macbook?

[RyanLilly]

May we - Please! - get back to the OP's original question?

She said clearly, " ... the school suggests a Macbook Pro. ..."

So, here's my recommendation, lisa 13: Shop the Apple Store online. Look for either refurbished or student discounts, and try to get a Pro.

Do NOT, however, load it up with RAM from Apple. They ARE very expensive. You can buy RAM from other vendors for much, much less and install it yourself.

(Yeah, it really is THAT easy! I installed a new HD and upgraded both RAM cards in my Macbook in exactly six an a half minutes! If you really don't want to do it yourself, just take it to school with you. I'm sure, since the school recommends Macs, that there are tons of Mac nerds around who'll be more than happy to do it for you. Ask the Mac tech person in the department for a recommendation.)

I've had very good luck with Apple refurbs. I'm using one now.

Whatever Mac you get, I'm sure you'll be happy.

Yes, sorry. Plus students get a free iPod Touch when they buy a mac! :mrgreen:

 

[ANDS!]

She said clearly, " ... the school suggests a Macbook Pro. ..."

Suggests and requires are two different things. The opinions here are reflective of that and hopefully helpful for the OP in realizing her options are as limited as they seem, as they aren't.

The only reason I could see to follow the schools "recommendation" is so that the OP isn't ostracized by her choice of hardware.

 

[ir0n_ma1den]

I like the look of OS X, but I think if you want to spend $2000 on a WAY over priced laptop then you can easily purchase a top-of-the-line PC notebook with 4gb of ram, an amazing CPU, large HDD (you'll need it), and a top of the line GPU. Not to mention the screen size and quality would probably be much better.

Also, if you need to run a program that is 'mac only', there is a great forum that is dedicated to running Windows and OS X side-by-side... just google x86 mac or something like that. I have it working on my PC, so whenever I need to run a mac only program I just boot up OSX, simple as that.

Just remember this, all computers are virtually the same since all computers can get viruses/hardware failure/etc. No computer is impervious to this so far.

If you really like the aesthetics of a mac (like I do) you can easily change the theme/icon/everything to look and (almost) behave exactly like a mac.

 

[Dweller]

Suggests and requires are two different things.

The reason I mentioned it in the first place is people often are not aware of what that Apple logo is costing them. I took a look at Dell and using the Macbook Pro refurb cost of $1299 as a price point I came up with this:


Alpine White
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T8300 (2.4GHz/800Mhz FSB/3MB cache)
Genuine Windows Vista® SP1 Home Basic Edition
4GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 667MHz
High Resolution, glossy widescreen 15.4 inch display (1680x1050)
Size: 320GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
CD / DVD Writer (DVD+/-RW Drive)
Dell Wireless 1395 802.11g Mini-Card
56Whr Lithium Ion Battery (6 cell)

Everything in bold is an improvement over the Macbook, and is all NEW compared to refurbished and comes in $20 cheaper. Comparing new to new, I am not sure this model could even REACH $2000. Some of these upgrades would come highly recommended, like RAM and drive space. I am sure you could go to HP and get comparable results.

If it were my money, I would cap it at 2GB of RAM and a 250GB drive and pocket the difference. ($160 give or take)

For the record I own both PC and Mac, I just hate to see someone get steered into purchasing a Mac (at a significant premium) when they don't even know for sure that is what they want.

 

[Village Idiot]

While I can't comment on Final Cut, I can tell you that ProTools is the de facto standard for music production and it works on both Windows and Mac.

It used to be. Not so much any more. It's still the most popular one out there as it was one of the first programs that incorporated everything so you could have an easily set up DAW. People are learning that there's other options that can be had for much cheaper. I went with MOTU and Logic as Logic is a great recording program with a very powerful MIDI sequencer and the MOTU device I use can be chained with other MOTU products for as many products as you need more inputs. I think Pro Tools' down fall is that once you start looking for device with over 8 or 10 simultaneous inputs, the price goes up exponentially.

Not all pro studios have $100,000+ to spend on all their equipment right off the bat.

 

[reg]

Ok, uh, if it's still the most popular one out there, but NOT the standard, what does that make it?

Either way it's still the go to for anybody seriously in the music business (I'm talking about MAJOR record labels here).

But this thread's gone to hell and back anyway and who uses ProTools is about as relevant to this forum as "Dancing With the Stars".

 

[Village Idiot]

The reason I mentioned it in the first place is people often are not aware of what that Apple logo is costing them. I took a look at Dell and using the Macbook Pro refurb cost of $1299 as a price point I came up with this:


Alpine White
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T8300 (2.4GHz/800Mhz FSB/3MB cache)
Genuine Windows Vista® SP1 Home Basic Edition
4GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 667MHz
High Resolution, glossy widescreen 15.4 inch display (1680x1050)
Size: 320GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
CD / DVD Writer (DVD+/-RW Drive)
Dell Wireless 1395 802.11g Mini-Card
56Whr Lithium Ion Battery (6 cell)

Everything in bold is an improvement over the Macbook, and is all NEW compared to refurbished and comes in $20 cheaper. Comparing new to new, I am not sure this model could even REACH $2000. Some of these upgrades would come highly recommended, like RAM and drive space. I am sure you could go to HP and get comparable results.

If it were my money, I would cap it at 2GB of RAM and a 250GB drive and pocket the difference. ($160 give or take)

For the record I own both PC and Mac, I just hate to see someone get steered into purchasing a Mac (at a significant premium) when they don't even know for sure that is what they want.

