Am Considering a MBP...

Hi all...

I have been a PC user for over 10 years now having worked my way through the various editions of MS OSs.

For a number of reasons, I am considering switching to Macs, particularly to the MBP. This forum has been of immense help. I came across this article http://economictimes.indiatimes.com..._3G_woes/articleshow/msid-3419139,curpg-1.cms which sounded quite...well how to put it...doubt-instilling!

Could any of you experienced Mac and Apple product users comment on it and lend me some of your insights?

I mean...matters do get confusing when one reads in one instance something like this: "Bruce, an Apple aficionado since the very first iPod, also recently returned a MacBook Air because it got too hot, and said his Apple cinema-display monitor sports burned-in images.

"They're skimping on materials, on testing things to gain market share, but they're kind of pushing away people who have been with the brand even when (it was) struggling," he said."

And then again, from the same article, "Macs are "a lot better than the alternative, in terms of stability, viruses, being able to do high-end graphics work," he said. "I wouldn't tell people to stop getting Apple products. They make very good products."

These comments appear in the above referenced article.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Edit:

Also, I am currently located in India. How is the Apple Service/ Care here?
From what I understand, there are no dedicated Apple Stores here in India - there are only resellers (I could be wrong on this though). Does it make any difference to buy Apple products from dedicated Apple Stores as compared to these resellers?

Thanks

 

I have three MacBook Pros.

One died a week ago, out of warranty by ten days. Apple is going to put in a new motherboard and I talked them into giving it to me for free. But there's no guarantee that the new motherboard won't die too. The nVidia graphics problem is serious and I wouldn't buy any notebook with nVidia graphics until either nVidia or the manufacturer could tell me that the problem doesn't exist on that notebook. And that includes Apple.

MacBook Pros are great machines. But the ones that I have are ticking time bombs. I will only buy systems with either Intel or ATI graphics for the next year. nVidia has a big inventory of the old 8400s and 8600s and I think that it will take a while to go through that inventory.

 

Hi lineS of Sight,

I don't think its of any real issue. I haven't heard of any widespread product quality issues and I think Apple products are still of great quality. The MacBook Air owners I've talked to haven't really had any heat issues with it, and Apple Cinema Display burn-in...I haven't heard much of as well. Cinema Display owners I know love them!

The lack of an official Apple Store in India is a minor issue, you won't be able to bring your Mac into a Genius Bar to get it fixed, and resellers, some of which will be Authorized Service Providers, may not provide the same level of service as an Apple Store.

 

Nothing is perfect. As apple gains market share the quantity of problems will increase even if the percentage of defects remains the same. Nothing I've read to date seems to indicate large percentage increases in hardware quality problems.

Maybe I've just been lucky but I've owned quite a number of Macs over the last 15 years (including 5 recent models purchased within the last 18 months or so) and none has ever let me down.

That said, this has not been a stellar year for Apple in my mind. Leopard was extremely buggy for an Apple product. The iPhone 2.0/3G rollout was marred by quite a number of systems failures. MobileMe continues to be a disaster.

Hopefully Apple will learn from these missteps. They are planning Snow Lepoard to address stability and performance issues that Leopard created rather than lots of new bells and whistles. We'll see if its free or of reduced cost next year. The 2.0/3G rollout recovered quickly but was another black eye to the millions of phones that got bricked for a day. Consumers did not appreciate the misleading pricing advertising either that only about 35% of people were able to take advantage of. MobileMe customers have gotten about 90 days of service free at this point but support is still horrific and MobileMe continues to be plagued with problems.

Not a steller year. Still better than my Microsoft experience, but very disturbing. Next year will either restor my faith in Apple or rethinking future Apple purchases. At the moment I think if it as the lesser of evils rather than the clear winner.

 

Yeah, it hasn't been the best year for Apple, iPhone issues and MobileMe. But I think they can fix things up, they got the product out and ironed out bugs as it was released to the public...isn't that the Microsoft way anyway?

 

Yeah, about not being the best year for Apple. They kinda forgot they still make computers. Laptops especially. The Macbooks (except Air I guess) are waaaaayyy overdue for a refresh...

