Well this is kind of a mix between school and technology, but...

I'm getting a laptop for my graduation gift, and my mom wants to know what kind I want. A lot of my friends have a macbook or are planning on getting one, but other people have said that macs are better for photo editing and stuff like that. I'm planning on being a science major, so does anyone have any pros/cons to getting a mac?

I've personally never owned a Mac, but I've heard a thing or two from people who've owned them.

If you notice, pretty much of the professionals in media (photographers, graphic designers, etc.) use Macs. The Mac OS is also supposed to be much stable than a PC's system. However, Mac's are supposed to be considerably pricier.

I've always thought of it like this: Macs are for the high-end users who'll be able to get the power they need while PC is for people who need something very user-friendly and supposedly easy to use (I can't leave out that it's for gamers as well).

Macs tend to be a lot safer, knowing that people who write adware, spyware or viruses usually write them for a windows operating system. Costs more of course, like Arjuna said, but pretty reliable. I've always wanted a Mac but I don't have enough cash.

So i say go for the Mac. If you have the option of choosing, i think it'd be best to get the safer, reliable one.

I love my Mac; I don't know of any Cons to owning one, or none that I can think of at the moment.

PC's would probably be more user-friendly, but Macs really arent too hard to get used to.
And like Michelle said, Macs tend to be safer.

I LOVE my Mac. I have the white 1.83GHz macbook, it was right around $1000 from amazon.com (I don't have an apple store anywhere near me, online was the only option). Sure, I'm a music person, I do web design and image editing, but I'm also an online college student. I do all my work on my laptop and I love having such a stable machine that is ENJOYABLE to use and requires next to no maintenance. Of course, the Mac is pricy in comparison to some PC laptops, but I definitely believe it to be well worth the cost. This laptop is my primary computer, I don't have another one, so I do EVERYTHING on it. Once you learn your way around the operating system (it's actually EASIER to use than Windows, it just takes some adjusting), I think you'll really like it. I even like using the trackpad, and normally if I'm on a laptop I have to use a mouse.

Only thing I would recommend is that if you get a mac with 512MB of RAM, I'd upgrade to at least 1GB. This isn't a "right away" thing, you can always wait and get it from newegg later, but eventually you'll probably want to add another stick of RAM. The memory upgrade was definitely needed, but other than that, I didn't need anything else at all. =]

I've used MAC before back in College, its worth investing in if you're going for the graphics design, photo editing, flash work, Maya, etc.

I will be looking into a laptop soon once I get a full time job after my University is done with. Not exactly sure what I wanna get, since it's been awhile that I've used a MAC.

MAC is safer to use, and you do get the speed you want when working on big projects. It's lovely.

Back in College, I was like "crap I gotta use a mac?" at first I was hesitant, but then I got used to it the more I was messing around and working on it.

One of my teacher's head personal of his office asked me if I wanted her MAC, for FREE. But I didn't take it, it was an older model which I did not like.

Oh yeah, DO NOT GET SONY- I am sorry.. but those things are so damn pricey.. but I do like the small compact lappy's they've got out. But I dunno, I think it's a rip off.

P.S. Libertie- That's a very good tip about the 1gig upgrade. I wished Newegg could send things out here without too much delivery charge.

QUOTE

Macs tend to be a lot safer, knowing that people who write adware, spyware or viruses usually write them for a windows operating system.

^Agreed... it's one of the biggest reasons why I love my Macbook.

Macs are NOT hard to use, once you get used to them. In fact... give it 1 month and you'll probably agree that a Mac is actually easier to use than a PC. Functions I've grown to love include the bar at the top which displays a very convenient button you can click to change into typing in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, etc. in a second. Also, there's a built in sort of "Search" function, so if you have trouble finding files, you need only type a bit of it's file name to locate it... VERY CONVENIENT. :) Plus if you run into any problems, you can always go to the nicely navigateable (sp??) apple website... they have a 'help' forum, along other really useful topics.

Plus... Mac's design is awesome.

Thanks guys! Hey, does anybody know anything about adding Microsoft Office to a macbook? I know awhile ago my dad got the whole Microsoft Office set for around $20 from his work, and we installed it on our pc. Would it also work on a mac, or would we have to get a different version of office?

You need a version for mac. It's 150 dollars for the student and teachers edition.
Another reason why you should get a Mac is that Macs can also be used on Windows Mode through Boot Camp or Parallels.

