I'm looking to buy a new computer to replace my old one, and I'm looking for some guidance as to what to buy. I'm trying to decide between a Mac, or the Dell Studio XPS 8100. Here I don't have a ton of money to spend, I could probably afford either a 13' Macbook, or a 13' Macbook Pro. I am not looking to do a ton of gaming, however, I would like to play Team Fortress 2. How would a Macbook or Macbook pro run it? I am more looking to do everyday things, browsing, things of that nature, and a small amount of gaming. Thanks.
Didn't see how comparable the price is between the 13 inch macbook pro and the iMac, i would probably go with that instead.
Everyday things, browsing, email, the odd bit of gaming. I may be at university next year as well. I would much prefer the iMac to the Macbooks though. I'd probably get the 21.5 inch iMac if I get a Mac.
Then if you go for an iMac, you'd pretty much be paying for the OS. If you have a preference for a certain operating system, go with it. There's really no difference.
That's entirely subjective. I'm biased because on 1 out of the 3 Windows laptops I owned worked great, and the OS just has too many loose-ends and too many things to keep track of. With other people, that's exactly what they want since it means endless customization. Get some hands on with the OS and see how you feel about if after a while. It's not a seamless switch, but I love my MBP.
Tf2 works great on my iMac, but I do a lot of gaming so I have an Asus as well. Don't get a Dell, the one I had had some serious issues.
well..you are comparing a desktop to a laptop so the dell is certitly more powerful for the price..bit the macbook..is well..portable..and a high quaility laptop. is you dont need major processing power..go for the mbp
^ This. I couldn't imagine going back to Win OS, I love my MBP far too much. If you like to customize the appearance though [as I do] Just get CandyBar and you're set I particularly recommend a MBP over a PC because if you're not really going to be doing a lot of gaming, then there really is no reason to buy a PC. The Steam games I own run fine though, enough to quench my nerd cravings..
Sorry to semi necro this thread but I'm looking for some input on the same topic! Im trying to decide whether to switch to a Macbook Pro or upgrade to Windows 7. My current laptop is vista 64 bit, would be upgrading to Windows 7 64 bit. Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Duo CPU T5550 @ 1.83 GHz 1.83 GHz 4.0 gigs of ram. Nvidia graphics card, though I don't quite know which one. Model is P-6860FX by Gateway if that helps any. The MBP Im looking at is 13-inch: 13 inch 2.4 Ghz 4 gigs of ram NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics graphics card. I'm going to college this summer, and wont be doing much gaming, essentially only Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3 when they come out, both of which are being developed for the mac. My laptop will be mainly used for homework and research, and playing those two games when Im not rocking the 360 or itouch! Thanks for the help!
^ Definitely go for the MBP. I have Win7 on my MBP and I don't get what all the fuss is about..Its a big improvement over Vista, but then again ANYTHING is an improvement over Vista..Lol
Any specific reasons I should go for the MBP, I'm computer illiterate for the most part, and if I'm gonna spend about $1000 I need some compelling reasons NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTS is the graphics card, just found it
I currently have 2 window desktop, 2 windows laptop, and one macbook pro The Dell XPS is a pretty wicked machine - if you get it, make sure that go with at least the i5 core processor... The XPS's are supposedly made with gaming in mind - a lot of video processing. Of course video is what Mac is well known for... I have not used Windows 7 although everyone tells me to get rid of my XP Pro and get it, supposedly a really smooth OS with a lot of nice features. The Dell comes with Windows 7 home premium which is fine. Macs tend to be pretty popular machines in college - so programs / applications / etc may be easier to find in this enviroment. Dells are good machines - I have owned probably 12 of them - 1 had a problem - got fixed with a minimal amount of hassle. Macs are built very well, and the Apple stores go out of their way to give good CS. I think that the Macs have nice screens than any of the window machines. Software - even with the ability to run the windows programs - I don't think that the mac does as good a job of running them as a windows only machine. If you own a lot of PC software, you may find yourself re-buying for the Mac... Bottom line for me is that they are both really nice choices, and whichever you wind up with -you should be really happy with. Hopefully you will not wonder if the other one would have been better...
@drexa One problem with Macs is that for some reason some of the software (like powerpoint or word) isn't compatible with PCs, although sometimes they are which is kind of strange. Since you will probably be emailing or using a flash drive to show presentation or turn in essays you might want to take into account which system is more compatible.