 

I agree they definitely can get everything ironed out. I found Leopard fast and stable enough within about 6 months that I am happy with it. Looking forward to Snow Leopard to truly impress me.

My iPhone was only bricked for a day but I consider the pricing advertising deceptive (and still is) as unless you are eligible for carrier discounts the 3G is actually more expensive than the original and has a hefty premium in data rates to boot.

MobileMe continues to be a problem. Customer service is horrific by any measure (let alone comparing it to Apples normal top of the line service). They keep handing out free service but thats what its worth and it doesen't help people that actually depend on it.

So in my book, I have some healthy skepticism at this point and I'll see what next year brings before I make any more Apple purchases. Apples main differentiating factor is its premium customer experience. If they start acting like Microsoft they won't have that and market shares will start decreasing instead of increasing.

 

Hi Sam...

And thanks for your insight! These articles in the newspapers sometimes sensationalize things. I have onbly played around with Macs that some of my friends own. The layout and stuff is obviously 'new' but the guides on this forum will help me out with that!

What I am really worried about is this: as compared to PC laptops, the MBP is, at least in Indian terms and particularly with reference to my budget, quite expensive. It would be a shame if I invested in a MBP and then have nowhere to go to fix it should something go wrong! You are quite right when you say that there are Authorized Resellers in India. But I suspect they don't know too much about Macs and probably even less about OSX - though again, I guess this forum would be a great help as would be some of my friends.

There are two constant complaints I keep hearing from my friends here - (1) the heat issue, which I have read about on this forum and (2) apparently, they seem to consider Macs (particularly MBPs) delicate. I can't say I have run across this last complaint in my readings on this forum. Is this true?

As a potential first-time buyer, what are the things I should be looking out for? A few hints and pointers would sure help.

Thanks again for your help!

Edit:

Here are some of the indicative pricing and specs:

Both options are for the 15" version of the MBP

2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2GB memory
200GB hard drive1
Double-layer SuperDrive
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 256MB
Rs.89,200 * (Approx: US$2230 + taxes)

2.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2GB memory
250GB hard drive1
Double-layer SuperDrive
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 512MB
Rs.1,11,300 * (Approx: US$2782 + taxes)

Both in their base configurations come with the following:

Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard
Cover Flow
Mail
Quick Look
iChat
Stacks
Safari
Time Machine
Spaces

Note: I have used the average currency conversion rate of 1 US$ = Rs. 40

 

Wow! This could be a problem...yes? So, there are MBPs with the X3100 integrated chip which could be an alternative? But would that not degrade the performance - graphics-wise?

Thanks for highlighting this - I doubt whether any of my friends who are users are even aware of this issue!

 

There are no Macbook Pros with the integrated X3100 Chip

 

jimboutilier and cdnalsi...

I guess that is what the article that I linked above was referring to! The one thing that I have noticed about Mac users - at least in my circle of friends and acquaintances - is this: there are generally speaking two groups of users. The first who need the Macs for their work - they are usually in the ad-world or some sort of design-related work. They can handle the machine well, but generally they cannot troubleshoot. Of course, these folks claim that Macs generally do not need troubleshooting as much as PC-based laptops/ machines. Then there is the second group of users who are generally found sitting around in coffee shops - I really dont know what they do - but one thing I do know - they swear by Apple products - though I strongly suspect they know very little about how to do anything significant other than email and chat on their machines. Of course, I grossly generalizing here - so apologies for that! It seems to me however that this second group like to be SEEN with Macs - the flashier the better!

My usage will be more modest - I write a lot (part of my job); I am on the net for over 15 hours a day - more often than not wirelessly; I travel a lot so the machine will be moving with me; I do some basic (as of now) Excel-based number crunching; I make a lot of PPT presentations and I think by the end of the year I will have to do some basic photo-editing work.

