Seriously considering a MacBook Pro

[Jason]

So, after being a WIndows only guy so far (with a brief Linux dual boot stint), the release of the new Intel dual core based MacBook Pro has pretty much convinced me to buy a MacBook Pro. With the release of BootCamp (and it's impending inclusion with OS 10.5), it looks extremely inticing. But much more than that, there is a lot of good audio/music software that is either Mac only or just runs better or is more developed on the Mac. Seeing as I'll be spending the next year working a lot with music and audio for my master's project, I could really use access to these proggies and don't particularly want to have to use the School of Music's lab everytime I need one of them. The SoM is pretty far from here, so the less trips I have to make there the better. Also, the MacBook Pro is thin, light, and has some very impressive specs especially considering its size.

I've wanted to try a Mac ever since OS X came out. Now I have a good excuse, can still run XP, and will have the money in a couple of months or so. Mac users, here I come! My one main concern now is it has an ExpressCard slot instead of a normal PC Card slot. And they're not backwards compatible. I have a PCMCIA sound card and won't be able to use it until/if someone makes a PC Card->ExpressCard adaptor. ;_;

[Jonas]

I use mac osx every day and hate it! (sorry mac owners) But the mac books looks nice since they have power, and they'll run both windows and linux. The only problem is that it doesn't seem like boot camp is completely stable yet. Some people had experienced problems booting back from windows to osx.

[TheScott18]

I made the switch over from a Windows desktop to the MacBook Pro last month. It is a really great machine. However, it's a brand new machine, and because of that there are many problems you will encounter with this (as well as any other intel-based Mac) at this point in time. Native software works great, so there is no complaints with the stuff included when you buy it. However, much of the other Mac software out there has not been released with an Intel version. If that is the case, then OS X will have to run an emulation software to get it to work, which will actually make the software run much more slower then it did on older computers. This is VERY noticeable on video and graphics editing software, so much so that I can't even use them yet on this laptop. So unless the software you're going to be using has been built for the Intel-based system, I suggest not using it at all.

And bootcamp is not all that it's cracked up to be. As frustrating as it is to be using OS X at this point on these machines, I can only imagine what a pain it's going to be to install and run Windows on them.

So from somebody who's been in your situation, I know that I'm not going to be able to get you to stop or hold off on buying one. Hell, I think you should buy it! My MacBook is awesome and I love it. However, I have to warn you that IT WILL BE A PAIN TO USE right now while the switch is going over. Try to make sure that the software you're using is made for the new system, because if it isn't, it will run painfully slow. Nothing is entirely stable yet, to be prepared to face many problems and errors when you get it.

[Jason]

Well, it'll probably be at least a couple of months before I buy it. So there'll be some time for issues to possibly get smoothed out if not completely eliminated, and maybe more proggies to be made Universal. Maybe even a new version of BootCamp.

Arstechnica recently did a pretty thorough article on BootCamp w/XP, and it seemed to go pretty smoothly for them. Of course I know it's not perfect. But from their experience it seems to work pretty well.

Another thing is that I have a lot of time, money, and effort put into getting and learning several key pieces of software in Windows. So I'm not planning on buying much additional Mac software at first with the exception of Office. So I'm going to be kinda easing myself into the whole Mac environment, not jumping in with both feet. That'll both give me time to get accustomed to it and them time to work out issues and release Intel compatible software. Overall, I'm looking forward to it.

Also, it's built on top of FreeBSD (IIRC), and while I'm no Unix expert, I do have a good bit of experience with Li/Unix types of systems. The terminal, at least, should be pretty familiar.

[danielbeck]

Jasonさん、

I think more intriguing than Boot Camp is Parallels. This allows you to run both OSes natively and simultaneously. And if the Windoze side crashes, Tiger will continue to hum along. No doubt Apple will build this into Leopard (but that's not avaiable till the fall).

I encourage you to try out the software that comes installed, including the iLife package. It's amazing how smoothly each of the apps are integrated.

If there's one purchase I think you should try, it's the iWork suite, especially for Keynote. It works so much better than Powerpoint, and looks so much nicer.

-Daniel

[Jason]

I think more intriguing than Boot Camp is Parallels. This allows you to run both OSes natively and simultaneously. And if the Windoze side crashes, Tiger will continue to hum along. No doubt Apple will build this into Leopard (but that's not avaiable till the fall).

I'd heard rumors of that, but i had no idea how reliable they were. But yes, I'm very much looking forward to that if the performance turns out to be decent. I was planning on getting the 2Ghz version w/1GB of RAM, but if something like that's on the way I may splurge for the 2GB of RAM.

If there's one purchase I think you should try, it's the iWork suite, especially for Keynote. It works so much better than Powerpoint, and looks so much nicer.

Well, thanks for the recommendation, but I don't really use presentation software that much. In the 8 years I've been in college, I think I've used it once, mabye twice.

[MikeCassidy]

I'd wait.
There is no doubt that are many bugs that will need to be fixed with the new processors.

As for Windows vs. MAC; UNIX beats Windows hands down except in price.
Though for coporations considering how much support Windows needs I make bet they would be cheaper - but hey what IT VP wants his hed count to go down. The flankier the machine the better; larger support staff.

[danielbeck]

Jason,

You don't use presentation software? That's because you've never used Keynote. Once you do, you'll FIND uses. Seriously.

-Daniel

[Jason]

Jason,

You don't use presentation software? That's because you've never used Keynote. Once you do, you'll FIND uses. Seriously.

-Daniel

But seriously, I'm going to have to my butt in gear and really start working on my Maseter's design project starting in the Fall, so I might have to start using software like that a lot more very soon.

[mark]

I'd heard rumors of that, but i had no idea how reliable they were. But yes, I'm very much looking forward to that if the performance turns out to be decent. I was planning on getting the 2Ghz version w/1GB of RAM, but if something like that's on the way I may splurge for the 2GB of RAM.

From what I've read so far, the performance is actually quite decent because it is able to leverage some of the virtualization technology on the Yonah core. However, there is no graphics virtualization so don't expect any miracles for GPU intensive tasks such as gaming.

Here's a page with some sample tests of Parallel vs. Boot Camp vs. Rosetta:
http://www.anandtech.com/mac/showdoc.aspx?i=2740&p=14

[Jason]

The ball is rolling for getting financing. It should be done by the end of the week or early next week, and then I can place an order. :O <3 I decided I might as well go all out and get the 17" version w/2GB of RAM and a 7200RPM 100GB hard drive rather than the standard 5400RPM 120GB.

I've looked into Parallels, but so far it doesn't do one thing that I consider essential before I would use it. It can't boot from an existing Windows partition. So if I wanted to use both Parallels and run Windows natively, I'd have to have a seperate installation for each. That's just not going to cut it. While Parallels could handle a lot of stuff, I have other more demanding apps and games that I would really want/need to be running natively for them to run as well as I'd want them to. So, looks like I'm Boot Camp only for now unless that changes.

[Jonas]

Speaking of computers, I get my new Sony Vaio F series today! Will be waiting for me when I get home from work. It is a 2.16GHz Core Duo with 1gb ram (want to up it to 2gb as soon as posible). and 80gb HDD . Features a pretty good 3D card too. It is NVidia though. Wonder if I can get OSX running on it.

[Jason]

Unless your motherboard supports EFI, which is hit or miss right now with PCs, you probably won't be able to install OS X.

[danielbeck]

OS X will not run on non-Apple machines. Period.

[Jason]

OS X will not run on non-Apple machines. Period.

Actually, it can. But it takes some hacking, some of which is questionable legally. Google turned up a video of a guy who was dual booting XP and OS X on a Vaio.