Buying a MacBook - Pros/Cons
 

Hi everybody,

im going to buy a new laptop within a few weeks and have settled my mind on a Macbook 2Ghz/2GB ram for now.

Main purpose for the book will be Inet Surfing/Music/Videos/Poker/Office. I´m not playing any games besides poker right now but there is a small chance of me getting active in MMORPGs again with the upcoming Warhammer MMORPG.

I currently own a Windows machine but thought about getting a Mac because of its complete package and the secure MacOS (since im handling sensitive data like bank accounts, CC accounts, work related information ... ). What I know there are little to none viruses/trojans/keyloggerfor the MacOS, can you confirm that ?

Are there any importet Cons against getting a mac ? Are there any alternatives you would recommend me to look into? Am i overrating the MacOS security boost?Am I just a coward and Windows is save these days ?

Thanks for your advice and experiences

Game

p.s.: pls excuse my poor english, im not a native speaker [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: Buying a MacBook - Pros/Cons
 

I think moving to mac is a good idea, if you do need to use windows its easy to dual boot into windows, or run windows in parallel to osx.

On thing I would warn you about though, is that the graphics card on the macbook is not very powerful for 3d applications. If you want to play games, you should go for the macbook pro instead (or a desktop).

OSX is great, I have a windows desktop pc and a macbook (white 1ghz). I really like the laptop, although I haven't tried poker on it, I've heard it works well.

The price was also good, very cheap compared to other laptops of similar specs.

Re: Buying a MacBook - Pros/Cons
 

I've been a mac user for 5 years. You won't regret it. The macbook is an excellent choice.

From a poker perspective, rooms are starting to hear the call of mac users. As you're probably aware, Full Tilt has an excellent mac client. And Party recently announced both a 'no download' java client, as well as a downloadable Mac client. Both are currently beta, so they're play money only, but they look solid and will likely be released soon.

Re: Buying a MacBook - Pros/Cons
 

Cons: It's a Mac.

What poker software supports Mac?

Re: Buying a MacBook - Pros/Cons
 

I have a MacBook Pro and love it. Boots XP without problem, and they recently updated the Boot Camp drivers so there's now Windows support for the built in iSight camera. But I would echo the previous comment that the basic MacBooks has weak graphics support, as the video chip uses system RAM and I believe maxes out at 32MB.

If you're going to do any serious non-poker gaming, get the MacBook Pro, which has 256MB dedicated video RAM.

Re: Buying a MacBook - Pros/Cons
 

[ QUOTE ]
Cons: It's a Mac.

What poker software supports Mac?

[/ QUOTE ]

As stated above:

Full Tilt, Pokerroom (and skins), and Party (download client in beta as we speak).

Additionally, ANY major site can be run on a mac book without a ton of effort through a couple different methods.

If you're going to respond to posts with nonsense, just for the sake of responding, then join us in BBV. But at least allow people here with valid questions to get them answered reasonably.

Re: Buying a MacBook - Pros/Cons
 

[ QUOTE ]
Cons: It's a Mac.

What poker software supports Mac?

[/ QUOTE ]

Now since macs have the new intel chip, and you can run Windows XP with parallels, it is now the can do all laptop. So you can run any windows programs.

Re: Buying a MacBook - Pros/Cons
 

[ QUOTE ]
I've been a mac user for 15 years. You won't regret it.

[/ QUOTE ]

My darkest day was when I ordered a Dell e1705, and the day it shipped Apple announced Boot Camp. For the money I spent on the Dell I could have got a Mac Mini, a 20-inch monitor and a copy of XP. Even though I bought the Dell for poker, I find I play Full Tilt more often than any other, because I can play it on my dual G5 desktop.

Macs are built to last, the Macbooks are lighter/sleeker than almost any comparable machine, and once you can A/B Mac OS and Windows you won't want to go back.

Re: Buying a MacBook - Pros/Cons
 

[ QUOTE ]
What I know there are little to none viruses/trojans/keyloggerfor the MacOS, can you confirm that ?

[/ QUOTE ]

I can confirm that there are none of these things "in the wild."

It may not always be so, but it has been for about 15 years now, and it's an EV+ bet that it will never even be close to the level that it currently is with windows.

Re: Buying a MacBook - Pros/Cons
 

[ QUOTE ]
Cons: It's a Mac.

What poker software supports Mac?

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks for trying to be funny. I would appreciate a little knowledge about the topic if posting!

