My UNBIASED MacBook Review

[DJ Q]

So today is the first time that I have ever really sat down and really used a Mac in depth.
This entire review was written using the Mac

Specs-
14" Screen - 1280 * 800 (i believe)
Intel Core 2 Duo - 2.26GHz
2GB DDR3
OS version 10.6.1

What I like:
- The laptop is VERY light which makes it very portable.
- It does not get hot so I can actually use it as a laptop and not need that extra fan thingy.
- The OS launches really quickly, including resuming from sleep.
- There's the magnetic plug... Always been a plus for Macs
- Minor but important to me: It's actually easier to spot a drop down menu with this OS
- The battery lasts very long and is used VERY efficiently, for example, the screen dims after a min or two of inactivity then turns off after a little while.

What I LOVE:
- The keys on the keyboard are spaced out, which makes it much easier to type without touching other letter by accident
- The multitouch is just superb. One finger to use the mouse, two fingers to scroll/"right" click and zoom, four fingers to access desktop, other applications etc.
- The sound quality is freaking amazing! My headphones NEVER sounded like this before. I've been blasting music all day long!
- The convenience keys to the top have some common sense. I can just press "play" without fn + shift + ctrl + alt + the rest of the keyboard
- The graphics of the operating system are very, VERY smooth. Minimizing a window does this pretty stretch then goes away. When you use all four fingers to view all the windows, there's no glitch in it. It's very smooth, like Ubuntu. I personally find all of my flash animations and animations on the web move a lot smoother
- The sound quality is just so beautiful it was worth mentioning again. Everything is just so crisp. The stereo separation seems to be much more in depth. My music just sounds so *sniff* sexy!
- Colours are very rich. I can definitely see why people prefer Mac for video and photo editing.
- There are different volume settings when I plug in or unplug the headset. This is great so that I don't deafen myself when attempting to switch.

Now, the fact is that I am not a seasoned Mac user, so i don't even know any shortcuts to anything. It took a little while to figure out where to access the external drive. Shortly afterwards, I saw it on the desktop (is that normal?).

What I HATE:
- Most of the software that I use VERY frequently are only natively available for Windows. After some research, I saw programs like Darwine which can emulate a windows environment or extract the needed zip files, problem is, that a lot of users report that a lot of programs give strange errors because they're looking for certain windows drivers.
- Mac has been reviewed as the 2nd best option when it comes to gaming. Apparently the hardware (according to that review) is not as robust as that in a windows PC. I was trying to install Unreal Tournament for Mac to see for myself, but this isn't my laptop and it was asking for a password to authorize those changes... shux... But the other issue with respect to gaming is that most games aren't even released for the Mac, so once again I'll have to emulate... which... no.
- The fact that *IF* anything happens, I can't fix it myself, is gay. I can't access a damn thing in this laptop. Fanboys, please don't jump up and say "nothing ever happens to a mac" because i've read several reports online where users switched to windows because their Macs continuously crashed and had to be sent to fix.
- I don't particularly like clicking the touch pad. Reminds me of the BB Storm It's not particularly horrible... actually it's not all "bad". It's kinda neutral. I guess I can grow accustomed to it.



At the end of the day, in my honest opinion, it's just another laptop. The statement "It just works" doesn't apply. It sticks like a Windows laptop when the user is demanding. It's frustratingly slow with some tasks (as expected). The hardware is very good, but the software seems over rated. Sure there's some cool features, but why should a Mac cost more than double what the equivalent Windows laptop would cost? I rather take the same money to buy a Mac and buy a MAXED out Windows 7 PC. Sure Windows has viruses but who says Mac doesn't? There just aren't many because 85%+ of the population uses Windows. There's no operating system that is "Virus free". Security measures can be put in place, but just as easy as it is to crack software, it's easy to damage an OS.

MY personal, let me repeat...
MY personal preference is to buy a high end Toshiba with my built in harmon/kardon speakers w/built in subwoofer and good old Windows 7.

