Apple MacBook questions

In My Humble Opinion
1

Note that I’ve only ever used Windows PCs. But now I’m thinking about buying an Apple MacBook and have a couple of questions. (FYI, the model I’m looking at is the black one with a 2.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, one gigabyte of memory, 160GB hard drive and a double-layer SuperDrive, all for $1,499 or $1,409 with my corporate discount. My current PC desktop is five years old, so it’s time for a new system, and I think it would be a good idea to learn a new OS.)

How hard would it be to create a partition and install Boot Camp to install Windows after I buy the system? Or would I be better off using Parallels instead of Boot Camp? And is it a problem that Boot Camp is in beta?

Do you recommend I get the three-year AppleCare Protection Plan (which will add about $250 to the cost)?

Anything else I should know before making the plunge?

2

Bootcamp will be out of beta when OS X 10.5 is released which last I heard is later this month, so if you wait for that it won’t be an issue.

How hard it would be I have no idea, I assume the instructions are on the Apple website…?

I bought the Applecare package for my new Mac Pro.

3

Parallels is much more convenient than Bootcamp, but it’s not very good for games, or access to certain USB devices.

The MacBook is an awesome machine - you’re going to love it.

4

Booting to Windows vs. virtualization depends on what you need to do with it.

Boot Camp is quite easy to install. It’ll burn a disc of drivers that will automatically install all that’s needed once you’ve installed Windows. You can also repartition the hard drive non-destructively when you install Boot Camp, which is nice.

The Boot Camp beta version will expire once Leopard (OS X 10.5) is released, which means you’ll need to get Leopard to use it. If you wait a bit, you’ll be able to get it with the machine.

Definitely get Applecare. Though you do have a year to decide. It’s still only good for 3 years from purchase date, but you can hold out a bit if you don’t have all the money at once.

5

I installed Boot Camp on my MacBook, it was really easy. :slight_smile:

Only other recomendation I would make is to up the RAM to 2GB. Don’t buy the RAM from Apple, it’s expensive.

6

Installing Windows XP with BootCamp was easier than installing Windows XP on a PC I built myself. BootCamp will make a driver CD for you which is a lot easier than hunting down working versions of all the drivers you need.

7

Alternatively, don’t put Windows on it.

Is there some piece of specific Windows software or game you can’t live without?

8

Doesn’t the MacBook have only two memory slots? Because the default one gigabyte is configured as two 512MB modules, so if I want to get two gigabytes later I’ll need to buy two one-gigabyte modules and throw away the two 512MB ones. But I just checked the Kingston and Crucial websites, and two one-gigabyte modules might cost only $100 or less, versus the $150 that Apple charges for an upgrade to two gigabytes. So how hard is it to open a MacBook and add memory? I’ve done it on PCs, so my guess is that I’ll be able to do it on a Mac.

Mostly it’s just that the Mac OS is new to me, so I still want to run Windows on the proposed new system. I may install Office or Quicken on the system, or I may eventually remove the Windows partition. Who knows? Maybe I’ll entirely switch to Apple eventually.

9

Our local ‘non apple’ apple shop makes deals on RAM swaps at time of purchase like that. Changing RAM on a MacBook is dead simple. Remove battery, remove two small screws, pull a lever to eject RAM, push in replacements, reverse procedure.

Bootcamp - having used the beta, it’s easy to use, and you can get the partition back if you find you don’t use windows any more…but if you think you’ll do it, make the partition with in the first day or so of using the laptop, it can only re-partition space if there aren’t any files there. If there’s too much stuff spread around, it can’t create the parition. (At least with the beta, it won’t attempt to defrag the drive to make space) Parallels can use the BootCamp Partition too, so you can boot to native Windows XP, and you can use the same stuff under emulation in Parallels. (Or at least you could…I don’t THINK Parallels removed the feature, but I’d check up on it.)

I’m living out of my office MacBook Pro and may (eventually) have to give it back. The differences between the MacBook and MacBook Pro that makes a difference to me is the lit keyboard. Seperate video, expansion slot, Firewire 800, and slightly bigger screen don’t mean a whole lot to me, and I don’t have a strong opinion on either keyboard)

My concern is: $100-$150 for black vs. white?

10

I did get a MacBook as well. One of the first 13.3" Core 2 Duos. Anyway, if you are planning on using Parallels (or VMWare) at all, get 2 GB of RAM. I keep trying to do it with 1 GB and it’s just not very fun.

I did get AppleCare. I’m not much of one for buying the extended warranty (as they are often a scam) but I did for the laptop. Why? Because, unlike say my desktop (which is a bad example because I built it myself), I can’t easily fix anything that goes wrong, especially if I were to crack the screen or something. Also, the replacement cost is high enough that it seems worthwhile.

