review of my macboook over a 6 month period

A

amdownzintel

Limp Gawd
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Oct 24, 2004
Messages
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So I've had my macbook now for just about 6 months and here is my quick little review of it and I'll probably be jumping around a little bit so sorry for that. For a little background information I have never used a mac and have been a PC user all my life started with windows 98. So not tons of history, but still enough to give my 2 cents on the interwebs. Also this is my 4th computer, I have 2 other home desktops + 2 laptops, one windows Vista, the other is my macbook.

My first impressions of the notebook I was totally excited, I loved the quality of the laptop, liked the great LCD screen has a very nice picture to it, loved the casing, the keys you name it I loved it. The operating system was new, thus interesting and fun to learn. Was loving expose, the multi touch system was great, very responsive and still have never had a problem with it ever not working.

So now that 6 months have gone by a lot of that joy has died. Just now a lot of the little things bother me. So I've had to reinstall OSX on my macbook and one thing that I noticed when you get it back and running when you hit the "+" sign on the left hand corner or say the expand button it doesn't actually expand across the whole screen. It usually just goes up and down fully, but doesn't stretch across left and right of the screen. Thus you then have to grab it and expand it yourself and then it will go ahead and do it from then on, again very little but seemed really dumb to me on why this is happening.

Also a standard USB mouse feels so shitty on a mac. I don't even plug mine in anymore because it just feel weird. I'm not sure how to explain it, but it just doesn't feel normal.

The main issue that I have my macbook isn't the fact that it sucks or isn't fast enough its just that I don't see or get what makes it so great. I still use my mac, I overall still like it, but I hear so much bashing on windows and so much love for mac, but so far it seems that they are very much the same. I don't have crashes on my pc's, I don't get virus's I have yet to really have any issue with my computers. I'm a big fan of vista and windows 7 and actually I dislike XP now that windows 7 is out. So many little issues as well that windows XP has that no one really seems to address.

So my question really is what makes macs better than PC's or are they? I have both, I like both honestly. Just I'm not seeing the light on my mac so curious if there are some things that I'm missing. Also one other last note is that 3rd party applications SUCK on a macbook such as firefox and openoffice both of them hesitate to open for a few seconds which does not happen on my windows machines. Infact I dual booted my mac to run vista 64 and my mac seemed to be running faster on the windows side rather than the mac side.

I know this is a lot of hate, but all in all I do like my mac just I'm not going to sit by and ignore its faults like I see many people doing. Also vista 64 can be put on a regular macbook unlike Apple tells you and yes if Microsoft did this geeks would be up in arms yelling at them, but if Apple does it no one cares.

Go Team Go
 
Firefox opens instantly for me (and less than 1 second for the first open) :confused: Everything is silk smooth actually!

As for the + not expanding, this is indeed annoying with OS X. Supposedly it's because... nevermind I won't bother to explain it, I don't exactly remember how other people explained it when I read about it and it still doesn't make sense to me. Something about how it's meant to be a multi-app OS or something. Firefox maximize maximizes properly but some other apps don't (Safari for example).

And same annoyance here with the USB mouse. I have a Razer Deathadder and its tracking is complete shit, even with the Mac Razer drivers installed. The only times I use it is when I'm charging the MBP on my desk. Kind of makes me want to go out and buy an Apple mouse but... no. Upside is that the trackpad is excellent :)

Overall I love my Mac. Those 2 points you made are actually my only two complaints! I'm definitely a convert. I don't think I'll ever be able to buy a PC for myself ever again.

Oh, and lack of games (and the games that are available - a lot I found to not even work on Leopard and require Tiger), but I didn't buy this for gaming (although I will admit, I expected a bit more support (at least in the form of patches to make games run on Leopard and not leave it dead with Tiger))

Battery is also excellent. If I'm indoors (where not much brightness is needed) and just browse the net, it actually lasts 5:30 hours, I was amazed. Outdoors though I have to use full brightness which brings browsing down to about 3:15-4:00 hours but still impressive.
 
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I would count lack of games as a complaint, but I don't because I have a gaming computer and that's not why I bought my macbook.

Also one thing I feel like at times is I feel like a linux user while using my macbook. I don't mean in the 1337 coolness way I mean that at times I feel that I have to find another program that will then open the application I want to open. As in I have to do more work in order to get the thing working. Its only happened a few times and honestly I forgot what the instances were, but it was just a little annoying because I don't have any of those issues on my pc.

