--===Is buying a Mac the right choice?==--

So like, i've been deciding on a computer for a while now and i can't make up my mind (excuse my language >.<). I'm trying to decide between a Mac and a Pc---> that is the big decision right now. Macs have great hardware, built great, and run great but i have a couple problems with them. The thing i need help with from you guys is telling me if these problems are big enough to totally swayy me from a mac.

1.) There is absolutely NOOOO accidental damage protection for a mac. I've always had a desktop up to this point so how can i be sure that my new laptop will be safe from everything the world can throw at it?

2.) Extra money to put bootcamp on Mac for gaming so i can run vista and mac's OS. That is a couple hundread bucks to do that plus i have to buy vista if i ever want to play any cool game i have my eyes on--->(Most of the time...)

I mean, when these 2 things add up....they just make me think it would be to much trouble worrying about it being broken and spending the addition money compared to a pc. PLEASE GIVE ME YOU INPUT!!!

BY THE WAY, IM TALKING ABOUT A MACBOOK PRO (Laptop) !!

 

1) Yes, that is true. There is not accidental damage protection for Macs. However, your credit card company or home insurance may cover damaged/stolen electronics. However, unless you're really accident-prone I think you'll be okay .

2) Boot Camp is a free download...until Leopard arrives, in which it may be a Leopard only feature. However, if you wait until Leopard arrives later this month you will get Boot Camp's final version right away. As for the Windows license, yes, you will need to buy a license to run Windows on the Mac, and only XP SP2 and Vista work.

Macs are a bigger investment yes, because if you plan to run Windows you need to pay for a Windows license on top of the OS X that you already paid for when you bought the Mac, but in the end you will most likely feel it was absolutely worth it .

 

You don't have to pay for Boot Camp itself; it will be part of Mac OS X 10.5, so it's a built in feature.

The only cost you'd have is buying Vista itself (or XP would probably be better for gaming at this point in time).

As for accidental damage protection; yes, this is true. If it is a major concern to you, it's probably worth buying a laptop from a company like Dell that offers this, or Asus, who is now offering 1 year of accidental damage protection on all new laptops.

Do you have any interest in OS X at all? If you're going to be buying a machine to run Windows and game on, I think it would make much more sense to buy something like an Asus laptop.

If you could explain a bit more about what your needs are, it would help to answer your question.

As far as accidental damage protection, there are other companies that you can get insurance for - SafeWare, for example. Or you might check with who you have your home/car insurance with; many of them can include your laptop in your insurance policy, giving you protection for accidents, etc.

If you do want to run OS X, then it would be worth it. If you are solely interested in the hardware, then you are better off with an Asus or Dell.

-Zadillo

 

i'm just confirming sam here
1) yup, there is no accidental protection for mac. AppleCare is for warranty extension only. however there might be a third party company. go ask your apple store, and see what they might know.

2)bootcamp is free download from apple (on OS X tiger) since it is a beta software. the final version will ship as a feature for the upcoming OS X leopard .
there are other cool software like parralel to run OS X and Windows side by side.

i agree with Zadillo. don't buy Apple Hardware if you don't plan on using OS X, there is too much hassle, like the different keyboard layout, one mouse button, etc. if say... i run 70% windows most of the time in the MacBook Pro, i consider selling it and getting a windows laptop instead.

luckily i have multiple; windows for windows and apple for apple computer.

 

After having my Mac for a few days now.. I think from now on I will only buy Macs.. Why? Because there was zero bloatware installed on my Macbook.. it was quick and painless to get started with it.. I can run WindowsXP/Vista as if the machine was meant to use those OSes, thanks to the Intel components inside.. essentially, you could go buy a Dell/HP/Compaq/etc.. but you can't easily" if at all run Mac OSX on them.. in the least, you'd have to virtual emulate it through software with VMWare or something similar... and that wouldn't give you the full-speed experience... as far as I know, you can't dual-boot Mac OSX on a non-Mac machine.. So seeing as you can run dual or triple boot (maybe?) Mac OSX, Vista and XP all in the same machine, which all run at native full speed without any use of emulation.. it makes the Mac one of most versatile machines i've ever gotten to play with. I believe this is all thanks to the intricate firmware Mac uses on it's machines.. but it works wonders.. and Bootcamp is a godsend for when you need a real Windows environment.

The best part about the Mac is OSX.. Programs are self-contained and don't spread out files all over your system like Windows applications do.. which put registry entries in, put DLL files in your OS directories, and have it's own program directory.. so if something happens, it makes it a huge pain in the butt to repair/clean a Windows app.. as far as I can see with a Mac, all programs are self-contained in 1 file (a compressed file i assume) and when you want to remove a program, you just delete that singular program file and tada, it's completely gone.. no DLLs to hunt down.

I just wish there was more ports of my favorite Windows apps for the Mac.

Jay

 

Well, this is such a hard desicion. If i was a huge gamer, this decision would be a ton easier---->PC. The problem is, the computer i have at home is 6 years old and it's hard to play any high end games. Really the only games i play are TFT( warcraft 3 the frozen throne) and sometimes wow. It's just that, i have no idea how much gaming i will be doing once i get a laptop. I'm 17 years old going into college so i might be gaming a lot or not.Do you guys get where i'm comming from?

As far as the accidental damage protection goes, i'll look into other third party possibilities. I beleive there's a deductable when dealing with home owners insurance ( a couple hundread bucks on something as expsensive as a laptop) but i will also look into that more thoroughly.

