I May Yet Be Converted
My boyfriend received his brand spanking new MacBook Pro last night and I have to say that is one sexy looking/feeling machine. It's slim for the power that the machine holds and much more lightweight than I expected. And the smile that crept across his face as he opened the box is priceless.
I tell you all this because I may have been slightly impressed by the laptop. OK, probably more than slightly. I know look and feel aren't everything, but they definitely account for something. As far as performance, we haven't had much time yet to start playing around with it, so I don't have much to speak of there yet.
My boyfriend, being the MacMan that he is, and I, being the anti-Apple guy that I can be, don't always see eye-to-eye when it comes to tech. It usually falls to the same tired arguments: Apple is too expensive and doesn't afford enough customization and I can't play my games vs. Windows is sloppy, slow and unorganized, and everything Apple "just works." But there's something interesting about this new round of MacBook's, specifically the Pro line, that has me quite intrigued: the graphics processor. The new laptops have a solid, reliable and pretty darned good discrete graphics processor, which means many things, but most importantly improved gaming performance.
We plan on installing Vista using Boot Camp on the laptop as soon as I can pry it away from the boyfriend, if for no other reason than so I can try out a few games on it. If the system performs as expected... well, I might just consider getting my own MacBook Pro. I've been looking for a new laptop as well, and one of the key things I require is that it is adequate for gaming. Not excellent, I'm not looking for a gaming specific laptop, but if I can run WoW and WAR, I'd be happy.
So we'll see. I may yet be converted. If the MacBook Pro can play some of the games I want at a quality level and I can get over the fact that I'd be toting around a yuppie machine, I might just consider it. Of course, the next hurdle will be finding enough people to sell my body to to raise the additional $1000 or so, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.
Jesse James
Posted to On Your Desk on 14 November 2008
· Comments (7)
Other stuff like this: MacBook Pro
3D iPhone glasses. Why?
I think you can probably hold off buying one since he already has one. But man do they make me drool.
This is actually universally true for every single Mac Product ever: Wait. For. The. Second. Generation.
If you can wait longer- wait for the third generation. The first always has kinks, things to work out. Trust me, you won't regret it.
Now, I myself hardly consider Macs to be "Yuppie" machines. They are the machines of artists, thank you very much, and we artists are hardly yuppies.
No! Don't drink the Kool-Aid!
I'm a first time Mac owner (just got myself a macbook pro) and I can say it's the best computer I've ever own. Of course I was upgrading from my dinosaur P4 laptop but still.
I've installed XP since I do a lot of program that I need Microsoft Visual Studio before and it runs great (not even using 64-bit) though I will say it does run a little warmer than I expected though this is universally true anytime you're using the second graphics card.
The multi-touch pad is by far the best feature. I don't know how I lived without it.
As far as the waiting for the second generation goes, I want to point out that this is hardly a first generation machine and if anything is less of a change from previous models as they've done previously.
Drink the Kool-Aid!
Honestly, I was a die-hard PC user at home (need to play my games, don't you know) and a Mac user at work (graphic design)... Once Apple released Boot Camp, I was sold. I have two awesome machines that just work, transfer all of my important stuff between them using MobileMe (which is great under OS X, not so much for Windows), and I can still play all of my games, albeit with a reboot. (Granted, don't try and play games on the MacBook. Only the MacBook Pro can handle the demands.) But the reboot is hardly an issue for me... done working, reboot and play away!
As for customization, the Mac Pros are your only Apple choice. You may not get the variety that you can with a PC, but I've upgraded the memory, storage, and video card in my Mac Pro, all with resounding success (and way more easily than in my self-built Athlon 64 XP). Apple's case design is second to none.
Welcome to the Sexy!
I've been using my MacBook Pro as my primary gaming machine for almost a year now, with no regrets. I've had no problems running WAR in Boot Camp and WOW runs natively as a Mac app (thank you Blizzard!) I've even played Team Fortress via Steam.
Hello, well I'm a total Windows fanboy :), but there is no reason to deny yourself of something you truly want.
At the end of the day both systems bring something to the table. If I had money I would invest in a Mac (I want to give it a second chance), not sure about the laptops since they have shorter lifespans than desktops, but I agree 100% they are slick machines.
Give it a chance, you might like it :).