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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac Notebooks > My Switch Story

My Switch Story
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Escobar
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Join Date: Jun 2004
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Jun 17, 2004, 10:16 AM
 
About 2 years ago, i was the most hardcore pc user you would find. Heh, I argued with my teachers at school and my friends about the superiority of the PC. I bought an Alienware Area-51, and my gaming experience was like no other. A couple of months ago, one by one, my friends were getting powerbooks. Cosmetically...they were cool. Slim, nice little apple logo. But when it came to me, i bought the Alienware Area-51m, Alienware's laptop. The thing was humongous. For a few months, i didn't pay attention to its size. I brought it to school, played some UT2004 when teachers weren't there, and TRIED to keep it on my lap. It's a little hard with a 11 lbs beast like that. So slowly...my laptop became forgotten in the corner of my room. Too heavy to bring places.

**Couple days ago**
I have about 10 mini-dv tapes sitting in my room from vacations that i go on with my friends. Since our next vacation is coming up, i decided, let's start cutting/editing them. I **cough cough** "get" **cough cough** Adobe Premier 1.5. I hook up my Sony video camera...and nothing happens. Windows recognizes the camera, but everytime i try to capture, i get error messages. Then i remember an apple switch commercial that i made fun of 1 year back, u know, w/ that girl saying it ruined her christmas blah blah blah. So i go to the apple site. I see the final cut program, and it looks like people like it. Well, it's mac only. Guess that was the first time i've ever heard those words. After hours of trying to get my video camera to work, i finally give up, and give into the mac. However, being a high school student, how the hell am i going to pay for another laptop?!? EBAY MY ALIENWARE LAPTOP! I go on ebay, sell it for $3000 (the same price i got it for), and i purchased....

PowerBook 1.5GHz
2GB RAM
128MB Video Memory
80GB Ultra ATA @ 4200RPM
SuperDrive

Being around gaming and things like that, i wasn't ready to sacrafice the raw power that i was used to. So, i purchased 2 sticks of 1GB RAM from another site (since i was told Apple overcharges for their ram.), and i upgraded to 128MB of video memory...for my gaming needs (a.k.a. Halo)

My powerbook left today from Shanghai, and it's expected delivery date is monday. Until then, I pray to God that the switch is worth it.
     
VenomSnake
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Jun 17, 2004, 10:36 AM
 
Sony Vegas is way better then Adobe Premiere.
     
-Q-
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Location: Atlanta, GA
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Jun 17, 2004, 10:37 AM
 
For doing any sort of video work, you'll be very happy. As you seem to be quite the hardcore gamer, you may be disappointed in the amount/availability of games for the Mac. There's decent selection, but we invariably get some of the 'big' titles 6 months to a year after they're out for the PC (there are notable exceptions to this, but that's generall the rule).

Overall, I think you'll like it. And welcome!
     
Escobar  (op)
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Jun 17, 2004, 10:38 AM
 
I've still got my Alienware Area-51 desktop for gaming
     
albook
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Jun 17, 2004, 10:42 AM
 
Good story!
I did almost the same 1 1/2 month ago and have never looked back (My WinXP laptop have not been booted the last month).

Hope your baby turn up fast, so you can start playing with it!
     
hubert
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Jun 17, 2004, 11:06 AM
 
i just recently switched too. my new alienware compuper is fantastic
     
Phanguye
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Jun 17, 2004, 01:07 PM
 
why didnt you upgrade the hard drive... that would have been a lot more cost effiecient then all the ram
     
goMac
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Jun 17, 2004, 01:23 PM
 
Originally posted by hubert:
i just recently switched too. my new alienware compuper is fantastic
So is your post count.
8 Core 2.8 ghz Mac Pro/GF8800/2 23" Cinema Displays, 3.06 ghz Macbook Pro
Once you wanted revolution, now you're the institution, how's it feel to be the man?
     
TheIceMan
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Jun 18, 2004, 04:00 AM
 
Originally posted by Escobar:

PowerBook 1.5GHz
2GB RAM
128MB Video Memory
80GB Ultra ATA @ 4200RPM
SuperDrive
*drools* Man, that is some serious power. 2 GIGs of Ram! Good God man.
     
cambro
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Jun 18, 2004, 09:09 AM
 
I agree about the hard drive. This is one of the principal bottlenecks in laptops (mac and windoze). Getting the 5400 rpm drive would have been good.

Can you return an unopened unit and do that upgrade?
     
SplijinX
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Jun 18, 2004, 10:44 AM
 
According to this article up on the main MacNN page, there was no gains in Xbench scores between a machine with more RAM and faster HD:

http://www.computerworld.com/hardwar...,93879,00.html

Obviously there will be benefits to having a faster harddrive and more ram in certain applications that might be overlooked by the benchmark, but has anyone else tried running benchmarks of their own perhaps before/after installation of new ram and have documented results?
Are those free-ranged animal crackers?
     
cambro
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Jun 18, 2004, 11:37 AM
 
Well, X-bench may not be the best benchmarking utility.

Some tests were done by barefeats.
They conclude:

"The PowerBook gets a kick in the pants from the 5400rpm drive that makes the $50 option well worth it."

I agree and don't know why Xbench fails in this regard. A faster hard drive will perform better. Period.
     
hubert
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Jun 18, 2004, 11:43 AM
 
somebody halp me i spilled orange juice on my keyboard. maybe i will buy a new black powerbook
     
Escobar  (op)
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Jun 18, 2004, 01:37 PM
 
so the 5400RPM upgrade is worth it? mmk..

btw, my 2GB is still coming in from macsales.com. I can do the benchmarking w/ 512MB and 80GB @4200RPM if you'd like. Then i'll do it w/ 80GB @ 5400RPM and 512MB, then 80GB @ 5400RPM and 2GB
     
Pierre B.
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Jun 19, 2004, 11:51 AM
 
Originally posted by Escobar:
Then i'll do it w/ 80GB @ 5400RPM and 512MB, then 80GB @ 5400RPM and 2GB
And how you are going to upgrade it to a 5400 rpm drive? Hard drive upgrades in Powerbooks are quite tricky to do. If you are interested in this, I would say call Apple and ask if there is still time to change your order to include the 5400 rpm drive.
     
Escobar  (op)
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Jun 19, 2004, 02:41 PM
 
instead of doing that, i ordered a 250GB LaCie d2 external harddrive (w/ 8MB buffer). I'll do the benchmarking w/ the RAM still.
     
   
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