In addition, i have thought about buying a Macbook just as a word processing computer and for the convenience of the OS. I would then buy a gaming computer for a couple grand to play games on and to watch dvd's but this option would be really expensive.

--------------------------> What should i do???<------------------------

 

If WC3 and WoW are the primary games you'll be playing, you would be fine on the Mac, since both of those run on a Mac (and at lower quality settings can even run on the regular MacBook, not the MBP).

Personally I gave up on laptop gaming because I found I just didn't do much high-end gaming on a laptop anyway. I prefer to use my dedicated PC for that, and use a laptop more for word processing, web browsing, and maybe the occasional light game. I found that the hassles of gaming on a laptop (needing to be near an AC plug, having to have an external mouse and a surface to use it on) made it not all that convenient. At this point I think I'd only want a gaming laptop if I went to a lot of LAN parties or something and wanted something more convenient to take with me. As it is, I do most of my gaming at home, where my desktop machine does a good job.

If you do like OS X, and you have a sense that it would fit your needs, I think just a regular MacBook might very well be worth considering (although if your budget allows it, the MBP does offer a lot of extra power, and the price difference between a well equipped MacBook and the base model MBP isn't extraordinary, especially with the student discount.... although you wouldn't be able to use the student discount until you actually get to college).

-Zadillo

 

I second Zadillo, it depends on the games you want to play.
Those games you mention are available for mac, as are a bunch of others. Now EA is probably going to make quite a few mac games, the offerings from Aspyr have been good and lots happening, I have Call of Duty 2 on my MBP and it runs fine. If you need a flight sim, then look to X-Plane (for PC, Mac and Linux, beats the pants off MS-FS in most respects), you also have WoW and SecondLife.

The only games I miss are funky freeware and shareware titles that are PC only. Can't be bothered to make a bootcamp installation though....

 

Yeah.

If you haven't yet, you might check out:

http://www.freeverse.com

and

http://www.ambrosiasw.com

These guys have been making funky freeware and shareware games for the Mac for a while (Escale Velocity, SketchFighter from Ambrosia, Burning Monkey Solitaire, etc. from Freeverse)......

-Zadillo

 

What other big companies/games does the Mac also have?

To me, it sounds like you guys think it's only worth going over if i like OS X right? Also, what exactly does the term parallel and bootcamp mean for mac?

Also, why can't you upgrade/update your mac every couple of years like you can a PC?

Thanks for your input guys.

 

Yes, the majority of us will advise you to get a Mac for OS X, and for using Windows "when needed". If you don't plan to use OS X at all, you are paying for things you won't be using.

Parallels is an application that allows you to run Windows alongside OS X. The advantage of this is that you can run say Microsoft Office 2007 in Windows at the same time while running Photoshop on OS X. Read the Running Windows on a Mac Guide for more information.

Boot Camp allows you to run Windows on the Mac natively. Also more information in that guide. The link to that guide is in my sig; Windows on a Mac Guide.

 

There are plenty of software developers and game companies that support the Mac to some degree or other. Microsoft, Adobe, Quark, etc. all support it from a software perspective. There's also a vibrant third party development community for the Mac, and you can find all sorts of very nice apps developed by companies like Bare Bones Software, Panic, etc.

As far as game companies, you have Blizzard, id and Epic who have long been Mac developers. Bungie was historically a Mac developer, and now that they are independent from Microsoft they have expressed an interest in possibly developing for the Mac again. More recently, EA has committed to the Mac and has started releasing ports. Freeverse and Ambrosia have long been developing independent games, for example.

But if you're a gamer, and you primarily plan on gaming, Windows is still going to be your best bet.

It's worth switching to the Mac if you like OS X, and the stuff you plan on doing is supported on it.

-Zadillo

 

Well, considering Apple only has one desktop tower (the high end Mac Pro), you can't really upgrade the rest anyways. The rest of the Mac line are notebooks and the all-in-one iMac and the Mac Mini.

 

Well, the thing is, i really am not looking at OS X because it supports stuff like graphic design and digital photography. I'm looking at it for the sole reason of how OS X is layed out and how user friendly it is.the only other option i'd consider would be the XPS 1530 and i don't know if i can wait a month : (.

 

Well, I think that certainly is a valid reason. I mean, yeah, if you like the way OS X functions and looks, etc. that is definitely a good reason to make the switch. The main thing to evaluate at that point is whether the software is available to do what you need (people here would probably be more than glad to help let you know whether what you need is available or not).

-Zadillo

 

Hey Keyo,

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by the number of titles actually up for sale at the Apple Store. EA has promised to simultaneously release Mac ports at WWDC '07. You can already find Battlefield 2142, Madden NFL 08, Tiger Woods PGA tour 08, Command & Conquer 3, NFS:Carbon at the Apple Store website. Moreover you have AOE3, WOW, Civilization 4, Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 etc. I guess RTS & RPG are more popular among Mac users, but as Mac OS gains more popularity there will definitely be a rise in the number of available titles and genres.
And add to that BootCamp which makes it easier to boot XP if you feel the need to run your old Windows based games.
I think it's a pretty neat deal, getting a Mac. It does broaden your scope if you think of all these factors. And truly, have you seen a sexier, non-limited edition laptop?

 

This all sounds like i would really like the mac. I would be installing boot camp on it so gaming wouldn't be a problem. I'm currently waiting for my homeowners insurance agent to call me back with an estimate for computer coverage.

 

Sounds great, Keyo! Keep us posted .

 

I'd love to know what games people play on the Mac OS.
Not BootCamp'ed XP or Vista, but pure Mac OS.

I've tried RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 and NFS:Carbon.