My reason for taking a serious look at the Mac is driven by the fact that I want to try something new - I have been Win-based for a long time and have played around with Ubuntu for a bit...but I have never really worked with Macs. I must add that I don't own an ipod or an iPhone. My PDA and phone needs are met by Palm (TX and Treo 750 respectively), whose products (with some reservations) I love! Thus far I have been synching with my Win-based laptop with no problems - how does this work out if I get a MBP?

Apologies for this long post and thanks again for your comments and observations!

 

Well then I guess that rules out that option - so what is the best way to sift through the issue originally pointed out with reference to the graphics issue?

 

Heat is sort of an issue...the Mac won't explode or melt and the parts won't get damaged, but yeah, its best not to use the notebook on your lap when you're running an intensive application.

As for delicacy, well, the MBP isn't a Lenovo/IBM Thinkpad or a Panasonic Toughbook, but its well-built. As long as you don't constantly drop it or roll over it with a car, it'll be fine!

There really aren't too many things to worry about as a first-time Mac buyer. Choose the Mac you want, and read these two guides from Apple to learn about OS X!

www.apple.com/support/switch101
www.apple.com/support/mac101

And I don't like advertising myself, but I do have the Mac Switcher's Guide which may answer more questions you may have .

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=161784

 

Hi Sam:

Thanks! I had already gone through the Apple site guides, but the link to your MS Guide is super! I am going to 'devour' it immediately!

Again, thanks!

BTW: +1 Rep as a measure of thanks!

 

"There are two constant complaints I keep hearing from my friends here - (1) the heat issue, which I have read about on this forum and"

I installed temperature monitors and my 17 inch Penryn 2.5 Ghz MBP CPU runs around 42 degrees C and GPU runs around 73 degrees C at idle in the office. I bought a Thermaltake USB fan and put it under the laptop and now the GPU runs around 63 degrees C. At home, the CPU runs around 36 degrees C and the GPU runs around 56 degrees C at idle. I consider 70 degrees and up for idle to be high. I generally don't do anything graphics intensive so I don't know what the temperatures are at load but the little external fan does a great job at cooling the MBP down. Without the fan, the bottom of the laptop does get quite hot. I don't think that I'd want to use it on my lap without something in-between.

"(2) apparently, they seem to consider Macs (particularly MBPs) delicate. I can't say I have run across this last complaint in my readings on this forum. Is this true?"

I was at a conference a month ago where about 60% of the attendees had MBPs. People did all sorts of things with their MBPs including putting them on the floor open on their sides, carrying them around open with one hand while carrying other things with them, using them balanced on one leg while leaning against a wall, etc. I heard that one guy broke two of them at the conference. I don't consider them fragile but they do feel like a work of art and it may just be natural for most to take very good care of them.

 

"I guess that is what the article that I linked above was referring to! The one thing that I have noticed about Mac users - at least in my circle of friends and acquaintances - is this: there are generally speaking two groups of users. The first who need the Macs for their work - they are usually in the ad-world or some sort of design-related work. They can handle the machine well, but generally they cannot troubleshoot. Of course, these folks claim that Macs generally do not need troubleshooting as much as PC-based laptops/ machines. Then there is the second group of users who are generally found sitting around in coffee shops - I really dont know what they do - but one thing I do know - they swear by Apple products - though I strongly suspect they know very little about how to do anything significant other than email and chat on their machines. Of course, I grossly generalizing here - so apologies for that! It seems to me however that this second group like to be SEEN with Macs - the flashier the better!"

There's a third group and they are engineers. Earlier in this century, a lot of open source engineers pushed Linux as it's an open source operating system but many software engineers didn't like doing system maintenance on Linux but did like the development environment. Many open source projects also need to run on Linux, Mac OSX and Windows. When Apple went to Intel chips, it only made sense to buy Mac OSX as you can install all three operating systems on MacBook Pros and develop and test without requiring multiple hardware platforms. The development environment on Mac OSX is very similar to Linux which many open source engineers prefer to the Windows development environment.

