MacBook owners: opinions needed

[dparm]

It's time for me to buy a new laptop. I've been debating between the Gateway M255-E, which is available to students at a huge discount through Gateway Select, or a Apple MacBook.

I am here to ask all MacBook owners for what they like & don't like about the computer. What gets on your nerves? What's a design flaw? Have you had any regrets/second thoughts?

Pricing will be nearly the same after all discounts and warranties are applied. Both will have a 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo, 1GB RAM, DVD burner, Bluetooth + 802.11abg wireless, etc.

Primarily I'll be using this for schoolwork on-the-go and be taking it with me to class every day. My Dell XPS 410 will also be used for schoolwork, but primarily will be for more demanding stuff like gaming, Photoshop, DVD authoring, etc...so the notebook doesn't really need to be very fast. It needs to run Vista at a reasonable level though.

[dcv]

I'd go for the Macbook if for no other reason than that (and I'm just assuming here - please correct me if I'm wrong) you don't already own a mac, and I've always been of the opinion that technical people should be well versed across the board (Windows, *NIX, OS X). Macs are selling better now than ever before, and being well versed in OS X would probably help should clients come to you with problematic macs. And if you absolutely can't stand OS X, it still has all of the specs the Gateway would've had anyway, so with Boot Camp you can just run Windows 24/7 if you want just as well as it would have on the Gateway.

Side note - the Macbook has a draft 802.11n card in it. Probably doesn't matter right now, though, but it does differentiate it a bit from the Gateway. Though the Gateway probably has a PC card slot, and the Macbook doesn't.

//Full disclosure: I don't own a Macbook personally, but I know four people that do, and I play with them all of the time. I'm only an iBook owner saving up for a MBP.

[bgwinkel]

You're going to want more then integrated GMA950 graphics to run Vista. Mac or not.

[dparm]

GMA 950 will do Aero Glass fine. It's the minimum, but it will handle it.

The MacBook essentially beats or betters the Gateway in every way. As you said, it has the 802.11n card. It also has a webcam standard. It's a bit thinner and lighter than the gateway too.

I already know Mac OS X at an intermediate level; it would be a plus to have it to become more of an expert, but I'm still very comfortable with my current understanding.


With Bernard's recent 20% off tip, I can essentially get the black one at no extra charge, or get the AppleCare for free.

[dparm]

My only fear is the odd keyboard...the keys are not right next to each other like I'm used to, and it has rather small backspace & spacebar keys.

[bgwinkel]

GMA 950 will do Aero Glass fine. It's the minimum, but it will handle it.
I've seen it in person twice, and it stutters when all of Aero is on. It disables parts of it and it's manageable, but personally, I'd probably want to throw the laptop against the wall. But if you're happy with it :)

[dcv]

My only fear is the odd keyboard...the keys are not right next to each other like I'm used to, and it has rather small backspace & spacebar keys.

You should try it out on the macbook downstairs at the bookstore. I personally can't stand the keyboard - the keys feel really short to me - but I've heard people that love the keyboard more than the powerbook keyboard. Personal preference and all.

[efischle]

I bought a MacBook (black) last summer, and I love it. I got it because my old Dell laptop started giving me problems and I wanted a computer that I didn't want to throw out the window, and that I could actually take to school and connect to wireless with.

It is a good computer for taking to class. I like the keyboard, I think it's the most comfortable keyboard I've ever used. I thought the glossy screen would give me problems, but it looks good and I hardly notice that it's glossy. And of course, photobooth is a really fun time waster.

It has given me a couple of problems. A couple months after I got it, it started having kernel panics, and the idiots at the genius bar had nothing useful to tell me. Andrew and I tried to diagnose it, but we didn't find anything conclusive. And the other problem is just annoying. Even though I set it to tell me when there are updates, it doesn't. I don't know of anyone else who has had that problem though.

I haven't done anything with trying to install windows on it. You'll have to ask Andrew about that.

Overall, I love it, and I would buy it again. I have no regrets. It's a million times better than what I had before.

[amccabe]

I haven't installed Vista on it - I want the second OS running inside Parallels to be stable. I have been using the beta builds that have "coherence" mode - I can't even imagine how many problems there would be with Vista. Having Mac and Windows (and Linux for a while) makes it soooo versatile.

It has been the best laptop I have ever owned, although there were some problems with it since it is first gen and I got it after it came-out.

I like the keyboard, but I'm not too picky. I absolutely love the giant touchpad, two-finger scrolling, and two-finger right-click.

[dparm]

I've seen it in person twice, and it stutters when all of Aero is on. It disables parts of it and it's manageable, but personally, I'd probably want to throw the laptop against the wall. But if you're happy with it :)


Interesting. I have a spare Vista Business license, though I do also have an XP Pro license from MSDNAA if all else fails.

[jharriso]

If you can afford to splurge, you could get a mac book pro. That'll play nice with Vista, though I doubt parallels will be as friendly with it.

[dparm]

The bookstore has a few Core Duo-powered MacBook Pros left for $1399, but the extra cost just doesn't seem worth it. I get a larger screen, dedicated video, and that's basically it (from the standpoint of what I'll even use).

The $1399 MacBook Pros also have only 512MB of RAM, and I'd need to add the AppleCare too. The Pro doesn't offer anything extra that's really that attractive to me.

Like I said, the MacBook is just a computer to carry around for school. My desktop will be the powerhouse.

[natalier]

i plan to buy a macbook in a few months too so hearing all this input really helps since i've never owned a mac but i do try to play with it every chance i can. soo thanks dan for asking about it i was wonder these things too.

[picch]

Hey dan as far as worrying about the odd keyboard. When I first saw it, I was like wtf, how can anyone type on it. But when I'm working on a client's macbook I really don't have any problems with the keyboard in terms of missing keys or it not feeling comfortable. As far as vista goes, I would HIGHLY suggest holding off on that until apple releases vista drivers in bootcamp. While the xp drivers work (for the most part) I've herd ones mainly dealing with power management don't.