Macbook Pro worth the dough?

A question to any of you who own a MacBook Pro - do you think it's worth the price? They seem very expensive but also very sweet. Let me know your thoughts. I'm planning on buying a laptop in Jan.

[quote6f14611f00="JennyWren"]A question to any of you who own a MacBook Pro - do you think it's worth the price? They seem very expensive but also very sweet. Let me know your thoughts. I'm planning on buying a laptop in Jan.[/quote6f14611f00]

IMO, i would not get a pro unless you need something to be easy. I personally feel that macs are more user friendly than widows based laptops. Now with the core duos and what not running with Vista, you can get one for around 1K, instead of spending 2K. But then again you ahve vista which sucks and all the constant updates.

If you dont want to spend the extra 1K and dont care about the little updates and what not with vista, get a windows based laptop.

Depending on your use, I would recommend a macbook instead. If you are planning on using it as a desktop replacement definitely macbook pro. I highly recommend a mac. Tiger is amazing. Trust me. My school gave me a brand new decked out thinkpad. The package I got is worth 3k, but I much rather use my macbook pro whenever I can. Heh.

[quotebb34f0a77c="Powerbook"]Depending on your use, I would recommend a macbook instead. If you are planning on using it as a desktop replacement definitely macbook pro. I highly recommend a mac. Tiger is amazing. Trust me. My school gave me a brand new decked out thinkpad. The package I got is worth 3k, but I much rather use my macbook pro whenever I can. Heh.[/quotebb34f0a77c]

If it is a financial issue, the extra 1K is not worth it.

I love my MBP but I have to say that it might be a little overboard for what I need. I mean, I bought it not because I would be doing video editing and what not (pretty much what it was designed for) but I just wanted the luxuries of it. I mean, all metal, light up keyboard, thin, pretty lightweight, and then the OS are just the main things that caught my eye. If you have the money and you are absolutely in love with it, I say go for it but if that extra 1K is going to cause you not to be able to eat this month, I would say the Macbook would be a great alternative. Order it for about 1200 and upgrade the RAM for like $30 and you are all set.

I can afford it, but ... it is a lot. However, my bf wants to get into doing some music stuff (mixing, beatboxing, recording, etc) so he would likely have use for it too.

Well, it's a great laptop and I've never looked back since buying it and I consider myself a pretty stingy/uptight person with money. lol

[quote2b44e9d30a="JennyWren"]I can afford it, but ... it is a lot. However, my bf wants to get into doing some music stuff (mixing, beatboxing, recording, etc) so he would likely have use for it too.[/quote2b44e9d30a]

You wont regret it. Get it if you can afford it. Also know that you can do most of the stuff on a PC that you can do with a MAC, after you get the proper software-mac already comes with it.

Get the MAC )

I love my Macbook Pro. It's reliable, and so easy to use. I was concerned with getting used to user interface, but it was a simple transition. Vista is awful in comparison to Leopard D

I would get a nice Windows laptop and downgrade to XP (there are tutorials available on the internets).

You can get a Toshiba 17" laptop with 1.66GHz intel dual core, 2gb ram, 200gb hdd, DVD burner with HD DVD-ROM, integrated camera, fingerprint reader, multi card reader... All of this for $700 less than the basic macbook pro model.

http//www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=6498341

Thats my 2 cents.

[quote285952b91f="h3x"]I would get a nice Windows laptop and downgrade to XP (there are tutorials available on the internets).

You can get a Toshiba 17" laptop with 1.66GHz intel dual core, 2gb ram, 200gb hdd, DVD burner with HD DVD-ROM, integrated camera, fingerprint reader, multi card reader... All of this for $700 less than the basic macbook pro model.

http//www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=6498341

Thats my 2 cents.[/quote285952b91f]
Also...if you shop around enough and wait long enough, you're bound to find a sweet sweet deal from slickdeals.net or deals2buy.com .
Very often I see great deals on these hot items that are right around Black Friday prices, if not better.
You can't go wrong either way. I know a lot of people who have macs and are in love with them. The cheaper way however is to buy a new laptop, and then just stick XP on it. That's what my cousin is doing.
The second option saves you more money, but still, the Operating system is still Windows.

Edit I was doing some random browsing on Slickdeals and someone mentioned installing "hackintosh" onto one of their laptops they got from BestBuy on Blackfriday.
I didn't read much into it, but from the looks of it, they said you can install this operating system onto your laptop/computer.
I'd check it out if I were you. Seems pretty sweet.

Yeah, its actually called OSX86. It requires a CPU with the SSE3 instruction set. (Which most processors have nowadays.)

You download a program such as CPU-Z to determine if your processor is compatible, then you find a hacked OS X in the 'usual places'.

More information can be found on here
http//wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

If you want to try Leopard on a small computer, consider the ASUS eee PC ($399). It's got just 4GB of SSD (solid-state disk) though.

I think the Macbook Pro is worth it. I've been running a regular Macbook since last year and really want to upgrade, just saving dough right now. I'm probably going to do it in the Summer or next year since I'm looking into a job opportunity at Apple so the discount would be nice. The only thing is, it takes two to three months to get hired because of the potential candidate pool.

I also installed Leopard on my Macbook the week it came out (my friend bought a Family Pack and gave me a free install) and it's really nice. I honestly wouldn't downgrade to Tiger, Spaces and Stacks are just really neat and useful because I usually have lots of windows open and like quick access to my applications without going to "Macintosh HD -> Applications" =]

I know how people say that Apple makes their products obsolete one to two times a year with an update, but I can tell you for sure that I feel that I got my money's worth for my first-gen Macbook. It is just amazing, and I probably won't need (though want) an upgrade for another year or two.

I really appreciate everyone's advice. It seems that those who have coughed up the green haven't regretted it, but that there are many other options to consider. The problem is also that I won't have time to wait for a sale. I want to buy a laptop within a couple of days of landing in the US as I need to have access to maintain my forums and sites.

One more quick question - if I do go with a Mac, do you suggest getting AppleCare? Why or why not?

Thanks again for all your help!

I would suggest getting AppleCare. I've ran into several instances where I needed it, but I was still under the preliminary warranty period. However, some say it's a ripoff because it doesn't cover human accidents, but who knows. Maybe someone who has the service can shed some more light on the topic for you.

Currently Amazon is offering $150 off on MacBooks until Dec 3rd. Does anyone have thoughts on whether or not they'll run that promo again?

I don't know if they'll run the $150 off promo again. Apple runs a Black Friday deal where they take about $100 off their Macs, about 10% off some iPods, and other stuff. There's always waiting for the back-to-school sale where they clearance out the current-gen Macs and iPods (while unveiling the new iPods a few weeks before the sale is up and not giving a discount on those though).

Just to note, Apple MIGHT be unveiling a new MBP at Macworld. They unveiled the first one at Macworld, revised it with Core2Duo processors around October/November of last year, revised it again with a brighter LED display in June, and it seems fitting that they'd revise it again either this Winter or early Spring.

However, I'd jump on one right now if I could afford it. The LED display, better graphics card, and everything else is just amazing.

Wow, my wife is in love with her macbook pro. In fact, I use it over my work dell laptop any time I can.

We got it freebie style, and would have probably just bought a regular old macbook out of pocket. From what I can tell, they basically do the same thing after you upgrade it a little.

If you have the money, get the pro, if not get the macbook. When we upgrade our computers next year at work, I'm requesting a macbook. It will do most of what you need out of a windows machine.

the way i look at it....

MAC's best for video EDITING and MUSIC(DJ)

Windows better to modify and make it fit you just right, but can find programs that are just as good with editing and music but will have to shop around for the best.