i'm going to college in the fall & looking for a laptop. macbook is on my maybe list. the question is, does windows work well on the macbook? should i just get a macbook w/ mac software and learn it (although that's really not an option)
It works great - check out some of the many reviews by people who have installed windows on a Mac. There are a few minor glitches, like that if you plug in earphones, the sound from the speakers isn't cut. You'll also probably want to use a mouse, as there is no right-click on the laptop's built-in trackpad.
I also can't figure out how to close the lid on my MacBook Pro without the thing waking from "standby" (sleep) while in Windows. But aside from a few annoyances like that, it's 99% just like a Windows laptop.
Well if I were you I would try to learn OS X (really isn't too hard, I learned it in less then a week...I could do most things in a day and if I don't know how to do something I can figure it out in a few minutes usually) and see how that works out. If you havn't been following the Apple world you may be surprised at how compatable it is with Windows.
If that really is NOT an option then Windows is supposed to work great and when Leopard (the new OS X version) comes out it will probably be even better.
I would definitely recommend a Macbook, but BE SURE to upgrade the ram to 1GB. With the standard 512MB the thing is crawling, but bump it up to 1GB and it's flying. It's quite amazing the difference it makes. This is because, like most cheap laptops, the video card shares the system memory, and as such, 512 is just insufficient.
Another plus of the Macbook is the keyboard which is by far the best to use of any laptop I've tried, even the Macbook Pro. The features Apple has decided to include with this machine are quite impressive (the intel video card is a bit lacking if you're an intense gamer though...they should have stuck with a non integrated ATI card)
With regard to Windows, it works great, I installed it on my brother's Macbook for him. The included Apple drivers will setup everything for you except the included Apple Remote (Windows Home/Pro don't natively support remotes). Of course, you may be shocked to discover that once you begin using Mac OS X after about the first week of discomfort, adjusting to a new OS, you'll prefer it much more.
By far the most important part though, is that if you buy the Macbook now and you're a student, you'll get a student discount on the laptop and it comes with a free iPod (until 15 Sept) Canada Promo SiteU.S. Promo Site
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I also can't figure out how to close the lid on my MacBook Pro without the thing waking from "standby" (sleep) while in Windows. But aside from a few annoyances like that, it's 99% just like a Windows laptop.
If that really is NOT an option then Windows is supposed to work great and when Leopard (the new OS X version) comes out it will probably be even better.
Another plus of the Macbook is the keyboard which is by far the best to use of any laptop I've tried, even the Macbook Pro. The features Apple has decided to include with this machine are quite impressive (the intel video card is a bit lacking if you're an intense gamer though...they should have stuck with a non integrated ATI card)
With regard to Windows, it works great, I installed it on my brother's Macbook for him. The included Apple drivers will setup everything for you except the included Apple Remote (Windows Home/Pro don't natively support remotes). Of course, you may be shocked to discover that once you begin using Mac OS X after about the first week of discomfort, adjusting to a new OS, you'll prefer it much more.
By far the most important part though, is that if you buy the Macbook now and you're a student, you'll get a student discount on the laptop and it comes with a free iPod (until 15 Sept) Canada Promo Site U.S. Promo Site