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    thinking of getting a mac

    Discussion in 'Apple and Mac OS X' started by huntnplay, Jan 10, 2008.

  1. huntnplay

    huntnplay Notebook Enthusiast

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    hi guys, i own a sony vaio fe series, and been using it for 1.5yrs, great system, but i have had to ocassionally format it, or reinstall stuff if it doesn't work. i have my eyes on a mac, but have never tried it, i just see so many people at my university using a mac. can i do pretty much everything that I do on windows on a mac, i dont play games. r there plenty of softwares available for mac? i like to watch videos a lot on the sony vaio, the screen is brilliant, r all formats of videos easily playable on the mac? and im thinking my vaio warranty will end this august, and i will get a mac sometime then.
     
    huntnplay, Jan 10, 2008
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  2. John B

    John B Notebook Prophet

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    John B, Jan 10, 2008
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  3. Sam

    Sam Notebook Virtuoso

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    Hi huntnplay,

    Most major software has a Mac version or equivalent by now, can you list around what type of software you'll need or be using?

    As for video, yes, most video codecs are supported through Quicktime, iTunes, VLC and DivX Player. .AVI, .MOV, .MP4, .WMV, etc. What formats are you using?
     
    Sam, Jan 10, 2008
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  4. Arquis

    Arquis Kojima Worshiper

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    Most of the programs worth owning are on Mac now. However, there are of course stuff that, for whatever reason, arent available. Mostly games, but you might run into something you really need/want that isn't available for OS X. A personal example would be that I needed a program called SimNet for a class, but there was no Mac version, so I simply needed Windows. Lucky enough, I already had Windows installed on my Mac.

    As far as multimedia goes, as Sam said, you'll find a program for Mac that will run any type. It shouldn't be an issue.
     
    Arquis, Jan 10, 2008
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  5. minxshin

    minxshin Notebook Consultant NBR Reviewer

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    The only type of video I have trouble playing on my 2.2 MBP is 1080p .MKV files. It stutters like mad and Shuts down if I try to seek. VLC is the best program for those files, but it still chugs like mad on a mac. Other than that, playback is not an issue.
     
    minxshin, Jan 10, 2008
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  6. huntnplay

    huntnplay Notebook Enthusiast

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    thanks guys. but did you guys feel its worth it for the price. its substantially high, when compared to other laptops that run windows, have better graphics card, and bigger screens. i was just looking at macbook, and it runs around $1500 for the black one with 160gb, and the others too, everything about $1000.
     
    huntnplay, Jan 10, 2008
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  7. Arquis

    Arquis Kojima Worshiper

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    Well. If you need OS X and certain Apple-only programs, then yes it's worth it, because it's basically this, or nothing at all. But if you're getting it just for the hell of it, maybe not so much, unless you're willing to shell out just to have a thin laptop and dabble a bit in OS X.
     
    Arquis, Jan 10, 2008
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  8. drpoi

    drpoi Notebook Guru

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    Hi Huntnplay,

    For the use you describe a basic Macbook looks ok to me. Even if you upgrade the hard drive to 160gb it would be around $1250. When I switched I had the same kind of questions as you have and have to admit that I haven't felt limited at all. All major software has a Mac version. For video playback, forget about codecs. Forget blue screens and drivers and, more importantly, forget having to reinstall your OS every 6 months.

    DrPoi
     
    drpoi, Jan 12, 2008
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