[PCWorld]

Post your comments for Is it Time to Switch to an Apple Laptop? here

[rgreen4]

The author should have done a little basic research before posting the article. The Nvidia 9600M GT video card has been available in the HP notebooks for several months. I also see nothing about the availabliltiy of HDMI output which has been available on HP machines for years.

[roboskier08]

Maybe I missed something in the announcement today, but since when has this been an SLI setup? Apple merely gives you the choice to switch between the integrated and the discrete (an option which has been available on Vaio Z laptops before). So there is no piggybacking in this setup. To make matters worse, the simple switch requires a logout and subsequent login, so the technology doesn't exactly "flip the switch" when you start up a game like your article suggests. Check out http://www.engadget....graphics-modes/ if you want to read about an actual experience with the system as opposed to a pleasant, yet untrue, fantasy.

[trevor97007]

- Perhaps some driver coding and/or hardware modding could give us Hybrid SLI?
- The touchpad is not a screen.

[diverwen]

There was a comment about Photoshop, which was my biggest concern in the switch. When I got my Macbook Pro, I was pleasantly surprised that Adobe sent me the mac version of Photoshop for just the cost of shipping--I just had to agree to destroy the old version. Since I was selling the old computer anyway, purging programs was not a problem.
I've been using photoshop on the mac for 3 months now, and it works fine.

[b4real]

Not only that, but MACs do not have dockiing stations, mapping drives is too complicated, diconnecting or ejecting discs are a pain, you cannot upgrade the internal 64GB chip drive and so on. I have MAC Book and MAC BOOK AIR. A simple docking staion is something that PCs have had since maybe early 90s. The MAC Book Air is prone to overheating. I had to buy a fan becuase it would get very warm and the Printed Circuitry components tend to fail when hot. The MAC gets really slugish and freezes at times. This is something their techs will not admit. Very rare incident I encountered when my MAC could not boot into the OS. No matter what the tech recomended the MAC Book Air could not get to the recovery mode.I had to re-install from scratch and lost my data on the damn thing. Even the tech had negative comments on it but would not elaborate further on his opinions. MAC is well marketed I can honestly say but it is marketed to the young and Naive. Those that do not have prior PC experience will love the MAC becuase they do not know what is really out there in the PC world. They just don't know better, unless they are into heavy graphics, like graphic designers. They have a valid reason for their choice, a real career. MACs will never have the amount of choices to do things a PC can do. Granted we all get upset at the blue screen of death but when you have a MAC after being a PC person for many many years you really learn to love and appreciate the PC. MAC just cant and never will cut it.

[elgarak]

I don't understand what problems you have with your Media Access Control...

[DTNick]

For what it's worth, Apple actually sold dockable notebooks--the PowerBook Duos--in the mid-late 90's: insert your notebook into a docking station, and boom, your notebook becomes a desktop. A clever idea, but I don't think it caught on, which might explain Apple's hesitancy to jump back in with a dockable notebook. More recently, rumors have floated about that Apple is working on a display where you would slide your notebook into a docking slot.

[blarghonk]

DisplayPort and HDMI are readily interchangeable.

[sunsub]

We should not discount the wide range of softwares and games available on Windows laptops.
Also, the ability to configure the laptops as per the users' choice (Dell, HP) is a major plus for Windows laptops. What if I want 3GB RAM and 160GB HDD? What if I want a different audio card? Not possible in MacBook and MBP!
The glass trackpad is nothing great. Synaptics has released drivers for Windows laptops with multi-touch gesture support.
I think IT IS NOT TIME TO SWITCH TO AN APPLE LAPTOP based on the above facts. However, I do like the new single die aluminium cast, the leaner look, LED screen in the MBP and MacBook. Glass screen may be a downer if the users needs to work in glare prone areas...

[DTNick]

What makes the glass trackpad unique is not the gestures--heck, Apple's trackpad drivers have supported some gestures since 2006 or so. What makes it unique is the fact that there is no actual button--the trackpad is the button. As in, press on the trackpad and it depresses like a button. I haven't gotten my hands on a MacBook yet so I have yet to see how well it actually works, but it seems interesting nonetheless.

[russel42]

Apple clearly has the momentum and people are switching in droves. Just look and you'll see someone with a Mac portable in more places than ever.
So is it the time to switch? I think that question has already been answered by so many people over the past few years. Macs are the only systems where you can run OS X, Windows, Linux, and so on. They are the most flexible and versatile from a user's perspective. I think anyone who is in the market for a new computer should consider checking out a Mac. They may cost more but you get so much more. It's hard not to argue that Windows Vista and XP can't compare to OS X. Besides, new Macs come with the iLife suite, PCs don't offer a comparable option.
So yes, it is the time to switch. Perhaps people may find http://switchtoamac.com useful.

