mac book pro vs pc?

[markwebster]

I know I've seen this topic on here before, but a search didn't find it.

 

mac book pro vs pc?

 

I have a 5 year old toshiba laptop that is dying. I am a heavy user of Adobe photoshop, illustrator, flash, inDesign and dreamweaver, frequently using all 5 at once plus word and a browser and email.

 

I occasionally edit a small video, but not at a serious level. (Camtashia e-learning videos). I don't game at all.

 

I need at least 1400 pixels of native screen resolution, if not higher.

 

I'm not a mac fanboy, in fact I've always thought it was all hyperbole. But an increasing number of people I know are making the switch to the dark side, and the macbook pro, with it's sexy metal body, and 6 hour battery life, built in apache and cool design is very tempting.

 

Especially since I can run windows (for my existing software) on the mac when I need to, using either boot camp or some other virtual programs/emulators.

 

$2000 at bestbuy gets me out the door with a 15" macbook pro, plus a copy of vista for bootcamp.

 

I could buy 2 toshibas for that much. I'm also a little tempted just to make myself more employable...I don't currently speak mac.

 

My entire department (at the college) is all pc...I will be the only mac fanboy.

 

please help me decide

[Gary_Yngve]

I have a Macbook Pro (17") w/ Parallels. I only use Parallels when I need to run Internet Exploder.

 

Here is what I like about the Mac:

Ergonomic.

Stable.

Magnetic powercord has saved me from near disaster many times.

UNIX backend and shell.

Seamless integration between shell and GUI.. can redirect stdout to clipboard, drag a file in to get the filename, etc.

Consistent hotkeys between apps.

Multiple desktop screens and easy navigation.

Works well w/ wireless, iphone, camera, etc.

 

I don't think I have any complaints, aside from its fanboy status... been well worth the price. (I bought mine a year and a half ago.)

 

I'd recommend getting at least 4G of RAM, especially if you use Photoshop.

[Gary_Yngve]

I have a Macbook Pro (17") w/ Parallels. I only use Parallels when I need to run Internet Exploder.

 

Here is what I like about the Mac:

Ergonomic.

Stable.

Magnetic powercord has saved me from near disaster many times.

UNIX backend and shell.

Seamless integration between shell and GUI.. can redirect stdout to clipboard, drag a file in to get the filename, etc.

Consistent hotkeys between apps.

Multiple desktop screens and easy navigation.

Works well w/ wireless, iphone, camera, etc.

 

I don't think I have any complaints, aside from its fanboy status... been well worth the price. (I bought mine a year and a half ago.)

 

I'd recommend getting at least 4G of RAM, especially if you use Photoshop.

[ryanb]

the screen will be much nicer then a 1k toshiba.

 

i found the built in apache is kind of limited for serious use but the os is quite flexible and can be extended etc if you know some linux admin tricks and are willing to go beyond the preferences dialogue.

 

or just run a linux server in a vm for development.

 

[PLC]

I just spent about two weeks researching and buying a new laptop. It only took a couple days to cross Mac off the list... basically, you'll be paying a 30%-50% premium for "coolness".

 

For $500 less than a Macbook Pro, you can get an HP HDX Premium with a beautiful 19 inch 1080P screen, HDMI output, free upgrade to Windows 7, Blue-Ray drive, dual-core processor, 8GB of RAM, and a 500GB hard-drive.

 

As far as I could tell, there was no logic reason to purchase a Mac, unless you really, really prefer the operating system and design. If that's worth $500-$700 to you, go for it...

[Hugh Conway]

note the Mac user

1) double posted

2) uses Internet Explorer

 

As far as I could tell, there was no logic reason to purchase a Mac, unless you really, really prefer the operating system and design. If that's worth $500-$700 to you, go for it...

 

If you really care about MacOS just buy the PC and install MacOS on it:

http://laughingsquid.com/installing-leopard-on-a-pc-in-three-easy-steps/

 

MACs = computer as fashion accessory. And endless conversation starting point for all the tips and tricks of getting things done when shit doesn't work on your computer "that just works"

[jon]

A 19" laptop? LOL!

 

Argument for not switching. If you don't get a significant edu discount on Apple or Adobe software like CS4, as well as MS Office, the switch will be painfully expensive.

 

I've worked on both platforms forever and I just find I'm more productive on a Mac, I use Spotlight, Expose, and Spaces constantly and I just am able to establish better workflows in OS X. Like Gary pointed out hotkeys being consistent between apps is huge. I know several MS people who run Vista at home on a Mac in bootcamp because it just runs faster on Mac hardware. I do believe the Apple hardware is built better, I have never had any significant problems with any hardware I've owned. I really think you get what you pay for. MS Office 2008 is actually pretty impressive and now native on Mac.

