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Laptop advice: Should I pick up a Macbook Pro?
Fraz
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Hey folks, I need some advice on my next computer purchase.
First a little setup:
I'm moving across the country. I'm currently using a Netbook as my only computer, and need something a little more powerful.
Here are some of the things I'll need to do with my next computer:
1. Play Valve games and some other PC exclusives like Star Craft 2. I do most of my other gaming on the 360 or DS.
2. Edit videos. The kind of jobs I'm looking for require someone with some basic video editing skills. And I want to make some home movies while I'm traveling around the country.
3. I need something portable. For the next few months I'll be moving a lot. I guess I'm even willing to build a shuttle PC since I already have a monitor I use with my 360.
The Macbook Pro 2.66, 4GB RAM with more video memory can be had new on eBay with Live cashback and free shipping + no tax for about $2k. This is the most I'd be willing to spend.
I have a few questions:
1. Do Macs still hold their value? I might settle down in a year and want to sell it to go back to building a custom gaming PC. I'm hoping it can be sold within a year for most of its original value.
2. How is the gaming performance for the kind of stuff I'll want to play?
3. How good is the screen on the Pros? I was not impressed by the screen quality on my friend's aluminum Macbook.
That's all for now. Thanks!
First a little setup:
I'm moving across the country. I'm currently using a Netbook as my only computer, and need something a little more powerful.
Here are some of the things I'll need to do with my next computer:
1. Play Valve games and some other PC exclusives like Star Craft 2. I do most of my other gaming on the 360 or DS.
2. Edit videos. The kind of jobs I'm looking for require someone with some basic video editing skills. And I want to make some home movies while I'm traveling around the country.
3. I need something portable. For the next few months I'll be moving a lot. I guess I'm even willing to build a shuttle PC since I already have a monitor I use with my 360.
The Macbook Pro 2.66, 4GB RAM with more video memory can be had new on eBay with Live cashback and free shipping + no tax for about $2k. This is the most I'd be willing to spend.
I have a few questions:
1. Do Macs still hold their value? I might settle down in a year and want to sell it to go back to building a custom gaming PC. I'm hoping it can be sold within a year for most of its original value.
2. How is the gaming performance for the kind of stuff I'll want to play?
3. How good is the screen on the Pros? I was not impressed by the screen quality on my friend's aluminum Macbook.
That's all for now. Thanks!
Fraz on
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Also what kind of video card does the macbook have?
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
1) If you buy them new, no, not really... they cycle the laptops pretty quickly right now, in 6 months, it will depreciate pretty sharply. Buying them used though is not as harsh. But you won't get "most" of its value. That's just silly.
2) Reasonable, depends on what card is in it. I don't remember what that generation has. You probably won't be running Crysis, but you can play TF2 decently.
3) There are a lot of screen variations on that line of MBP's... the one I think you are looking at has a "regular" screen, and then the uber screen, and then the uber screen with the LED backlight. The one with the backlight is bright, sharp... The one thing I am surprised about the MBP's is that their color range is pretty lame. My Dell Inspiron has a way larger color pallet than my friends 4k MBP. I've seen noticeable color display problems on his, especially with gradients, etc, where it simply can't show the intermediate colors. It seems with the MBP you really trade resolution/sharpness for color.
Look. If you want to spend 2k on a laptop, just go to outlet.dell.com and get something fully loaded or near fully loaded from the current generation.
We're having this discussion in the Apple thread right now... unless there is something specific about the MBP you want such as relative portability/lightweightness and the OS and its accompanying platform specific software, then you are just throwing your money away.
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
It's a little beat up but it will serve you very well and you can't beat the price. The lid isn't even warped (95% of the powerbook style MBPs had warped lids)
You missed the part where he wants to play games on it.
Heh.
Normally I would recommend this, but I don't think you can edit movies very well on a netbook while traveling.
Check out these Asus notebooks before you buy the Macbook - http://promotions.newegg.com/ASUS/050509/index.html?cm_sp=Subcat_Laptops-Notebooks-_-Asus050509-_-http%3a%2f%2fpromotions.newegg.com%2fASUS%2f050509%2f478x88.jpg
I especially like the ASUS N51Vf-X1 for only $1049.99
CPU Type Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 2.4G
Screen 15.6"
Memory Size 4GB
Hard Disk 320GB
Optical Drive DVD Super Multi
Graphics Card NVIDIA GeForce GT 130M
Video Memory 1024MB
Dimensions 14.76" x 11.04" x 1.16-1.72"
Weight 6.49 lbs.
$2000 for a PC laptop will get you something with a real video card in the 9800 series, which will last much longer before being no good for games. A 8600 is great if you're playing old stuff (I know, as my 9600 does fine in TF2 or WoW) and it'll probably even do SC2 given blizzards coding style... but there are already plenty of games out that are out of the 8600/9600s class.
