Laptops Need gyan on the Macbook

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zhopudey

zhopudey

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A friend asked me to suggest a laptop. He'll use for for making presentations to clients and for basic office apps. He was thinking of something like Dell XPS, which is around 70k. I'll get more info from him soon, but I'm assuming he needs something portable and stylish which'll make a good impression. So I thought of the Macbook, thanks to all the recent posts and threads largely spearheaded by SC :ohyeah:

So, how much does the 13" MB cost? Where to buy it from? Does it have an office suite? What about other general purpose s/w? Is it preloaded/ freely downloadable/ ahem?
 
Mac has mostly everything that Windows has, only better. MS Office 08 is available for it. I find mac-bb.org to be a very "nice" site when looking for softwares
 
So, how much does the 13" MB cost? Where to buy it from? Does it have an office suite? What about other general purpose s/w? Is it preloaded/ freely downloadable/ ahem?
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The retail price IIRC is ~74K for the aluminium and ~59K for the white (very similar base config, primary difference being the Al body, glass trackpad and LED screen on the Unibody), haggleable a bit (although not at the stupid reliance stores..get the list of mumbai retailers from the Apple India site and call em all)

There are three office suites for the Mac, MS Office (decent but slow) , iWork (Awesome, but requires getting used to) and the Open office (never tried)

If your friend wants to make ppt's that stand out, may I suggest iWork (for no other reason but the templates are very different (and I think more aesthetic too) from the overused MS office templates, and thus look awesomely cool)

There is a good choice of other general purpose s/w (actually quite good) and many are free (and all are ahem-valaiable)

Only one word of caution, It'll easily take a week (or at least a few days) of getting used to, before your friend will start appreciating a Mac..there are a lot of people who'll get/use a Mac, get confused in a little while, and then dump it
 
Cool :) And I'm assuming that iWorks is compatible with MS Office files as well, so that he can sync with other PCs?
 
Update:

It is actually for my friend's boss. He's in advertising, and will be using image and audio editing s/w. Currently he uses PS, audition, etc. I think most adobe products are available for the mac.

His main problem with his current laptop is that it runs slow after opening a number of apps and files. SC, you said something about memory management being beter on macs?

So, given these new requirements, is the macbook still the best choice?
 
It is actually for my friend's boss. He's in advertising, and will be using image and audio editing s/w. Currently he uses PS, audition, etc. I think most adobe products are available for the mac.

His main problem with his current laptop is that it runs slow after opening a number of apps and files. SC, you said something about memory management being beter on macs?
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I haven't really used any of these pro Image/Video editors..have no real need for it

Having said that, i recently did instally PS from Adobe CS4 (the latest version) on MB, and found it slow when starting

But then I have no real idea of how long it would have taken on windows either and I know that CS4 is a known resource hog

Also, from what I have seen, these creative types do tend to prefer Macs, though I really have no clue why

As for the memory management aspect, what I like on the MB is the window in the foreground always feels snappy even if I have 25 odd windows scattered all over the place in trhe background

The moment I switch to another window, it feels equally snappy
 
zhopudey said:
Update:

It is actually for my friend's boss. He's in advertising, and will be using image and audio editing s/w. Currently he uses PS, audition, etc. I think most adobe products are available for the mac.

His main problem with his current laptop is that it runs slow after opening a number of apps and files. SC, you said something about memory management being beter on macs?

So, given these new requirements, is the macbook still the best choice?
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As far as i have used, Photoshop runs better on a MAC than Windows.

If you increase the Scratch disc for Photoshop then your Sluggishness will be lower on a Mac/Windows.

Can still say go with a MAC Book if you have the $...
 
^^The older White MBs(with GMA X3100, out of production) were available in 2.1/2.4 GHz variants, but the new white one is restricted to 2.0 and no way to upgrade AFAIK!
 
Isn't the 2.0 ghz penryn on the unibody better than the 2.4 core on the outgoing? given its 1066 mhz bus and DDR3 RAM?

or is it that the white one does not get the core and bus upgrade either?
 
zhopudey said:
Hmmm, a 2.0ghz laptop which can't run audition natively would be a hardsell :(
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Audition CAN run natively on a macbook as windows can be installed NATIVELY on a Mac.

On second thoughts, audition has much better alternatives on OS X that most pro's use.
Garageband'09 being one of them or Final Cut Studio/Logic which are industry standards.

On the Macbook, well i'd suggest for the aluminum model as its a life-lasting product, a lot better aesthetics wise and also there is a visible difference in specs, which does make an impact on performance in Image/Audio editing apps.

And as far as serious Image/audio editing is concerned the 13" screen won't do it, so start considering the 15" pro model if the budget permits.
 
No, he won't need serious editing, and portability is needed. Hence looking for 13/14". Will the aluminum model make a difference over the white?

I'll suggest the macbook to him. Let's see how he takes it. otherwise I guess its the Studio 15.
 
zhopudey said:
No, he won't need serious editing, and portability is needed. Hence looking for 13/14". Will the aluminum model make a difference over the white?

I'll suggest the macbook to him. Let's see how he takes it. otherwise I guess its the Studio 15.
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From what i know, It does make some reasonable difference.

I'll suggest you ask him to check out one in a Store before going for the Studio which is garbage even if you compare it to even the lowest spec'd MacBook.
 
If he has the $, the high-end unibody is the one to go for. 89k is a bit hard to justify. Or else, you could go for the 72k one and upgrade the hdd and ram urself.

The unibody is much more solidly built than the white Macbook so that's in its favour.

Be best for him to go into a store and use the thing for 20 mins or so, see how he likes it before making the investment.

As for the Studio being garbage when compared to even the lowest spec'd MacBook, well... take that with a bottle of salt, rather than just a pinch. While I agree that the Dell I saw is not as well built as a unibody (how can it be), it is not garbage, and is certainly more value for money than any MacBook. (Come on, only a 120gb hdd on the white macbook).

In the end, the decision is up to the guy buying it. If he's happy with it, all's well
 
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