(puts on his asbestos underpants)
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Originally Posted by Chief Pride
Hm... I really have to disagree with the people who proclaim that Mac is better, at everything, always, ect. ect. ect. I feel like these people have been brainwashed by Apples genius marketing campaign. Macs ARE NOT better than a PC in every way.
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As one of the "brainwashed" (owned 3 Mac laptops, two iPods, an iPhone 3G, and directed the purchase of about six or seven iMacs total), I'll note that I buy Apple because I like how they work. I won't venture to say that they're better than Windows-based PCs in every application, but I feel that they're the best solution for me.
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It's well known that a lot of what Apple boasts in its commercials are blatant lies...
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[citation needed]
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...such as being impenetrable to viruses. They do have some benefits though... Apple is very good at taking complicated software, and dumbing it down to be able to be used by anyone.
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What you call "dumbing down" I call "making user-friendly". Do you want all your applications looking like
this?
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Vista... Yes, it IS garbage. Apple has had a couple "crappy" versions aswell, for example when OX X came out, it was slow, buggy and missing essential features like CD burning. What's worse is that they soon updated to OS 10.1, which was a $129 update.
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Yeah, every major release for Mac OS X has been some $129. They've also had every major release count as an improvement--something that few would claim for Microsoft with Vista. (Or, lest we forget, Windows Me.) That said, Snow Leopard should do plenty of useful things on the back end of the OS, letting developers take advantage of things they haven't been able to get to reliably before, and do so for a measly $29.
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Now, if the question is of hardware, I'm of the opinion that you're not going to find a better deal than a 13" MacBook Pro. The unibody construction is a dream come true--the thing feels rock-solid. The MagSafe connector is exclusive to them, and has saved my butt more times than I care to admit. The new SD card slot on the Pro line should be nice if you're using gear that also uses SD. I'm still not too keen on having my laptop battery integrated like they've started doing, but
reports are that the battery life on them is stellar. (And, truth be told, no Apple product has failed me on battery in its lifespan.)
Software is the killer. There may be an instance in school where you absolutely must run Windows. I encountered several, and they're irritating. You'll have to evaluate whether it's worth springing for Windows in some sort of dual-boot or VM setup. (I use VMware Fusion for such applications at work; it's more than fine for what I do, though I also don't really push its limits.) You might find that lab access is easy enough that you don't need it. I can't claim any experience with Windows 7 (we were XP in college and are XP at work), but I much prefer OS X over any flavor of Windows. You may not.
I'd suggest going to an Apple Store or a Best Buy that carries them and giving it a spin. I love mine, you may think differently after using one for a bit. Ultimately, all my ranting and raving and a dollar will buy you a cup of coffee--it's
your laptop. Choose well.