Apple Macbook 13"?

Hey guys

Am thinking of getting rid of my 15" centrino laptop and getting a 13" Macbook. You guys think its a good idea? I mainly use the web/MSN, Photoshop, Final Cut, DVD Studio and After Effects.

 

MSN on the mac is awful.

 

That's why no one uses it. Adium X is good.

 

Hey, I use MSN on my mac! You can chat with it, use emoticons and avaters. Who needs more? I hate those bloody buzzers etc.

I think a MacBook 13" is an excellent choice. It's portable, still has a widescreen and looks incredible. I would recommend checking out the possiblity to expand the desktop to a secondary monitor. I could not miss this feature on my Powerbook, the old iBooks didn't support that.

good luck and go mac!

L

 

MSN is just MSN on the Mac as far as I can tell. I don't even bother with Adium as the regular client seems to work just fine.

Anyhow, I reckon the 13incher is a great proposition. If I needed a more portable lappy then I might have considered it instead of my 15inch MBP.

 

Photoshop and Aftereffects? - if you are a big user - then forget the the Macbook 13" or even the Macbook Pros.

Alternatively, wait until next year to get a Macbook because Photoshop and Aftereffects are not Universal binaries yet (meaning they don't run natively on the new Intel cores): they run via an emulation layer called 'Rosetta', hence they are - very - slow on the new Mactels.

The new Adobe Universal binary range isn't released until next year.

Or, if you want to buy now... your best bet would be to install Windows XP on it via Boot camp but that kinda defeats the object of going Mac in the first place, since most of the applications you are using is going to be on XP, there isn't really any reason for you to switch back to the OS X partition.

 

Yeah. Get one. But, like J-Pepper has pointed out, Photoshop and that is a bit crap right now. Well, not crap, just not silky smooth like it could be. You'll be fine with Final Cut Studio though.

 

Photoshop seems to run quite nicely on my MBP at the moment. Not lightening fast, but certainly not bad enough to make me not use it.

 

As long as you get on with the resolution and the keyboard i'm sure it'll be a great purchase

 

Just slammed an order on one along with monitor adaptor and a copy of office '04. 2ghz model with superdrive - set me back £893. Ouchies.

I liked the demo models in the Apple store, however.

On the subject of After Effects my friend ran it on a MBP and apparently it wasn't that terrible. Of course, it was slower than the equivalent powerbook, but not by too much. It was workable.

 

I just read all the specs and it does support multi-monitors (expanded desktop). So now I want a black one! fully loaded.

Probably going to wait untill all adobe brings out a new intel-friendly creative suite. My precious 12" Powerbook still works fine, so no rush. Hopefully I can get one at my first job!

L

 

yeah the macbooks/macbook pros are only slow when running things in rosetta.... universal apps fly on the things

 

dont get a black one. theyre painted and the durabilty of the paint is questionable. besides, i dont think its worth the extra money just for the color.

 

I agree with you there, the black one - although oozes cool-ness - doesn't seem to be worth the extra £100+ for the colour alone.

The white one makes much more financial sense, especially since you can upgrade the RAM from the measly 512MB they provide as standard with the extra £££ you save.

I don't think they are merely painted though tbh, i think it's some sort of vinyl dye.

 

The black one doesnt ooze coolness, it oozes crap quality. If it was a gloss/plastic cover then it would be awesome, but its not.

 

no its been proven painted. its not as good quality as the white one either. if they had done the black like they did the white, black plastic under polycarb, it would have been better... but alas. maybe in the next iteration they'll do it right.

 

Actually it has been shown that the pictures are highly dubious and if they arnt faked it is something to do with the finish. People have taken them apart and scratched the inside and it is not painted. To make black plastic uses exactly the same machines as white plastic so it doesnt actually make sense to paint them.

 

Still... it still looks more like a vinyl dye to me.

Use the same white cases from the same machines as normal white Macbooks, and then just vinyl dye a select few and mark-up the price.

 

http://geekanoids.blogspot.com/2006/05/how-good-is-apples-new-macbook-paint.html

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=2397

i say otherwise

 

having looked at them in store, the finish doesn't look to be painted to me...

though I'm very tempted to get my mbp anodized black :-D