Thinking of going to the darkside and buying a Mac

[A210AMG]

So after using a PC since I could crawl I'm thinking of going down the Mac route...


I work in IT and buy Mac and PC equipment everyday, The Mac stuff does seem very good quality and I never hear of anyone swapping and then going back to a PC.


I currently have an Apple iphone, first the 4 now the 4s and have to say the more I use it and the things it does so easily the more I apprciate it.

My wife has had a Mac Book White for 4 yrs and recently we upgraded to a Mac Pro, she loves it.


I'm thinking of this spec.. I like the idea of a SSD as I want to store all my big files etc on a NAS we can both share. The SSD with 8 GB ram and an i7 should be pretty swift?


I would normally just buy the mac as it is and upgrade the SSD from scan or somewhere and the RAM from crucial but for ease of it working out of the box and warranty keeping it with Apple probably best.


This is the spec I have decided on...


15-inch MacBook Pro
Remove Move to Saved Items

• Part number: Z0NM

Configuration

• 2.4GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7
• 8GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM — 2x4GB
• 128GB Solid State Drive
• SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)

• MacBook Pro 15-inch Hi-Res Antiglare Widescreen Display
• Backlit Keyboard (British) & User's Guide (English)
• Accessory Kit

The non reflective screen is a bit of a luxury (as is the mac really) as its £100 or so, but given this should last easiliy 4 years its not too bad?

To upgrade to the 2.6Ghz its another £150... its at what point do you stop ticking the extras.

If I wait until summer it also comes with Mountain Lion so the latest OS also. I do think at first it WILL probably annoy me...any one else swapped...


I can see that soon there will be at least 1 if not 2 iPads in the A210 house, so we are being sucked in on by the Apple wave..

 

[Swozza]

Wait new models are rumor to be announced very soon, with the new ivy bridge chips and could possible have SSD as standard.

 

[A-AvantGarde]

wait new models are rumor to be announced very soon, with the new ivy bridge chips and could possible have ssd as standard.

+1

 

[A210AMG]

Any idea how soon is soon?

Cheers

 

[Swozza]

Rumored to be this month. Benchmarks where popping up on the web several months ago.

 

[A-AvantGarde]

Rumored to be this month. Benchmarks where popping up on the web several months ago.

This is backed up with what I have also heared of:

1. discounts on some existing models in the US (discounts + Apple not normally heard off)
2. stock availability issues on some models (again in the US).

 

[brucemillar]

+1 for the wait.

 

[Tan]

I went from PC to Mac about 3 years ago and have not looked back.

I also recall that there are good discounts for NHS employees on Apple Products, but agree wait until the new models hits town, because as you rightly achknowlege, you will have it for a good few years.

I did notice in todays Metro that there were a couple of adverts from retailers regards offers on Mac's, this to me indicates that changes are imminent.

 

[A210AMG]

^ Thanks all, I work in education so some good deals anyway but I would rather buy right on the latest model.

 

[spinaltap]

Apple's WWDC event is scheduled for 11th to 15th June. It is likely that new models will be announced then.

https://developer.apple.com/wwdc

 

[Alex]

You don't need to give up Windows with Mac. I run W7 in Parallels alongside Mac OS. For the record, I hate both.

Also, I wouldn't buy memory or SSD upgrade from Apple. Crucial and Intel offer a lot better deals. Neither aftermarket memory nor SSD replacement void Mac's warranty.

 

[brucemillar]

You don't need to give up Windows with Mac. I run W7 in Parallels alongside Mac OS. For the record, I hate both.

Also, I wouldn't buy memory or SSD upgrade from Apple. Crucial and Intel offer a lot better deals. Neither aftermarket memory nor SSD replacement void Mac's warranty.

Very true. I run Virtual Box so you can have the best of both.

 

[Dryce]

I never hear of anyone swapping and then going back to a PC.

My Macbook only gets used very occasionally now.

I mainly use a Netbook with Ubuntu and committed back to a W7 laptop last year.

(Combined cost of both well below a new Macbook )

 

[grober]

One thing a friend mentioned who runs both APPLE [at home] and a PC/WINDOWS [at work] is the lack of a true keyboard delete key and no scrolling /2 button mouse on his Apple. He finds this mildly annoying when switching O/S since he finds routine keyboard operations less "intuitive" than he would like. He also warned that folks thinking of buying an APPLE and then running a Windows emulator might find this disconcerting at first. PERHAPS SOMETHING TO BE AWARE OF?

 

[agatward]

Also, you can save yourself a small fortune (even after edu discount) by going with a standard HDD and swapping it for SSD yourself. It's a standard SATA3 drive, and only takes around ten screws to do so. Also, on the Macbook Pro the drive and memory are user serviceable parts, so no warranty impact.

I bought my new one about three months ago and put an OCZ Agility 3 120GB in it, which is enough to dual-boot Windows 7 and MacOS. You'll need to install the 'TRIM enabler' app from Trim Enabler if you put your own SSD in.

Regarding the keyboard and mouse thing - the delete key issue is easy to work around as you can assign one of the F keys to this function if needed - I usually set it up so I have to press Fn+F-key for the things like brightness so I can assign the F keys to real functions. You can of course use a standard USB mouse, although I find the gesture control on the touchpad very intuitive (two-finger tap for right-click).

 

[A1GSS]

... the lack of a true keyboard delete key...

True on the compact keyboard. Buy the Apple extended keyboard and it has a delete key (and home, end, PgUp PgDn etc, albeit with symbols not legends on the keys) or use any USB keyboard.

...no scrolling /2 button mouse on his Apple ...

Not true. Apple's Magic Mouse is all-touch. Any USB mouse will also work. Scrolling and both buttons are perfect. Or try Apple's Magic Trackpad which is,well, magic.

 

[nigel cross]

Must get tracker pad its great, hate the magic mouse its cr*p

 

[Mozzer]

I turned about 8 months ago, I will never go back.

 

[neilz]

I've done the opposite - switch from Mac to Windows on my main laptop, still getting used to Windows but my Apples kept dying on me (seems the older Powerbook G4s aren't very good quality - both my wife's and mine died recently (I have gone through two and five original chargers direct from Apple, my wife has gone through three)). I temporarily have a cheap Lenovo 3000 while deciding what new one to buy, quite possibly the Ideapad U300s. Anyway, my experience with Apple hardware is not great. And my iPhone keeps freezing, as did my old one.

 

[neilz]

I turned about 8 months ago, I will never go back.

You also defected from Mercedes, is there a link?