Switching to Mac from PC - advice needed.

News & General Discussion
1

My Dell PC is dying.

Whilst I can’t afford a MacBook Pro - I could probably get away with a small macbook with a 13.3" screen.

Something like this…
http://www.macwarehouse.co.uk/catalogue/item/APMB21

But I was wondering, if the 1280x800 resolution was enough screen space to work in unity?

I spend 2 hours on the train each day and would love to make it more productive.

The way I see it, I could always plug in a VGA monitor when I get to a desk and utilise a higher resolution.

I’ve never used a mac - so any advice is very much appreciated.

2

hi!
for £718.75 you can get a pretty decent pc-laptop, so why not go for that instead? since unity will be released for windows soon i mean :slight_smile:

3

Yeah - I did look around, but the battery life and ‘mac factor’ seems so damn attractive :slight_smile:

I actually like the lenovo (think pad) laptops - but to get a decent one, Id be spending more than I would on a mac.

4

I use 1280x960, which is plenty. A little less would be fine.

–Eric

5

i guess it`s totally up to you then!

fashion before function? :wink:

6

lol… no - 4.5 hours battery life and low weight is the main reason :slight_smile:

7

Here’s two laptops I’ve been looking at. They both should be able to handle anything you through at them.

Just some ideas:

8

If you like the feel of the mac OS and don’t use any programs that require Windows I honestly see no reason to not get a mac.

It’s faster, more stable and a lot more intuitive for almost anything in my mind. And this from a guy who hates his mac. :slight_smile:

I stick with my windows because I use a ton of applications that are windows only, I don’t like finder nor pathfinder on the mac OS and I don’t like photoshop on mac.

All huge factors for me. :slight_smile:

And now Unity comes to windows so the circle is complete. My mac can mingle with the dust bunnies under my bed.

9

The modern intel based Macs are capable of running Windows don’t forget. There is also always the option of using something like vmware.

10

I wouldn’t buy it due to the crappy display quality. There are worlds between the display from the MacBookPro and the MacBook, especially if you want to use it with likely changing light situations. If you need/want Apple then the Pro otherwise a Sony, most probably also the cheaper option.

11

OS X is a superior operating system to Windows Vista (I work on both systems). But there are software reasons why I still have to use a PC.

3D Studio Max is only available for the PC and thats what im skilled at using. If your starting afresh then there are plenty of OS X alternatives like Maya, Modo, Cinema 4D.

I agree with Twiik on PhotoShop. For some reason the Mac version has a transparent background whereas the PC has a solid one. This alone bugs me enough to avoid it.

But there are things that come with a mac that are fantastic. iMovie is brilliant if your into camcorders. GarageBand teaches you how to play instruments, OS X software in general feels of a much higher quality than PC software, why? no idea.

iTunes and iPhoto just work flawlessly whereas on the PC iTunes trashed our vista install.

Time Machine backups are a life saver. Time machine works really well and to fly back in time through your files in 3D space is quite a cool feature.

And finally, If you get an Intel Mac then you can run BootCamp and install a windows flavour like Vista 64bit.

Cheers
Geoff

12

All of my development is done on a 1280x800 resolution display. It takes a little bit to get used to, but now I am at the point where I would rather sit on the couch with my laptop as opposed to going to the desktop with 20" display.

13

Thanks everyone :slight_smile:

Still not sure what to do - but am going to see if I can find something suitable whether its a mac or not :frowning:

14

Since I started running 4 22" monitors on my Mac Pro, I get claustrophobic with a laptop.

Good thing I have a comfy chair.

15

… I run dual monitors and its destroyed my tolerance of single small screens. I’m afraid what would happen if I went to 4…

16

I run two 22" screens at work and I often get frustrated - I keep telling my boss I need another 2.

He wont give them to me though.

17

Wow, nice. Screenshot please so I can send to my boss with a “I want this” subject…

:lol:

18

I think I am finally going to settle on a Lenovo SL500

Lenovo Thinkpad SL500 Core2Duo 2Ghz T5870
2GB Ram, 160GB , DVDRW VB
15.4" 24bit
NVIDIA GeForce 9300M GS 256mb
WSXGA+ @ 1680 x 1050

£735 inc VAT

I think it will be enough to work on the move and if I need more power then I can always compile on my desktop.

Anyone know what the Nvidia 9300M is like?

19

My nerd shrine:

20

Perfect. Now lets see what me boss says :smile: