<p>What is it exactly that makes Apple laptops so popular? They seem kind of overpriced like all Apple products...</p>
<p>they might cost a bit more than the cheapest laptops you can get, but if you look at PC laptops with comparable features, apple laptops are actually quite competitively priced</p>
<p>the core 2 duo macbook is a very good all around computer, and not really overpriced considering how powerful it is. im on a macbook right now and love it and feel it was worth every penny. OSX blows XP away.</p>
<p>Four words: Macs suck. A lot.</p>
<p>No I will not back this up with any facts or reasons. You'll just have to trust me.</p>
<p>My parents work for HP (the computer company) and I use a mac (an really crappy iBook, but still) and I love it. Its sooo much easier than a PC.
One feature I like of the mac is that you can just shut it (the screen, literally) and your computer wull automatically go to sleep. That is not the case for the Dells my parents have and the HP my mom has.
Also... the shortcuts are much easier.
And... its cuter. lol
OH and I think its easier to connect to the internet... just the way my iBook connects to the web seems much simpler to the way my brother connects to it..
oh yeah it also starts faster.
For those people who are like "Macs are soo hard to get used to after using a PC"... well, I find it easier and it's easy to adapt.</p>
<p>I don't really like Apple computers. IMO they are for people that want a stylish computer and who want to be different. However, they are kind of expensive. I just like my thinkpad :)</p>
<p>This is almost word for word copy/pasted from another thread, but I think it makes a lot of sense.</p>
<p>IMHO, there are about 5 major companies that build laptops that you want to buy.</p>
<p>Dell and HP/Compaq compete for the low-end consumer market ($500-$1000). HP's laptops are more expensive, but are also more aesthetically pleasing. They're both decent build quality, but you do have to be careful. Dell has really crappy L1 support, and if my dad wasn't a computer programmer, and I didn't have campus tech support, I wouldn't dare buy one relying on dell support. HP, I believe, is slightly better, but either way, know you're getting a cheap computer.</p>
<p>I also recommend HP business class or Asus. These are the $1000-$2000 notebooks/high quality ones. Highly recommended by nerds everywhere. They will have excellent specs (especially gaming GPU) and excellent build quality and look good to boot. If you want a good, powerful, reliable machine, and are looking to spend $1500, I'd buy an HP/Asus computer. (go to powernotebooks.com for asus notebooks) </p>
<p>Lenovo/IBM makes the best business notebooks around. Great support, and those notebooks just take a beating. While they are expensive, there's definitely a great reason to pay for them. If I had to bet money on which computer will last the longest/have the least problems, it'd be Lenovo/IBM, and it's not close. This is all around, but their consumer class notebooks aren't as amazing as the Thinkpads.</p>
<p>Mac is definitely overpriced, hardware-wise. If you hate Windows or are tech-illiterate, these computers are definitely good bets. They do have heating problems, I don't really like MacBook build quality that much (I'd go with Asus/IBM), mostly for heating issues. They look good though, and if you get frustrated with your computer a lot, go pick one up.</p>
<p>Oh, and go notebookreview.com. Awesome site. CC for notebooks, those guys are encyclopedic. I really like the post I made above. I think you can assume anything I didn't touch on here is either very specialized (panasonic, Sager, Falcon NW), lousy (Sony, Toshiba), or just gets beaten by something mentioned above (dell business class).</p>
<p>I'll give you a potent reason for using macs - if you're a computer science student like I am, having a laptop which runs unix is an incredible advantage. Great for both ends of the spectrum, from totally tech-illiterate to comp sci majors.</p>
<p>(sure you can get a dell and install linux, but it's not the same)</p>
<p>I don't see how people can say Macs are overpriced. A 2.0Ghz Mac easily outperforms a 3.0GHz PC, if its running Windows. I mean, run XP on Boot Camp with similar computers (Macs and PCs with the same stats), and you'll see that Macs run Windows better than any PC can.</p>
<p>Dranakin, if it's same processor class, no way in hell. If you're trying to compare a Core Duo/Core 2 Duo with a Pentium 4, that comparison really doesn't fly at all. If you're talking about non-scientific benchmarking, then you really need to run Ad-Aware, and defrag your hard drive (maybe a fresh reinstall). Windows does tend to gunk up after a while, and Mac doesn't (a huge advantage to Mac OS X here).</p>
<p>^ You took the words from my mouth. It's not like Mac uses different processors from PCs. (intel/amd. they used to have the powerpc ones but they ****ed mac off i heard?) and core 2 duo 1.8 ghz will still get more stuff done faster than pentium 4 2.6 ghz.</p>