 

Hmmm...now that is very interesting! So, if I am not misunderstanding you, you are saying that I can triple boot fon the MBP with no resulting loss of performance? As I mentioned earlier, I do a lot of writing and favour the MS Office (2007) Suite. So, I could use a Win partition to use Office (from what I read, I understand that Office running on OSX is not, well...native!); I could use the OSX partition to do the design work and the basic emailing, and internet-related work; and a possible tux-based partition to learn? Of course, I would also use the Win partition to also play games (alternatively, I could dedicate my existing PC-based laptop to the mid-level games that I play - now not so frequently). If this conjecture is correct then I guess I am sold!

In an earlier post you had mentioned some problems associated with the graphics card. In a previous post above, I have listed the two basic configs of the MBP that I can access in India. Are the graphics cards indicated in the specs the problem ones?

Thanks

Edit: One Question: I also mentioned above that I use two Palm products - the TX and the Treo 750. How do they work in the Mac environment? I think there is a sw called Missing Synch or something like that for the 750 (which is WinMob 6.0-based - don't know what happens with the TX which is Garnet-based...hmmmm...will have to check that out! Unfortunately, I am devoted to those two units - for better or for worse, that is...!

 

Honestly, you are not giving people much credit. You really should. I can say the same about people that use Windows. I frequent coffee shops and all I see are people with headphones connected to their PC's with a web browser window open. Some of them are reading email and some have MS Word open typing a document. The majority of the world do these things on their PC everyday. People using Windows aren't anymore tech savvy than people using Macs.
I think when you get your new Mac you will find yourself using OS X for business, personal and for any other things as most people do with any computer. Be more open to people using computers (especially Macs) rather than stereotyping. Believe me, you will want people to be more open-minded when you become a Mac user. It's a bit foolish to buy a computer just for a status symbol. I've been using Macs for the last 15 years and I've never cared about how they look. I run my entire insurance business on Macs, they do more than connect to iPods.

BTW, I have a degree in electronics and computer science. I know Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, UNIX and such left right and sideways and I still prefer a Mac. You will too when you see what more than can do besides being good status symbols.

 

Hi...

I apologize. I would, however, like to point out that I did accept that I was making a 'gross generalization'. There is no denying the fact, however, that I was being too glib and unfair. So, thanks for the gentle reminder.

Thus, yes, the point that you make is very valid and is well taken!

You did say that you are well versed with quite a few of the OSs and that you prefer Macs. Would you share some of your insights as to why you prefer Macs? I am particularly interested in what you have to say because, as you mention, you run your own business on them. In a sense, I would not be wrong to construe your comment as saying that Macs are 'mission critical' for you. If I got a Mac, it would be the same way for me - thus the question!

Thanks

 

For me it's always the little things. The most prominent things are all gravy, yes you can surf the web, manage photos and play music which is what we can do any computer so why the need for just a Mac?

Once you played with both sides of the coin as I have (meaning that I have owned both Windows machines and then Macs) the little things are what set them apart and make a HUGE difference.

I owned 3 Windows machines within a 3 year period and as usual I had my .dll issues and such but I understood that it comes with the territory and I just dealt with it but afterwards it was intolerable. I didn't know if the Mac OS was better but I wanted to try something different.
Also most people don't know Microsoft fully supported the Mac OS long before they supported their own OS. Office was released on Mac long before it was thought of for Windows. That sort of sold me that a Mac would be a worthy choice if MS did that.

Here are the small things that keep me buying Macs:

Drag n drop installation. Drag n drop unwanted files to the trash. No Registry to clog up and slow down the computer. Slow downs on a computer hurt productivity.

Out of the box I can use a Mac for just about anything without having to connect to the web to download 3rd party software. One big example is Apple's Preview app, it views and edits photos and PDF's. Mac OS X is PDF based so I don't have to rely on Adobe. Leopard reads Excel, Word docs and PDF's right out of the box without any installed program. That's a big plus.

Although I don't do it, but being able to dual boot Windows is another BIG small feature that adds capability to a Macintosh computer. It helps bridge gaps. Having one machine to do it all is HUGE.

Of course this has been beaten to death but the maintenance thing is huge for me. I'm running a small business, I don't have time to maintain anti-virus programs and such and inform my colleagues where NOT to surf to avoid things on the web that will hurt the computer.