To all the other guys who actually cared so far, BIG THANKS [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: Buying a MacBook - Pros/Cons
 

I HIGHLY recommend your holding off on buying a MacBook:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread....0&tstart=0

http://discussions.apple.com/thread....2&tstart=0

http://discussions.apple.com/thread....4&tstart=0

In summary, the new Macbooks have been plagued with problems. I bought one a few months ago and mine is no different, it randomly shutdowns all the time and it really sucks to say the least. in fact there were threads with responses even longer than the ones above but they got locked and/or removed. There are even reports of people that get their macbooks replaced and then three weeks later the same problem happens again!

The main discussion board is here:

http://discussions.apple.com/categor...art=15#threads

I recommend you wait for the next revision or look into buying one of the Macbook Pros instead, they don't seem to have those problems.

Re: Buying a MacBook - Pros/Cons
 

[ QUOTE ]
In summary, the new Macbooks have been plagued with problems. I bought one a few months ago and mine is no different, it randomly shutdowns all the time and it really sucks to say the least.

[/ QUOTE ]

I would agree that a few weeks wait might be a good idea, although I know a bunch of people with Macbooks who don't have those issues. The best part is that Apple goes out of its way to fix problems that are theirs.

True story - about a year ago, my 2-year-old (out of warranty) iBook suffered a small drop when my bag came unlatched from the strap. It was fine when I checked it out a little later, but about a week after that it wouldn't start up at all.

I took it in to the Apple Store's "genius bar" and explained what happened. The guy tried everything that he could think of, then sent it to be repaired. When I got it back, I found that the repair was free. Some people with iBooks were having logic-board issues, and Apple was replacing the boards for free. The guy at the Apple Store "forgot" to mention I had dropped it, so since the logic board replacement solved the problem, Apple gave it to me free.

The Apple forums go nuts when any problem is found. That's a good thing - it helps Apple to isolate the problems those people are having. Sometimes the signal-to-noise there is really high though.

Re: Buying a MacBook - Pros/Cons
 

Wait until Sept 12th, Apple is going to have a "special event", most think it'll be an upgrade to the MacBook and MacBook Pro, going from Core Duos to Core 2 Duos. Definitely worth the wait.

I bought a MacBook specifically to play poker on campus. It's lightweight, portable, and sleek.

Don't get a MacBook if you're planning on playing Warhammer a lot. The integrated video card is lacking, although it's good enough for Diablo 2, World of Warcraft, and Half-Life 2, it won't scream.

There are only a handful of viruses for OSX, most are outdated/patched already. Not sure if there is even a current/active virus out.

If you want a mac, get a mac. You can dual boot WinXP and OSX just fine. The resolution is only 1280x800, although it's enough to 4 table with no overlap with resized tables on PP/PS. If you want to 9 table there will be significant overlap although I've done it before with minimal fuss. Just need some good .ahk scripts.

BTW, unless you need a DVD burner, upgrading just to go from a 1.83->2.0 processor is silly. You're talking 5% improvement or less. A few seconds saved on 1-2 minute processor intensive tasks. If you need the combo drive though, it isn't so bad. Also, just get the MacBook with minimal ram from Apple. You can buy 2 gig of 3rd party ram for $150 or so. Apple charges way too much for memory.

event

You're better off just playing poker in WinXP and doing everything else in OSX. There is PokerTracker type program and Full Tilt OSX universal binaries, but there really is no substitute for Party/PokerAce/AHK/PT.

Re: Buying a MacBook - Pros/Cons
 

I play poker on my MBP on Windows XP, it works wonderfully. There is a mod in which you can make the resolution 1920 x 1200 on your MBP or Powerbook, would that be enough for 4 tables without overlap? Linky here: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=207751

edit: after reading more of the topic, the mod apparently makes it so that the screen is that of a 23" cinema display which would be enough for 4 tables without overlap. Seems a bit too complicated for me to do though.

Re: Buying a MacBook - Pros/Cons
 

I can run pokerroom and its skins (europoker, etc.) as well as FTP. I cannot wait for Party to come out with the java client deal. I use a Powerbook G4

Re: Buying a MacBook - Pros/Cons
 

[ QUOTE ]
Cons: It's a Mac.

What poker software supports Mac?

[/ QUOTE ]

YSSCKY

Re: Buying a MacBook - Pros/Cons
 

Having Mac poker clients is good - but what about the 'supporting' software we use, such as Poker Tracker/Poker Ace HUD? Seems like at the moment Windows is still necessary for the full suite of poker applications.
-alip