Mac laptops...

[phyco126]

I think laptops can only have 4GBs max. My desk top can have 8 GB. Mua hahahah.

[DevNall]

I think laptops can only have 4GBs max. My desk top can have 8 GB. Mua hahahah.

And how much does your desktop have?

[phyco126]

3 GBs 1 stick was bad, so I took it out. The system runs fine enough with 3 GBs. I've been looking at getting 8 GBs though.

[Dragonmaster Lou]

A few other Mac-owning/purchasing tips...

1) If you can wait, supposedly new MacBooks and MacBook Pros will be coming out around September/October or so.

2) Never, ever buy Apple's upgrades to their hardware from Apple themselves if you can get what you want elsewhere. If you actually compare their stock configurations to similarly configured boxes from other big name manufacturers, usually the prices come within about $100 or so of each other. Apple makes a lot of its money by jacking up the price of upgrades and build-to-order options (like $500 for a hard drive that you can get elsewhere for $150). Fortunately, most of the components are pretty standard and you can get whatever other things (RAM, etc.) you want from your favorite retailers (I like Crucial.com for RAM and NewEgg for just about everything else).

3) I also support the idea of getting a MacBook Pro over a regular MacBook if you're going to do any sort of graphical work (I'm getting my spousal overunit, who's also a graphic designer, a MacBook Pro for that reason). The advantage of real graphics over integrated graphics (which sucks system RAM away for the graphics chips as opposed to graphics having its own dedicated memory) will definitely be noticeable with any kind of graphical apps. Integrated stuff really is only okay (though not great, but adequate) if you're just going to be doing basic email, web browsing, word processing, etc.

Any other questions, feel free to ask.

[Werefrog]

Did you ever decide on your laptop, G1?

My Dell laptop just died on me last week. I replaced it with a Toshiba laptop for only 450 dollars. I know it wouldn't do for you since you're going to be using graphical work, but it will be great for my purposes (pretty decent processor and 3 GB of memory!). Now if I could just switch back to XP... (or if any Linux missionaries would like to convert me, now would be the time.)

[GhaleonOne]

Actually, yeah. Just bought the MacBook Pro earlier today. Meant to post on this thread a few days ago, but forgot. I took everyone's considerations. Basically, I bought the lower end MacBook Pro, but held off on any extras (RAM, hard drive space). Figured I can add RAM when I need it, and as others mentioned, for cheaper. I'll probably just get an external hard drive as well. One that works across a Mac and PC, so I can move all my design and photography work with ease.

Oh, and the deal got me hooked up with an iPod Touch, meaning I can grab that Vay remake.

[phyco126]

How much was it total? Did you buy it from the Apple store online or from a brick and mortar store?

[GhaleonOne]

Went with their online store. We don't have an Apple store in town. Well, we have a store that sells them, but they didn't include the printer and iPod for free, and required you to buy Apple's $300 extended warranty crap to use the student discount (which is only 200 to begin with). The entire lot was around 2200 after rebates and taxes. This includes a 100 dollar printer for free, and having paid the extra 200 for the larger space iPod (normally 500, but with 300 off). The computer by itself was 1800 after the educational discount. Normally 2000. Those are prices without tax though.

[White Shadow]

I think laptops can only have 4GBs max. My desk top can have 8 GB. Mua hahahah.

A laptops can have as much memory as its BIOS can deal with and its processor is capable of addressing.

[phyco126]

I think laptops can only have 4GBs max. My desk top can have 8 GB. Mua hahahah.

A laptops can have as much memory as its BIOS can deal with and its processor is capable of addressing.

Yes, I am aware of that, but due to size limitations of some laptops, only two slots are available for RAM; each capped at 2GB sticks. The newer laptops may have more, at least in the larger ones that can fit more slots in (like how some older laptops used to have two HDD bays).

[DevNall]

I think laptops can only have 4GBs max. My desk top can have 8 GB. Mua hahahah.

A laptops can have as much memory as its BIOS can deal with and its processor is capable of addressing.

Actually, these restrictions are sometimes a result of additional chipsets such as the
northbridge.

And G1, welcome to the world of OS X. Let us know how you like it.

[White Shadow]

Actually, these restrictions are sometimes a result of additional chipsets such as the
northbridge.

And G1, welcome to the world of OS X. Let us know how you like it.

I considered saying 'motherboard' instead of the BIOS, but I wasn't thinking about the effect of the board's other hardware on memory limitations. *shrug*

[GhaleonOne]

FYI, I canceled the order. After them denying three seperate credit cards (in which there was nothing wrong with any of the three, and should have gone through fine). Then calling up their customer service and getting complete morons for help... I told one lady to change the card holder's name to my mom's name three separate times during the call, only to check the account online afterwards and find that she never changed the name. I just gave up. I'm going through Kansas City next weekend, and they have an Apple store. If they give me the same deals the online store did when I go through, I'll buy it. Otherwise, I might think twice about getting one.

[GhaleonOne]

Thought I'd say this is the first post on my new MacBook Pro. I love the glossy screen too! Haven't played enough with it to give much impressions, but I'm liking it. Still gotta get used to the one-mouse button though. And not having an End key. (I always hit shift end to select the remaining part of a URL in the URL bar of a browser, but I've been able to hit shift and down to the same effect. I'm sure there will be other button and button combinations that will give me trouble at first when I start using Photoshop and Flash on it.

[exigence]

you like the glossy screen, i remember a lot of people saying they didnt like it so i went with the matte screen.

[GhaleonOne]

Yeah, I'm happy with it. It didn't have that much glare... even in the car with the sun glaring down on it.

[exigence]

i really like mine a lot, its my first mac but i like it a lot more than windows. The only thing i miss is Microsoft word, right now i'm using open office and the version i have is a little buggy hopefully they'll fix it, its really not a bad program.

[GhaleonOne]

I've finally started training myself to Mac shortcuts (I don't know how many times I tried to press Ctrl-C and Ctrl-A). The only real complaint I have is only having one mouse button. That and no touch-scroller on the touch-pad like on most Windows-powered laptops, but I plan on getting a USB-mouse anyways.

[Dragonmaster Lou]

I've finally started training myself to Mac shortcuts (I don't know how many times I tried to press Ctrl-C and Ctrl-A). The only real complaint I have is only having one mouse button. That and no touch-scroller on the touch-pad like on most Windows-powered laptops, but I plan on getting a USB-mouse anyways.

Actually, you can touch scroll on the MacBook Pro if you use two fingers instead of one:
http://bigpcgeek.com/blog/2008/01/25/sc ... cbook-pro/

[GhaleonOne]

I wondered if there was something like that! Thanks!