For other things, I do a lot of video editing and play music and DVD rendering, the norm, but I never feel strained like I am doing "real work" when I am using a Mac.

Now for the REALITY stuff. Macs are not at all perfect. The "just works" campaign is pretty true but generally for connecting devices. Apps will crash, the OS can get hung, hard drives can fail and motherboards can become faulty. It's normal since they are electronics.

Dive in but don't expect perfection and you will be very happy. All my insurance colleagues are running Mac OS X, with all the business issues we have, the least of our concerns is maintaining our Macs.
BTW, I have an iMac 24".

 

hldan...

Thanks for the informative post! I am now really intrigued!

Let me ask you (and others) some more specific questions:

I was looking through the SW offerings on Macs...

Since I do a lot of writing, I was looking at iWork package, specifically, at Pages '08.

The Apple site says: "Import your Microsoft Word documents into Pages ’08 with ease. Whether they’re Microsoft Office 2007 (Office Open XML) or earlier Word files, Pages will open them. Pages imports not only the text, but also the styles, tables, inline and floating objects, charts, footnotes, endnotes, bookmarks, hyperlinks, lists, sections, change tracking, and other elements of your original Word document."

Now, as an example, I have just finished a 400+page manuscript which is heavily formatted, has a lot of diagrams, text boxes, footnotes etc. The whole document is written in Office (Word) 2007. Going by the above, then it should not be a problem converting the Word (docx) file into Pages and then reconverting back to Word (either 2003 or 2007) to send it along to recipients who are PC users right? This last part is essential to know because formatting is my responsibility, while the recipient merely has to print. So, if there are any formatting issues at the recipient's end, I am done!

The same would apply to the work I do on Excel.

As you mentioned in your post, if I do opt to go with Macs, I rather not use Windows at all - no point in having a foot in two boats...right?

Then there is the Gaming factor. From what I figured reading posts on this forum, Mac based games suffer from a timelag of sorts in terms of their release into the market. Moreover my gaming friends (from which I generally borrow games) are all PC-based. This is not really a problem because I don't expect to be playing 'bleeding edge' games. But yes, I do play games and, more importantly, I often use screenshots in some of my writing work. Since I already have a capable PC-based laptop, I suppose I could do screen captures, convert them into compatible image files, move them onto the Mac and embedd them in the doc that I am working on...but this means having access to both machines at all times, which as can be well imagined, would be not only a pain but also rather cumbersome and impractical. How would I go about addressing such a scenario?

These are some of the things that I am currently thinking about because they will affect my productivity.

Should not be a problem right? How good, therefore, is the iWorks suite?

Again...a long post...and thanks for your patience!

 

In terms of the Office suite iWork is really a great program and it is in fact very compatible with MS Office. There are times when the translation doesn't work well, for example if you created a Word doc with included images and text boxes then send it to a Mac with Pages, Pages may have issues with proper formatting of the text and modify it for compatibility.
The same will go when it comes to Numbers in iWork.

If you need absolute perfect formatting when transferring back and forth between a Mac and a Windows environment then I would suggest buying the student version of MS Office for Mac. It's a very good program and maintains full compatibility with the Windows version.
The only thing is Keynote whips the pants off Powerpoint and it is very compatible with PP and it's quite the gold standard on the Macintosh.

I'm sure someone will have a good answer for you in terms of the gaming stuff.

 

Don't forget us regular power users that are just disenfranchised with Windows issues and switched out of a desire to be more productive and less frustrated. I don't really care about the name on my hardware or software, but I'm old school and expect the things I buy to "just work". Macs come much closer to that ideal for my uses so I'm using Macs right now.

For your stated use the MacBook air would be a joy because of its size and weight but its not ideal if you want to keep a foot in both worlds and experiment.

If I were you I'd get a plain MacBook, upgrade to 4gb ram and as big a 7200rom drive as you can fit (250gb I think). Setup a BootCamp partition for dual booting. Buy Parallels and set it up to access your bootcamp partition and install your favorite Linux version on a VM and you can run OSX, have instant access to Windows and Linux via VM, and be able to dual boot into windows where VM access just won't do.