Again, yes I do like my macbook, but I'm just so tired of all this windows bashing and hardly any mac bashing when it seems that it does have issues. It does crash and you can get virus's. Personally I feel comfortable using either PC or mac they operate very closely to one another just I would like honest discussion.
 
That + key wasn't designed to be a full-screen maximize. It simply wasn't designed to work like the button in windows.

If you really want it to, you can download a little app to make it function just like the one you are used to. Personally it annoys me that every time I step away from my PC someone has to do the full screen thing with an app.

Learn to use Spaces and arrange all your apps logically that way. But if you want to change the behaviour a quick google will hook you up.

Oh and yeah I have no delay with 3rd party apps, nor do I have mouse issues. I use Vista more than I use my Mac but the mouse seems the same to me. I'm wondering if there is some tweaking you can do on that.
 
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amdownzintel said:
So my question really is what makes macs better than PC's or are they? I have both, I like both honestly.
Click to expand...

Each one has their place. One isn't better than the other, you throw certain tasks that can be accomplished better on one platform or another.
Personally, I would say the majority of recent "switchers" that aren't into creating content won't see 80% of what the Mac platform is capable of. You sound like one of these people, since you are comparing the simple "nuts and bolts" of OSX to Windows. If all your doing is surfing the web, then that is why you don't see a difference.
However, if you produce and edit a podcast, are into high-end digital photography, or mess around with HD video editing.. you would see REAL quick why a Mac is the superior platform in this arena. Also, have a problem with your Mac? Drop it off and have it fixed locally, and quickly. Want to broaden your creative side? Take a class with a creative professional in hundreds of categories available at your local store by appointment. Some people call Mac followers a "cult" I like to think that Apple creates a culture that people who are interested in learning to make creative content can have access to, without the bell curve of some of the Windows apps with no support. I would also say that your everyday tasks, such as web surfing, email, etc.. are "generally safer" on a Mac as well.

If your into gaming or like to be able to chose between 1,000 programs to "twitter" with, then maybe going PC is the better alternative. Also the price point on the PC is way better than the Mac. If you like to "tinker" with your computer, or like to add in components then the PC is the better choice.

What it basically came down to for me was this.. I didn't need 1,000 choices for twitter apps. You can only use 1 at a time anyway. I also learned that the quality of each application on OSX is far more superior than any Windows application, in form, function and looks. I like to game, so I just bought a version of Apple desktop that would run most games I like. (I play currently in a Windows 7 RC Bootcamp partition) I decided I have built many machines, and have burned myself out on "tinkering" I do like to still stay current on the latest stuff, just no interest in switching out hardware anymore. I decided to buy a pre-built OEM. This is another reason I decided Apple, because of the support you can buy (3 yr Applecare only cost me $150.00 for my desktop) I don't have to talk with someone in India on why my graphics card is overheating.

In summary, if you are simply switching to Mac to "see what all the fuss is about" and all your going to do is web surf, then you missed the entire point. Macs and PCs both offer some really solid solutions for CERTAIN tasks.

Thats my 2 cents on the whole Mac vs. PC debacle. :)
 
OS X is basically the best desktop/laptop unix based OS. It's an OS, so there will be similar functionality to windows, but the system overall has a different fundamental philosophy.
 
hyt3k9 said:
Each one has their place. One isn't better than the other, you throw certain tasks that can be accomplished better on one platform or another.
Personally, I would say the majority of recent "switchers" that aren't into creating content won't see 80% of what the Mac platform is capable of. You sound like one of these people, since you are comparing the simple "nuts and bolts" of OSX to Windows. If all your doing is surfing the web, then that is why you don't see a difference.
However, if you produce and edit a podcast, are into high-end digital photography, or mess around with HD video editing.. you would see REAL quick why a Mac is the superior platform in this arena. Also, have a problem with your Mac? Drop it off and have it fixed locally, and quickly. Want to broaden your creative side? Take a class with a creative professional in hundreds of categories available at your local store by appointment. Some people call Mac followers a "cult" I like to think that Apple creates a culture that people who are interested in learning to make creative content can have access to, without the bell curve of some of the Windows apps with no support. I would also say that your everyday tasks, such as web surfing, email, etc.. are "generally safer" on a Mac as well.

If your into gaming or like to be able to chose between 1,000 programs to "twitter" with, then maybe going PC is the better alternative. Also the price point on the PC is way better than the Mac. If you like to "tinker" with your computer, or like to add in components then the PC is the better choice.

