want notebook, apple yes/no ???
hi!
for quite a time i am thinking about buiing a notebook.
some in formations first:
so far i have only been using windows-pc.s
i am studiing mathematics at university in vienna, austria, so there are only a few programs which i really need for work, such as "mathematica" "latex" "maple" and of course some kind of word processing...
the rest of the time i would use the notebook for private fun, i've heard that apple's multimediaprograms are quite nice in usage and that exactly matches my private interests, digital foto, a little movie cutting and music
so far is it in my place adviseable to take a closer look to appleproducts?
one thing i've also heard abot apple is that all programs are designed very clearly for simple use, the entire system works very save.... these are points which really appeal to me, because my years as a windows-user were constantly determined by huge problems in building solid hard- and software and so far i didn't really like that...
so what can i really expect, refering to hardware and software, when i buy an ibook or powerbook?
that's it so far,
thanks for answering, in advance!
for quite a time i am thinking about buiing a notebook.
some in formations first:
so far i have only been using windows-pc.s
i am studiing mathematics at university in vienna, austria, so there are only a few programs which i really need for work, such as "mathematica" "latex" "maple" and of course some kind of word processing...
the rest of the time i would use the notebook for private fun, i've heard that apple's multimediaprograms are quite nice in usage and that exactly matches my private interests, digital foto, a little movie cutting and music
so far is it in my place adviseable to take a closer look to appleproducts?
one thing i've also heard abot apple is that all programs are designed very clearly for simple use, the entire system works very save.... these are points which really appeal to me, because my years as a windows-user were constantly determined by huge problems in building solid hard- and software and so far i didn't really like that...
so what can i really expect, refering to hardware and software, when i buy an ibook or powerbook?
that's it so far,
thanks for answering, in advance!
Comments
why don't i get any replies ?
Originally posted by crixxx
am i doin something wrong ?
why don't i get any replies ?
Nope, we're all here. This place loves switchers.
I know for a fact that Mathematica and Maple run on macs, as I've used them both many times. I really can't recommend a macintosh enough.
It really all boils down to (at least for me), what you want your computer for. Do you want to use it to get work done elegantly with as little fuss as possible? Or do you like fiddling with virus definitions, esoteric file names, and an inscrutable architecture?
Seriously though, especially if you get a laptop, no other computer manufacturerer offers a machine as consistently high quality as a macintosh.
Mathematica and Maple are both available on the Apple platform.
http://www.apple.com/science/applica...iscipline.html
LaTeX can be acquired via fink (fink.sourceforge.net), and there's a nice program to assist with TeX called TeXShop.
http://www.uoregon.edu/~koch/texshop/texshop.html
MS Office is native on the Mac, and pretty decent too.
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/product...pid=office2004
Apple's iLife is usually rated highly in many publications and newspapers for ease of use, clean interface, and multimedia capability... see here for a review on the latest version (links to each individual product review are in the right navigation box:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1756088,00.asp
Apple's hardware is typically of very good build quality - if you have a store that carries Apple computers around you can see this firsthand. They're not necessarily the fastest computers on the market, but they certainly handle many things well, and the operating system is excellent at multitasking.
but there are some questions which come to my mind again and again
is it really worth, buiing a system with an average price of 150% considerung "normal" pc-hardware?
how will the change from windows to apple work? difficulties? will i manage it by myself?
how do appleproducts act together with other systems?
many say tha apple is firstly for grafic jobs very nice, but i didn't hear very much about other interests...
and once again, does that huge invest make sense ?
how can i handle the following info: for example the powerbookG4 has 1.6GHz, the newest generation of other producers have aa double sized frequency, so that means what ???
in one other post someone asks if he/she should wait for the new powerbook generation, so is there any announcement or something like that, that soon a new generation will come? i thought these G4powerbooks are quite new ???
one more time THANKS A LOT FOR YOUR REPLIES !
Originally posted by crixxx
some more questions:
how can i handle the following info: for example the powerbookG4 has 1.6GHz, the newest generation of other producers have aa double sized frequency, so that means what ???
in one other post someone asks if he/she should wait for the new powerbook generation, so is there any announcement or something like that, that soon a new generation will come? i thought these G4powerbooks are quite new ???
one more time THANKS A LOT FOR YOUR REPLIES !
yes go switch
pc's are running faster currently however the mac runs "better" as it is running under unix each program occupies a piece of the entire memory and if in the unlikely event of a program failure that failure doesn't bring down the whole system. Also, apple customer support is the best. I had a total harddrive crash on Monday at 11:00am by 2:00pm my powerbook was in for repair. At 1:00pm yesterday i recieved a call telling me to pick up my powerbook. No charge, No problem. All software and data back into brand new harddrive by 8:00pm yesterday.
Also, Mac's keep thier value longer so if and when the next iteration of powerbooks come out you could sell your existing powerbook and buy another. Older macs will continue to run newer versions of the OS for years to come.
All in all worth the switch.
Originally posted by crixxx
but this repair service... is that the care protection which once more costs a few hundret ?
There's an extended warranty that is extra... but the PB does have a 1 year warranty to cover any hardware issues.
The people waiting for a newer generation of PB will be waiting a while. Don't listen to them. The new PB are a pretty good deal in comparison to the prior revision.
The best way to determine if it fits your needs is to try one firsthand. I'm pretty sure there's some others from Vienna on this board that could help you out as far as where to try one out.
Remember this is a rumor site not a 100% fact site. All of this is conjecture with a sprinkling of deductive reasoning. And very few facts.
The rule of thumb is buy if you need it waiting gets you only so far.
i am just triing to get all latest informations befor i do the order, because as far as i am concerned apowerbook means quite a huge invest
and refering to my ipod, i have to admit that i was a little sad as i bought the new 40Gb version and only a week after that apple brought the ipod.foto...
as a windows-user i know a lot about re-installing the whole system because of a huge virus or other probs...
as far as i know apple computers are delievered enterely clear for use, OSX is already installed and can be used from the start
so can an apple-computer be also that "broken" that you have to reinstall everthing? is that possible at all with a mac?
or will that never happen?
and if is setting up a new system easier or more complicated to do for a let's say middleheavy computeruser?
Originally posted by crixxx
one more question:
as a windows-user i know a lot about re-installing the whole system because of a huge virus or other probs...
as far as i know apple computers are delievered enterely clear for use, OSX is already installed and can be used from the start
so can an apple-computer be also that "broken" that you have to reinstall everthing? is that possible at all with a mac?
or will that never happen?
and if is setting up a new system easier or more complicated to do for a let's say middleheavy computeruser?
your new PowerBook or iBook, if you get it, will come with what is called something like SystemRestore DVD. If for some reason your Mac is completely "broken" (this is seriously very rare), you put this DVD in, boot up from the DVD and it restores everything to the way it was when you first got your PowerBook or iBook. With a PowerBook, this process should take 1 hour maximum.
maybe try to see if your Vienna mac user group or something is around? I'm sure you can find someone to help you Switch...