[magman007]

Well, ive had my laptop for about a year and a half now, and its starting to become out dated (toshiba portege m200) and frankly im getting tired of windows. Id like to try something new, and mac has done nothing short of impressing me, especially now that all compatibility issues seem to be solved.

So, im looking at a 15.4" mac book pro 2.16 ghz core duo processor with

2gb memory

100gb 7200 rpm hard drive

microsoft office

airport extreme wireless card

and osx 10.4 tiger

so im wondering, A why isnt the wireless card included for this price? thats a little rediculous, and why isnt the latest operating system pre installed?

also, would i work be a good purchase?

and what do i need to know? what should i know about the macbook pro over a comperable windows notebook like an alienware, dell xps, etc. i realize these are gaming books, but they will also provide the highest in performance to my knowledge.

also, does the mac book pro come with the magnetic powercord? or just the standard macbook? this is actually a feature im quite interested in, as the majority of note book related accidents in my time have been attributed to the powercord being tripped over, hell, my dog the other night pulled my toshiba off the coffee table, luckilly everything seems to still be ok, but its still a worry of mine.

How durable are macbooks in your experience? im not necessisarily rough on my equipment, but it gets alot of use. Also, will the mac play ,wmv videos? i know it will not play .wma music, which isnt that big of an issue, as all of my music i would be transfering off of my ipod with the help of ephpod or similar software.

what minor compatibility issues might i run into? what is going to be rediculously different to me comming from a life long windows user?

im sure il have more questions, but this is enough to get me started

[Texas56]

Originally Posted by magman007

Well, ive had my laptop for about a year and a half now, and its starting to become out dated (toshiba portege m200) and frankly im getting tired of windows. Id like to try something new, and mac has done nothing short of impressing me, especially now that all compatibility issues seem to be solved.

So, im looking at a 15.4" mac book pro 2.16 ghz core duo processor with

2gb memory

100gb 7200 rpm hard drive

microsoft office

airport extreme wireless card

and osx 10.4 tiger

so im wondering, A why isnt the wireless card included for this price? thats a little rediculous, and why isnt the latest operating system pre installed?

also, would i work be a good purchase?

and what do i need to know? what should i know about the macbook pro over a comperable windows notebook like an alienware, dell xps, etc. i realize these are gaming books, but they will also provide the highest in performance to my knowledge.

also, does the mac book pro come with the magnetic powercord? or just the standard macbook? this is actually a feature im quite interested in, as the majority of note book related accidents in my time have been attributed to the powercord being tripped over, hell, my dog the other night pulled my toshiba off the coffee table, luckilly everything seems to still be ok, but its still a worry of mine.

How durable are macbooks in your experience? im not necessisarily rough on my equipment, but it gets alot of use. Also, will the mac play ,wmv videos? i know it will not play .wma music, which isnt that big of an issue, as all of my music i would be transfering off of my ipod with the help of ephpod or similar software.

what minor compatibility issues might i run into? what is going to be rediculously different to me comming from a life long windows user?

im sure il have more questions, but this is enough to get me started

Look at that.

[OneFourDeuce]

you know nothing about a mac, but yet you want to spend over $1K on a notbook.... keep a windows platform pc
or try out a friends mac or go to a computer store and try out and get use to the mac platform first
i remember my co worker brought a i mac in to work first time ever using a mac. he hated it so much because he didnt know what it was or what he was doing with it, so i gave him $300 for it.

[nwestpballer]

It comes with interated wireless and it does have the OS installed. It also comes with the magnetic cord.

My friend got a MAcbook Pro a month or so ago and he loves it. It's better than my laptop and his is a hell of a lot thinner and lighter too. Not to mention the case is made of aluminum so I'm assuming it's pretty durable.

They're geat notebooks an I'm sure you'll love it if you get it. The only issue you may come across is being able to view certian media online like videos.

[magman007]

Originally Posted by Texas56

Look at that.

those were options it gave me while shopping, one of those, oh hey, you want anything else deals? i had assumed that that meant they were not previously integrated, and you would have to purchase them seperately. also these features are not listed on the spec's page to my knowledge

[Treghc]

ask yourself this...
Why would a laptop come without a wireless card?
Why would any computer come without an operating system, unless specifically asked for buy the person pruchasing the computer?

[Catalyst Paintball]

Originally Posted by nwestpballer

My friend got a MAcbook Pro a month or so ago and he loves it. It's better than my laptop and his is a hell of a lot thinner and lighter too. Not to mention the case is made of aluminum so I'm assuming it's pretty durable.