Call me a fanboy if you like, but I just don't feel all the hype about Mac. It's nice, pretty and simple, but it's just not for me is all.

I've been as unbiased as possible and tried to keep the comparison to other operating systems to a minimal. Comments are very welcomed. I have the laptop maybe for another 2 hrs. so maybe you guys can teach me something

Thanks,
Q

PS. How do I "Select All"?

[ESS]

Select all: Command + A

[DJ Q]

OH!!!
Command replaces Ctrl...

Now I've got some shortcuts down

[bushwakka]

isn't there boot camp or something like that to allow u to dual boot between windows and Mac OS if u like? I detest Mac as a matter of principle btw, but i tryin to be objective here

[DJ Q]

But why spend so much money to purchase this "superior" technology if I have to dual boot to windows?

I shouldn't have to go through that for that price, in my opinion.

[Bezman]

hey, there is parallels and vmware which allow you to run windows7,xp,vista whatever on your desktop, fully. You can run any PC software this way and access files from both the Mac and PC side.. very very cool!! esp if you are now coming from a PC environment and have all your software in PC format and have not found the replacement on the Mac yet.. NO Dual BOOT required

here is a nice place to look for apps for OSX: http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/
Parallels: http://www.parallels.com/products/desktop/
VMWare: http://www.vmware.com/products/fusion/

as far as clicking the touchpad, you can go to your setting, under trackpad settings, and set it to tap, so you can single finger tap for regular clicking and two finger tap for left click etc.. you can set it how you want..

here is some awesome tips for mac users: http://www.apple.com/pro/tips/


as far as repair there are a couple really good places locally that hopefully you will never need to visit, other than that if its a software problem, it usually can be easily fixed yourself if you know your way around a computer and you sound like you do..

welcome and good luck with your new toy

[DJ Q]

hey, there is parallels and vmware which allow you to run windows7,xp,vista whatever on your desktop, fully. You can run any PC software this way and access files from both the Mac and PC side.. very very cool!! esp if you are now coming from a PC environment and have all your software in PC format and have not found the replacement on the Mac yet.. NO Dual BOOT required

Therein lies the problem. You seem to be a seasoned PC user.
Therefore I'd assume that you know that emulating an entire OS will HOG system resources (especially since it's Windows) and you also will not achieve full performance out of the software. Why should I buy a Mac to go emulate Windows?

For me personally, the Mac solution just doesn't seem viable.

[eurotuner]

PC=FAIL

end of story.

MAC 4 LIFE!


oh.... nice headlights on the 200 DJ Q

[DJ Q]

PC=FAIL

end of story.

MAC 4 LIFE!

WHY?

THAT's all I'd like to know...







and...

oh.... nice headlights on the 200 DJ Q

I think you're mixing me up with someone else. I think I know the 200 you're talking about (chrome, angel eye, projector headlights?)... but it's not me.

Thanks though.

[eurotuner]

oh thought that was u...my bagsss!

erm,

simple ima Artist and i need alota memory/power/whatever to render graphics, Photoshop images like 0ver 2gigs at times, and pc's all fail at rendering graphics..all.....ways...then again i used MAC most of my computer life and MAcs are so user friendly. PC's jus seem so ancient, lol, seriously i cant stand em. If u have to do word processing, use fb go buy a dell or some other crap, if u dealing with big graphic file, animation etc, buy a mac....thank me later, will save u alota headache/time/money. '

Tried and proven!