 

OS X really has some killer apps that I'm not sure there are good windows alternatives, some of which I think are essential for web design/coding....

OmniFocus - productivity syncs with iPhone

CSSEdit - similar to firebug, has saved my life on projects

VirtualHostX - great for setting up local dev environments

Coda - very cool single screen web coding app

TextMate - THE editor for doing Rails development

 

If you ever see yourself doing Rails or Django development then the native support in OS X is really crucial. Also, the way the trend is going you need to be able to test you website/apps in Safari natively, and with things going more mobile/iPhone you need to be able to setup test environments.

 

If I were in your shoes right now I would try to find a new or slightly used previous revision pre miniDisplayPort Mac Book Pro 15 and get a nice 24" dell display from costco for $250. You can drop 4gigs of Ram for $55.

 

[Jay Kerr]

I just replaced two Toshiba laptops with MacBookPros. The Toshibas both lasted less than two years. On one, the monitor died. On the second, the motherboard died. In both cases it would have cost less to replace the computer than to repair.

 

Hardware-wise, the Toshibas were cheap crap compared to the MacBooks. And I have three years of Applecare on each. Granted, the cost was twice as much, but you get what you pay for, IMHO. If you earn a living with your computer it makes sense to buy the best tool.

 

OS X is far superior to Windoz in every way. And The upgrade to Snow Leopard is $49 for a 5-pack. Oh, and Exchange support is built in. The MacBooks boot in less than half the time as the Toshibas, the OS is stable as hell, and its only going to get better with Snow Leopard (released tomorrow).

 

I've used both platforms since 1984, in the pre-press industry, in software development, and in web development. My shop is all Mac these days (two 24" iMacs, 4 MacBook Pros, and a Mac Mini as a boat computer on my sailboat. I now have one PC left, running Microsoft Money. Sadly, personal finance software is one area that has very poor software support on Mac.

 

Not a fanboy... Apple can be just as obnoxious as Microsoft, and they charge a premium, but they make killer hardware and their OS is the best.

Edited August 27, 2009 by Jay Kerr

[ryanb]

note the Mac user

1) double posted

2) uses Internet Explorer

 

All web developers etc need to test extensively in ie because it is such a piece of crap. It is also possible to run it "natively" under os x using darWINE but most use vmware or parallels.

 

I buy my macs reconditioned and buy after market ram/monitors as others have suggested:

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac?mco=MTE3NjY

[markwebster]

It does appear that a lot of web developers are working on macs. My brother has worked for the spokesman review for 30 years. Granted, it's the graphics industry, but he was pc for many years and is now mac. He manages the computers for them and works on the website in django and python, using a mac. He swears by the development tools built into the unix/mac os.

 

One of my students works for the biggest web shop in Tacoma: sitecrafting. I asked him the same question, and here is his response:

"All of the PHP programmers and graphic designers use Mac at work. The only PC's we have there are for a couple of quirky dot-NET and ASP programmer guys and IE test rigs."

 

So now I just have to convince the wife. She says my toshiba has to be dead before I can buy a replacement. And with my luck, it will limp along for another year.

 

I think it really comes down to hardware and battery life. You do get what you pay for.

[olyclimber]

1. Get a portable HD and move your data off

2. Drop the old toshiba on the floor

3. Repeat step 2 till desired result is achieved

4. Show wife that computer is dead

5. Join the Apple Cult

[olyclimber]

the OS wars will be heating up with Snow Leopard coming out this week and Windows 7 coming out. Windows 7 is generally regarded as big improvement on Vista.

 

I've been using a Mac for a while now, and I find the hardware does last longer for me and is in general much better quality. You also can either easily dualboot or VM with Windows on an Intel Mac.

[Gary_Yngve]

note the Mac user

1) double posted

2) uses Internet Explorer

 

Yes, the double post was because my first submit resulted in a 404 response, so I posted again without looking.

 

Internet Exploder 6 still has close to 20% of the market share. There are big Fortune-500 companies who still insist that everyone use it, either because they are too lazy to upgrade or because they think an upgrade will result in people goofing off all day.

[Hugh Conway]

I think it really comes down to hardware and battery life. You do get what you pay for.

 

So you buy a MacBook Pro with non-user replaceable battery? Genius!

