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Hi all,

I've been lurking and browsing here for the last month, but I've got some questions to ask before jumping head first into this Mac thing. I bought my fiancee a Macbook last month and she's loving it so much I'm considering a Pro for my own needs.

Here's what I do/need a computer for, in random order:
- Sun Solaris support via vpn, ssh, etc. From what I gather, OSX runs a Unix kernel below the fancy GUI, will I be able to tunnel an X session through SSH to the laptop? Is there an ssh client available? sftp client? I'm using WinSCP on my Windows box.. Can I run Solaris 10 with Parallels?
- Gaming. WoW is pretty much all I play. I'm too old for other first person shooters and I lack the twitch reflexes most kids these days have.. from other posts I understand WoW is playable.
- Photo Editing. I do quite a bit of photo editing with Photoshop on my current 7 year old PC. However with CS3 it's always crashing for some unknown reason.
- Web surfing, including news, email, etc. Is there a good NNTP client for the Mac? I'm using Xnews on the PC, is there something that supports yEnc, PAR2 files, etc. on the Mac? Perhaps I'll keep running XP in a container for those Windows apps. Does running Parallels or VMWare impact battery life?

For the MBP screen, here's my options:
MacBook Pro 17-inch Widescreen Display
MacBook Pro 17-inch Glossy Widescreen Display
MacBook Pro 17-inch Hi-Resolution Glossy LED Widescreen Display [Add $92]
MacBook Pro 17-inch Hi-Resolution LED Widescreen Display [Add $92]
or in 15":
MacBook Pro 15-inch Widescreen Display
MacBook Pro 15-inch Glossy Widescreen Display

Is the 15" screen non-LED? Is Glossy better than Matte?

The price difference between 15" and 17" is $275. Is it worth the $275 to upgrade? I'm thinking "no" as I already have a 24" for when the Mac is at home, and the 15" will be lighter for when I'm commuting.. thoughts?

Is there a docking station or port replicator? Would be much easier to pop it out and be able to commute instead of unplugging a keyboard, mouse, dvi, network cable, usb cables, etc...

I have a 24" widescreen at home, will the MBP's graphics card be able to drive this display at 1920x1200?

I'm using a Microsoft ergonomic keyboard (usb interface) - can I use this on the MBP?

And lastly, Future Shop is having a sale on last generation MBP's (assuming they're clearing them out to prepare for the new ones to arrive):
MB895LL/A $1800
MB896LL/A $2000
MA897LL/A $2600
and we get the following prices for the MBP
MB133LL/A $1931
MB134LL/A $2391
MB166LL/A $2667
For the price, the Santa Rosa 15" MBP seems to be a good deal. Were the improvements on the new Penryn MBP's significant enough to warrant spending $400 more for the upgrades?

So many questions.. be gentle.

Thanks in advance,

 

Welcome to NBR, Silv!

On the unix stuff, yes, Yes and YES! The ssh client on the MB works transparently with any host you want to log into. You should be able to start x apps over there and export display to your MB as well (though I haven't proven this to myself 100% just yet). The Penryn improvements center around power consumption and speed. The new MB and MBP are faster and run cooler. There is slightly less L2 cache on some of the new models but the reviewers agree that this is more than made up for by the faster CPU.

I'm running on a whitebook+ ($1300 model) and it fits my needs just fine. I tend to bottom-feed when it comes to pc's and there isn't much of a chance to do that on Mac as even used prices tend to run a little high. If you think you need more ports, the MBP is better as it gives you a second firewire and a slot that is compatible with cellular wireless cards. I wouldn't assume you need a MBP, especially for unix shell stuff and running an x server. Some say the MBP looks better. For me, cost is more important than looks which is why I happily carry around my whitebook that screams "I paid less". That's fine. My current MB specs are faster than the MBP Santa Rosa specs. 2 gig ram, 160 gig hdd, 2.4 Ghz cpu. I upgraded from a Santa Rosa which I was lucky enough to have bought just a week before Penryn so for the price of restocking I doubled RAM and HDD as well as picked up 10% more CPU and lowered operating temp. Not a bad deal at all.

NNTP? I'm not sure where, but I'm sure you can get it.

Solaris. Those were the days. Before I got Linux I had Solaris. We used to call Openwindows Brokenwindows.

I don't run parallels or vmware. I'm M$ free right now. I have heard that running Windows, even in a container can affect battery life. If I did run it, I'd renice the heck out of it.

I'm sure you can use the M$ keyboard, but you will need to do some testing to find out which key is command, option and control. One or more of these might even turn up missing on the M$ keyboard You might want to give some thought to allowing your hands to come back together. One of the things I like most about Apple is the design of their keyboards, whether for the desktops for for the MB models. I haven't spent a lot of time with MBP, but I like my MB keyboard better than I like any of the MBP keyboards.

 

I love my 15" Penryn for 1999.

 

Welcome aboard, Silv.

I'm with commish; my machine is a 15" MBP, and I believe this machine would serve you well, especially if you intend to photo edit on an external 24" monitor.

My own choice for the screen would be glossy, but I never take my laptop from the house. If I were to use it outside on a bright day, I'd probably wish I had a matte screen.

Aside from your question about Solaris, about which I know absolutely nothing (if you see this, go ahead, laugh, swarmer! ), I think any Mac notebook would suit your needs, though the MBP, no doubt, would do a better job with Wow. Not absolutely sure, but think the MB would even drive your external monitor. IIRC, during my last visit to the local Apple Store, a MB was connected to a 23" ACD. Text and graphics were both excellent.

Since rOk covered the rest of your questions so well, I'll just end by saying, "Good luck and enjoy!"

 

Well I've now run Wow on the Macbook Air , Macbook and Macbook Pro and I have to say once you are in outlands the only one that gives you perfect frame-rates is the MBP. I'd go for the 15" with the 256 Mb card... and yes the 17" is not worth it and the 512 card you'll never use it to it's full potential so grab the new penryn 15" with 256 Mb card and your golden

 

Yes, Parallels and VMWare can run Solaris.

I actually loaded up S10 for old time sakes. I wanted to play with the old XWindows they used. Ugly as sin The java front end of it ran extremely smooth. I wonder if they used the real time Java API, but I doubt it.

You can use any keyboard. I was using a MS wireless keyboard. I don't remember if the windows key became the apple key or not (I don't use it much). But it will work.