11

No experience with Quicken, but I installed Office for Macs on my Macs.

Tomorrow I’m supposed to get the VPN set up so I can talk to my office PC.

12

Yes, but I already own Quicken and Office, but only for Windows. Anyhow, does anyone know when OS X 10.5 will be released?

13

Max out your RAM.

Parallels.

Buy a bluetooth Mighty Mouse for your laptop bag.

Look for David Pogue’s “Missing Manual” for switching to the Mac.

You might want to wait until Leopard comes out – unless they offer a free upgrade from Tiger with new machines now. (kind of like buying an XP machine two weeks before Vista came out).

Get RemoteBuddy ($10) if you want to use the Apple Remote for anything useful.

Don’t waste time or money (like I did) messing around with QuickTime – that’s one of those annoying things where Apple tries to milk you for every penny (only recently did they cave in and allow full-screen mode in the non-pro version). Download the free VLC player instead. It’s free and it’s much better.

Definitely inventory your Windows apps and see if you can find a Mac alternative for each one. In a perfect world, you will. Don’t forget all of the little stuff you do (e.g. I use a right-click “copy path” utility to copy file paths to my clipboard. How do I do that on Mac?)

Do serious investigation on syncing with a Mac if you use a Treo or some other such device (can you find all of your apps and conduits?)

I think wasson has a good idea, but it is pretty darned hard to make the switch, just like that. And there’s always the issue of repurchasing software. I wish I had Photoshop for Mac, but I can’t justify buying it, as I already have Photoshop 7 for Windows. I did buy Office, however. I depend on MS Word, so I refused to have to go to Windows for that.

Besides, it’s absolutely geeky cool to show your Windows co-workers the magic transformation from Mac to (real, not watered-down, not emulated) PC at the press of a key.

In some cases, I have found better alternatives: I was using MindJet’s mind mapping software in Windows, but I eventually realized that the OmniOutliner that came with my Mac was better suited to the exact kind of work I was doing, so I don’t have to go to Windows for that one.

As a proud MacBook Pro owner, I must be honest and say that there are things that you will find missing – it’s not all perfect and rosy. Two simple examples of annoying stuff that a Switcher might notice: Windows has better keyboard navigation support; Network drives work more smoothly in Windows (at least my Samba shares from Linux).
Nevertheless, for every annoyance, there are two cool features. Example of one of my favorites: Mac’s talk PDF far more fluently than Windows machines do.

That said, you’re going to love it. These are fine machines and worth every penny.

14

To reiterate what the others have said: get it; it’s awesome; but buy the 512MB RAM option from Apple and get 2x1GB sticks from Newegg, installing it yourself.

15

A short warning: you will need a Windows XP installation CD with at least SP2 to run XP on Bootcamp. I have SP1 CDs and found that I couldn’t install the drivers if I did an update after first installing SP1. If you’re in this situation, you will have to look into “slipstreaming” the SP2 upgrade.

16

Also, check whether your Windows license is transferable to other hardware - some of the OEM versions that come tightly bundled with hardware are not.

17

If you can see the folder in question (in finder) and you wanted to use it in terminal, you can just drag and drop the folder (or file) and the full path gets dropped onto the command line…

Is that what you’re looking for?

18

Re; Black vs White

I got a black MacBook after having a white iBook. It certainly doesn’t discolour in the horrible yellowy way that the white does, but on the other hand it does show up every speck of grease. Still, the black MacBook is easily cleaned and does look very smart, in my humblest of opinions.

19

Personally, for myself, I wouldn’t go with Parallels; it’s virtualization, which frankly doesn’t really fit my needs. (I want to be able to run applications such as games well.) The main benefit to Parallels is that switching between the two is faster.

Neither, I believe, is particularly difficult to use.

If you have Boot Camp, you can get a program called MacDrive that will allow you to have access to the files on your Mac partition while in Windows, as well as external drives. (Disclaimer, I’m employed by this company, but it really is handy. :slight_smile: )

20

Absolutely agree on the RAM and VLC. However, Quicktime’s been able to full-screen in non-pro mode for years; it just takes a little script to work it. The only thing that Pro enabled was the Menu option.

The general comment is that you can find all kinds of little hacks and tricks to make your Mac do what you want. There are some really great user communities online.

I’ve been quite happy with Parallels using the Boot Camp partition, but it seems to have corrupted it at some point. I can no longer boot to Windows. There’s probably a simple fix, but I haven’t bothered to find it, yet (since I almost never boot to Windows).