my doubts concerning the macbook

I like the macbook because it comes well equipped for its price but let me tell you my doubts about the macbook:
Can I connect to non apple wireless networks?
Can I use my Logitech wireless mouse and keyboard made for windows?
Can I use my external hard drive that is like 4 years old and made for windows?
IS the macbook tough enough? it seems fragile
I live with windows users, can we share files with no problems? And i work with computers that have XP, can I work on them with my mac word files using a usb memory stick?

Thanks a lot if you can help me out

 

Connection to networks is not a problem. Sharing files in a workgroup with windows PCs works too. But login onto a windows domain doesnt work (I think)

Logitech supports mac and has mac driver.

USB hard disk? yes that should work. but if it is formated in NTFS you can only read and not write to it.

Sharing files is pretty easy. Office 2004 uses the same format as Office 2003 in windows. A USB memory stick will work yes. OSX can read and write to FAT32 (I think all memory sticks are FAT32)

 

i answered your ques. by editing the quote

 

You can do everything you mentioned. As for the external hard drive, when it says it is made for Windows, that could mean a couple things. One, it may be formatted in NTFS, which is no big deal, just format it to FAT32 or HFS+ if you want to read/write to it with the Mac. It also could mean that if it came with some software, the software won't work in OS X. However, that software is usually junk and does not work right anyway.

 

Actually you can get Macs to access Server 2k3 and log into Active Directory and pull preferences from an OS X server.

 

agreed. "apple wireless network" is the same 802.11 network that any pc uses. connecting to it works the same exact way.

a pc can also connect to your so-called "apple wireless network"

your mouse and keyboard will work fine.

your external hard drive might need to be reformatted if you want to be able to read and write to it. if its already formatted in fat32, (if its more than 30 gigs, then its NOT fat32) then you are fine. otherwise, you will have to lose the data on the hard drive before you can use it.

 

OS X supports logging into Windows Active Directory domains.

 

Thanks so much for your quick answers!!
My external hard drive is 160 gigs and im not sure what format it is. But if I run XP with parallel desktop I could acces the external hard drive, right? and any compatibility problem could be solved using paralel desktop?

 

If its 160gb and one partition its NTFS. Fat32 has a max of 32GB.

 

thanks wave, could I transfer files through xp using parallel desktop?

 

Regarding the durability; the MacBook in particular was really designed with durability in mind, and that legacy stretches back to the iBook, which was primarily designed to be able to take abuse from schoolchildren over the course of multiple school years.

Is there anything in particular about it that made you feel it was fragile?

 

Well the screen feels a bit loose and it looks fragile in general also the white colour will get dirty really fast in my case

 

I hate to disagree but I find the opposite to be true. Sorry but when I look at my Macbook durability is definitely NOT one of the things that comes to mind. It's fairly well constructed, but it's certainly nothing special. Thinkpads are built FAR better in terms of ruggedness and durability.

 

Well obviously. So are the MacBook Pro's. The MacBook is intented for consumers. It does have probably the best build quality of any other consumer notebooks out there.

 

I don't agree with that, they are well built but there are better build notebook out there.

 

Well, he did qualify it with "consumer" - so that'd take all the Latitudes, Thinkpads and whatnot out of the comparison...

Even so, for 13", there's pretty stiff competition out there from consumer lines though, such as the Asus W7, the Dell XPS m1330, the soon-to-be Asus U3, etc. Actually, didn't Asus make the Macbook chassis?

As to external partitions, I think the 32GB limit only applies to Windows's limit when creating partitions; the actual limit for a volume to exist as a FAT32 is substantially larger. 3rd party software lets you format partitions larger than 32GB, and many external drives come factory-formated in in a single FAT32 partition bigger than 32GB.

 

I have a 250 GB external drive. My MBP can read and write to it. Can anyone tell me what it's formatted as?

 

This is true. However, with those larger partitions, the cluster size doubles to 32k, which wastes hard disk space when you have a lot of small files.

Probably HFS(+) or ext2.

 

I'm still curious about why though. Not necessarily comparing to a ThinkPad, but what is it about your MacBook that you do not feel it is durable?

I've generally always been pretty impressed with the construction of the MacBooks. I mean, I've never seen ones t hat seemed to be falling apart, etc. and they've felt fairly solid to me.

So why don't you feel your own MacBook is durable? Are parts of it falling apart, is there a lot of flex, loose hinges, etc.?

-Zadillo

 

I've always been good about taking as much care of my laptops as possible. That said, sometimes the Macbook just feels downright flimsy.

Granted, I'm coming from a Thinkpad. Still, when I have my laptop open with the screen at a normally tilted angle, and then pick up my laptop, the screen should not sag downwards from just picking the damn thing up. I don't know why but this irritates me quite a bit, it just feels like it's made very cheaply.