What it basically came down to for me was this.. I didn't need 1,000 choices for twitter apps. You can only use 1 at a time anyway. I also learned that the quality of each application on OSX is far more superior than any Windows application, in form, function and looks. I like to game, so I just bought a version of Apple desktop that would run most games I like. (I play currently in a Windows 7 RC Bootcamp partition) I decided I have built many machines, and have burned myself out on "tinkering" I do like to still stay current on the latest stuff, just no interest in switching out hardware anymore. I decided to buy a pre-built OEM. This is another reason I decided Apple, because of the support you can buy (3 yr Applecare only cost me $150.00 for my desktop) I don't have to talk with someone in India on why my graphics card is overheating.

In summary, if you are simply switching to Mac to "see what all the fuss is about" and all your going to do is web surf, then you missed the entire point. Macs and PCs both offer some really solid solutions for CERTAIN tasks.

Thats my 2 cents on the whole Mac vs. PC debacle. :)
Click to expand...


I like what you say here and yes I am a basic user on my macbook. My desktop is used to make my websites, do photoshop and such. So yes I would have to agree with you. Although I do plan on doing video blogging here soon on my macbook so I will see here very soon exactly what it's all about.

Also you bought an extended warranty it seems? Also you don't have to talk to an "indian" person either if you buy a PC from the right manufacturer. I personally work at a tech stop and we build custom computers that have 3 year warranty's built into the price of the computer. Our cheapest computer starts out at 499. So ya sorry won't count that as a pro.

(OS X is basically the best desktop/laptop unix based OS. It's an OS, so there will be similar functionality to windows, but the system overall has a different fundamental philosophy.)

Saying that it's best without really giving reasons is exactly what I was saying when I wanted to have a decent conversation not just saying my epenis is bigger than yours. I agree that the macbook is a great laptop, not really the issue here. The reason of why its better or is it better was more of what I was looking for.

So thank you hyt3k9 for your reply its what I was kind of looking for.

Why I first chose my computer is the fact that I am a geek and do like to mess around with my hardware. Plus I like to play games the day that they come out and Macs aren't really the best for that. Also most software out there is made for windows first, then the mac if even. Of course video editing and such is very handy on a mac and probably designed for it. But the fact that my computer did just that while being lots cheaper and doing almost the same thing.

Biggest thing for mac so far seems to be the quality control. I agree that they do a great job in that department.
 
After using OS X for a while, I have learned to HATE maximizing windows. it's such a waste of screen space. I would rather see what's going on behind than have one window monopolize the entire plane. In time you will probably work the same way. The "+" button is more of a "best fit" or "zoom" button than maximize.

Also, if you want your mouse to feel "normal," download the Microsoft Intellipoint software for mac. It will give you PC style mouse acceleration curves. Works great for me.
 
zaxour said:
After using OS X for a while, I have learned to HATE maximizing windows. it's such a waste of screen space. I would rather see what's going on behind than have one window monopolize the entire plane. In time you will probably work the same way. The "+" button is more of a "best fit" or "zoom" button than maximize.

Also, if you want your mouse to feel "normal," download the Microsoft Intellipoint software for mac. It will give you PC style mouse acceleration curves. Works great for me.
Click to expand...

The only place I pretty much noticed this was in Safari, but I check a lot of websites in short periods of time so having to best fit every 30 seconds was very annoying. Firefox does not do this.
 
I primarily use firefox to browse the web, so I hadn't noticed this until reading this thread. I'm going to continue to use firefox!
 
I'd just like to mention that I discovered a neat little extension to Safari that remedies this problem if you want to, it also adds some more features (like undo close tab that is in Firefox)

http://www.machangout.com/

Running it on the latest Safari 4 beta (well, not latest, but whatever Apple Update gives me) with no problems.

There is also GlimmerBlocker which is like Adblock on Firefox http://glimmerblocker.org/

With these two additions I am now have the features of Firefox with the speed of Safari :)
 
how much ram is in that mac? apple is chinchy on how much ram they give you as standard choices.
 
knothead34 said:
how much ram is in that mac? apple is chinchy on how much ram they give you as standard choices.
Click to expand...
2GB is standard in MacBooks/MacBook Pros. Never buy extra RAM from Apple. You can pick up a 4GB upgrade kit from Newegg for $40, sometimes even less.
 
