Macbook Pro or iMac..?

[tintin40]

Not to change subject to much but i couldn't give a toss about Chinese workers. Thats their problem.

I have a Mac at home BUT to be fair i hate all computers. Just hate Mac less.

We should have killed the inventor of computers at birth. They are over rated hyper sh*t good for 'SPAM' , porn & spreading fake stories round the world.
Facebook & youtube being the best 'sh*t' out there. Utter crap and like 'sheep' people by into it till the next fashion.
Once i've retired then i will kick the computer out of my home.

 

[Barneyballbags]

I know that Apple products are over-hyped and over-priced and no better/worse than Windows computers. I don't tend to listen to any of the marketing bull**** either.

iPhones and iPads - don't even get me started on them. The amount of people I've spoken to who own an iPhone because "it's the best" is unreal. I remember I went into the Apple store in Cardiff just after the white iPhone 4 finally came out... I fought my way through the hordes of people clammering to get their hands on one, and I asked the staff member what was so good about the iPhone 4 (I quite like winding them up )... His response - "It's White, yay!!" :roll: ... I walked out.

I'd have thought twice about buying a Macbook if I was getting one new, as I'm well aware that there are some extremely good Windows laptops around for the same price or even less. However as the Macbook is a few months old and relatively cheap, I thought I'd give it a go.

If I don't get on with it, I'll sell it. I shouldn't lose too much money and I'll know in my own mind what I prefer then.

I've decided I'm going to go for the Macbook now - well rather my girlfriend has decided that we can't fit an iMac in our tiny 1 bedroom flat ...

 

[t-stoff]

Its the maturing process. Some can filter, others cant. It was the same story back in the days with newspaper radio, tv etc. The information computers and internet gives me nowadays is incomparable to the 2 or 3 sources 15 years back. They way it connects me to my friends and family spread all over the world, the instant knowledge on some topic (ex fixing things), group discussion, interactions and awareness of the world is huge.

 

[ajm]

The 13" MBP is actually a very nice laptop compared to anything similar on the market.

Apple machines though can be nice enough while working but are a complete disaster if they go wrong outside of warranty; buy your Mac from somewhere like John Lewis who offer a better warranty without charging more, because Apple customer "support" is a bad joke.

Price and availability of parts are both a major problem with Apple stuff - I wouldn't touch an iMac with a bargepole. Yeah, PC power supplies die too... but you have a choice of probably hundreds of models which would fit and work and they're a matter of less than ten minutes to replace.

If your iMac PSU dies have fun trying to work out which one you need and then trying to get hold of a brand new replacement... it'll be at least twice as expensive and very possibly much more, and actually fitting it is pretty awkward in comparison to the same job on a standard PC.

 

[davew]

Putting aside the bollocks being spouted by the "haters" you might also want to consider a Mac Mini as a third alternative.

The iMac and Macbook Pro both offer good value for money in terms of screen performance and spec but you do pay for it and the screen is where most of the cost goes.

I buy second hand Mac Minis and use them for all my OS requirements. They are very small, super quiet, reliable and fully specced. They offer around the same performance as the MacBook Pro and you can upgrade the hard disk, ram etc... with standard parts. You can then choose whatever spec/size of monitor you want and they will run any available mainstream OS.

I have a stack of Mac Minis and a USB KVM switch, one of them runs Mac OS X full time, one runs XP, Windows 7 or OS X depending on my needs. one is configured as a LAMP server that I use for web development testing and the other runs Ubuntu and primarily runs as a subVersion repository. For video processing all 4 are switched to OS X so they can run collaboratively.

You can pick up a 2.3GHz i5 Mac Mini for around £400 off ebay, less if you are willing to wait. It will drive VGA or HDMI monitors and will work with any USB mouse and keyboard. They have bluetooth and WiFi built in. The hard disk is a laptop format and can be replaced with any standard 2.5 inch SATA drive. I use Momentous XT drives when the budget allows.

The older Core 2 Duo Mac Minis are really good value at the moment as everyone wants the faster i5 version. I play Skyrim on a 2.66GHz Core 2 Duo Mac Mini running Windows XP and it runs pretty well - certainly better than my old "gaming PC" does that cost a LOT more to build. The older ones also have built in DVD/CD writers/readers or you can get a server version which has twin hard disks.

 

[stewlewis]

The iMAC, for the screen.

You have a laptop, and who does anything 'productive' on the move anyway.

For the screen alone go with the iMAC, you stare at it all the time, you'll love the bigger size.

 

[Barneyballbags]

The iMAC, for the screen.

You have a laptop, and who does anything 'productive' on the move anyway.

For the screen alone go with the iMAC, you stare at it all the time, you'll love the bigger size.

I've gone for the Macbook, partly because I got it for a good price, and partly (mostly) because we can't fit an iMac in our flat at the moment, much as I wanted one.

On the plus side - I've negotiated a deal with my girlfriend whereby I get the Macbook now and then, when we move somewhere with a bit more room I can get a spangly new 27" iMac