Thats what I did at first and I learned a lot about the different OS's and the software available for them. It also allowed me to test things I wrote on those three major platforms. These days I rarely use anything but OS X except when I need MS Outlook or IE 6 for some very specific reasons.

 

iWork is a fine standalone package with great Word Processing, Spreadsheet, and Presentation graphics. Its user interface is VERY different than Office and I was never able to get used to it and use its full power. Pages import capability is not great and there is no way to SAVE something you've done in pages in MS format. The spreadsheet is a little better but has issues where you've use Excel features it does not have. Its presentation is very good but still has spotty areas (animations, movies, sound) in its import.

Overall I prefer NeoOffice (free) for most things. Excellent but not perfect imports. Can work directly in MS format files without conversion. Can save in quite a number of formats.

But you can get the home and student version of Office 2008 for about $125 for ultimate compatability. Only thing its missing over the standard version is an Exchange connector. It even has a 3 user license. Of course it buggier than **** but...

I run close to 100 software packages and was able to find suitable replacements for all but IE6 and Outlook (and this is only because of uncommon and specialized environmental conditions at my current client - there are other browsers and other software that allows you most access to exchange servers that would work in many environments). So I still keep a tiny footprint in the Windows arena, but many would not have to. Everyones needs are a bit different.

Sorry I can't help with games. I spend too much time on the computer as it, so really don't play any.

 

If you are going to contribute to this thread at least print the truth. You most definitely can save your Pages docs in several formats.

 

Easy on the caffeine ;-)

As it turns out we are both kind of right. You can't save PAGES documents in in Word format. But you can EXPORT pages documents to several formats as your screen shot showed. NeoOffice allows SAVE AS in many formats and does not require exports as Pages does so I missed that option.

I did not mean to be misleading, but as I mentioned I had issues with the iWork user interface and was never able to harness its full capabilities.

 

The export feature is actually a plus. It saves the export to the desktop while keeping the original file. That's the same thing as "Save As in xxx.format".

 

Can iWork/Pages edit .docx files? Some people are saying yes and some people are saying no...very confusing...

 

Yes, it can . I remember bloggers and reviewers noting that Apple's suite supported DocX before Microsoft released a Mac version of Office that could .

 

It will open other formats including DOCX files but does an auto import and presents you with a list of any exceptions it encounters (if any). Its in PAGES format at that point and you edit in PAGES format and can save in PAGES format or EXPORT to other formats (including DOCX) when you are done.

My experience is that it does well with most simple documents and some complex documents. If you don't get any exceptions you are golden. If you get any exceptions, you've lost something from the original format and you have to understand what you lost and how to recreate it in PAGES. But on EXPORT you may very well get similar issues on the way out that you will then have to fix in Word.

When I tried PAGES on technical documents with lots of sections having various formatting, headers, footers, text boxes, picture boxes tables etc there were usually enough exceptions reported that it was not worth editing in PAGES. It did varry though and some large and complex documents imported perfectly. Just depended on how it was done in Word.

I got much better results using NeoOffice (and prefered it more Word like interface). Its rough in some areas though too.

Office 2008 was of course the best in editing PC office documents, but oddly enough still not 100%. Its worse penchant is corrupting complex tables in ways that can't be fixed once it happens. Excel goes berserk and pegs your cpu a lot and just crashes and dumps you a lot. I gave up on it and just don't use it. Have not really done any presentations with office so can't say how that part is. This is only from my experience using the latest patched versions of Office 2008. Others may be faring better and the pricing is pretty good.

 

Thanks. But I see that the MacBook (at least in India are all 13" affairs and I think I would be more comfortable with a 15" machine. The price difference - again in India - is also quite a lot. Maybe the better option would be to save some money and go in for the MBP.

Of course I am assuming that the BootCamp, Parallels thing can be done on the MBP as well - actually no reason why it should not be possible.

Thanks.