[rgreen4]

Just a quick check. Newegg has 12 DVI to HDMI adapters in stock, 2 on back order. They also have 61 DVI to HDMI cables (6' to 100') in stock with another 11 on back order. I did not bother inquiring on component to HDMI as I knew there would be dozens. Entering "Display Port" in the search box, as expected, yielded 0 results.

That's what everyone loves about Apple - all the non-standard stuff. The world is full of DVI and HDMI devices, cables, adapters, switch boxes, etc. All current HDTV's have one or the other. So Apple in their wisdom uses a connection only they have anything for.

I have seen no comments about the batteries, are they sealed as they are in the Airbook? Once again, the Apple lemmings get what Uncle Steve want's for them, for after all, what is good for Uncle Steve must be good for them as well.

To answer the question posed in the headline - No. I'll keep my HP laptop with Vista. It works just fine, and if I want to change out the memory, I can get the modules just about anywhere and do it myself. If I want to upgrade either of the two hard drives, I can get them just about anywhere as well, and again do it my self. I do have to go the the manufacturer for a new battery, but again I can change it out myself.

[Michael2008]

Hi:

Did you contact Adobe when you purchased your Mac? I will be facing the same situation when I switch next week and the possibility of saving money....well, you understand. Thanks for any info you can provide.

Michael

[diverwen]

I did contact Adobe and they had me fax them a letter of destruction (I believe they called it) for the PC version, then sent the mac version to me. No hassle involved.

[DarrenGladstone]

Here's the supershort version. I goofed. Mea Culpa.

What I described about Hybrid SLI and all its coolness is true -- for Windows notebooks coming out soon. In the Mac OS, not so much. Apple saw the tech and implemented it as a hybrid power solution. As in, you need to reboot the machine in order to completely switch over to the other graphics card as someone pointed out in the comments. I caught that mistake too late and it's being corrected as we speak. My apologies to folks for jumping the gun, you guys.

A couple other quick points:

I never said that the 9600 GPU was new, only the integrated mobo solution.

I agree that the big deal about the big mouse pad is the removal of the buttons. But honestly, is that really that big a deal? I mean, any time you tap a mousepad, it's worked as a mouse click for ages.

Thanks to you guys for reading -- and for your understanding.

[JRPWinTeam]

For most consumers, the main issue is still value. There are a wide range of PCs available with more diverse product offering for much cheaper. From Gizmodo:

"Let's just look at the 13-inch MacBook that was just announced, for example. For $1,300, it comes with a 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo, 2GB of RAM and a 160GB hard drive. Over at Dell, I can grab an Inspiron 13 laptop
with a 13.3-inch screen, a 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo, 3GB of RAM and a 250GB
hard drive. For $750. For those of you keeping score at home, that's a
$550 difference, and the specs are better on the cheaper Dell."

http://gizmodo.com/5...amned-expensive

JRP with the Windows Outreach Team

[ronaldMACdonald]

[edit] The mini display port is an upgrade from dvi and replacement to hdmi, until TVs and Monitors have caught up you will need a mini display port to hdmi convertor cable.[/edit]

No the batteries are removable and self changeable, memory is available from Crucial and is easy to fit, Hard drives are bog standard Sata 2.5inch. I can strip down a Mac laptop and rebuild it.

Every point you made is ill conceived, excepting your HP running Vista, lets face it some people truly deserve to endure the Windows nightmare ;-)

[DTNick]

There's no denying the importance of value, but how one defines "value" tends to vary from person to person. Yes, you can find a PC for less than a Mac. That's a given. But for some value goes deeper than specs and price. For some, value is based on other things, such as usability and finding the tool to best get the job done. And for some -- about 9.5% of US consumers according to the latest data -- they find value in the Mac. And I think when it comes down to it, the price/performance breakdown is only one point out of many that consumers use to make a buying decision. In my two years working at a computer store, I found that most buyers took price/performance into consideration, but that finding the best solution for their needs was paramount.

[arou]

A clarification...The MBP doesn't need to be rebooted...Only a login and logout is necessary. Engadget has a video of this on their site. So while it's a little inconvenient to have to close down your running apps (presumably you wouldn't really start on an intensive session without considering this first) you're certainly not going through a system reboot.

http://www.engadget....graphics-modes/