Bouji
Senior Member
- Joined
- Mar 26, 2006
- Messages
- 715
- Reaction score
- 0
I bought a Macbook about 2 weeks back now, and I cannot help but be impressed with it.
The reason I bought it is not because I need a new laptop, but rather its £600 price seemed too good to be true. I actually already had a quite new Sony VAIO, which runs well and does whatever I need it to do, but alas I fell victim to Apple's marketing.
I bought it along with an Airport express, so that I could stream music to my 'proper' hi-fi. I thought that this feature alone would justify it's £600 price tag; how wrong I was.
Starting from scratch, it was delivered to my office, and right out of the box it was connected to the office's domain based network, and I had access to the internet and all my files. Sure, this was also the case on my VAIO, but only after about half an hour messing with IP adresses, then doing a ping in command prompt, then messing with DCHP settings, then doing a ping in command prompt, then messing with more settings, then doing more pings... you get the picture. Whilst with the Macbook, nothing, just type in the WPA key, and the internet, and all the files and printers were there for me.
Then I got home, across the Airport logo on the top of the screen, the name of my home's wifi network scrolled across, then it asked for the WPA key, and again I was on the network, and everthing I needed was there. I opened the VPN connection, typed in a few settings, and I was in my office network as well. With the VAIO I had to get someone from IT in the office to set up the VPN for me...
Then I plugged in the Airport express, and selected the hifi from itunes on the laptop, and I could listen to the music on which ever hifi the Airport express was plugged into.
I know I could do all this on my VAIO, but it would take me an age, along with quite a bit of reading to set up.
When I ordered it, I thought I would just use it for Airtunes, but I now use the Macbook for everything, my VAIO does not get used!
Its not the first Apple I've used, I was given a iMac earlier in the year, but frankly all I've used that for is duming photos from the digital camera, and the odd web surfing. I was not so impressed with the iMac somehow, but maybe that is because I barley used it.
Okay, so the Macbook is not without its pitfalls, after a week, a yellow staining appeared on the left of the touchpad, and it would not come off with a wet cloth. I googled it, and it turned out that it is a common problem on Macbooks, I also found out that it can easily be removed using a regular pencil rubber, which worked for me. Also, the Magsafe adaptor is not all it is cracked up to be, sure it works, but the connector is fixed on badly, and I can see it coming off withing a few months, the power adaptor also gets very hot. So, there are problems, but they are not something that I've only seen on a Mac. My Vaio's closing clasp has snapped, and the power adaptor is almost as hot as the Apple power adaptor.
So in conclusion, a Windows is great, and I know I can do a lot more on it, but only if I'm willing to spend hours getting everthing set up, and willing to have constant errors, system hangs, and other blips.
The reason I bought it is not because I need a new laptop, but rather its £600 price seemed too good to be true. I actually already had a quite new Sony VAIO, which runs well and does whatever I need it to do, but alas I fell victim to Apple's marketing.
I bought it along with an Airport express, so that I could stream music to my 'proper' hi-fi. I thought that this feature alone would justify it's £600 price tag; how wrong I was.
Starting from scratch, it was delivered to my office, and right out of the box it was connected to the office's domain based network, and I had access to the internet and all my files. Sure, this was also the case on my VAIO, but only after about half an hour messing with IP adresses, then doing a ping in command prompt, then messing with DCHP settings, then doing a ping in command prompt, then messing with more settings, then doing more pings... you get the picture. Whilst with the Macbook, nothing, just type in the WPA key, and the internet, and all the files and printers were there for me.
Then I got home, across the Airport logo on the top of the screen, the name of my home's wifi network scrolled across, then it asked for the WPA key, and again I was on the network, and everthing I needed was there. I opened the VPN connection, typed in a few settings, and I was in my office network as well. With the VAIO I had to get someone from IT in the office to set up the VPN for me...
Then I plugged in the Airport express, and selected the hifi from itunes on the laptop, and I could listen to the music on which ever hifi the Airport express was plugged into.
I know I could do all this on my VAIO, but it would take me an age, along with quite a bit of reading to set up.
When I ordered it, I thought I would just use it for Airtunes, but I now use the Macbook for everything, my VAIO does not get used!
Its not the first Apple I've used, I was given a iMac earlier in the year, but frankly all I've used that for is duming photos from the digital camera, and the odd web surfing. I was not so impressed with the iMac somehow, but maybe that is because I barley used it.
Okay, so the Macbook is not without its pitfalls, after a week, a yellow staining appeared on the left of the touchpad, and it would not come off with a wet cloth. I googled it, and it turned out that it is a common problem on Macbooks, I also found out that it can easily be removed using a regular pencil rubber, which worked for me. Also, the Magsafe adaptor is not all it is cracked up to be, sure it works, but the connector is fixed on badly, and I can see it coming off withing a few months, the power adaptor also gets very hot. So, there are problems, but they are not something that I've only seen on a Mac. My Vaio's closing clasp has snapped, and the power adaptor is almost as hot as the Apple power adaptor.
So in conclusion, a Windows is great, and I know I can do a lot more on it, but only if I'm willing to spend hours getting everthing set up, and willing to have constant errors, system hangs, and other blips.
