Macbook Pro or iMac..?

[Barneyballbags]

Well, the time has finally come where I've paid off all of my debts which I'd built up from the age of about 18!! Just over £20k in about 5 years is pretty good going on admin wages so I'm quite proud of myself..

I'm now officially debt-free (I don't have a mortgage yet!), so I'm going to celebrate by using some of the money in my "Manitou FS" pot to buy myself a new laptop/desktop.

I definitely want to go down the Apple route - not because I think they're any better or worse than Windows computers, but just because I've never owned one, and I want to see first-hand what they're like.

Unfortunately, I can't afford a brand new one (well, I can but I don't want to spend that much money!), so I'm looking at used 2011 versions of each.

I've got 2 options:

1) Macbook Pro 13", Feb 2011 version, 2.3ghz i5, 4GB RAM, 320GB hard drive.

or

2) iMac 21.5", Feb 2011 version, 3.04ghz i3, 8GB RAM, 500gb hard drive.

Both of these are hovering around the same price (the Macbook is slightly more expensive).

I already have a Windows laptop and if I bought a Macbook, I'd sell it. If I bought the iMac, I'd keep it...

Sooooooo, what do you think? To be honest, my heart says iMac because they're just gorgeous and I'd get more for my money, but my mind says Macbook because we don't have the space at home, and it's all the computer I need anyway...

 

[tintin40]

Option 2 if me. Also increase the RAM

Also don't forget Mac's do need Anti-virus.

I use Mac's at home Vista at work.

 

[Barneyballbags]

Option 2 is looking the more attractive, it has to be said... It's only down the road from me too, so I can pop on the train and pick it up in 5 minutes!

My girlfriend would probably shout at me though because we live in a tiny 1 bed flat so don't really have the space to have something like that (well, I think we do but she thinks we don't )...

 

[Raging_Bulls]

TBH I grew up with Apple and switched to PC. I would never buy another Apple-related product in my life. I'm now experimenting with Ubuntu, and like it much better than OSX, XP, Vista or Win7.

However if I really had to buy a mac and had those 2 choices, I'd go for the Macbook.
It really is all the computer you need, as unix-based systems (like OSX and Linux) need a lot less resources to provide the same performance.

As for finding out what they're like, you could do that on your current laptop. Install Virtualbox, download the right OSX iso and install that on a virtual drive. There are plenty of tutorials on how to do it right.

 

[Whatleymeister]

If you have a laptop, I would get the iMac. The ex have one and loves it! So do I to be honest, it really is a nifty bit of kit. They do have intermittant problems with just going blank with the gubbins behind the screen still whirring away though. Might be worth asking the current owner if this has happened with his. Can be a brief issue, can last ages even if you turn it off and on (classic IT fix!).

The ex's one did this a couple of times and seems to have remedied itself, but some of the forums on the net for fixes to this sounded quite pricey. Thought it might be worth you knowing that.

 

[Barneyballbags]

TBH I grew up with Apple and switched to PC. I would never buy another Apple-related product in my life.

Is there any particular reason why you dislike Apple? I don't buy all the nonsense about them being somehow "better" than Windows or other OSx, but I'd be interested to know why you don't rate them (apart from the fact that they're overpriced)..?

If you have a laptop, I would get the iMac. The ex have one and loves it! So do I to be honest, it really is a nifty bit of kit. They do have intermittant problems with just going blank with the gubbins behind the screen still whirring away though.
The ex's one did this a couple of times and seems to have remedied itself, but some of the forums on the net for fixes to this sounded quite pricey. Thought it might be worth you knowing that.

Thanks for the info... That's definitely worth bearing in mind

 

[KDM]

Always been a windows user until recently then went over to a 27 inch Imac desktop.

I did have a few problems at first and my patience was limited. I did find however using microsoft office for so long that this was the only major problem for me so I bought microsoft office for mac and since then I've enjoyed the mac.

I chose a desktop over a laptop purely because with a laptop I would use it more and be more unsociable than the kids at home and so a desktop allows me to say right that's that bit done hello human race

 

[t-stoff]

Buy 1 crappy Mac for the price of one super PC.
or better
Buy 1 Mac for the price of two PC.
You have the same hardware as a lowend laptop but with the fancy apple logo to show. Have you ever compared what you get with the same amount of money with a PC? A super laptop on wich you can install anything, windows, linux....
just go to the dell website and see for yourself

first, i like the availability of softwares in both OS's, second I like to fix my things and not having to go to the app store everytime "somethings" happen. I can assure that most of the guys who now are apple fans were those who would ask you for a disk format.
I dont like the nazi policy of apple, wich is over protected by their boys. For much less hitler bill gates were all over the internet. Here we have a company who ceases to grant support on apps if you dont upgrade to a new OS / phone bla bla.

and i can run my fav games too.

 

[Raging_Bulls]

Is there any particular reason why you dislike Apple? I don't buy all the nonsense about them being somehow "better" than Windows or other OSx, but I'd be interested to know why you don't rate them (apart from the fact that they're overpriced)..?

There are several reasons. I'll write them down, but some of it will probably offend the Mac owners here.

Firstly, I just don't like some guy in a black sweater telling me what I want, or what I can and cannot do with my computer. The OS is simply too restrictive.
Microsoft is also going that way with their total integration of just about everything you don't ever use, but at least they make it easy for you to use third party applications if you don't want their own stuff.

Secondly, many of the products are simply over-hyped.
Remember when the iPad came out? Most people didn't know what they would/could use it for, but they had to have it anyway.
People were queuing for hours in front of the stores and received a standing ovation when they left with an iPad. Just how crazy is that?

Thirdly, there's Steve Jobs' attitude.
The guy made a career out of improving someone else's ideas and marketing them. However when Google pulled the same trick on him when they came up with Android, he vowed to destroy them.
Sorry Steve, but if you can't stand that a competitor's product is better than yours, improve yours until you have the best one again. Don't drag them to court because their OS has a feature that's similar to yours (I'm referring to the ability to recognize a phone number in a webpage and turning it into a direct dial link)

Fourthly, despite the price, the products simply aren't that good in terms of both performance and reliability.
There are many faults per number of units produced, and Apple tries to avoid responsibility as much as possible. Remember the "you're holding it wrong" comment? That's a classic case of blaming the customer for your own design flaws.

Fifthly, there's the whole snobby attitude of many mac owners.
"Ooh, it's so much better than Windows, and so much more user-friendly, etc etc"
Nonsense. Windows can be customized to a much greater extent via built-in features and third party applications, so you can make it as user-friendly for yourself as you want. Same with most Linux distros.

Oh, and let's not forget how the products are built.
While just about every manufacturer is having stuff built in Asia because it's cheaper, Apple has turned that into an art form.
What they are forcing the workforce to do, is nothing short of slavery in a deadly environment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3YFGixp9Jw

Apple is perfectly aware of this situation, but they simply don't address it because that would reduce their profit margins.

 

[t-stoff]

on the other hand, apple stocks are a good biz ;D
as Raging bull said about the footage released over the conditions of china workers, but nonetheless their stocks remain untouched.