Comments on: Pride And MacBook Prejudice

By: Todd

Todd — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 06:47:04 +0000

Thanks for the ideas, gents. Looks like we’ve got some similar laptop projects going on. Shaking the Magic Eight Ball, “Signs point to MB.”

@mrc: Yeah, the size of Pro is quite a difference. I love the 12-inch iBook and don’t want to wander too far from it. Good to know that things are working out just fine with MB on your end.

@Ben: I don’t think I’ll be doing anything that would make the processor difference noticeable, either. Funny, I’d rather have a laptop with a moonroof than one with leather.

@Tom: Dual-display support is on the list of features for MB. And smart thinking not to request Mac Pro. Those things would suck up your time like nothing else. And I’m feeling the same thing about money you are: there’s not a compelling reason to drop the extra cash, only a few vague ones.

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 00:36:11 +0000

I just got a mac book pro for work. I would not have paid the extra money for it had it been my purchase but . . . I love it. I don’t really notice the size difference (but I have no pre-owned bag to worry about).

I do really like the dual display support. I’m not sure the MB has that. I’m starting to do some presenting on a regular basis and the presenter mode is awfully nice to have.

I do a fair amount of video work as well so it’s nice to have every bit of processing I can get. I almost requested a mac pro but realized I would then never get to leave work.

Not really that strong of reasons for the money difference.

Tom

By: Ben

Ben — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 21:02:05 +0000

Wow, a tough choice there. Personally, with the advent of the Intel MacBooks, I really don’t see much difference when it comes to performance. Sure the MacBook Pros are going to have slightly faster processors, and better heat management, but most of the time I’m never doing anything that would tax my laptop to the point where I feel I should have bought a faster processor.

It’s like car shopping. Do you want to pay extra for the leather and moonroof, when the base model will do exactly what you need it to do?

Then again, a laptop with leather, now that might be something to consider :)

By: mrc

mrc — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 17:07:00 +0000

I went from a 12″ PowerBook G4 to a MacBook (the black one) last year instead of a MB Pro. I had never considered an iBook previously, but size was the controlling factor. I found that switching to Intel and Universal Binary for (most of) the apps I use daily provided a nice boost in speed, even thought I didn’t go for the Pro. I also do music production stuff with it, and it’s much faster than the G4 was. Now that Photoshop is about to come out in Universal Binary, it will run fast as well.

Now if they come out with a Pro in one of the smaller (12 or 13 inch) sizes, it would be a tougher question. The extra pixels gained going from the 12″ PowerBook to the 13″ MacBook were a nice bonus, and the additional real estate helps when tracking out a song. But for me, it’s not worth carrying around a huge (15 or 17 inch) computer just so it can be a little bit faster.