Mac Questions

Convince me.

I'm seriously considering buying the 17" powerbook, seen here:

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPL....1.1.1.0.0.1.0

I've been a PC guy all my life, but am thinking of going for it. I have a few questions however.

1. I have a PC that I currently use that has a huuge harddrive of mp3's, and the like on it. If I share the drive, will the mac be able to see it on the network ok, and be able to access the mp3s?

2. If I get a seperate PC ide harddrive, and get one of those enclosures for it, and the usb adapter, can I use it as a portable harddrive and connect it to the mac? or?

3. What type of filesharing programs are offered for the mac? I currently use isohunt/torrent and limewire.

i can only answer #3.

i use limewire and bittorrent with no problem.

that 17" is really huge, have you seen it in person? it's really not the most portable thing in the world. i have the 15" and it's great, and i have an external monitor for it that i use when i'm at home.

also, does anyone know when the g5 books are coming? maybe wait for those so you can get a deal on a g4 or the newer g5...

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Originally Posted by beatifik

i can only answer #3.

i use limewire and bittorrent with no problem.

that 17" is really huge, have you seen it in person? it's really not the most portable thing in the world. i have the 15" and it's great, and i have an external monitor for it that i use when i'm at home.

also, does anyone know when the g5 books are coming? maybe wait for those so you can get a deal on a g4 or the newer g5...

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I love the 12" more. Just so easy to carry around. ;)

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Originally Posted by Lets Gekiga In

I love the 12" more. Just so easy to carry around. ;)

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yeah, the 15" is a bitch to lug around, but i couldn't work with the 12" display. it's just too small.

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Originally Posted by beatifik

yeah, the 15" is a bitch to lug around, but i couldn't work with the 12" display. it's just too small.

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That's why I have one of these...

http://www.clubic.com/photo/00031845.jpg

23" of goodness. :drool:

1. You can network Windows and Mac no problem. There is a check box in the system preferences\sharing, that says " windows sharing". Check it, and you can see windows networked machines in the finder.

2.No you cannot share a PC formatted hard drive back and forth. you would need a hybrid format on the HD for both mac and pc to read. most windows machines will have NTFS, which is all windows. This is the same for all you ipod owners. If you format the HD in a windows system, you cannot share easily with mac.

3.Torrent, and Limewire have been Mac as long as PC really. There is a large mac following on Limewire due to its GNU nature, and it's all Mac users have had for long time. Another program called "Acquisition"*spelling* is great for mac products.


Enjoy.

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Originally Posted by Neo Mike

Convince me.

I'm seriously considering buying the 17" powerbook, seen here:

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPL....1.1.1.0.0.1.0

I've been a PC guy all my life, but am thinking of going for it. I have a few questions however.

1. I have a PC that I currently use that has a huuge harddrive of mp3's, and the like on it. If I share the drive, will the mac be able to see it on the network ok, and be able to access the mp3s?

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yes, no problem at all

I wanted a 17" and then I saw one in person at the Mac Store. It is so friggin huge,
it shouldn't even be considered a laptop. Even the guy at the mac store said it's pretty much just a smaller desktop.

I'm going to be buying one of these too, so good luck to you.

The 17" is awesome. Here is why people need that size.

16:9 ratio

Needed screen space for any type of developement. So Final Cut Pro, Adobe, and programmers need that screen space.

Movies!!

the 15" is 16:9 as well.

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Originally Posted by shir0

I wanted a 17" and then I saw one in person at the Mac Store. It is so friggin huge,
it shouldn't even be considered a laptop. Even the guy at the mac store said it's pretty much just a smaller desktop.

I'm going to be buying one of these too, so good luck to you.

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Are you going with the 15" then?

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Originally Posted by Neo Mike

Are you going with the 15" then?

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Maybe, depends on what I find, but I really want to get a 12" because
they are so portable and tiny. You get used to the screen, and like Gekia
did, you can buy a larger screen for home which is what I want to do.

In the next few months I'm going to get a Powerbook too, but I'm thinking either the 12" or the 15". 12" for pure portability as at home I'd use a separate monitor with it for sure. The 12" is just pure sex. The 15" is nice, but even that is bigger than I need for most uses.

As far as G5's, I'd wait for the second generation of them anyways. Not a great idea to buy first generation of anything. The G4 is manly as is.