Also, on the left side of my laptop, right around the second screw from the front, the side plastic is loose against the top. It's not that bad, but if you push it inwards you can easily see it move a mm or two. And no, the screw does not simply need to be tightened, I've tried to tighten it and it's already as tight as it will ever be. I have never dropped it or banged it or anything, I've always been very careful with it. It's just flimsy and cheap compared to other laptops in its price range.

And that's the other thing, I don't care who it's supposedly "marketed for," this means nothing. What matters is how much it costs. If you can get a Thinkpad or Latitude for the same price (which you easily can) then it's absolutely comparable.

 

That first issue doesn't sound normal to me; I've seen plenty of MacBooks where the screen doesn't move, etc. when it is picked up. Kind of sounds like the hinge is looser than it should be.

The second issue also sounds like a defect to me. I've heard of other people getting Apple to replace/fix things like that, so if it bothers you, I am almost positive they should be able to fix it under AppleCare.

Honestly, neither of those things are "typical" to the MacBook, and I think Apple would fix both of them for you.

 

I don't have Applecare, and even if I did I wouldn't bother bringing it in for something like that.. Like I said, it's not that bad, I just think it's indicative of the build quality, which I think overall is merely okay, not omg best consumer-level build quality evar. It's just... alright.

And the screen hinge is not defective, it's clear that this is just the way it is by design. It won't ALWAYS do this when lifting it, but it happens enough to be irritating. I imagine that it's just a matter of how quickly it's lifted. Regardless, my Thinkpad NEVER did this, even slightly.

 

I agree that for its price the macbook could be a bit more 'heavy duty'. Im starting to get excited about buying one but im still not sure, I'm very used to windows and my university computers and networks evolve around windows...
Im still confused should I buy the macbook tomorrow or not? No one answered my question about parallel desktop, how good is it for compatibility issues and one more thing: Where should I buy online (cheap, good and trustworthy) an extra GB of memory for the macbook? Thanks guys you all know a lot more than me about laptops and mac!

 

Yes but ThinkPad's don't run OS X. Most people buying the Macbooks do intend to use OS X unless your intention was different that comparison doesn't count.

 

I always like to see new and potential Mac users and love helping them with questions about their new baby but this is a decision you need to make on your own. We can't force you to purchase the Macbook however I will leave one note on the table for you. Ask yourself, "Am I really going to use OS X"? If the answer is "I may play with it but that's it" or " I really want the Macbook for it's looks and I am going to use Windows nearly full time" then this is the wrong purchase to make.

You shouldn't have to use Windows because you live with Windows users. Change is good and you'd be surprised how great it is once you try but a Mac is a Mac and the OS and the hardware make it what it is and it's best to use it if you are going to buy it.

Secondly, Parallels desktop is fantastic, runs near full speed and you will barely tell the difference in performance when comparing it to many PC's. However they just updated it for 3D gaming but if you want to game bootcamp is the "guaranteed" way to get a good gaming experience along with drivers. Use Parallels for most complex Windows software but gaming should be left to bootcamp.
Crucial, Other World Computing and Ram Jet have great memory prices. Ram Jet offers the best quality ram as I have never had bad memory from them.

 

O ok so the Macbook has absolutely zero competition, must be nice.

I got my Macbook fully prepared to use XP on it 90% of the time, but with the intention of using OS X as much as possible.

I installed XP on it via BootCamp and used it to do things I didn't know how to do yet in OS X as I was learning its basics, but within a week or so I pretty much stopped using XP completely. I'll still always have Windows on my Macbook (I wouldn't have even considered a Mac if couldn't), but generally the more I've used OS X the more I've liked it (save for some annoyances).

As for the RAM, I'd just get it at Newegg.

 

Don't forget to properly "eject" the drive before disconnecting from it. Bad things happen if you don't. Don't ask me why I know this.

 

You're quite a comical guy however I think you knew what I meant. Actually in terms of this situation the Macbook DOES have zero competition. Reason being (and my previous point) is that if someone is even considering buying a Think Pad then they have no intention of using OS X because they can't.

 

True, however, I don't believe your average shopper in the market for a laptop is coming from that direction. Yes, most of Apple's computer sales are to repeat customers, because Apple has managed to create somewhat of its own niche market with a small but dedicated following.

But to the average Joe looking for a laptop, he is most likely not thinking, "I want a computer running [insert OS]" He's just thinking that he wants a computer, and is going to decide based on the price, style, size, etc.

Maybe I'm a being a bit too pragmatic about it, but I'm looking at it strictly from a price to benefit ratio, not from an Apple fanboi perspective.