 

The main point is this possible import/ export problem with PC-based Office 2007 docs given that I work exclusively on them as do the folks who I work with. NeoOffice sounds good and I will check it out. Office 2008 also sounds good but as jimboutilier points out may mess up not only the docs in question but may also (in the case of Excel) crash the machine (does this happen quite often?).

I really wish there was an failsafe alternative, which would make life easier.

Lastly, one more question:

I find myself changing laptops every 18 months - I am not so sure why actually! Recently, I went from a Sony (shudder!) to an spec'ed Acer. Of course, I bought it with a run-of-the-mill Linux distro and clean installed XP on it. Thus, it is a lean machine.

The point is however that I am wondering why at all do I change (not necessarily upgrade) laptops every 18 months. Its just a foolish thing I do I guess. Now, given the higher upfront costs of the Mac (in this case the MBP), I would like to keep working on one machine for at least double the time - so say 36 months. How does this work out in Apple terms? Meaning - how significant are the changes and upgrades that Apple brings out over a 36-month period?

Thanks

Edit: One more point: As I mentioned earlier I use a Palm TX and a Treo 750 (WM 6) - any issues and/ or experience with using them with Macs? Thanks

Edit 2: I looked at the BootCamp and Parallels discussion on the forum. Very Interesting. I think I will need to go with BootCamp, though having Parallels also would not be a bad option. Now my question is I already have a copy of Office 2007 Ultimate (which I got through my university in the UK). Would it work (in terms of registration) on the Mac in both BootCamp and Parallels options? Thanks

 

"Hmmm...now that is very interesting! So, if I am not misunderstanding
you, you are saying that I can triple boot fon the MBP with no
resulting loss of performance? As I mentioned earlier, I do a lot of
writing and favour the MS Office (2007) Suite. So, I could use a Win
partition to use Office (from what I read, I understand that Office
running on OSX is not, well...native!); I could use the OSX partition
to do the design work and the basic emailing, and internet-related
work; and a possible tux-based partition to learn? Of course, I would
also use the Win partition to also play games (alternatively, I could
dedicate my existing PC-based laptop to the mid-level games that I
play - now not so frequently). If this conjecture is correct then I
guess I am sold!"

My kids play games on the Windows partition. My son uses Mac OSX most
of the time for his CS programming courses.

I use Mac OSX on mine when I'm on battery or doing Mac OSX
development. I use Windows when I'm in the office (the MacBook Pro
drives two external monitors and I have it hooked up to another laptop
and an additional external monitor using Synergy so that I have five
monitors to display information in the office controlled by one
keyboard-mouse pair). I don't run Linux but a guy at work does.

"In an earlier post you had mentioned some problems associated with the
graphics card. In a previous post above, I have listed the two basic
configs of the MBP that I can access in India. Are the graphics cards
indicated in the specs the problem ones?"

I got my MacBook Pro back from AppleCare yesterday. I ran a few ID
programs and it appears that the cpu/gpu are older - the CPU was
the original stepping, not the Merom G0 stepping and the GPU date
and revision information are the same as my older Penryn MBP from
February 2008. The computer works though but I don't think that I
got one of the new GPUs using the eutectic soldering method.

I'm not familiar with the models available in India.

"One Question: I also mentioned above that I use two Palm products -
the TX and the Treo 750. How do they work in the Mac environment? I
think there is a sw called Missing Synch or something like that for
the 750 (which is WinMob 6.0-based - don't know what happens with the
TX which is Garnet-based...hmmmm...will have to check that out!
Unfortunately, I am devoted to those two units - for better or for
worse, that is...!"

I have a Garmin iQue 3600 which is a Palm-based product but it's set
up with my Compaq Presario r3000z and I've been too lazy to try to
move it over. I would most likely just install it on the Windows
partition unless Palm had very good support. I've never looked into
their Mac OSX support.

