thinking of buying 15inch macbook pro-have a few questions

I was going to buy an HP DV2000t with core2duo, but apparently HP doesnt care much for it's canadian consumers and doesnt allow us to costomize.

so, now im left with little choice but to buy a macbook pro. It's about as heavy as the HP, but has the bigger screen. And since money doesnt matter in my case (im not paying for it), ive decided to buy a top end macbook pro.

but i have a few questions:
1. Does the case scratch easy? The HP had a scratch resistant (gorgeous) finish that came across as very durable, but all the macs ive seen at the store have tons of scratches on them.

2. How good is the quality of the iSight camera? is it just a cheap webcam they decided to throw in, or is it actually top quality?

3. How are the speakers? ive heard very little about macbook speakers, im assuming they'd be good seeing as they're huge.

4.im getting 2gigs of ram, and i was wondering if that is plenty ample for running both windows and macOS, or should i go with the 3gigs?(money will matter then).

5.is it more durable/better quality than the HP DV series? Im assuming since it's a "premium" product, that it should be, but the HPs are very durable from what ive heard and seen.

thanks for your help!

 

I feel like the finish on the new MBP's are the same as all older titanium Powerbooks.. in which case I'd say the finish is fairly durable, but not impervious. Eventually they will show wear from 4 years of use.. that's normal though. I don't know if the design has changed,but the titanium cases while strong, but are not dent proof, though you can bend them back usually.. I've done it. If you're gonna smack any notebook as hard as it takes to do this..nothing you can buy will be without damage.

Ram.. stay with 2 gigs at the most. 3 is too much unless you're into some serious programs and keep them open at the same time. CAD/Photoshop/FinalCutPro

 

Yeah, the case really doesn't scratch. anything that looks like a scratch gets easily buffed out. it's EXTREMELY durable and much stronger than any plastic HP you'll find. I've dropped this thing and it just dented the side. It would have broken any other laptop.
Um..speakers are meh. But I rarely use them.
2 gigs is about perfect. I don't see much reason to get 3 gigs unless you plan on using parallels to run multiple OS's at once.
I'd say it's much more durable than HP. They're not exactly known for quality lifetime systems. Macs tend to last for years.

The isight camera is top of the line. I doubt you'll find a better quality camera. It uses the h.264 compression (same used for HD video). It's very impressive.

 

I find the iSight quite good. The case can scratch, but if you are reasonably careful with it I do not think you will have an issue. As for RAM, if you are using Parallels 2 would be enough, but you will want all the RAM you can get so I would consider 3. If money is an issue, 2 will work well.

 

1. It's aluminum. It's pretty scratch-sensitive. There's a clear plastic case you can put on the macbook pro that's specifically designed for it, but the name's escaping me.

2. I've actually seen the iSight on a Macbook, not the macbook pro, and it's a pretty top-notch camera.

3. Not sure. I'm curious about this as well.

4. Not sure. I'm curious about this as well. I'm planning to get a lower-end Macbook Pro (the 2.16GHz) and I intend to ONLY run Mac OS. I want to eventually upgrade to Leopard. Do I need 1GB or 2GB? And is the 160GB hard drive overkill?

5. More durable, not sure. But better quality, ABSOLUTELY.

Keep in mind that HP has one of the worst customer service and tech support departments on the market. Most of them are from India and I usually don't understand their accent. I had to call them multiple times about a faulty printer, and they keep telling you to do the same thing OVER AND OVER AND OVER again. After a month of calling (I called about 6 times and was on hold for an average of ~35 minutes) this issue is STILL not resolved. And I've seen pretty bad customer service before...not even DELTA AIRLINES puts you on hold for 35 minutes at a time.

Needless to say, I'm sworn off of HP products forever. I'm getting a macbook or macbook pro in the next week or two.

Good luck and enjoy your macbook pro.

 

thatnks for the replies guys, but i have a few more questions:

6. can you get a TV tuner with it?

7. how does the keyboard compare to HPs dells and lenovo's in terms of flex and comfort?

 

No TV tuner with the MBP. I tested the MBP in the apple store the other day. The keyboard isn't bad at all. I think my A22m Thinkpad's keyboard is better, but that doesn't mean that the MBP keyboard is bad. It's somewhat flatter feeling than a thinkpad. You just have to get used to it. It's nowhere near as flat feeling as the compaq presario 700 craptop I had 6 years ago.

 

I've honestly never used a nicer keyboard. The IBM thinkpads are nice, but not as nice as this. It's lightyears ahead of gateway, dell, and hp.
Can't speak for Asus and some of the others in comparison.

 

Yes, there's a variety of USB TV tuners for Macs. Elgato and Miglia are the major names on that market and both brands are sold in the Apple Store online.