[TRAE]

This post Fail:(

[Rahtid]

oh thought that was u...my bagsss!

erm,

simple ima Artist and i need alota memory/power/whatever to render graphics, Photoshop images like 0ver 2gigs at times, and pc's all fail at rendering graphics..all.....ways...then again i used MAC most of my computer life and MAcs are so user friendly. PC's jus seem so ancient, lol, seriously i cant stand em. If u have to do word processing, use fb go buy a dell or some other crap, if u dealing with big graphic file, animation etc, buy a mac....thank me later, will save u alota headache/time/money. '

Tried and proven!

same here, just with respect to drawings/designs and using Vectorworks.
Pcs fail,crash etc,,,

never will i go back to windows,

Mac all tha way

[Bezman]

hey, there is parallels and vmware which allow you to run windows7,xp,vista whatever on your desktop, fully. You can run any PC software this way and access files from both the Mac and PC side.. very very cool!! esp if you are now coming from a PC environment and have all your software in PC format and have not found the replacement on the Mac yet.. NO Dual BOOT required

Therein lies the problem. You seem to be a seasoned PC user.
Therefore I'd assume that you know that emulating an entire OS will HOG system resources (especially since it's Windows) and you also will not achieve full performance out of the software. Why should I buy a Mac to go emulate Windows?

For me personally, the Mac solution just doesn't seem viable.

i think you should give it a try you'll be very impressed.. i used to run CS3 in parallels with NO issues (Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreameweaver and Flash open all at the same time) - you can assign how much memory the vmware will use..

i aint telling you do do it - you asked i was just trying to help

anyway good luck

[bushwakka]

oh thought that was u...my bagsss!

erm,

simple ima Artist and i need alota memory/power/whatever to render graphics, Photoshop images like 0ver 2gigs at times, and pc's all fail at rendering graphics..all.....ways...then again i used MAC most of my computer life and MAcs are so user friendly. PC's jus seem so ancient, lol, seriously i cant stand em. If u have to do word processing, use fb go buy a dell or some other crap, if u dealing with big graphic file, animation etc, buy a mac....thank me later, will save u alota headache/time/money. '

Tried and proven!

same here, just with respect to drawings/designs and using Vectorworks.
Pcs fail,crash etc,,,

never will i go back to windows,

Mac all tha way

and a mac is immune to crashing...? anyway.....this ched will start another war

[DJ Q]

oh thought that was u...my bagsss!

erm,

simple ima Artist and i need alota memory/power/whatever to render graphics, Photoshop images like 0ver 2gigs at times, and pc's all fail at rendering graphics..all.....ways...then again i used MAC most of my computer life and MAcs are so user friendly. PC's jus seem so ancient, lol, seriously i cant stand em. If u have to do word processing, use fb go buy a dell or some other crap, if u dealing with big graphic file, animation etc, buy a mac....thank me later, will save u alota headache/time/money. '

Tried and proven!

Expected this to come up.

When it comes to that specific task (graphic processing) no doubt MAC wins, but not because of the available "memory/power/whatever", but because (as far as I was told from a graphic artist) the resolution that is available from a MAC is by far superb to anything Windows can ever give you. Also, thanks to the technology used in their LCDs, the colours are rich, vibrant and true.

Don't make it sound like you can't get a windows machine with 64GB + of RAM or 2 Quad-Core processors.

[cinco]

ooh because you put UNBIASED in caps i should believe you?
NEVA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Sky]

oh thought that was u...my bagsss!

erm,

simple ima Artist and i need alota memory/power/whatever to render graphics, Photoshop images like 0ver 2gigs at times, and pc's all fail at rendering graphics..all.....ways...then again i used MAC most of my computer life and MAcs are so user friendly. PC's jus seem so ancient, lol, seriously i cant stand em. If u have to do word processing, use fb go buy a dell or some other crap, if u dealing with big graphic file, animation etc, buy a mac....thank me later, will save u alota headache/time/money. '

Tried and proven!

Expected this to come up.

When it comes to that specific task (graphic processing) no doubt MAC wins, but not because of the available "memory/power/whatever", but because (as far as I was told from a graphic artist) the resolution that is available from a MAC is by far superb to anything Windows can ever give you. Also, thanks to the technology used in their LCDs, the colours are rich, vibrant and true.