Wow, the misinformation is strong with this thread.

1st - There won't be a G5 powerbook. Apple is switching to Intel, remember? IBM did announce a G5 chip that could work in a laptop but it'd be really odd for Apple to put out a G5 Powerbook considering one of the first things they'd probably want to put out transition wise is a Centrino Powerbook, since the Centrino is gods gift to portable computing.

2nd - Yes, you can buy a PC IDE hard drive and throw it into the enclosure and have it be readable by both the PC and Mac. Just don't format it NTFS, format it FAT32. The only issue may be if the drive is over a certain size, older versions of Mac OSX can't view drive sizes in FAT32 over 137GB, I think this was fixed in the latest versions but I don't know for sure.

3rd - Um, WTF? Dude a 17" Powerbook right now is a bit of a waste IMO. It's not very portable and it's uber expensive (especially with the Intel transition coming). Plus the fact that the 15" is so much nicer, cheaper, and much more portable IMO.

Can someone tell me what exactly Apple switching to Intel means? Will it make them cheaper? I'm thinking of buying a Mac but if they will get cheaper in the next year or so I'll wait.

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Originally Posted by JHendrix

Wow, the misinformation is strong with this thread.

1st - There won't be a G5 powerbook. Apple is switching to Intel, remember? IBM did announce a G5 chip that could work in a laptop but it'd be really odd for Apple to put out a G5 Powerbook considering one of the first things they'd probably want to put out transition wise is a Centrino Powerbook, since the Centrino is gods gift to portable computing.

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They are switching to Intel over a period of YEARS. They will likely release a G5 laptop at some point, but when is the question. They haven't said no G5 in the laptop and in fact they need to do it. The earliest Intel chip in a Mac is next year at earliest.

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Originally Posted by genjiglove

Can someone tell me what exactly Apple switching to Intel means? Will it make them cheaper? I'm thinking of buying a Mac but if they will get cheaper in the next year or so I'll wait.

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Cheaper....probably not. The new x86 Mac's, I'm almost certain, will only be able to run OSX. The switch is due to the fact the IBM is not able to make a G5 that runs cool enough for a laptop. If you want a Mac now, just get one. This switch to Intel will probably take a couple of years or more to complete fully.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JHendrix

Um, WTF? Dude a 17" Powerbook right now is a bit of a waste IMO. It's not very portable and it's uber expensive (especially with the Intel transition coming). Plus the fact that the 15" is so much nicer, cheaper, and much more portable IMO.

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I have a Vaio laptop that has a 15" screen, and it annoys the hell out of me. I never use it just because of the screen size.

This is what I will work on 99 percent of the time, so that's why i think I can justify the 17 " monitor. Is it really that big of a beast? I'll probably be infront of the machine 7-10 hrs a day.




Next questions:
What irc program does everyone recommend for mac? I'm currently using trillian and stunnel for irc / aim / icq / msn

Where would be the cheapest to purchase the powerbook from? Any suggestions on where to look first? I have a student id from 2000, but am no longer a student. I use it still at the movies, but will it work at the Mac store is the question :)

xchat?

I agree the 17" is just to big. I'd go for the 12" or 15", use the money you saved to get a nice large LCD monitor to use on it at home.

Apple has made clear it's going to continue supporting the G based Macs for years after the intel switch and that switch is still 2 years away. Besides, if you put off buying any computer because you're waiting for something faster to come out, you'd never own one.

EDIT:http://www.macmall.com/
Sale till the 21st, they're also quick on sending out the rebate checks on the freebies.

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Originally Posted by Neo Mike

Is it really that big of a beast? I'll probably be infront of the machine 7-10 hrs a day.

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Yes, it is massive. I am a student and I want portability, and for awhile now I
had convinced myself that a 17" could work. I was in the mac store all of 10
seconds before that idea went soaring out the window. I never imagined it
would be so friggin huge, so obviously that brought me to the 12' and 15' inch
models. The 15' inch is still a little too big, but I like being able to go to 2 gigs
of ram and I've seen 128 meg vram models, although the mac store will only
let you have the 64 meg card (WTF?), but at the end of the day, the 12' inch
with its very portable size and 1.25 gigs of ram being enough for just about
anything a student would do (including Photoshop), I think the 12' might just
be for me.