Depends on when you bought it. Some of the original Macbooks only work with 2GB max (The ones with the 945 Intel chipset). Honestly, I haven't noticed a big difference working with the older Macbooks (1.83Ghz Core Duo/Intel GMA 950) and the newer ones (2.0Ghz Core 2 Duo/Nvidia 9400m).

The trackpad on the unibody Macbooks is amazing though. Best I've ever used by far.
 
A lot of people complain about the full maximize, but they seriously need to get out of the windows mindset. Every website that you will go to minus amazon will not utilize full screen web browsing. The + button is a fit to page width button. Its the maximum window size you need in order to see the full page. When its maximized, there will be a lot of wasted space on the browser when you can be using that extra space for IM boxes.. another browser window.. etc. You can tell by apple as a company that they dont really like to waste space.

I prefer OSX because of keyboard shortcuts for the OS. Makes running a computer a lot more efficient.
 
Many websites are designed for 1024 width, so I wouldn't think maximizing it would be completely wasted space. My old PBG4 12" was great because the default maximize was full screen (minus the dock). If they put the 9400M Core 2 based Macbook in that form factor, I'd buy one today.
 
hyt3k9 said:
However, if you produce and edit a podcast, are into high-end digital photography, or mess around with HD video editing.. you would see REAL quick why a Mac is the superior platform in this arena.
Click to expand...

You know someone HAD to come in and say something once you mentioned this. (sorry, I can't resist)

One can produce / edit a pod cast on Windows based PC just as easy / hard as OSX based. (Yes, I admit OSX comes with garage band, but you pay a lot more for it. One can buy something like Sonar Home edition $80 and still be under the cost of an equivalent OSX based pc.) for Same with Digital Photography. Is there not Photoshop on both platforms?

In regards to HD video editing... ok, you got me. lol, Final Cut Studio is the bomb for that. Premiere and Vegas don't hold a candle for that on the uber high end.
 
having done photoshop on both mac and pc, I can say it's easier to work on a mac. It isn't night and day, but if I was a creative professional, I would want to work on a mac.
 
djgizmo said:
In regards to HD video editing... ok, you got me. lol, Final Cut Studio is the bomb for that. Premiere and Vegas don't hold a candle for that on the uber high end.
Click to expand...

This, mainly. Final Cut Pro is simply the best tool in the industry for this type of work. When money is no object and the tool and final product have to be at absolute top quality, I don't hesitate to recommend Final Cut Pro (and a tricked-out Mac Pro to run it all on).
 
WaterproofPaper said:
A lot of people complain about the full maximize, but they seriously need to get out of the windows mindset. Every website that you will go to minus amazon will not utilize full screen web browsing. The + button is a fit to page width button. Its the maximum window size you need in order to see the full page. When its maximized, there will be a lot of wasted space on the browser when you can be using that extra space for IM boxes.. another browser window.. etc. You can tell by apple as a company that they dont really like to waste space.

I prefer OSX because of keyboard shortcuts for the OS. Makes running a computer a lot more efficient.
Click to expand...

You're exactly right.

While i do not own a mac, i am going to get one for college in the next year. I totally agree with WaterproofPaper about the Maximize thing.

Here is a screenshot of facebook full screened on a 22in monitor (1680 x 1050, but shrunk for photobucket) (sorry for all the blurring :) )

Screenshot-4.png


Running facebook or something like that is a waste of space!

Which is why people should learn to run stuff like this:
busy.png
 
You've got a point illuminate. I actually really like the way that looks. I wish Windows 7 had virtual desktops though.
 
Illuminate is right on point. Its what I have been trying to explain to people. Why maximize everything? Especially with high res displays, people tend to maximize everything, when the point of a higher res is so you can have more desktop real estate.

This is as annoying as people who buy 20"+ monitors, then when they first fire it up they wonder why everything is so small, so then they change the resolution to like 1024 x 768 just so everything is large again.
 
I agree and disagree I have the basic macbook and the screen is only 13 in. Having the browser not maximized things turn on to be very small. I like to keep things maximized and then use expose to switch between the applications.

On my windows PC I have 2 22" monitors and when I'm doing web design I have my main applications maximized but all things such as documents and such are smaller and they are to fit more on a screen. Both monitors run at 1680 X 1050.

It probably all comes down to just whatever you're used to and yeah I am a PC user at heart so probably getting used to the mac ideas will take a little while.