 

Your average Joe is going to be stuck with nothing better than a Dell Inspiron. He will never have heard of LG or Asus or any of the better companies out there. I'm sure he'd have heard of Apple, but probably wouldn't ever seriously consider one. He *may* have heard of Thinkpads, but probably not of Lenovo. If he breaks from the mold by even a little, it would probably be to get a HP instead of a Dell because the guy wearing the store nametag in the laptop aisle pointed out one to him, and even then he'd probably lose sleep wondering if he picked something not quite mainstream enough because all his friends would have Dells

Hopefully we're moving a bit beyond that here though.

 

Actually, I want to correct that: in fact, in Apple's total sales this past year (that means everything from resellers to Apple Retail to Apple Online Store, just everything), 50% of them are to customers who've never owned a Mac. So its true that Mac users tend to stay Mac users, but right now half the sales are to switchers.

 

Like me.

 

Surfacewound (BTW great name), I don't see where your posting is relevant to what I wrote. The OP mentioned that his concerns about the Macbook are due to durability. If not you then someone else mentioned the Think Pads were more durable. I just mentioned, yes but you can't run OS X on them. What's your posting about the average Joe looking for a cheap laptop have to with that?

 

Thank you Sam, I was going to mention that half of this forum are new Mac users who are switchers.

 

My point was that I don't think that just because a Thinkpad isn't able to run OS X that makes it non-comparable. They're both laptops in the similar price range, both capable of the same things, albeit a bit differently.

So the average Joe doesn't care that a Thinkpad can't run OS X, he just cares if he can accomplish what he wants to with it.

 

True, however at this point the average Joe won't care about durability if he's just looking for a "laptop" which is not what the topic of this thread is about. The OP's Macbook doesn't feel durable to him, you can't tell him,"Well the Think Pads are more durable". The OP already knows what he's bought and he is using OS X. The posting is not a general concern involving anyone(which at this point your post would be make more sense) it's only concerning the OP.

 

Wait, so the OP has bought a Macbook?

I re-read the original post, and it still looks to me like he's considering a Macbook and has played with one a bit in a store, but has a few concerns he wants to clarify first, hence this thread... this thread seems kinda pointless if he already bought one...

 

Sorry, my bad he didn't say he bought it already.

 

Hi guys yesterday i bought myself a macbook white with 2.16 ghz and 1 GB of memory for $1300. Ok Im very happy with my purchase, the mac feels excellent, I still haven't installed XP because im liking a lot the mac OS. Thanks to your advice I got it. It already crashed once BTW... that and how it overheats in the left bottom part are my only concerns, I guess all the macbooks overheat

 

Well congrats robinho! Yes, the left bottom part is where the MacBook gets hot, but its normal and every notebook gets hot nowadays.

 

Congrats! I'm sure you will have years of enjoyment. Could you please further explain what actually happened when the Mac OS X system crashed? Sometimes people say it crashed but they never say what actually happened. Not everything is a crash even if it may seem that way. Please let us know.

 

I installed azureus for torrents and accidentally put it in the trash. Then I clicked on the azureus icon and the computer crashed and said it had to shut down

 

Oh, well it is beta software which can attribute to crashing your system and I read the reviews on Versiontracker that Azureus has been having issues. I would really recommend trying "Transmission". I think it's the best bit torrent program. Never had a problem with it.

 

What do you mean it's beta software? It's up to version 3 something, and it's always worked perfectly fine for me.

I think OS X just crapped out because he accidentally tried to do something you can't do (run a program that's been deleted).

 

Yeah, still sort of unusual though (that it didn't just error out and say the app was in the trash and couldn't be run). I wonder if it can be replicated.

 

Well, yes that's most likely the case but I checked on Versiontracker and the latest version of Azureus is still in beta. The developer website mentions it as well. I haven't used it so I have nothing against Azureus.

 

Hrm.. I just checked out the web site and the latest version is 3.0.1.6, and made no mention anywhere of it being in beta. It'd be weird for something to be up to that version and still be in beta (unless it's a Google app ).

 

If you look at the top of the screen to the right on the Azureus website you will see the word in small print "beta". It doesn't matter if it's version 3 it can still be beta, Safari 3 is in beta.

 

Actually that's a link, and if you click it, it will take you to... the beta (3.0.1.7).

 

..that's actually a link that takes you to the latest beta version of Azureus The main versions of Azureus/Vuze are 2.5 and 3.0 respectively.

Both Azureus 2.5 and 3.0 (Vuze) on the main page are fully released and gold. There are always beta and nightlies out often though.

Maybe it was some random java thing crapping out when you tried to run a nonexistent App?

Azureus is...a horrible program. There aren't many choices for bitorrent for OSX though

You're basically stuck between Azureus (bloated, lots of unnecessary stuff they try to sell you, in java, nonstandard DHT etc.), Transmission (lacking important options, slow speed, blacklisted from my trackers for abusive announcing, etc.), xtorrent (you have to pay for this...wtf? ), tomato (horrible interface), or bitorrent (why would anyone use this?)

Hopefully utorrent will finish its OSX version soon.