The only downsides to the 12' inch are no backlit keys and 1.25 gig being the
max you can upgrade to. The model I'm looking at right now is the 12' inch 1.5
ghz with 1.25 g of ram, an 80 gig hdd, an 8x superdrive and a 64 meg vram card.

That should be enough to keep me interested for awhile.

For that price, you'd think you would get a more up to date gaphics card. But I guess most people who have Macs aren't that interested in gaming.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Neo Mike

I have a Vaio laptop that has a 15" screen, and it annoys the hell out of me. I never use it just because of the screen size.

This is what I will work on 99 percent of the time, so that's why i think I can justify the 17 " monitor. Is it really that big of a beast? I'll probably be infront of the machine 7-10 hrs a day.




Next questions:
What irc program does everyone recommend for mac? I'm currently using trillian and stunnel for irc / aim / icq / msn

Where would be the cheapest to purchase the powerbook from? Any suggestions on where to look first? I have a student id from 2000, but am no longer a student. I use it still at the movies, but will it work at the Mac store is the question :)

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xChat is on OSX.

Go to a CompUSA or an Apple Store (you're in SoCal, how can there NOT be an Apple store by you) and check out the model. If you're going to bring it somewhere, sit it down for 8 hours and work on it, then take it home, then ok it's a portable desktop replacement.

Look at the dimentions: 15.4 x 10.2 x 1.0, though it's only 7lbs it's still very wide for a laptop and I think it's a little unweildy to use on say a plane tray table or something unless you always fly first class.

Oh, and for the love of god buy the Applecare, as much of it as you can. You'll need it, they have screen issues.

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Originally Posted by JHendrix

Oh, and for the love of god buy the Applecare, as much of it as you can. You'll need it, they have screen issues.

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yes, buy applecare. i've replaced my ipod twice and my brother had to have two usb ports replaced on his tibook.

i'm waiting for my screen to go bad so that i can get a new one. i got a scratch in mine awhile ago and it drives me nuts.

Honestly haven't needed any repairs on any of my Macs *knocks on wood*.

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Originally Posted by D-Lite

Honestly haven't needed any repairs on any of my Macs *knocks on wood*.

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My iBook was in for repairs 4 times in the year I owned it. One of the repairs took over a month to finish.

Buy the Applecare.

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Originally Posted by JHendrix

My iBook was in for repairs 4 times in the year I owned it. One of the repairs took over a month to finish.

Buy the Applecare.

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Jesus, you got some bum luck there dude.

My PowerPC 66/7100 never needed repair and served me up until I retired it after getting an iMac and the monitor died on me but was within warranty period, I got it repaired for free, and now it's pushing on in its 6th year and still problem free.

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Originally Posted by bokmeow

Jesus, you got some bum luck there dude.

My PowerPC 66/7100 never needed repair and served me up until I retired it after getting an iMac and the monitor died on me but was within warranty period, I got it repaired for free, and now it's pushing on in its 6th year and still problem free.

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Desktops are another matter entirely. Apple's portables have had a lot of problems in recent years. The problems with the G3 iBook's motherboards were so bad that Apple had a class action lawsuit threatened that basically gave all owners of the unit free service to replace the motherboard. My motherboard was replaced twice before I sold it.

Powerbooks also have issues, though not as major. The biggest problems are the hinges on the screen breaking and the actual screen itself having problems, developing bright spots and/or becoming blotchy.

~lolOMFG-BUY-THE-APPLECARE.com.org.net

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Originally Posted by D-Lite

Honestly haven't needed any repairs on any of my Macs *knocks on wood*.

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Same here, my old clamshell iBook has only needed a new batt.

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Originally Posted by Abasuto

Same here, my old clamshell iBook has only needed a new batt.

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The iPurse r00lz :buttrock: I've always wanted one of those.

Neo Mike, don't listen to the hate:

the 17-inch rules! I carry mine around everywhere with no problems. Actually, I found the case they sell at the Apple Store to work the best (I looked around for one for a while before) --it's a little harder to find a case that's designed for bigger laptops.

Buy it with the wireless bluetooth mouse!

My old Dell was pretty big anyway, not 17-inch, but this one really doesn't feel that much bigger. In fact, when you use it for a while, you pity smaller laptops (that probably goes for any 17 laptop).

It's lighter than my Dell.

