<p>I always find the people who ignore others are the ones that show an inability to properly deal with society.</p>
<p>Alienware should be avoided at all cost.</p>
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<p>If you mean without buying an external blue-ray drive because Apple no longer includes optical drives by default, he’s correct.</p>
<p>However, the “no” answer is not absolute.</p>
<p>If you have a mac from the last few years and you can load blu-ray images on the hard drive/SSD and play them using a media player capable of blu-ray/DVD playback, blu-ray playback shouldn’t be an issue.</p>
<p><a href=“http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-20077240-263/blu-ray-playback-comes-to-os-x/[/url]”>http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-20077240-263/blu-ray-playback-comes-to-os-x/</a></p>
<p>There are also ways to enable blu-ray playback on the open-source VLC media player.</p>
<p>You could even pirate it and it would work. I don’t advocate that, but it’s an indication that BluRay is a medium it is not the file itself. The file can be played on anything that can read it.</p>
<p>interesting. So far the only negative for Mac are price and lack of gaming power…</p>
<p>Sent from my LG-VM696 using CC</p>
<p>Well there’s also the interface. That being said, you don’t usually use a laptop for gaming barring special circumstances.</p>
<p>Price is not a negative if you compare specs and build quality. Apple doesn’t make low-end products. You can spend less if you want. I would not imagine a laptop as a top gaming machine, but even then the standards of what is good for gaming have changed so much. Not many years ago, you needed a lot of computer to play games with sufficient frame rate and fully enabled options. Not now. </p>
<p>To be clear about blu-ray, I can play it. I can’t stick a disk in but I can download blu-ray movies and play them in software.</p>
<p>^ ^</p>
<p>Agree with the above about Apple for the most part. I just wished they didn’t start sealing the notebook battery inside the Macbook Pros like they did with the macbooks. </p>
<p>That’s so much like what OEMs do with consumer-level notebooks and detrimental for good battery management to maximize the usable life of the battery.</p>
<p>I no longer understand why people need to argue about this stuff. Any modern machine is powerful enough. The Mac/PC stuff is nothing now. Build quality, screen, etc. improve as you pay more but that’s about it. The rest is personal choice.</p>
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<p>With the exception of Sony which IME is pricy and crappy, IME…you really get what you paid for.</p>
<p>Graphics cards and processors.</p>
<p>What are some specific laptop recommendation? The name of the laptops of course.</p>
<p>Sent from my LG-VM696 using CC</p>
<p>we all have macs in this household as primary computers. </p>
<p>I do not run a dual platform on any of my macs, although I do at the labs at work.</p>
<p>I must also buy a cheap pc every now and then because my work projects require Office 2010. </p>
<p>I would research the exact software and versions needed for my coursework before making a decision</p>
<p>Well this wasn’t much help.
I wanted actual laptops names and recommendation and not just get a Mac/PC or name brand.</p>
<p>Sent from my LG-VM696 using CC</p>
<p>I buy the cheapest laptop I can buy…I find the one that is on clearance and don’t worry about brands too much. The last few laptops have been manufactured by Toshiba and they have been just fine for my needs. I don’t invest in any antivirus software, I just use them until they crash. That means I am diligent about backing up all files. I usually get three to four years out of my laptops…the last Toshiba I purchased was clearance priced at around $300 and it has been fine…runs all the software I need…</p>
<p>I don’t price is an issue here. Most of the laptops I have in mind are not under $500 anyway</p>
<p>Sent from my LG-VM696 using CC</p>
<p>[url=<a href="CNET: Product reviews, advice, how-tos and the latest news[/url</a>] a link of interest from CNET. Windows services company’s PC “frustration” index says MacBook is best Windows laptop.</p>
<p>Just got my first Mac, a Macbook Pro with Retina display, yesterday. So far I absolutely love it. I am still learning the nuances of it but it is fairly user friendly. I think I will be a full convert very soon. </p>
<p>I previously had a dell laptop and desktop.</p>
<p>If I get a Mac, what would be the cost of getting all the Microsoft offices, and engineering software?</p>
<p>Sent from my LG-VM696 using CC</p>
<p>Did you check if your school provides the software for free?</p>
<p>If you get a Mac, I’d recommend getting a Windows license to run in a virtual machine and then just install and run Windows software on the VM.</p>