If OS X and it's bundled software is something you want, then I'd go that route. It will have an advantage in giving you the option for both OS X and windows compatibility if it's a concern for employment.
Fraz can I interest you in a sleek black device that can not only play games that look better than those on your 360 but can also play Blu-Ray movies for the low, low price of $600? :winky:
640gig HD
ATI 4770 video card
4 gig's of RAM
Intel E5200 CPU
Blu-Ray drive
Total = $594.94
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
If only we had some kind of Bootcamp that could let us run Windows and all it's applications perfectly on a Mac.
Why pay the extra $100 for Windows, when you can buy a comparable Windows laptop thats already 50% of the cost of a Macbook?
If you're spending the money on a Macbook, chances are blowing another $100 for windows isn't too bad.
Also, you can very easily FINANCE your Macbook Pro and pay in easy monthly installments, which basically will not hurt your wallet at all.
Do you read threads Obs or do you just read thread titles?
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
The operating system wasn't even an issue. The Macbook Pro comes with a video card I bought in my laptop one year ago for half the goddamn price. It will be able to run some games that have been around for a while but there is no way it is going to run anything from the future very well.
I don't mean to sound harsh here, but you're talking out of your ass. The 15" MBPs have precisely one screen option. It's LED backlit and, although it doesn't have the best color gamut of all laptops on the market, it is quite good - particularly compared to most Dells. It also has very even backlighting and (by laptop standards) a fairly wide viewing angle.
One thing I will say, though: if OP's basic video editing includes any sort of color correction work "in the field", he should stay away from glossy screens in general.
Lord almighty you can't talk your eyes off Obs even for a moment. Financing anything it a really bad idea. You wind up paying more in the long run than you would have just waiting & saving to buy the damn thing or not buying it at all.
Obs is basically saying, "Normal people don't care about costs plus accumulated interest, so long as the payments are small. Even if you're making them for the rest of your life and beyond."
Though, from what I understand, Mac has a number of other discounts (for students). Of course, this requires you purchase new, from them. And this exists for other laptop manufacturers as well.
Oh, then I'm talking about the 17 inch line from maybe 2 or 3 cycles ago.
I like how talking out of my ass equates to 2 inches of screen size.
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
I've felt a little let down, honestly, with the hardware. Next time out I may Hackintosh to get the OS I like on the hardware I like.
Essentially my question is, what are the major drawbacks of the Air and are there any significant problems that would impede me from doing the simplest of tasks? I don't want to play games on it but I'd like Flash and internet media to run well with virtually no problems. Thanks.
This is the other much less expensive option that I'm leaning toward right now.
A modestly equipped shuttle that can run osx and Windows.
Of course I can't really afford either of these options.
You can put together a pretty decent gaming PC for under $400 if you already have a monitor and Windows (or download Windows 7 RC). Sure you won't be able to run Crysis on max settings with a 24" monitor, but you'll probably save yourself a seizure.
For example - http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=15487467
Take out the monitor and Windows Vista, and it's well under $400.
NP, you can spend all day on Newegg putting together systems.
Personally, I'm deciding on this or an Asus Eee PC 1000HE Netbook. My desktop is pretty damn old, but can still play most new games on low-medium settings; it most likely will be obsolete in a few years, but I really want a Netbook dammit.
Well, you should really get a better power supply than the one that comes in that case.
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
The 400watts PSU should be enough to run the system, but on second thought upon reading the reviews, it looks like the PSU is sort of hit or miss. You can pick up a decent PSU for under $50 anyway (and after rebates, the system will still come under $400!), if the one it comes with doesn't work out.
I really like that Micro case design though.
Yeah, I meant quality not Watts. PSUs that come with cases are notorious for being terrible.
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
The main problem for the Air is that you can get the macbook which is still pretty compact in comparison and does the same features for like $4-500 less. And you get a DVD drive! Seriously avoid the Air its a waste even for Apple fanatics.
Definitely don't buy that thing. Look at the corner where the power supply plugs in, it's pretty wrecked, and even worse is the disc-slot. It's bent. I'm not sure you could still fit a disc in there. That's not an uncommon thing to happen to the last gen MBP and PB design. Any decent pressure or weight on that edge will cause the top lip of the slot to bend. That's why the 17in models had a completely plastic slot opening. It can be bent back, but why bother for a 1.5k computer? God knows what else is wrong with the thing. Save up another $500-600 and get a brand new unibody that will last you and retain more value if you decide to sell it later. If you don't care about OS X, get a PC like others have stated. The video cards are always outdated in Macs.