[if you have any ties to a university, see if you can get a school discount. I got mine for 10% off through the U. of Minnesota techmart. In fact, I think you can trick the main apple site into letting you get a student discount... I think ;) ]

Ok, its official. i've come to the "darkside". I ordered a 15" Powerbook, 1.67gb, upgraded the hd to 100GB, upgraded the vram to 128, and got the DVD+/-RW/CD-RW superdrive. At some pt in the future, i'll order the ram from crucial or whatever and get it maxxed at the 2gb. No point in upgrading that from apple.com.

@Bobak - I decided to go with the 15. I think the 17 is awesome, but i already have a 19" viewsonic flatscreen that I will plug in using dvid connector, so that buys me some serious screen real estate..

How does the bluetooth mouse work?

Can't wait til it shows up. Pretty excited. :buttrock:

wow that didn't take too long. good for you. macs fans are fans for a reason.

with that 19" screen you'll be set until you see the 23" cinema display and decide that it's totally worth $1300. :loco: (well, it is. ;) )

Quote:

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Originally Posted by shir0

Yes, it is massive. I am a student and I want portability, and for awhile now I
had convinced myself that a 17" could work. I was in the mac store all of 10
seconds before that idea went soaring out the window. I never imagined it
would be so friggin huge, so obviously that brought me to the 12' and 15' inch
models. The 15' inch is still a little too big, but I like being able to go to 2 gigs
of ram and I've seen 128 meg vram models, although the mac store will only
let you have the 64 meg card (WTF?), but at the end of the day, the 12' inch
with its very portable size and 1.25 gigs of ram being enough for just about
anything a student would do (including Photoshop), I think the 12' might just
be for me.

The only downsides to the 12' inch are no backlit keys and 1.25 gig being the
max you can upgrade to. The model I'm looking at right now is the 12' inch 1.5
ghz with 1.25 g of ram, an 80 gig hdd, an 8x superdrive and a 64 meg vram card.

That should be enough to keep me interested for awhile.

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I strongly recommend that you go for the 15". I ran Halo on a Rev A 12" and compared it to my Mac Mini. The Mini out-performed the 12" by a very noticable margin. The 12" couldn't even access the Vertex Shaders option. Even though the current model 12" has a faster CPU and 2x the VRAM, it still uses the same 5200go as the first gen 12" (Mac Mini has a Radeon 9200 w/ 32mb VRAM). If you follow my advice, get the 128mb VRAM version if you can.

Beyond gaming and pro-level stuff, you shouldn't notice much of a difference. I have to admit, the 12"s are very light & portable.

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Originally Posted by Neo Mike

Ok, its official. i've come to the "darkside".

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Hee hee, welcome! I can't believe there was a whole Mac discussion and I missed it! I've been a Mac user since the beginning, even in the dark times before the iMac came around. :)

I currently work at an advertising agency that where we build TV commercials 100% on OS X. The new Final Cut Studio is quite an impressive package, you should check into it if you're into film, video and DVD authoring.

At home, my main machine is a 800 MHz G4 flatscreen iMac, which is still the freakiest and coolest looking computer ever. I also have a 15" titanium model Powerbook. I chose to buy the 1 GHz titanium model, as it was the last laptop to natively support OS 9 (which is good for playing fun old games that don't work so well under classic mode).

So far, all the Mac machines I ever owned have been pretty reliable, and you get a nice chuckle when you watch the news on TV warning people about a horrible new virus that's destroying everything.

When it comes to viruses, having a Mac is like having a houseboat when there's a flood.

Bluetooth mouse?

Feh!

Screw replacing batteries or having to remember to charge my mouse.

USB works quite well enough and you can set the cord up so that you have it as long as you'll need it.

/Argue-With-Bobak-Mode

PS. Congrats on the purchase. Though I'm convinced that the PC platform is better, I really do wish someone would make a PC laptop in the form factor of the 15" powerbook. Maybe eventually after Apple does the switch I may pick one up. Hope you enjoy it. Oh yeah, please tell me you bought the Applecare.

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Originally Posted by Neo Mike

Ok, its official. i've come to the "darkside".

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Congrads :)

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Originally Posted by bokmeow

The iPurse r00lz :buttrock: I've always wanted one of those.

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They've gotten pretty cheap for a stock one, $300 isn't rare. Just get a $300 one, then spend a little to upgrade the HD and max out the RAM. Watch for scammers selling upgraded ones claiming to have tons of RAM, 320 is the most RAM they'll hold. Doesn't matter if you put more in, 320 is all it'll use.

