Should I get a mac?

[donaldj]

Hello,

I love my iPod (Nano 1G). I've been spending a lot of time on the Apple website looking at the various iPods. Because of this, I've noticed the Mac computers... I've always thought they were made for the computer challenged people among us, but they seem pretty functional for your average student. My budget is Max $1500 CAD... Should I (being a student) purchase a Mac for school work, and entertainment, and my PC (With vista... urg) for other stuff? If I should get a mac, what kind (Im leaning towards a Mac Mini, or Macbook, cause I can carry those to and from school).

Thanks,
Donald J

 

[saladfork]

No, MACs are generally used as workstations for professionals in areas such as 3d design and movie making. It's really just personal preference, MACs have their own bit of goodness as do PCs.

My oppionion.. dont get a Mac Mini, they arent that awesome or useful, macbook pros on the otherhand... are beautiful... and with one you can run bootcamp so that you can have windows and OSX on the same box. Just have to make sure you get one with an intel processor, but I think pretty much all the macbooks do.

 

[macdude425]

My oppionion.. dont get a Mac Mini, they arent that awesome or useful

As an owner of a Core Solo Mini, I can say that is 100% bollocks. Granted, it runs a bit slow on 512MB RAM because of shared video RAM, but if you have them bump the harddrive and RAM (or do it yourself) it runs just fine. If you're the type that is willing to take it apart, ALL of the Intel Minis will take Core 2 processors.

 

[Ronnie]

get a macbook pro they are the ****

 

[Vormund]

Macs work fine for school, jus' don't expect to play most games on it, at least, without a bit of hassle. Other then that, yeah, it's all preference. Are you a pretty white boy? (Kidding...) I just always despised Macs for all of their ugly dirt-attracting white casing, though I (think) there are alternatives now...

 

[TheDiceman]

I work with and on Macs for a living and here is what i have to say about the current product line.
Mini: Useless, outdated, waste of money.
iMac: great general use computer, nice space saver, a little pricey for performance (but what Mac isn't?)
MacBook: Reasonable price, nice lookin unit, functions reasonably especially for a student. However, has a high rate of battery failure issues and does not stand up well to the test of time.
MacBook Pro: As long as you are dealing with the current generation they are great laptops (still too expensive in my opinion though). The original Core Duo models suffered from a multitude of random shutdown problems and crappy battery life.

The only thing I really like about Macs is the OS, it works beautifully. But the price of the hardware hardly justifies the OS.

 

[Invisible]

if you plan on gaming i'd suggest building one with xp or vista
but for purely schoolwork a macbook pro would be best

 

[macdude425]

Mini: Useless, outdated, waste of money.

Wow. Just wow. You can upgrade the harddrive, the RAM, and the processor, and it's a waste of money? You can't even expand the Macbook THAT far.

Since when is an incredibly expandable computer a waste of money? Especially if you pick up a refurb or older model Intel.

 

[murdocsvan]

Wow. Just wow. You can upgrade the harddrive, the RAM, and the processor, and it's a waste of money? You can't even expand the Macbook THAT far.

Since when is an incredibly expandable computer a waste of money? Especially if you pick up a refurb or older model Intel.

sorry, but i can hardly see a totally unbiased account of which is better coming from someone called 'macdude'

 

[macdude425]

It's common sense. Nothing more, nothing less. In a line of Apple products that are often upgrade-hobbled (look at the Macbook - getting to the HD in some models is near impossible and the processor is soldered to the board), a cheap Apple machine that holds this much potential is a good thing. Not until you get to the Mac Pro line will you find a desktop this potentially expandable. Now granted, you'd better be pretty handy with a butter knife to take apart a Mac Mini, but I'm sure most of the members here are up to that challenge.

And if you can't see that, I feel so sorry for you...

EDIT: One more thing.

sorry, but i can hardly see a totally unbiased account of which is better coming from someone called 'macdude'

Go ahead and attack me - I'm an Apple fan. So are some of these people. So you might as well attack them all. And while you're at it, go laugh at the people in the Linux section. And a few in the Windows section, too.