Yeah, as the above poster said, you need to install a different version.
Try to see if you can get the Microsoft Office package installed with your laptop when you buy it. I did that because there was a deal like that at the Apple store when I bought my Macbook, and it saved me some money + time. :)

i`ve an ibook for like 3 years and it just broke down on me. i REALLY want a macbook but they`re so much $. I`m graduating in two months and i need it for college too, but i dont know. Macbook would be a in my opinion.

i myself have a mac...but powerbooks are cool if your into video/photo editing and whatnot, but then again they work really well. i would say go ahead and get one, just make sure your gonna be able to get used to using a mac.lol it took me some time.

i'm going to college soon. i can't decide whether to get a macbook or a pc with windows vista.

i love what everyone else has said about the mac but the downside is that a lot of the market is geared towards windows.

but macs are quite pretty ^^

I'm also torn between the two. I'm in need of at least a 2ghz prcoessor, and 1 gigb memory of ram. Any ideas? I'm leaning towards a Sony Vaio, but if anyone has a reason not to get it, please do share.

You shouldn't be. They're over priced much.

yes! macbook! the white 2.0 ghz with 1gig of memory. that's what i have. do be careful about handling it, though. it scratches easily like ipods. but other than that, it's a damn spiffy ass computer. :D photoshop runs smoothly, while running firefox, itunes, limewire, aim, etc all at once. oh, and when you close the lid of your mac, it goes right to 'sleep' so it's convenient to just close your laptop and get back to it the next day without shutting down. moving from a pc to a mac was better than that blue shiny bicycle i got on my 7th birthday. ^^

M an, I got aids from my computer
A IDS is killing me
C an't believe I got AIDS from this computer
B am! My lifespan is shorter thanks to this AIDS
O h no, how could I have gotten AIDS?
O K, I regret getting AIDS from this laptop
K ill me now, I don't want to die from AIDS

is this supposed to be funny?

Not to mention the fact that with Sony, once you get something from Sony, you'll have to get everything else that's from Sony. That's how they design all their stuff.

A lot of my friends here have either ibooks or macbooks and they really like them. I have an NEC, which I love, but the apple system is so much more stable than the windows. I'm just not used to the whole no right/left click thing and navigating around on a mac still confuses me.

^ You could always get a mouse with right click.

No, the responses to it are supposed to be funny though.

what a cool kid.

I've had my Compaq laptop for little over a year and the thing is tearing up. I've treated this thing with upmost care but my screen is almost detached from the laptop's body. It's merely hanging by threads. Because of this I have to hoist the monitor on pillows. Quite sad I tell you. Now I'm looking in to purchasing a better, more studier laptop and either the Mac Book or Sony Vaio are something I'm looking into.

Know what I mean, Verne?

The white Mac Book is actually getting cheaper now. I can get it at my school's student store for $999, and it's duo-core as well. Macs are less likely to screw up, since there's tons more viruses out there for PCs, and less for Macs.

You can use a PC or Apple wireless mouse, whichever works. No installations needed, but it depends on the mouse. You should definitely get a Macbook because in the long run, it'll be there for you. Plus, the keyboard feels much nicer compared to other keyboards because they letters are spaced nicely. :] It's a good buy.

Or you can wait for the 15 inch one to come out. Don't know how much it'll be though. I don't even know much about it, but I heard from people that there is one coming out.. Ouch.. bigger screen >_<"

Re; no right click: Actually, on the macbook, what I LOVE is the fact that you can change the trackpad settings so that if you tap with one finger, it's left-click, and two fingers for right click. Drag one finger to move the cursor (like any trackpad) and drag two to scroll. It's really cool, I don't even use a mouse because I don't mind using the trackpad at all, even for image editing (plus I use a lot of macros/keyboard shortcuts).

Kevin, you can get a macbook with all the hardware specs you want direct from Apple, but like I said before about the RAM upgrade, I just bought mine with the standard 512 and upgraded later. It was cheaper that way and it's really easy to install - it's just right underneath the battery compartment.

i own an ACER laptop and let me tell you if you plan on getting a PC, DONT EVER GET ACER or YOU WILL REGRET IT


i constantly want to chuck that thing against the wall but then i still havent paid it off yet...grrrr

and yes MACS are hella nice and u can run windows on it now :)

o yah...i'm all for MAC!

where do you do the one finger tap thing lol, i've had the macbook forever and i dont know :p

I own an Acer laptop and it's absolutely fine. Runs a little hot, but I can't complain for what I got at the price I paid.

I thought that Mac's were way more user friendly than PCs... what with the spotlight option, sure Windows has the search option, but that takes FOREVER!

yeah. compaq's are poor quality. my thing heated so badly, it screwed up the hard drive.

^^acer? my cousin has acer and it's pretty good. also, i've seen some acer laptops with amazing stuff (dual core, vista, nearly 2 gigs? of memory, something else) for like 700 dollars. people who have used it said that if you take really good care of it, it would do you wonders.

I haven't owned a Mac but I got an HP Pavilion dv2000 Series with a Windows Vista OS and an AMD Turion 64 Duo processor for my college gift. I prefer HP's or VAIO's.