"I looked at the BootCamp and Parallels discussion on the forum. Very
Interesting. I think I will need to go with BootCamp, though having
Parallels also would not be a bad option. Now my question is I already
have a copy of Office 2007 Ultimate (which I got through my university
in the UK). Would it work (in terms of registration) on the Mac in
both BootCamp and Parallels options? Thanks"

You could go with both if you can get the operating system software
for free. Microsoft has a program called DreamSparks that provides
selected software titles for free to university students studying in
the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), and they
include Windows Server 2003 in the list. But I think that you can only
install one copy. Our son is in this program and I've downloaded
Visual Studio 2005 for him but I haven't installed it on his system
yet. If WS2003 works, then it could be a nice way to install one free
Windows license.

 

I think I need to clarify what I said about Excel crashing. On a Mac, when an application crashes (like Excel) all that crashes is that application. The machine does not crash, and usually no other applications are impacted either. You simply restart the crashed application. No reboots or anything.

In the couple years I've been using OS X I have only had crashes that impacted other apps or required a reboot literally a handful of times. Applications like MS Office 2008 crash many time a week but just need to be restarted (and of course you often loose work because the auto save doesn't really - it writes to temp files that often get corrupted - the only foolproof save is exiting the file then reopening it). I've resorted to an hourly chime that reminds me to exit MS Office docs and get back in.

You can download a Palm Desktop for Mac for a Treo 750 and it works great.

 

Wow...thanks! Actually, after I posted that question about the Treo, I looked it up and yes, what you say is absolutely correct.

The frequent crashing of MS Office 2008 is worrisome. But I think that can be dealt with if I also have XP Pro on the MBP. I would have preferred to leave Windows aside when I move to the OSX platform, but I think I need to be realistic here. It makes things simpler that I do have a legit copy of XP Pro - so that is no problem.

Folks, I think I am sold! I will be getting a MBP in October first week! Of course I have my PC-based machine as a backup in case things go horribly wrong, which I suspect it wont. I wonder what the MAc world is like - it is one thing to discuss it and I am sure it is another to actually be immersed in that environment.

Thanks to all you folks for patiently and painstakingly helping me out here with your observations, insights and encouragement. I am deeply appreciative of your assistance. I will keep you folks posted on how my move to the MBP goes.

Cheers!

 

Hi and thanks for your detailed response. As I mentioned in the post above, I am sold on the idea of an MBP, which I will now get in October. Thanks for helping me out with your comments.

Cheers!

 

i hope my mbp on order won't have the defective nvidia chip... **** WHY NVIDIA WHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Lolzzz...yeah that is one of the things that I was/ am worried about too...but since I will be buying in October, I hope the issue is fixed...else it will be a case for the proverbial flip of the coin!

Cheers!

 

Glad you are going to make your MBP purchase. I don't think you should take only that previous poster's word about Microsoft Office 2008. I have yet to experience even one crash on Word or Excel. I don't use Entourage or Powerpoint because Apple's Mail and Keynote are better for me.

The main issues about Office 2008 is that it WAS slow. MS's latest update has greatly improved the launch times and performance, they finally listened to their customers and MS has been very good about software updates as well.
The only way you are going to gradually move away from Windows is to start buying Mac software especially when the software is the same such as Office. Just remember anyone with positive experiences generally don't post how great things are. Only people with complaints do go out of their way to scare off other people because their experience wasn't good.

When you see a lot of the same complaints it doesn't mean something is widespread, remember the people that are not having problems don't waste time posting. If you are considering buying MS Office then I am recommending you to try MS Office 2008. iWork comes presinstalled on new Macs for a 30 day trial.

 

Hidan is correct. One persons poor experience, or one persons good experience shared in these forums can only really show you the potential range of experience you may encounter. People tend do use these forums to solve issues, so there is a tendency to share more negative things than positive.

But these forums are a microcosm representative of the real world. Where there is smoke there is likely fire. So when so see a lot of complaints about something (like Office 2008's instability) you should be cautious.

While I still find Office 2008 pretty unstable it has been getting better with frequent and numerous updates. It still offers the best compatability of any Mac application and its is a pretty good value at $125 for a 3 user license. Between it and NeoOffice, I don't ever find the need to use Windows Office anymore.