But I'm not a huge fan of scrolling left and right just to see a webpage. That's what I would have to do on a lot of websites if I shrunk my browser. I see your point on it, and yes if I had my mac on my 22" its probably how I would work it.

Also I have my other computer hooked up to my TV which is a 40" Samsung 1080P and yes when I do work on the computer, most things aren't maximized so I think it really matters on the situation.

Also I've used ubuntu in the past, had it on my PC for just about a year and really I liked having the 3d cube once I got used to it, it was a very nice feature.
 
20Valver Totally! My friend bought the dell 30in, and brought it hope, said it was too much space, and runs it at the size of a 19in... it's sad.. utterly sad..

amdownzintel I agree with you also. There is some stuff i maximize. When i'm programming an application in VB with GUI, i maximize the program.. just so i can see all the code easliy.

also, with the cube, i put my VM's on the other sections of the cube. Adds more space.

sorry, didn't mean to get off on a tangent, but it's all somewhat relative
 
djgizmo said:
You know someone HAD to come in and say something once you mentioned this. (sorry, I can't resist)

One can produce / edit a pod cast on Windows based PC just as easy / hard as OSX based. (Yes, I admit OSX comes with garage band, but you pay a lot more for it. One can buy something like Sonar Home edition $80 and still be under the cost of an equivalent OSX based pc.) for Same with Digital Photography. Is there not Photoshop on both platforms?

In regards to HD video editing... ok, you got me. lol, Final Cut Studio is the bomb for that. Premiere and Vegas don't hold a candle for that on the uber high end.
Click to expand...

I can't believe you actually went there. :p

I didn't say you "couldn't" do those tasks on a PC, but I would say that most everyone in the Mac community would agree that the Mac is the better platform for all those specific tasks.

I could record a podcast on my 2GB Sansa MP3 player since it has a internal mic, too. Just because I can, doesn't mean I should.
 
hyt3k9 said:
I can't believe you actually went there. :p

I didn't say you "couldn't" do those tasks on a PC, but I would say that most everyone in the Mac community would agree that the Mac is the better platform for all those specific tasks.
I could record a podcast on my 2GB Sansa MP3 player since it has a internal mic, too. Just because I can, doesn't mean I should.
Click to expand...

wait, wait...... WHAT?


"people who like strawberries will DEFINITELY agree that strawberries taste better than oranges"

atleast "you can't out ipod the ipod" made some fucking sense.

strange, i'm pretty sure 99% of audio hardware is compatible with "pc" and "mac" (which are one and the same) and that IS the most important part of a recording rig.
 
I understand the mouse issue, the cursor slows down when moving in small spaces and fairly normal acceleration when whipping it across the screen. Not even using USB Overdrive or MouseZoom or the other utilities got it the way I wanted it.

On a Mac forum, I was told this is because Windows does mouse acceleration linearly, and Mac does it logarithmically.
 
hyt3k9 said:
are into high-end digital photography, or mess around with HD video editing.. you would see REAL quick why a Mac is the superior platform in this arena.
Click to expand...

Well Photoshop runs just as well on a Mac as on a Windows PC so no difference for Photo editing. The only difference is personal preference to the underlying OS. Actually, at the moment you can't get a 64bit version of Photoshop for Mac so high end photo editing is superior on a Windows PC. :)
 
Why wouldn't you have something maximized if you are only using 1 window? So you can see your pretty wallpaper? I suppose you also like side scrolling when you're viewing threads with large pictures. Windows 7's snap to feature is nice, when you are using multiple programs you can quickly snap it to a side of your screen and when you want to maximize it you can snap it to the top of your screen.
 
20Valver said:
Illuminate is right on point. Its what I have been trying to explain to people. Why maximize everything? Especially with high res displays, people tend to maximize everything, when the point of a higher res is so you can have more desktop real estate.

This is as annoying as people who buy 20"+ monitors, then when they first fire it up they wonder why everything is so small, so then they change the resolution to like 1024 x 768 just so everything is large again.
Click to expand...

Thats why I buy more than 1 display.
 
hyt3k9 said:
....but I would say that most everyone in the Mac community would agree that the Mac is the better platform for all those specific tasks.
Click to expand...

THAT my friend, is sad.... you are completely brainwashed.

Guess what?? "I would say that most everyone in the PC community would agree that Windows is better for those specific tasks"....

What I just said is probably true, just like what YOU said is probably true... but is so irrelevant that it shouldn't have even been said. :D
 
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