Nichole

Actually, I believe that apple has found that a mac is much harder to hack. They had a hacking competition not too long ago to see who could break into the macs...and only one vulnerability was found which was fixed immediately. So they are supposed to be more secure overall.

Just what I've heard.

snowyx1535

I'm going to buy a mac for college. at first I was going to buy a dell, which looks hideous and bulky. mac is much sleeker and compact.

unfortunately I have to wait till october when the leopard comes out. anyone going to buy a mac before that?

Do people usually buy it online or in store, how does that affect the student discount and free ipod?

fhqwgads2005

I think Mac's are better now since they use Intel processors, and aren't so dammn slow.

Nichole

I bought mine in an official apple store....which meant that I could still get the student discount.

I bought a mac before this October...just got mine last month. Definitely couldn't have lived without a computer from August till October, lol.

HelloKiki

Actually, one downside to getting the BTO white one is that Apple BTO used to take FOREVER! It might be faster now, though.

AceRockolla

glossy screens don't do much worse under sunlight than the normal screens, btw. you wouldn't think so, but research into it. http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=202306

i just don't think 365 dollars is worth a graphics card and a bigger screen. every thing else about the two laptops is pretty much the same. i.e.the processor speed difference is so miniscule, there would be no noticeable difference at all.

futurenyustudent

Uh I know how to take care of a PC. But I'm stuck at home with 2 other windows PCs, and frankly, it's a pain in the ass. And macs look SO much better. I'd give mac the edge just because it's a pain in the ass to use windows, but for a lot of people, learning OS X is also a pain. But hey, those pains were totally worth it for me. Think about it, trade 2 days of unfamiliarity for 4 years of comfort and peace of mind.

GoldShadow

PC PC PC PC PC PC PC PC

no explanation, just trust me on this one. PCs are only bad if you don't know how to use them.

futurenyustudent

I personally prefer the pro, but that's because my old laptop had a 15" screen and to get a smaller screen seemed like a downgrade to me. Anyways the pro is only like 1" wider and bigger than the macbook. That's really not worth the difference in screen size. Plus I heard the macbook speakers aren't that great.

troubadour

Macs are not more expensive. Apple just doesn't sell the Wall-mart type models that most PC makers sell.

1of42

troubador: Apple's build quality is good, but much (most) of the cost sunk in to Apple's laptops is for the looks and design features of the laptop's structure itself, not the internals of the computer, nor the actual sturdiness of the laptop (though they are very sturdy).

Back up your assertion that most PC makers make Walmart-type computers.

Nichole: You're misinformed. That was a first past the post hacking competition. It ended after the first successful hack, which according to its perpetrator took 30 minutes tops. Mac security is definitely better than Windows, but the oft-stated opinion that Windows is less secure because it's a bigger target is definitely true. Mac OS X has lots of unpublished exploits, but because people aren't as bothered about exploiting the weaknesses they don't get much press time. Trust me, if MacOS had the huge market share Windows does now, the situation for the Mac would be similar, though maybe not quite as severe. (Source: http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/0,1...9256036,00.htm) Note especially in the site I posted this quote: "'Mac OS X is easy pickings for bug finders. That said, it doesn't have the market share to really interest most serious bug finders,' Gwerdna added." Also note:

"'The only thing which has kept Mac OS X relatively safe up until now is the fact that the market share is significantly lower than that of Microsoft Windows or the more common Unix platforms... If this situation was to change, in my opinion, things could be a lot worse on Mac OS X than they currently are on other operating systems,' Archibald said at the time."

The problem with threads like this is you get a bunch of computer-illiterate people saying Macs are great, a bunch more somewhat more computer-literate people who prefer Windows (with a few Mac people), then another level of competency upwards where it's a mix of Windows and Linux, mainly, with some Apple users who use for OS design features that don't include "ease" or looks, and then finally a level of power users who make their decision based on deeper, more meaningful features of an OS, and its raw abilities.

You can almost always place people into categories based on their response to this question, and the answers they give.

UCLAri

I disagree. Even though Apple DOES make sure to make your laptop attractive enough that it's not an eyesore (think of the big Dells), part of the cost differential is in Mac OS X and the whole "Apple experience.

1of42,

I don't disagree, but I disagree that power users are a good benchmark.

The average consumer of a computer, like an average automobile driver, doesn't give a hoot about the internals. They want it to work. Some of us enjoy tinkering "under the hood," so to speak, and learn Python. Some of us would rather just put gas in the engine and go.

I suspect more people are in the latter category. Even if Toyotas aren't necessarily the most sophisticated cars on the market, they are reliable and do what most people want (get from point A to point B.) Macs are the same, in a lot of ways.

Sure, if you know cars, you know that there is actually a lot of beauty under the hood of a Toyota. But most people don't know a spark plug from a samoflange, and don't care to know. Whether an OS is easy to use DOES matter.

I also think that a lot of Mac users are pretty savvy users. Just because they don't have to deal with .dll's doesn't mean that they're illiterate. They're just blessed.

California-Bolt

Do regular Macbooks come with DVD players?

1of42

UCLAri: I didn't say that we should base comparisons off power users or that they were a better benchmark. It is my opinion that they are, because frankly if somebody doesn't know what they're talking about, just because there's a lot of people like them thinking the same thing doesn't make them right. I have no problem with people stating their opinions on this debate from their point of view when it's brought up, but I think it's disingenuous when those same people make it appear that they're speaking from a position other than that of a person with little knowledge of the intricacies of operating systems, or the comparative advantages of each OS. If those people (many of whom have posted in this thread) posted "Disclaimer: I know little about computers; this post is my own, more or less superficial opinion based on ease of use, etc." to their posts, I'd take them much more seriously.

As for your disagreement regarding where most of the cost for a Mac comes from, that's valid. The only thing is, though, OSX isn't exactly a costly OS (think the comparison to Windows Vista Ultimate, which is far more expensive and comes pre-installed on Dells), so that can't be the source of the cost. I entirely agree with you that the main cost differential is in the "Apple experience", but the superficiality of that was what I was trying to get at with regards to the looks of the computers.

colegePLEASE

i just got a 15" Mac Book Pro, Glossy Screen, 3GB Memory, 200GB HD

it's the best computer i've ever had, and is compatable with my work and school