 

I love how everyone who'd laugh in the BestBuy salesmans face when he trys to sell them the extended warranty buys into the AppleCare extended warranty scam.

[tomtom]

Mac is to PC as

 

Sport Climbing is to Trad.

[froodish]

I do webdev and have numerous 'puters. I'm not a platform bigot. My main box is a ~3 year old MBP (the first of the Core2 Duos). It's the best computer I've ever owned - a real champ and I ride them hard and put them away wet. The new ones look even tastier and I'll probably pick one up before the year end.

 

Price comparisons with a standard PC laptop don't really hold up. Apple doesn't sell anything but a premium lappy, and if you get into the range where components and build quality is equal to Apple's, there's really not much price difference.

 

The "non-replaceable" battery issue is moot IMHO, even if they only get 4 of the 5 years they are predicted to last. You can take it into Apple or an Apple authorized shop (and I suspect there will be non-supported DIY kits too) and have them replace it for a small extra charge. I'll take that and the 6+ hour battery life.

 

I run various flavors of Windows (XP, XP64, Server2003, Windows 7 RC, etc.) and *nix and I choose OSX for my main OS because I'm flat out more productive in it. There's also a few applications on the Mac that I think are unequaled on any other platform (big fan of the OmniApps and BBEdit).

 

The Windows experience is really fundamentally inferior these days IMHO, and more and more, I'm recommending to folks that ask me: "get a Mac".

[Hugh Conway]

ride them hard and put them away wet

 

Fucking dry pussy isn't something that should be done.

[nhluhr]

Look, neither is truly BETTER than the other for any of the tasks you describe. The Mac definitely has a better touchpad with its gestures and whatnot (but you have to get used to the lack of a 2nd mouse button and thus easy access to context menus... which are now queued by gestures which might be tricky to master) whereas the PC is likely going to be a lot easier for you to use thanks to familiarity right out of the box.

 

Ultimately you should shop on desire since both machines are fully capable of doing what you want. Let your emotions make the decision since there's no rational/logical argument for choosing either one. The price isn't even all that different anymore for top-end PCs vs a Macbook Pro.

[markwebster]

got a surprise raise at work that will cover it so I bought the macbook pro 15. I also bought vista to install as a virtual operating system, and the mac "parallels 4" software which makes windows work on the mac.

 

So right now, I have what appears to be a vista operating system in a mac container. There is no sign whatsoever of mac, other than the beautiful hardware and screen. i've been doing all the tiresome vista updates, and now I'm installing my pc software (cs3, office, money, etc.) as if I'd bought a dam pc. Should have bought Adobe cs4 for mac, but I'm too cheap.

 

The only downside is I'm not looking forward to spending a bunch of time learning a new operating system, but, I like learning new stuff, as long as it's not rushed.

 

I've not seen a single pc laptop that is this big, this thin and this well built with a 6 hour battery life. Yeah, I could have bought a pc and bought a bunch of batteries...but there are other reasons outlined above...so far so good. I may hate it in a month, but I like it so far. I didn't buy the extended warrantee. I never get 'em on anything, cars, cameras, nothing. If you buy quality, from a decent store that takes back lemons, you'll be ok...knock on wood.

[olyclimber]

well OSX is pretty intuitive. its a pretty nice OS, and got a little better today. praise jobs!

[ASmith]

I too bought three Mac Book Pros lately to replace all of our PC's. I too have the parallels and Vista setup as I need IE to access a few internet sites to do some of my work but I am going back to all Apple software. The Mac also comes with Boot Camp which will run most all Windows software and you can down for free Cross Over which will allow the same.

 

I think if you give the Mac a chance you will much prefer the Mac OS and everything else compared to the PC & Windows.

 

I know several Microsoft employees who buy Macs and run Windows to do their work at MS instead of PC's, better, faster, and much more stable they tell me.

[wfinley]

I'm a web developer & have a MacBook Pro 17". I run all my Adobe apps in OSX and simultaneously run Parallels / Windows XP running Windows Personal Web Server & CF Development Server / MySQL. I code in Dreamweaver - but since I always host on Windows platforms all my files are on the XP partition so I can replicate the hosting environment. It takes a while to get everything running first thing in the morning but once it's up it's a good setup.

 

If I was only a programmer it would make no sense to have a Mac, but I also do a lot of design and work on my photography quite a bit -- so having a Mac makes more sense for me. I ran a PC for years before making the switch and while it was expensive to upgrade all my software from Windows to OSX the switch was well worth it -- and the Mac version of Photoshop is a dream to work with. Likewise Aperture is an amazing program.