The Official Mac Thread

[old_gregg]

Just bought her a 13" Air. Expect lots of questions here.

FYI the "experts" here seem barely computer literate. Asked about Parallels and Fusion. They had to go find their expert. I asked him about and he said it was really slow. I asked if it used the hypervisor or emulation. Blank stare.

So I'm trusting you guys on that one.

what specs did you get her? i ordered mine on saturday (256gb ssd, 8gb ram, 1.3ghz) using the discount of a friend who works at apple.

[FMCoug]

what specs did you get her? i ordered mine on saturday (256gb ssd, 8gb ram, 1.3ghz) using the discount of a friend who works at apple.

The base model. 128gb SSD, 4GB RAM, 1.3 CPU. I figure that is going to be plenty for a freshman in college.

[All-American]

He may well do it.

http://www.vanquishthefoe.com/byu-fo...egree-graduate

[old_gregg]

My air came in today. Nobody does hardware like apple. Also, I can't believe I've waited this long for an SSD. I'm going to order one to put in my desktop.

[Shaka]

My air came in today. Nobody does hardware like apple. Also, I can't believe I've waited this long for an SSD. I'm going to order one to put in my desktop.

From a design perspective you're right. I'd submit to you that Lenovo hardware is better.

[Jeff Lebowski]

From a design perspective you're right. I'd submit to you that Lenovo hardware is better.

As a dedicated Lenovo user for many years, I disagree.

[Shaka]

As a dedicated Lenovo user for many years, I disagree.

My last Macbook Pro was a fun computer but had design flaws that caused severe overheating and GPU failure. Previous versions I owned were no better than the HP's or Dell's I'd also owned in spite of the fact they looked better. My current Thinkpad looks a bit dated but the hardware has stood up to a lot of abuse. Personally I think it's better from a hardware standpoint than any Mac I've owned. Got loaded it with Windows 7 and it has been rock solid.

[Jeff Lebowski]

My last Macbook Pro was a fun computer but had design flaws that caused severe overheating and GPU failure. Previous versions I owned were no better than the HP's or Dell's I'd also owned in spite of the fact they looked better. My current Thinkpad looks a bit dated but the hardware has stood up to a lot of abuse. Personally I think it's better from a hardware standpoint than any Mac I've owned. Got loaded it with Windows 7 and it has been rock solid.

I have owned top-of-the-line Lenovos (and Thinkpads) for 10-15 years. They are nice machines with a rigid frame and excellent keypad, but overall quality has been dropping off ever since the Thinkpad line was purchased by a Chinese company. Here are ways my MacBook Pro is far superior to any Lenovo I ever owned:

Screen. Nothing can touch a retina display.

Battery life. I could rarely get more than 1.5 hours out of my Lenovo, even with a brand new battery. I can get 7-8 hours now easily.

Trackpad. I liked the little red stick on my Lenovo, but nothing can touch the Mac Trackpad in terms of ease of use, especially with the gestures.

SSD: My last Lenovo had dual SSD drives. They were nice, but nowhere near as fast as my current Mac drive.

Size/Weight: Yeah, you can get a thin Lenovo, but it doesn't have much beef. To get the same computing power as my MacBook Pro, you would need to get one of the mobile workstation models and they weigh a ton.

Software side is debatable (mac OS is buggy as hell), but the Mac hardware is awesome.

[old_gregg]

this trackpad. oh my lawd. i forgot what i was missing.

[beefytee]

I have owned top-of-the-line Lenovos (and Thinkpads) for 10-15 years. They are nice machines with a rigid frame and excellent keypad, but overall quality has been dropping off ever since the Thinkpad line was purchased by a Chinese company. Here are ways my MacBook Pro is far superior to any Lenovo I ever owned:

Screen. Nothing can touch a retina display.

Battery life. I could rarely get more than 1.5 hours out of my Lenovo, even with a brand new battery. I can get 7-8 hours now easily.

Trackpad. I liked the little red stick on my Lenovo, but nothing can touch the Mac Trackpad in terms of ease of use, especially with the gestures.

SSD: My last Lenovo had dual SSD drives. They were nice, but nowhere near as fast as my current Mac drive.