So what are the must have apps for a mac?

Xchat
Fetch
Adobe Creative Suite CS2
Macromedia progs
Office
Final Cut Pro
?

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Originally Posted by Neo Mike

So what are the must have apps for a mac?

Xchat
Fetch
Adobe Creative Suite CS2
Macromedia progs
Office
Final Cut Pro
?

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I really like Interarchy for FTP. Very solid and highly integrated interface. Nice drag and drop capability.

For quickie image manipulation and editing/browsing/catalogging, you simply can't beat Graphic Converter (from www.lemkesoft.com).

Office for Mac is a good program. Built by the Mac division at MS from the ground up. Even more stable than the PC version I use at work regularly.

itunes

Does your powerbook come bundled with iLife? If so, it'll give you something to play with until you need something more pro.. ;) I tend to use iMovieHD for some of the stuff I play around with. It's kind of basic but gets the job done. ;)

If you plan on getting MS Office for Mac, see if you can get a student discount of the package that's bundled with Virtual PC. I have an employee discount (our office buys lots of MS products so we get a discount for personal purchases). The difference between office mac and office mac + virtual PC + winXP was minimal. It might be the same case with student discounts.

I have yet to hold a 17 powerbook in my hands but I do have a 17 widescreen Gateway and it is very easy to carry around and the big screen is a real plus in my eyes. I can still put it on my lap but I usually rest it on a desk. IMO go for the 17

The Bluetooth mouse is very simple. Just switch it on next to your Mac and the computer figures out it's there in about 10 seconds. All it takes is a very fool-proof 2 minute initial install using a CD.

I've used my bluetooth mouse for around 2 hours a day for 2 months and it still shows maximum battery level ;)

I hate track-pads (I love the "eraser" mouse), so I needed to get a regular mouse.

and, yes, it matches my computer ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bobak

The Bluetooth mouse is very simple. Just switch it on next to your Mac and the computer figures out it's there in about 10 seconds. All it takes is a very fool-proof 2 minute initial install using a CD.

I've used my bluetooth mouse for around 2 hours a day for 2 months and it still shows maximum battery level ;)

I hate track-pads (I love the "eraser" mouse), so I needed to get a regular mouse.

and, yes, it matches my computer ;)

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Ahh cool.

What specs did you order on your 17"?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Neo Mike

Ahh cool.

What specs did you order on your 17"?

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I did a few upgrades, but nothing major. Mainly I upgraded the RAM because I had them put Final Cut on it and I'll probably need it for that.

I also recommend getting AppleCare, but that's because I insure anything that's costing me over $1000 :p

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Neo Mike

So what are the must have apps for a mac?

Xchat
Fetch
Adobe Creative Suite CS2
Macromedia progs
Office
Final Cut Pro
?

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For work or for gaming?

If for gaming, Marathon, Marathon 2, and Marathon Infinity are must have apps.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bokmeow

For work or for gaming?

If for gaming, Marathon, Marathon 2, and Marathon Infinity are must have apps.

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For me UT 2004 is the one game every mac owner should purchase its amazing what the developers squeezed out of the normal hardware

Quote:

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Originally Posted by johnno15

For me UT 2004 is the one game every mac owner should purchase its amazing what the developers squeezed out of the normal hardware

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If you were a mac user 10 years ago, I guarantee that you would be saying the exact same thing about the Marathon games. I see no reason to not get the Marathon Trilogy, since all 3 games are freeware now :

http://www.bungie.net/Games/Marathon/

http://trilogyrelease.bungie.org/

http://source.bungie.org/

limewire
aquisition
Transmit (my ftp of choice)
monolingual (removes all those erreneous languages)
Toast Titanium - burning prog of choice

and i still troll Hotline trackers

I went back and looked at the 17' inch again, and I could see someone trying
to fit that thing in a backpack. I can't however see you getting it on one of those
desks in the classrooms and don't even think about putting it on the fold out ones
next to the chairs in big auditorium classrooms. I tried to convince myself that if I
got the 17' things would just be easier, but I can't for the life of me see why a student running around all day needs something that big and inconvinent when
you can just get a 23' cinema display and the 12'/15' that is a lot smaller and easier to use/tote around?