Thinking of buying a Mac

[Adam1389]

I am thinking about getting a Mac to start trying to develop apps for the iPhone and all. No experience what so ever with Apple, so I was wondering whats a good starting model to get? Laptop prefered. Thanks :)

[kenneth]

the new unibody macs are a wonderful machine and I do not regret my switch from PC at all. New MacBook gets my vote.

[FlwrPwer]

I am thinking about getting a Mac to start trying to develop apps for the iPhone and all. No experience what so ever with Apple, so I was wondering whats a good starting model to get? Laptop prefered. Thanks :)

Well, it depends. If you want the top of the line laptop, go with a macbook pro. Start with their base model and see what works for you.

Otherwise, go with a macbook. There aren't that many choices.

I'd say no to the Air even though I have one. Not sure it'll be great for what you want to use it for. It's made mainly for portability.

[Adam1389]

So this might sound dumb ;) Totally clueless on the Mac scene. I have a ton of important documents on the PC, Word and such. Still usuable and editable on the mac?

[FlwrPwer]

So this might sound dumb ;) Totally clueless on the Mac scene. I have a ton of important documents on the PC, Word and such. Still usuable and editable on the mac?

Yup...just get Office for Mac. Or you can get apple's version.

[Adam1389]

Final question ;) Is there anything I can't do on a Mac that I can on a PC? Basically, will it totally replace my PC?

[kenneth]

PC=obselete you haven't gotten a real computer yet just wait. What I got was the 2.4 ghz MacBook and I would suggest getting 4GB of ram. It's insanely fast and it does everything while multitasking.

[FlwrPwer]

Final question ;) Is there anything I can't do on a Mac that I can on a PC? Basically, will it totally replace my PC?

It totally replaced mine. I started out with a PC desktop and mac laptop. About 1 year later I could afford to switch to a mac desktop as well.

I havent gone back. I now have an imac and a macbook air.

[chris]

+1 on the MacBook unibody. Best value in the lineup and plenty of horsepower for most. MacBook Pro, while great, might be overkill unless you are doing a good amount of serious video editing.

[psylichon]

Final question ;) Is there anything I can't do on a Mac that I can on a PC? Basically, will it totally replace my PC?

There will always be certain applications that are PC-only or Mac-only, but on the whole you can do the same work on both platforms. If you're asking whether there are Mac versions available for all your common software, it's worth taking a look into before you make the leap.

[chris]

Of course, you can also install Windows using Bootcamp, allowing you to run either platform.

[Youngbinks]

I agree with Dave on the software issue. Before you make the purchase check with some of the software items that you use most and make sure it is compatible. If not with the Mac OS, then you could always run Bootcamp and take care of that problem.

[Adam1389]

It sounds really good, but the price tag on them, yikes..But I guess if I can run both OS's...So for a Mac...2.4 or 2.0 gHz Processor? and it is noticeably different between the two? I like that there are fewer options to chose when building one. Dell is just insanse with the extra stuff to add on.

[dcom]

It sounds really good, but the price tag on them, yikes..But I guess if I can run both OS's...So for a Mac...2.4 or 2.0 gHz Processor? and it is noticeably different between the two? I like that there are fewer options to chose when building one. Dell is just insanse with the extra stuff to add on.

I've said this before and I'll say it again...the frustration of maintaining a PC (updates, program installations, driver issues, hardware compatibility, etc...) makes the extra cost of a Mac well worth it. I develop software on Windows for a living but my home system is a MacBook Pro and I love it. I just wish I could switch to a Mac platform at work but that won't happen.

For speed, it really doesn't matter. Get as big a hard drive and as much RAM as you can afford. Those are the keys to speed, particularly the RAM.

[kenneth]

dcom is correct about all the updates and driver on the windows platform. If you go back and look at installed updates I'm sure you will be dissapointed with all the ones that failed to install. On a mac you plug it in and turn it on then everything works. I went for the top of the line MacBook and I prefer it over my friends 2.0ghz.

[Adam1389]

I just bought a new Dell laptop about a month ago :( Might save up and get the Macbook though and sell this thing. Sounds like a pretty good setup to me. Thanks for all the input

[Hondamaker]

I am thinking about getting a Mac to start trying to develop apps for the iPhone and all. No experience what so ever with Apple, so I was wondering whats a good starting model to get? Laptop prefered. Thanks :)
New Macbook/Macbook Pro. I recently bought a Macbook, and it's awesome.