<p>I think macs are overpriced and most people who gets them gets them because it's "cool" looking and they have the money to get it (not really for the stuff within) they usually tend to have ipods as well... lol. I like mac os better though, evil windows. XP</p>
<p>most people I know who use macs got them because of their utility. Maybe it's not a representative sample because I mostly hang around engineer/cs types, but still.</p>
<p>I too was a doubter of Macs until I purchased one myself. Simply said, they are much simpler to use. Thats because Mac has almost complete control over their computers, meaning that there is not much editing people can do to thei actual computer, unlike a PC. That results in simplicity and much less problems. A random example: When you download things on Mac's. you dont have to worry about it going into Temp files, and so and so. Its all much simpler. None of it exists on Macs. Furthermore, I find they run fatser than my PC when I have multiple programs going and what not. Finally, there really are no disadvantages for the average computer user, seeing as Mac runs a Windows platform and all their programs if you like.</p>
<p>I've used a couple of macs myself and maybe it's me but I like my Windows. As far as hardware goes, if you're looking to customize your desktop like a PC you won't be able to do it fully on a Mac. Simple reason being that Apple needs to have certified all hardware that goes into the machine, and not all hardware is approved by Apple. A PC on the other hand doesn't deal with this. Also while Macs have BootCamp which let you run WinXP you can' realistically expect it to be fully compatible like WinXP on a PC. In terms of software you're still going to run into the same compatibility issues. The Mac OS X just doesn't have the same variety and software support that Windows does.</p>
<p>Also to answer the question about Apple laptops. The ones I've seen and used heat up really quick, much faster than some of the regular laptops I've seen. Apple laptops do look nice though.</p>
<p>Btw you can make a laptop running Windows go to sleep when shutting the lid just like an Apple. That's a rather silly reason to choose Apple laptops over Windows laptops.</p>
<p>If there's one thing I can't stand about macs, it's the lack of a left and right click. Would it kill them to put TWO buttons on the mouse instead of just one?</p>
<p>But aside from that, I don't agree with the majority of mac users who say "macs are easier to use". Granted, I've never owned one myself, but I've certainly used macs a lot. I do NOT find macs easier to use. I would definitely prefer a PC/Win XP interface over a Mac OS any day.</p>
<p>May I add that they rarely crash and are fairly immune to viruses?</p>
<p>I got my first mac a few months ago when I came to college. I won't agree with icierair that the shortcuts are easier [than Windows']. The iPod and Office 04 offers were hard to miss.</p>
<p>I don't think there's a point in arguing over the superiority of Mac OS over Windows - they both have their respective places of pride...but Windows works in a very technical and practical and feeds you with all unnecessary details of the inner workings of the computer, which is good for some. Not Macs, though. For instance: setting up network printing on my mac took less than a minute. Later, I went to help a friend set this up on his Dell and I spent more than 3 minutes, as Windows kept asking so many technical questions.</p>
<p>The Mac OS is sleek, like the exterior. Although at first, I found it cumbersome to use because I was only familiar with PCs.</p>
<p>I got my first mac, a mac mini g4, last december.</p>
<p>I know own that AND a macbook pro core 2 duo 15' laptop. I love it...I take the thing everywhere. I also have a PC desktop (Dell) that was good to me for four years, and then started having some hardware problems. I always had a few problems with xp but nothing really major....i switched because I prefer the Mac OS X operating system. I was using it at my school in the computer labs for a couple years before I actually took the plunge. Now, I dread the thought of using XP....I just prefer OSX. It's so much easier for me to do what I need to do. </p>
<p>It's all a matter of preference. I had a PC laptop (Acer...I hate them!!!!!) but we didn't have a good relationship....mainly due to hardware issues though. Again, if you like OS X, get a Mac...if you prefer XP, get a Windows PC.</p>
<p>What I meant, Jrock, is the accent shortcuts. For a mac i use the alt option button, then a letter that corresponds to it (for example, to make the ñ, i use alt/option and the letter n.
For a PC, one can only use the side numbers and its like a number code to get the ñ
(same for other special characters)</p>
<p>ici, exactly! thats one of the reasons i prefer a mac. there are easier ways to do it than the number codes on the PC but it's still kinda cumbersome (I don't even remember the shorter codes.....they were some three key combination but I forget it everytime).</p>