MacBook Questions!!!!!?

Question

I'm looking to purchase a laptop for college...but I'm really confused as to which one to get...I've heard good things about the MacBook so I'm considering it...I really don't know computers in depth...but does Mac still have Microsoft Office?... or some other software?...and if so, does it come when I purchase the Mac, or do I have to purchase a CD for installation of it??....If people can offer their insight, I'd really appreciate it! =D

P.S. Oh yeah, if I do have to install it myself, would the regular CD I used for my PC [Windows XP] suffice for the installation or do I need a specific one only for Macs???

Thank you in advance!

Answer 1

You can run mac version of Office on mac

ANd the CD should work

Answer 2

If you don't know much about computers, you might consider whether you need to get one at all, and certainly whther it's a portable.  I had a portable in college 1993 and I loved it but it wasn't terribly necessary.  But of course since everybody has one now, everybody else has to have one.

Think of computer buying like car buying - consider what your needs are weighed against costs and you arrive at your machine.

MacBook - just hearing good things isn't really saying much.  You can get good vibes from any machine from any number of users.  Rather than fixating on brand, think of what your basic needs are:

office-level work, maybe watching media, storing media, surfing the web, wireless, getting email - this is what most people get notebooks for (even desktops - are you sure a DT isn't good enough - you will pay a premium for a comparable laptop).  For those needs, keeping mind you want a machine that will stay adequate for about four years and will have to run some version of Vista (I'll get back to the Mac in a sec) you should get a machine based on the following specs:

Core 2 Duo running at least 2 GHz

2GB of RAM, maybe even 3, but 2 should be fine.  More than that may be too much since different versions of the OS might not recognize more than 3GB.

120GB HD running at 5400 RPM

The biggest factor will be graphics - most laptops (and a surprising number of DT machines) use what's called "Integrated Graphics", a moldestly powered graphics chip bolted onto the motherboard.  A few machines instead use a dedicated graphics card - a separate and potentially upgradeable card with a more powerful chip and its own memory.  Dedicated cards add bulk to your machine, generate more heat, are more expensive and shorten intervals between battery recharge.  IG is popular for laptops because they provide for smaller, lighter and cheaper machines that run longer between recharges, and the extra horsepower of special cards is typically needed to satisfy only hardcore gamers who are less portable than their machines.  A new Intel graphics controller, the GMA X4500) was relased earlier this summer.  One Lenovo Thinkpad (http://www.jr.com/lenovo/pe/LEN_27463SU/... at J&R Music had 2GB of RAM, the GMA X4500 and a 2.26 GHz C2D chip (one of the newer ones using the smaller fabrication).  It's not available yet, but expect it to be in stores for incoming College students.

I saw some cheap Vaios on Newegg (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLis... but not that Thinkpad.  Also those Vaio's use the older GMA X3100, but at $700, why be picky?

Macbooks.  These are extremely well made and reliable machines backed up by almost legendary product support.  How well they fit your use depends on what software you use and other personal foibles - some people like OSX while pthers don't.  

There are few security issues with Mac-based systems - though it's unclear how much of that stems from the hacker-community's unwillingness to waste their time hitting a niche group of Mac users.  Some PC users argue that hackers prefer to go after Windows systems because so many people (read "potential Nigerian investors) use them.  Mac lovers counter that they aren't as small a community as PC fans would have us believe - pointing out the sheer number of college students who prefer Macs to Wintel-based machines.  When you consider, however, what a ringing endorsement the college market isn't - composed of impulse buyers who would easily pay through the nose to get a new machine a year later even when the old one works perfectly well, or who can't get it through their minds that a double-mocha Frappucino WILL do a horrible number if spilled on their machine - that dweeby PC guy from the commercials looks better every day.  Also, when you consider how up-to-their-eyeballs in debt these college students are by the time they 1st leave their bookstore, it's a wonder that there are any hackers gunning for these guys - hackers are looking for people from whom they can steal money or the means to it.

They are on the expensive side.  To get a dedicated video card machine, the Macbook Pro, you'll spend over $1,800.  The baseline Macbook will run about $1,100.  With Applecare (3 years) and 2GB of RAM (the baseline offers 1GB standard) the price could close to about $1,500, not quite twice the cost of that Lenovo, but still close.  As with all expensive investments, you may come to rue being cheap - it's all a gamble.

I don't think you'll have a problem using XP start-up discs on a mac using Bootcamp, but as I recall from the last time I installed an OS (sometime in late '01 or early '02) you have to register your OS online, and if that security key has already been used for another computer, the publisher (MS) may not "authenticate it".  MS supposedly shut down that form of "quality assurance".

Answer 3

Anyone Is good honestly you just got to read the details on each macbook and see if its right for you and here are some websites to go to for good prices and good deals: circuitcity.com bestbuy.com staples.com I only know they have cheap prices for mac laptops good luck