Which then any Apple enthusiast will argue that you don't have Blue Tooth, an accelerometer, light up key pad, light sensing for auto brightness, metal casing, etc... etc... They're all amenities, don't get me wrong, but a lot of the "win boxes" notebooks feel cheaply built. That's a toss up though. I've had two keyboards on my MBP and I still have keys that aren't straight. But for the third or fourth time. Any computer is apt to having problems, it's all about personal preference....and here's a new one...brand loyalty.

 

[Village Idiot]

Ok, uh, if it's still the most popular one out there, but NOT the standard, what does that make it?

Either way it's still the go to for anybody seriously in the music business (I'm talking about MAJOR record labels here).

But this thread's gone to hell and back anyway and who uses ProTools is about as relevant to this forum as "Dancing With the Stars".

Well, I should have said not so much. True, it's still the standard, but as above, more people are learning that there's different approaches.

Just like Apple is the standard for graphic design work. That's because their PPC processors were much better at vectoring, iirc. That was in the late 80's and early 90's. Just pointing that out...

 

[Rhys]

My Macbook has given me zero problems in the 3 months I've owned it. In the 4 years my wife has had her XP laptop, I have had to rescue the data twice, reformat and reinstall once, perform many fixes for blue screens and so on. It's been at least one problem each week, including the times it lost its user account!

My own XP laptop has been reformatted once due to a driver issue that Compaq couldn't resolve. It's heading toward another reformatting because it has slowed down terribly.

Our XP desktop has slowed down terribly too, despite more ram having been added.

As a former computer technician you can see why I went for a Macbook. I just got so fed up with Windows problems that I wanted a change. Heck, my Compaq is still a decent laptop and now that I have my Macbook for photo editing I might well put Linux on my Compaq and use that for playing around and so on.

 

[reg]

My Macbook has given me zero problems in the 3 months I've owned it. In the 4 years my wife has had her XP laptop, I have had to rescue the data twice, reformat and reinstall once, perform many fixes for blue screens and so on.

None of this can be user error, right? Because, after all, she has to have the same computer expertise as you. I'm typing this from a Compaq laptop and I haven't had ONE major issue in 2 years.

 

[Dweller]

I did not intend to drag this thread down into yet another "my mac is better because" thread but seriously. Once a week? Many bluscreens? You running the same XP as everyone else? You're comparing 3 months of use to 4 years? seriously?

I have been running XP since the day it shipped (I too am a technician) and can count on my fingers the number of bluescreen issues I have seen in XP on multiple machines.

 

[lisa_13]

May we - Please! - get back to the OP's original question?

She said clearly, " ... the school suggests a Macbook Pro. ..."

So, here's my recommendation, lisa 13: Shop the Apple Store online. Look for either refurbished or student discounts, and try to get a Pro.

Do NOT, however, load it up with RAM from Apple. They ARE very expensive. You can buy RAM from other vendors for much, much less and install it yourself.

(Yeah, it really is THAT easy! I installed a new HD and upgraded both RAM cards in my Macbook in exactly six an a half minutes! If you really don't want to do it yourself, just take it to school with you. I'm sure, since the school recommends Macs, that there are tons of Mac nerds around who'll be more than happy to do it for you. Ask the Mac tech person in the department for a recommendation.)

I've had very good luck with Apple refurbs. I'm using one now.

Whatever Mac you get, I'm sure you'll be happy.

thank you! i ended up ordering the macbook pro today with a $200 student discount, and $200 off the software i need...and a free ipod touch! hahah
thanks for everyones input

 

[asfixiate]

Congratulations. Don't forget your questions were answered in the beginning of your thread.

My motto if I can keep to it is buy what I can afford without selling a kidney. This keeps me from having to upgrade again as soon as if I bought the cheaper alternative.

 

[StillImage]

I did not read all the posts but I would buy the Mac Book Pro, not going to get into a big discussion about PC/Mac either. Mac Book pros are just the best laptop with the best OS for photography bar none. They run flawlessly, the OS just smokes all the others, there is no lag times, no crashes, no issues at all. I have 2 Mac Book Pros since there launch I have not used anything else, I have tried a regular mac book ( good just the extra graphic power from a the pro is worth the cost) and I own a HP Laptop that was a gift from a client, top of the line, nice laptop but as far as using it for work it just does not compare.

If a Windows laptop was put on the Market that was on Par with a Mac Book Pro I would consider it, there isn't. The reason it is recommended it because it is the best for this type of work. No professional well paid photographer I know and I know many use anything but Mac Book Pros and other Mac computers, G5, iMac. We all use them for a reason, we are not "Fanboys" we are professionals who make a living and very good ones and know what is best. You think if I could buy a PC computer at less that performed as well I wouldn't? I upgrade on average 12-18 months and I keep an eye on what is out, what is current and most of all what is the best. So it is for a reason your told to get one, ask any top professional what they use and why and 9.9 times out of 10 they use Macs (Probably higher, I don't know one other photographer who doesn't own a a Macbook Pro). I don't know any portrait or wedding photographers so in that area I could be wrong, but those of us who do corporate, fine art, fashion all use Macs because they may cost more, but they are the best for what we do. Nothing to do with marketing, being a "fanboy" it is about using what is the best, the rest of the discussion is just utter nonsense period.

PS: Great move on getting one, you will be happy you did.

 

[Dweller]

After such an impartial post, I know *I* am convinced. :mrgreen:

the OP bought a Mac so its all moot now anyway, I simply wanted to show how much of a premium you are spending. I would love to see more people with a good bit of experience from BOTH sides chime in more often, but that rarely happens. I guess I should have known it would devolve into a holy war.