all the time, uni only had rational rose which is not available for Mac.

 

What is Uni? I'm not sure if next year's Intel processors will make it into the MacBook line since Apple doesn't really update them like other companies do consistently with new models. Oh, and when will these new MacBooks actually be in the store to try out? Are they already?

 

Uni = University

Yup, the new macbooks and macbook pros are already out

 

What about Word 2007, does that work well on the new MacBooks?

BTW, what do you think about Asus laptops? Do they have good batteries? I think I might make batteries my main issue eventually, and if I can customize a laptop like Dell enough, I might go with a Dell. I wish Apple allowed you to customize these laptops though just like Dell, then they would have an immense business.

 

Word 2007 (office 2007 for that matter) only works on Windows. So if you want to run word 2007, you'll need to install XP/Vista on your mac. There is the Office 2008 which will run on the OSX operating system and is supposedly be the mac equivalent of Office 2007.

If long battery life is a priority, then most Asus notebooks will probably be disappointing to you. Asus tends to pack high end components with a generous selection of ports, paired with superior standard warranty. There's only a couple of Asus notebooks with good battery life that come to mind... the 14" X83 (available only from Best Buy for now) and the 15" M50Vm-A1.

 

Whatever university I enroll at (I know I'll get accepted into quite a lot, I'm not doing Early Decision though I'm considering it), I'll ask if they hand out free copies of Vista. What do you think about Blu-Ray? I won't use it unless I have netflix, and I know that Dell has a lot of customization with it. Apple should probably look into it soon. Thanks for all your advice though! I'll go to BestBuy tomorrow and see if I like these MacBooks. I probably will have to wait for some new models from Dell to come out, but otherwise you've given me a pretty good idea of what I want to buy! Oh, and do universities give out free copies of Microsoft Word? That would be very beneficial for sure.

 

No problem
I personally don't think bluray is very practical at the moment. The prices for bluray dvd and even blank bluray disks are quite expensive and in my opinion isn't worth it.
Each university has their own policy with distributing software to students. Some school will provide them for free and others may provide some type of discount. At my school, we can get all versions of Office for free, but again, it will depend on the university.

 

After battery calibration, I have been surfing on the web doing instant messaging and some video conference for two hours on 5/16 brightness for a bit more than two hours, and there's still 50% left on this battery....I guess the battery life should be 3-4 hrs depending on ur usage

 

With Brightness I'll have it low probably like I do with my iPhone 3G. Sure it looks better, but it hurts your eyes long term and it's not necessary. Considering that Apple won't release new MacBooks for a while (I hope they don't release new ones October of next year or something), maybe I could get this sooner than expected. I think I'll wait for Dell's new line in November, then I'll decide even though it's quite early (7-8 months before I actually have to think about going onto campus).

 

Apple could've done like the ASUS N10, it has a Hybrid Chipset. Uses both the Intel and Nvidia Chipset, you can switch to the Nvidia 9400 for gaming and switch back to the Intel 4500MD for battery saving.

If you are seriously about battery life, there are other notebooks out that allows dual batteries or larger capacity ones. My work notebook a Thinkpad T61 can last up to 9 hrs with two batteries, or 4 hrs with the extra large capacity one.