Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

dwaldie · Apr 17, 2007, 09:11 PM

Hello,
I am wanting to purchase a new computer, hopefully a laptop since that is what I use now and love the freedom and lack of space that they take up, and am thinking of switching to a Mac. I am currently a Linux user and am intrigued by the Mac OS ever since getting my mom an iMac. I am ready to make the switch, and was ready to go out and buy a MacBook since it has all the computer power I need, but after reading in this thread, and many others about the problems with the cases cracking, I am getting gun shy. Will I regret purchasing a MacBook or should I just by another PC and stick with Linux.

Dave

ghporter · Apr 17, 2007, 09:25 PM

You will seldom see people posting how wonderful their experiences are-they're busy enjoying those wonderful experiences. What you see here are exceptions. When I got my MacBook Pro the boards were humming with posts about "mooing" and whining machines. Never heard a peep from mine...

David2213 · Apr 17, 2007, 11:15 PM

I got a macbook about a month ago and love it. Ive havent had a problem with case cracking, and while there are alot of complaints about the graphics card ive found it to be adequate for my needs. Those are mostly Microsoft office, internet, email, a little photoshop and alittle gaming. Hope this helps.

- David

dwaldie · Apr 18, 2007, 06:44 AM

My needs are simple. Surfing the web, listening to music, and watching videos, mostly video podcasts. The graphics card can handle these I hope. Also, I have an external 22" acer widescreen lcd that I would like to hook up to to watch dvd's.

Dave

peeb · Apr 18, 2007, 09:34 AM

You'll be very happy with an apple.

shifuimam · Apr 18, 2007, 10:23 AM

Originally Posted by dwaldie

Hello,
I am wanting to purchase a new computer, hopefully a laptop since that is what I use now and love the freedom and lack of space that they take up, and am thinking of switching to a Mac. I am currently a Linux user and am intrigued by the Mac OS ever since getting my mom an iMac. I am ready to make the switch, and was ready to go out and buy a MacBook since it has all the computer power I need, but after reading in this thread, and many others about the problems with the cases cracking, I am getting gun shy. Will I regret purchasing a MacBook or should I just by another PC and stick with Linux.

Dave

You could always buy an older Mac (e.g. 12" iBook or PowerBook G4) and install Ubuntu PPC or Yellow Dog Linux on it...

peeb · Apr 18, 2007, 10:36 AM

Originally Posted by shifuimam

You could always buy an older Mac (e.g. 12" iBook or PowerBook G4) and install Ubuntu PPC or Yellow Dog Linux on it...

Yes, but then he won't get the benefits of OSX, which, in my book, are most of it.

shifuimam · Apr 18, 2007, 03:26 PM

Originally Posted by peeb

Yes, but then he won't get the benefits of OSX, which, in my book, are most of it.

Both systems have their good points, which makes dual-booting a perfect situation.

frdmfghtr · Apr 18, 2007, 03:44 PM

Originally Posted by dwaldie

Hello,
Will I regret purchasing a MacBook or should I just by another PC and stick with Linux.

Dave

I say "Get the Mac." As ghporter pointed out, most of the time you find initial post to forums like this to be about something wrong or how to do some task...nobody wastes time posting "Hey, I got my new MacBook, it's great!" because buying something that works is expected.

Now, as far as the dual boot/OS X/Linux goes, my suggestion is that you get yourself a copy of Parallels and install Linux under it. You can even try it free for 30 days, letting you have your Linux and OS X at the same time, without rebooting.

Download Parallels Desktop for Mac

I run a Win2K installation under it, and it performs beautifully.

Enjoy the Mac!

j03 · Apr 18, 2007, 03:59 PM

Just got a mac love it !!!! I highly recommend macs and these forums

KiNGME · Apr 18, 2007, 04:06 PM

Originally Posted by dwaldie

My needs are simple. Surfing the web, listening to music, and watching videos, mostly video podcasts. The graphics card can handle these I hope. Also, I have an external 22" acer widescreen lcd that I would like to hook up to to watch dvd's.

I bought a new 17" MacBook Pro about 10 days ago. Real sweet. First one I ordered had a faulty bottom tray (the bottom half of the machine) but they sent me a new one after I complained to about 11 people inside of Apple.

I'm very happy with it so far.

I have a fast Dell running XP and this thing runs regular Windows stuff (NOT games) as fast as a native XP but INSIDE Parallels alongside OSX! The screen is bright and wide... much nicer than the 15". I opted for the flat matte screen instead of the glossy having seen them side by side at an Apple store.

dwaldie · Apr 18, 2007, 08:06 PM

Wow, you guys are enthusiastic and very quick to respond. I am looking forward to learning about a new OS, even if it means not running Linux as my primary OS. One question though, has anyone tried a program called iRecordmusic to record streams off the internet? I like to record BBC shows and play them back on my ipod.

Dave