Don't make it sound like you can't get a windows machine with 64GB + of RAM or 2 Quad-Core processors.

It will still fail. It's not the hardware mainly , but the memory management in Mac compared to windows. And MS dare not use the same management with the way Steve Jobs does move. Still, no right click no care tho.

[nareshseep]

agreed the colours on a mac look very realistic, and take for example the mac vs windows memory requirement, windows always need the double the amt of ram for a programm to run.

If you can get pass that, both are the same, hell yeah you can install osx on a dell inspiron 1520 which has the same specs as the mac book pro, and will give you the same level of functionality. ie if you can get the video and sound driver to install.

http://www.ihackintosh.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/DellInspiron1525OSX_thumb.jpg
http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index. ... ode=linear

Hackintosh ftw!!

[EFFECTIC DESIGNS]

oh thought that was u...my bagsss!

erm,

simple ima Artist and i need alota memory/power/whatever to render graphics, Photoshop images like 0ver 2gigs at times, and pc's all fail at rendering graphics..all.....ways...then again i used MAC most of my computer life and MAcs are so user friendly. PC's jus seem so ancient, lol, seriously i cant stand em. If u have to do word processing, use fb go buy a dell or some other crap, if u dealing with big graphic file, animation etc, buy a mac....thank me later, will save u alota headache/time/money. '

Tried and proven!

First things first people need to stop spreading lies.

Real companies in hollywood who do real 3D work etc do not use MAC. This is an old myth that MAC is used for design this is simply a big big lie.

PC is used to do REAL graphic design. MAC is a child's toy compared to PC in the real world.

When rendering some of my projects I sometimes have to pay for rendering services where they use something called a Render Farm. With multiple PC combined using Intel Xeon CPU with a combined speed of over 2 Tera-hertz.

I currently also use a RIG at Firstchoice Main Branch where we have a Intel Core i7 Extreme Rig Over clocked to 5GHZ in order to render small work. Where this rig would take a couple days to render something, A mac in comparison would actually take a month.

When real companies do real Photoshop work to work on images for billboards massive 20 foot banners they use Computers with 12GB RAM and above along with quad core PC. A MAC cannot do real large scale photoshop work because it lacks proper updated hardware.

MAC still uses 5 year old outdated intel core 2 duo. Commercial PC are rocking out 6 core right now. And if you have a server mainboard you can purchase 8 core AMD opteron at very cheap prices.

And most importantly, there is NO 3DS Studio Support for MAC.

Autodesk 3DS MAX is considered the industry standard for videogame design.

Every professional who owns real design company and does real design work all use PC simply because a MAC is garbage when you are dealing with real work.

With that said I do like the beauty in leopard OSX. Its a very fine OS in terms of design but in noway is a MAC superior to PC when it comes to real industry standards. It is indeed vastly inferior. People who use mac for design usually do simple graphic design on a small scale

[EFFECTIC DESIGNS]

And one last note, a MAC is indeed a PC if you look closely.

It uses Nvidia 9400 video card, intel CPU and a number of other PC part.

The only difference it is a very old and outdated overpriced PC.

Ever tried using MAYA 3D on a MAC and opening a full size project? It works like a 1985 ms dos computer trying to run Crysis. Where a PC with a 6 core CPU will open a save file in 2 minutes. A MAC would take 48 hours. And by that time its poor 2GB ram is filled because you need about 12GB depending on the size of the project.

About 90% of Apple's profit comes from their Iphones and Ipods.

This is where apple excel. They have recently ported Doom 3 and Resident Evil 4 for the Iphone and Itouch. I will give Apple win in the hand held market, Nintendo recently stated the threat of the future is Apple and no longer Sony and they are quite correct on that.

However it is rumored the next gen PSP will feature a 4 core CELL processor and will have graphics almost identical to PS3. But I do believe apple is the biggest threat to nintendo simply because they have the best support and sony lacks good games on their hand held. Its only recently the PS3 have started to beat the 360 because of games like uncharted 1 and 2 and god of war 3 etc.

Long story short, at the end of the day its not just hardware its also software that would be the deciding factor for consumers. Apple MAC is neither of the 2. They suck in computers however they almost own the hand held market with the exception of Nintendo they rank the top.

PS: There is something called hackintosh where you can install MAC OSX leopard snow on a lot of PC out there. And the performance is light years ahead of a original MAC.

[Sky]

^^ All that doesn't change the fact that ram in windows is like ice blocks in a glass while ram in a mac is like water in a glass.

[Lich King]

While you guys are rolling in cash and your biggest problem is whether to spend money on mac or pc, the little guys in Africa have to eat the flesh of their parents while gathering minerals to build all these tech gadgets. If you think I'm pulling that out of my ass here is a reliable source.

I frown upon Steve Jobs more because he makes like 2000% profit on each device he sells and yet Bill Gates is the one donating and doing more charity work. Steve Jobs is a poser, a snobby sob like the market his products cater for.

So if you can't decide what fanboy team you want to be on it does not really matter, you're still killing innocent children in another country.

[rodfarva]

While you guys are rolling in cash and your biggest problem is whether to spend money on mac or pc, the little guys in Africa have to eat the flesh of their parents while gathering minerals to build all these tech gadgets. If you think I'm pulling that out of my ass here is a reliable source.

I frown upon Steve Jobs more because he makes like 2000% profit on each device he sells and yet Bill Gates is the one donating and doing more charity work. Steve Jobs is a poser, a snobby sob like the market his products cater for.

So if you can't decide what fanboy team you want to be on it does not really matter, you're still killing innocent children in another country.

interesting read. (the pcworld article. not your interpretation of it.)
had no idea.

[EFFECTIC DESIGNS]

There is a movie called Blood Diamond its similar to this situation here. This is why I do not buy or support the purchasing of diamonds in any form.

We do not need diamonds that is a worthless thing. But we do need electronics (Especially for business purposes) and vehicles for transportation so I guess some things in life cannot be avoided.

What is most amazing is Apple makes the most profit of any company on a single item sold. 2000% to be exact yet gives nothing back to society.

Bill Gates donates half of his fortune to charity in India and other poor countries.

But hey even if Steve Jobs is a greedy snob which he is no doubt, its his choice as its his money.
But there is someone worst than Steve Jobs though, Chairman of Nike I think that man beat back Jobs.

[eurotuner]

oh thought that was u...my bagsss!

erm,

simple ima Artist and i need alota memory/power/whatever to render graphics, Photoshop images like 0ver 2gigs at times, and pc's all fail at rendering graphics..all.....ways...then again i used MAC most of my computer life and MAcs are so user friendly. PC's jus seem so ancient, lol, seriously i cant stand em. If u have to do word processing, use fb go buy a dell or some other crap, if u dealing with big graphic file, animation etc, buy a mac....thank me later, will save u alota headache/time/money. '

Tried and proven!

First things first people need to stop spreading lies.

Real companies in hollywood who do real 3D work etc do not use MAC. This is an old myth that MAC is used for design this is simply a big big lie.

PC is used to do REAL graphic design. MAC is a child's toy compared to PC in the real world.

When rendering some of my projects I sometimes have to pay for rendering services where they use something called a Render Farm. With multiple PC combined using Intel Xeon CPU with a combined speed of over 2 Tera-hertz.

I currently also use a RIG at Firstchoice Main Branch where we have a Intel Core i7 Extreme Rig Over clocked to 5GHZ in order to render small work. Where this rig would take a couple days to render something, A mac in comparison would actually take a month.

[b]When real companies do real Photoshop work to work on images for billboards massive 20 foot banners they use Computers with 12GB RAM and above along with quad core PC. A MAC cannot do real large scale photoshop work because it lacks proper updated hardware.

