BleepingComputer.com: Time for a MacBook?

Hi all,

It's been a while since I was a consistent poster on this forum, but your services are needed again. Please help.

Long story short, I am SICK of Windows and my computer being slow all the time. Yes, I could be infected, yes there are other factors that I could look into to fix things, but the simple fact of the matter is, I will never be happy with this pile of junk and I would like something portable to take with me to lectures and use to sit outside and finish essays and what not as I am now at university. Also, the space could be useful.

My little knowledge and probably ill founded views of Macs vs. PCs is that Macs mess up on the rare occasion, whereas PCs mess up to a smaller degree but consistently! My main concern is SPEED and PERFORMANCE. I think that speed should come as standard, computers are here to work for us, NOT the other way round.

What I hate most about my computer is waiting 15 minutes for the thing to load up to the login screen, another 10 minutes until I load up the first program I want to use. You won't believe how many holes there are in my walls at home and the amount of curses coming from my room.

Anyway, I'm thinking about getting the base model MacBook. A lot of the reviews I see focus too much on the feel and look of the machine, the aesthetics are stunning, but are there brains to match the beauty? It almost seems as if its been made to get nailed to a wall as a piece of art, as if the aesthetics are merely a distraction from the fact the performance of the machine is bad.

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.

What will you be doing with the Mac? Editing photos, movies? Word processing? etc. Does the base model have a firewire port? You may or may not need it.
Both my Mac laptops get to the login page within 20 sec. and another few more to fully load the Desktop. It'll take a few more seconds depending on how many files/folders there are on the Desktop and how many login items you have.
For the most part Mac OS X is pretty stable along with the hardware, but there are Macs that act just like your current PC. Just take a look at forums dedicated to Macs.
I've bought a 15 inch PBG4 and a 15 inch Macbook Pro from Apple's refurbished store along with Apple Care for both, and so far I have had only one major problem with the 3 year old PBG4s DC Inboard failing within the first year which Apple took care of under warranty.

I'm looking at one too. I've seen imacs work, and i've been able to use them and they've been great. I'll probably get one for college this fall.

Meanwhile, performance compared to your current piece of junk will be lightning. OSX starts pretty fast, like buddy said. Some computers get really slow at school, but i've found that its the same with the PCs, and they aren't in a really good environment either. They aren't macbooks though.

So, the aesthetic part of them aren't what you're paying for. You'll get a good machine along with it.

Compatibility issues are the largest part for me. I think i'll be able to put up with it, considering i'll have my desktop running windows too...

Another option may be Ubuntu (now at 8.10, it has both 64 bit and 32 bit versions). For general purposes such as web browsing, e-mailing, and some office work (Word, Spreadsheet, and Presentation), Ubuntu works just fine. The underlying kernel is Unix, the same as Mac OSs. I have tried Ubuntu for about a month now, and I generally like it. Because I have a lot of programs that I use under XP Pro, I am still using XP Pro most of the time. However, I am also getting tired of having to update everything almost constantly and pay again and again for some software updates (/new versions for new OSs). And that's why I am trying out Ubuntu. One advantage of Ubuntu is that it's free and will always be free (http://www.ubuntu.com/products/whatisubuntu).

Thanks for the replies people.

My stereotype of Mac users are usually photo/music/video people, however I'd probably be using it for taking notes in lectures and writing essays and what not outside in hopefully beautiful weather. Also, the piece of mind I'd have for using a computer that doesn't suck up half my day with loading and crashing would be amazing. I'd still keep my slow desktop for whatever else I'd need, so compatibility won't be so bad. No firewire isn't a problem.

I'm thinking about the cheaper 13 inch White MacBook with iWork, being a student isn't so great financially!

Thanks again.

Several professional writers I know in my area of Maryland all use simple Mac lappies.

They may have other systems at home/office, but prefer the Macs out and about.
None have the fancy/more expensive models.
I don't know that any have had any problems with them either.

I'm not a Mac fan - just conveying what I've seen.
(I'm using Toshibas with Vista.)

http://www.neooffice.org/
A free donationware word processor.

The Macbook has a glossy screen. I don't know how it would be outdoors but something you should look into.