So I was at the electronic store a few weeks ago and was just checking out the Macbook Pro when some 40 year old nightshift self deemed "geek" comes up and tries to sell me on a Macbook Pro and how great it is with bootcamp. I was pretty excited until he griped about heat issues? I was able to feel a ton of heat come out from on top of the keyboard which kinda concerns me.

Is this across the board with Macbook Pros?

[magman007]

Originally Posted by Treghc

ask yourself this...
Why would a laptop come without a wireless card?
Why would any computer come without an operating system, unless specifically asked for buy the person pruchasing the computer?

the wireless card issue i found interesting, hence why i asked, i didnt see it listed on the website, so it came as a bit of a shock thinking that it may not come with a wireless network card.

Also, clearly a computer would not come without an opperating system, i was under the impression that maybe it came with osx 10.3 or something of the sort, seeing as mac felt the need for me to upgrade to it, once again, that is why i questioned.

[Treghc]

Are you ordering this from the apple website?

[rebelace12]

I have had my macbook pro a week or two now and I love it. It is the fastest,thinnest,lightest, laptop I have ever owned. It is very durable this ******* at school made it take a dive off of a table onto a hard floor and it didnt even do anything. It has a motion sensor in it so if it senses a drop it locks the harddrive and prevents data damage. The heat problems have been fixed as far as I can tell. Only time it gets a little warm is when I am compiling long videos which is a pretty tough workout. It hasnt been getting as hot as everyone has been saying. I would recommend this laptop to anyone who can afford it. But if you dont have to have a 15" screen then get the macbook.

[magman007]

Originally Posted by Treghc

Are you ordering this from the apple website?

i will be with a student discount.

[omg_shesgotballs5]

If a 1000 iBook G4 comes with Airport, so should a 2000 MacBook pro which is a **** load newer and better.. Also, why does it matter if it dosn't come with the newest version of osx? you get free upgrades... takes like 5 minutes

[Andyman]

i own one and love it. yes it can get hot sometimes, but dont worry about it. it will shut down LONG before it can do damage. to answer your questions:

the wireless is built it. you will have full wifi access out of the box

the latest OPSYS is installed. there may be updates since you bought it, but apple always puts the latest on. (providing you buy from apple) if you dont have it, its simple 5 min download

iWork is not worth it. stick to office. office runs fine. i use it and have ZERO probs running at a perfectly normal speed.

the macbook pro is able to keep up with ALL those pc's mentioned. if you get the 256 vid card, you will have a gaming machine as good if not BETTER than those. i can play any game at full settings and not have a single prob.

comes with mag cord, i believe all new macs do

they are just as durable as any other laptop if you take care of it. YES you can play WMA or WMV. just dl windows media player for mac, and get flip4mac when it is universal.

there are few compatibitly issues. make sure you use universal applications and updates. some stuff on the net, will not work such as some banners, ads, etc. but all you have to do is dl a plugin. NOT hard at all.

i just installed bootcamp, so i can use windows too (games). it works great thus far. you will see that a mac is different than a windows sys, but it is VERY easy to learn.

always remember to QUIT your application, not just "X" it out.

[magman007]

thank you so much for the informative post, i really appreciate it, i cant wait to order my mac book pro

[NeverForgetYa]

I think Pro's are overpriced. A Macbook with 1GB of memory is a much better buy. For the price of a Pro you can get a more capable PC. It really comes down to what you need it for. And since you haven't told us, you probably don't need it all. Which leaves price and function out of the equation.

[NightyNite]

He said he's tired of the windows atmosphere, and he's impressed with apple.
I got my Macbook Pro last night for graduation, I'm posting from it now. It rox. I have the one you listed, except it's 1gb of ram.

[magman007]

Originally Posted by NeverForgetYa

I think Pro's are overpriced. A Macbook with 1GB of memory is a much better buy. For the price of a Pro you can get a more capable PC. It really comes down to what you need it for. And since you function out of the equation.

you are right, i dont really need the mbp, but as i said, im tired of windows, im tired of lag due to the design, im tired of a bunch of processes running in the back round. this will be my personal computer, used for classes, chatting, internet, photos, movies etc. i will be using it for some image and video haven't told us, you probably don't need it all. Which leaves price and manipulation, but not too much. what capable pc can you reccomend? ive got a top of the line tablet pc, and it isnt performing as well as it used to. all of my windows machines have been the same way, over time they just seem to crap out, and im tired of it.

also, i believe in purchasing the top of the line when it comes to electronics and computing, it goes obsolete slower you know? stays comprable longer.