I currently have a Windows XP Home Edition desktop computer. I've been looking around at http://www.apple.com/macbook/ and I'm really interested in a macbook now. Anyone that used to own a Windows computer and now owns a Mac, PLEASE tell me what you think

That depends on your budget. If you have the money, and don't care much about price/performance, get a Mac Book. But overall, they are way overpriced laptops, and I'm personally not a fan of the OS.

If you've never used a mac before, there's a learning curve.

Don't plan on gaming with it, either.

Heh, I don't play games on my computer. That's what my ps3 is for

MacBooks are pretty nice. Some advice from a friend of mine was to look for refurbs instead of brand new laptops. Apple's QC is decent, so if they sell it to you as a refurb, it'll still work. It may have a few scratches, but you'll still end up adding your own scratches. Oh well--that's the price of saving money.

I have a 32MB RAM 20 GB HDD desktop (Dell ) and then I got a used mac latop

Even though it is not a MacBook, it a Powerbooks, right before that line, and I'm lovin' it

And I would go with the advice of refurbed ones, saves a lot of chash, there are tons of good mac online stores. btw 2GB is amazing compared to 1GB.

Get it, theres a program called "Boot camp" I belive its free and lets you run windows!

IIRC, you still have to buy a Windows license. While the program is free, Windows is not.

That's easy to fix, just buy some hardware that comes with an OEM license. Like $40

If you have the money, buy a MacBook. They run very smoothly, last for infinity (just ask all the people still using PowerBooks), and are better than Windows for everything (except gaming, obviously).

Also, if you wanted to run Windows on your Mac, I would suggest VMWare Fusion. Boot Camp isn't as good.

You can't just buy some hardware and suddenely get an OEM license. If you have an old XP cd key already, you can probably use that one. Or if you don't, you will have to go purchase a new copy of XP.

Most Laptops can go forever, it just depends on how you treat yours while you possess it. I still have an old Laptop back from the Pentium 2 (325mhz) currently running XP Home. It's not used anymore by me as I have a way more powerful Laptop now, but it's used by the little kids.

I would have to go somewhat with Toungy on this one, I don't exactly hate the OS, but I do not love it either. I prefer Vista or XP over Mac.

Yes you can.

I highly recommend you get one, I used to use Windows and I switch to mac a few months ago. IMO they're awesome. Besides, the price for Macbooks/iMacs isn't that high, like people usually say.

If you get one, you might as well get iWork '08 for school stuff if you're going to use it (do NOT get office for mac, it sucks), and if you still have a USB mouse, you'll probably be able to use that when you're at home.

I wouldn't get a Mac, because Windows works very well and the extra cost is unnecessary in my opinion.


Technically you shouldn't be able to, but some computer shops do.

Macs are a waste of money. If you really need to run unix applications, get Gentoo or Ubuntu.

OEM licenses are tied to the product your not legally allowed to install that software on other computers. This is part of the EULA buyer's agreement. The OEM CD should only be used in conjunction with labeled computers.

As for the Macbooks. We need to know your budget, but i find their excellent computers to work with. I don't see much point in gaming on a laptop let alone a macbook so you shouldn't have to worry about that. Even though i personally prefer to run Linux on my school/work notebooks i find OSX is very user friendly, just be ready to dig deep into your pockets

Yup

The only problems I have are my own fault, due to things in its early life such as dropping. I'm still running 10.3.9 on this, but almost all programs still run on it, so I'm fine.

I would actually recommend a PowerBook G4 Aluminum. (I have a titanium, a bit older)
They Can run Leopard (I'm pretty sure), they are lightweight, have almost the same design/weight as most laptops on the market right now. One of my favorite local bands also uses one for their main computer for concerts and other music stuff.

I'm going to have to recommend against two/three-generations prior models--because you'll be left out in the rain pretty soon. You should be able to get either previous-generation (Merom) or current-generation (Penryn) MacBooks now. I was actually looking through their refurb section and saw an excellent dual-Harpertown workstation (two 2.83GHz quad-core processors)... needless to say, I was drooling at the actually-attractive pricing, while also recognizing the parts cost was at or above their selling price.

So just look through their refurbs--Apple makes some very high-quality laptops with some great features, though retail (brand new) they're overpriced. I'd prefer a refurbed Mac to a new Dell for laptops.


Also--with Windows--technically, you're not allowed to buy an OEM license without a permanent piece of hardware. Usually the OEM license is tied to the motherboard--meaning you can legally change or replace any component, except for the motherboard. Microsoft doesn't seem to care very much--and many people get away with changing out a motherboard multiple times with OEM licenses. There are also several differences between OEM licenses and Retail licenses. As I said before--OEM is tied to motherboards, and they also receive no free support from Microsoft. A Retail license is not tied to motherboards or computers--meaning you can install Windows on one computer, and as long as you remove it from that computer later, you can install it on another. Also, Retail licenses receive support direct from Microsoft. In short, it's unlimited. Looking at the benefits of each licenses? OEM costs less--significantly less. Usually they cost anywhere from about 1/2 to 1/3 as much as a full Retail license. If you're going to be getting several new computers in that period of time, or plan to keep the OS a long period of time, a retail license is probably a better choice. This was especially the case with Windows XP--initial customers who bought OEM licenses and then upgraded or replaced their computers ended up coming out "even" or even behind--meaning they ended up spending $140 extra per computer, instead of taking the $300 retail price tag for XP Pro. Two OEM licenses later and they're up to the price, approximately, of WinXP Pro Retail. A third computer (instead of Vista, perhaps) would bump their total paid price up to $420--setting them back on the cost of a Retail edition.

Usually OEM is a better choice--I've only ever owned a single WinXP Home OEM license. My general rule of thumb now is upgrade once per OS or every other OS--I had WinXP for 5 years, now I have Vista. Next computer I get may have Windows 7 on it.

My dad bought a MacBook about 6 months ago, and, after being used but not exactly but not very strenuously, bits of plastic have chipped off it, the keyboard letters are worn away and the mouse makes an odd extra loud clicking noise which it didn't make when it came out of the box. Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that the power supply broke and had to be replaced, the battery doesn't work and the magnetic power cable slot has become un-magnetic so the cable barely stays in and falls out really easily, destroying the supply of power. And finally, I think I forgot to mention the 2 dead pixels that have appeared... Bear in mind that this isn't after bashing it against the wall or chipping at it with a chisel, it's after work and home use, and I wouldn't trust it with my files lest the hard drive go 'BOOM'.

I advise strongly against MacBooks.

Well, I can say that you didn't treat that laptop very nicely, even if it was home and work.

I would strongly advise you to get a small travel mouse, since on the laptop the clicker next to the pad (don't know correct names) doesn't have right click, so I just keep a usb mouse with me.

With the current Macbooks, you can right-click by either holding the click button, or by placing two fingers on the trackpad (that's the name ) and then pressing the click button. I find that it's very easy to use when you're on the move.

But it's a lot more usual for PC users, plus the scroll wheel.

EDIT: Do macbooks have those little scroll sensors on the edge of the trackpad?

For a MacBook, you just put two fingers on the pad and slide down.

I plan on getting one myself.