Size/Weight: Yeah, you can get a thin Lenovo, but it doesn't have much beef. To get the same computing power as my MacBook Pro, you would need to get one of the mobile workstation models and they weigh a ton.

Software side is debatable (mac OS is buggy as hell), but the Mac hardware is awesome.

I have a Lenovo Carbon X1 Touch for work and it has an i7-3667U in it. Which doesn't seem too far behind what you can get on Mac Book Pros from my quick scan. So I don't think you have to go to the bigger/bulkier models to get decent hardware. The biggest limitation for me is the 256 GB SSD. I see you can get Mac Books with 512 GB with the Pros, but not in the Airs. The Carbon X1 falls between the 2 weight/size-wise.


As far as display goes. Yeah, the retina displays have way higher resolution, but in my case, I'm tempted to decrease the resolution on the laptop because everything is so much smaller than on my other 2 external displays. Maybe I need new monitors. I do love the USB3 docking station.

There is no doubt that Macs wins on the trackpad. The mac trackpad is great.

I haven't really tested the battery on the thing. It had done splendidly being plugged in all day at work and anytime I have worked at home at night its lasted fine without being plugged in. I've never come close to being out of juice, so I can't say how long it lasts. The specs I've seen claim 6 hours.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I have a Lenovo Carbon X1 Touch for work and it has an i7-3667U in it. Which doesn't seem too far behind what you can get on Mac Book Pros from my quick scan. So I don't think you have to go to the bigger/bulkier models to get decent hardware. The biggest limitation for me is the 256 GB SSD. I see you can get Mac Books with 512 GB with the Pros, but not in the Airs. The Carbon X1 falls between the 2 weight/size-wise.


As far as display goes. Yeah, the retina displays have way higher resolution, but in my case, I'm tempted to decrease the resolution on the laptop because everything is so much smaller than on my other 2 external displays. Maybe I need new monitors. I do love the USB3 docking station.

There is no doubt that Macs wins on the trackpad. The mac trackpad is great.

I haven't really tested the battery on the thing. It had done splendidly being plugged in all day at work and anytime I have worked at home at night its lasted fine without being plugged in. I've never come close to being out of juice, so I can't say how long it lasts. The specs I've seen claim 6 hours.

Yeah, the specs on mine always claimed 5 hours or so but that was a joke. 90 minutes, tops.

[pelagius]

Yeah, the specs on mine always claimed 5 hours or so but that was a joke. 90 minutes, tops.

I've owned both Macbook Pros and high-end Thinkpads. Generally, I've liked the Thinkpads better than the MacBook. And I don't think I am predisposed to like the Thinkpads since I spend 90% of my computing time on a Linux workstation. I, however, don't put a heavy computational load on my laptops (I usually just remotely login to my workstation from the laptop) so I am not the most demanding laptop user. I've generally had good battery life on the Thinkpad (my last one: the highest end t430 you would usually last around 6 hours for me).

[old_gregg]

I've owned both Macbook Pros and high-end Thinkpads. Generally, I've liked the Thinkpads better than the MacBook. And I don't think I am predisposed to like the Thinkpads since I spend 90% of my computing time on a Linux workstation. I, however, don't put a heavy computational load on my laptops (I usually just remotely login to my workstation from the laptop) so I am not the most demanding laptop user. I've generally had good battery life on the Thinkpad (my last one: the highest end t430 you would usually last around 6 hours for me).

i'm coming from a work-issue t420 that i really liked. i do think i'll miss the pointer (mitigated by the trackpad) and the keyboard, but not much else.

[pelagius]

i'm coming from a work-issue t420 that i really liked. i do think i'll miss the pointer (mitigated by the trackpad) and the keyboard, but not much else.

One thing I really liked about my Macbook Pro was the 16x10 aspect ratio instead of 16x9. I assume apple has kept that aspect ratio?

[beefytee]

One thing I really liked about my Macbook Pro was the 16x10 aspect ratio instead of 16x9. I assume apple has kept that aspect ratio?

I'm not a fan of the wide screen monitors either. Macs do get that right.