MAC still uses 5 year old outdated intel core 2 duo. Commercial PC are rocking out 6 core right now. And if you have a server mainboard you can purchase 8 core AMD opteron at very cheap prices.

And most importantly, there is NO 3DS Studio Support for MAC.

Autodesk 3DS MAX is considered the industry standard for videogame design.

Every professional who owns real design company and does real design work all use PC simply because a MAC is garbage when you are dealing with real work.

With that said I do like the beauty in leopard OSX. Its a very fine OS in terms of design but in noway is a MAC superior to PC when it comes to real industry standards. It is indeed vastly inferior. People who use mac for design usually do simple graphic design on a small scale[/b]

oh ok i here ya, but i personally did not tell any lies, i talk from experience and my mac has 6G RAM(terabyte drive for storage) and i dont have a prob, really. There are clever ways to work with graphics if u are experienced.

No real experience G. Artist works in full size on a massive scale, work is always done have size or less, the sign companies always advise this! Because i have had an experience( carnival time to be exact) were i brought in work to the company and they tried to open it up on their SUPER PC(LOL) and the thing froze like a block of ice! Had to go and scale it down and bring the DPI to 100(which is minimum for large signage)

Im not a technical Guru with Computers but i've learned through trial and error
and PC........FAILED! Terribly!

Plus i dont know any real G. Artist that works in any Agency/Event Company/whatever that uses PC or similar.

If i went in Mccann/Lonsdale/ROSS(bigup spectre lol) a morning and say i use a PC.....i will get laught at, at the face!! But thats jus me and my experience yours seem to be different

[EFFECTIC DESIGNS]

What I do like about MAC is their laptops are nice, their desktop are super tiny. Their OS is really amazing when it comes to looks and speed. Animations are amazing, everything about it is just awesome.

But sadly that does not change the fact they use inferior hardware, for example when companies create 3D design for movies and games they use workstation with Nvidia Quadro cards that cost up to $2000 US for the card alone. Along with server mainboards running 2 AMD 12 core Opteron
thats a total of 24 cores. Hence making rendering times much faster. Where a mac would take 5 days to render one project in Maya 3D, a 24 core AMD opteron PC would take a few hours.

I like mac and have nothing against it I think their lithium polymer battery is thin and powerful compared to most other laptops lithium ion.

But at the end of the day you cannot say MAC is better because it is indeed vastly inferior to a PC
Just cause something costs more does not always mean it performs better. And many people on this site could tell you a highly turbo charged supra could beat a stock lambo for a fraction of the price.

PS: while I like mac osx the most, it simply cannot touch Linux with compiz fusion which BTW is FREE. Not to mention it has Blender 3D design software which is also FREE and can do amazing work almost hollywood standards. Not to mention GIMP which does over 90% of what photoshop can do and its FREE. And the 10 % or so which it does not support is actually insignificant.

If you are concerned with viruses then Linux has the least amount of viruses and its free.
Also most Servers around the world runs linux server os which btw is superior, MAC is used the least.

Again I have nothing against Apple but facts are facts. MAC is simply not a professional device simple as that.

[TK!]

next, we should have an Islam vs Christianity unbiased review

[DJ Q]

In a typical user environment, it all boils down to personal preference... which was the whole point of my review.

ANY computing device can crash
ANY computing device can freeze
ANY computing device can perform

But not every computer can do what the other does... I need my PC to be a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) and the software that I'm most comfortable with, is only available for Windows.

Before the fanboys rush in... GarageBand is for MIDI.

If you want a Mac... go buy a Mac.
Want a PC... guess what? Go get one.

Neither is "superior" to the other in a typical user environment.

Hope I educated someone, somewhere...

[Strauss]

You don't need to emulate.
Just download the Cider ports.

All the latest (good) PC games are available for mac

[DJ Q]

^I googled Cider... seems interesting.

Thanks for the input