<p>this info is great. I'm currently a senior in high school and have been contemplating of switching to a MAC laptop for college. I know the powerbook G5's are coming out in the upcoming months, so it looks like that may be the one i get. thanks for all this helpful info!</p>
<p>I know I want a MAC, but then my parents reminded me that a lot of the software I love won't work on Macs. </p>
<p>Should I reconsider or no?</p>
<p>no you shouldn't. See above. Most of the most popular software is available for the Macintosh. As a college student, in general, you won't need anything fancy. Microsoft Office 2004:Mac is excellent, and superior to the windows version(which is still on 2003). Aside from that, you won't really need to buy any other software(see my above posts for what comes included on a Mac). And once again, if there is a program that you need for your Mac that is only available for Windows, then buy Virtual PC, which emulates the Windows environment(you can install XP, ME, etc.) on your Mac, allowing you to use ANY Windows program. Meaning, you'll have access to both Windows and Mac OS 9/X programs. I have Virtual PC, and I clearly don't need a PC to get what I need done.</p>
<p>I have a powerbook G4 15"...1.25 Ghz, 512 ram, the thing is beautiful. I've had it crash once in a year and a half (when I was trying to load my brother's Dell (that wouldn't let the mouse move) onto my mac as an external drive to run a virus scan from my mac. I got about halfway through the scan and the wire disconnected, crashed. Completely excusable). I have everything I need. Hell, when I got home I opened up the computer and I had internet (we have a wireless network, but I didn't need to configure at all). It's amazing. I have friends that used to laugh at Macs that now envy me :)</p>
<p>BTW, to whomever said the Powerbook G5 would be coming out soon, I wouldn't bet on it. Do you know how many fans are in a Powermac to cool the processor? To fit that in a laptop is impossible, and I don't think you want your chips burning (not to mention your lap). All I can say is; get a powerbook G4 15" (Best of both worlds, size and power), add on an additional 512 ram to get a gig of the stuff, and...oh damn, that's a little over your budget, lol. Just go with an iBook, you won't regret it.</p>
<p>also, and this is important, the way people share files in college, and every computer is hooked to the network... There are hardly any viruses for mac, because it is not worth the time to make them =P.</p>
<p>did you know that you can listen to other people's music who use iTunes on the network with iTunes? AND, there is a certain program that lets you take them for your own computer! <em>coughourtunescough(macversion, mytunesforpc)cough</em>... I got it and opened it up, 112,000 (that's not a typo) songs available for me to get? Oh yea!</p>
<p>you don't need a mac to use itunes. :P</p>
<p>I know!!! I always listen to other people's music on the network(usually it show all the people that share their playlists in your dorm). I've heard of MyTunes, but I'm a little wary of that, as I don't want to fall back into that,lol. I know some people that use it on my floor. </p>
<p>On viruses, yeah, one of the reasons why there aren't a lot of viruses for the Mac is because they would only affect a small number of people. However, that's only one reason. Another is that Windows leaves all of its internet ports open, while Mac OS leaves them closed. It is widely known that many if not most viruses come through Internet Explorer. Many people that I work with say that you really shouldn't use Internet Explorer. If you absolutely must use a PC, download Mozilla Firefox. For those that use Macs, you can also download it, but it doesn't really make sense since we have Safari(which is an EXCELLENT browser). </p>
<p>Another thing to keep in mind is that there was a virus that affected Microsoft Office one time. Now, this virus should also affect the Mac version. And it did, sort of. It ran, but not correctly. As in, the virus didn't work the way it was supposed to.</p>
<p>And the most important reason why you most likely won't get any viruses on your Mac is because of its password installation system. Basically, whenever you want to install a program, you must enter your administrator password, giving the application the right to install itself. This is the ONLY way that a program can be installed. Therefore, you won't see programs just installing themselves. How many times have you seen icons mysteriously appearing on your desktop, programs appearing in your start menu, even though you didn't put them there? EXACTLY. This cannot happen on a Mac. And this is where many of the problems w/ spyware and adware arise on PCs. So once again, we see that the Mac is superior in the way it handles application installation and protecting itself from outside attacks and unauthorized access.</p>
<p>yeah you don't need a Mac for iTunes. Of course, I always find it interesting how people that say they hate Apple are still the people walking around with iPods and creating their iMix on iTunes. Oh well, more power to Apple!(I think i should apply to work at the Apple Store,lol).</p>
<p>I like Firefox more than Safari... Safari doesn't load a lot of things that Firefox does.</p>
<p>On CNN the other day they were showing the Apple Store in Chicago, and they said that they were selling one iPod a minute. Busy store.</p>
<p>penn state sent out a thing to all of their students urging them not to use internet explorer and to download firefox.</p>
<p>Averatec. I'm on mine right now. It was the Best Buy Laptop for PC Magazine in 2004 (July).</p>
<p>Mobile AMD Athlon XP-2200
Microsoft XP Home
512 mb
DVD+CD/RW Combo Drive
Wireless 802.11g
12.1"
1" thin and 4.3 lbs</p>
<p>This thing is wonderful and it costs 1000. I bought it on Amazon so I received a $200 rebate. ALL this for $800. It's the ultimate student laptop. I was absolutely skeptical at first and was going to go with the Fujitsu at Fry's Electronics for $1400 but I am so glad I got this.</p>
<p>You can play the less hardcore games. Not Half-Life, WoW etc.</p>
<p>Fan is a little noisy.</p>
<p>All laptops get hot but this one gets hot very quick. ( Just leave it on a table)</p>
<p>Internet is great. (wireless)</p>
<p>Battery life is the flaw. 2.5 hours without AC Adapter. However, I keep this plugged in most of the time and it works great. I bought another battery so that's 5 hours for under 1k. Best buy you can get. Go with Averatec, unless you're willing to shell out for a Fujitsu. That one is nice. Good Luck!</p>
<p>do you guys have any more info regarding those sony vaio's? good for college?</p>
<p>Just on the IE issue, let me say that I have never used anything other than IE, and have never had a virus. If you keep your computer updated, run a firewall and anti-virus software (that is also up to date), you won't have any problems with a windows machine.
Macs are definitely much more user friendly and require less maintenance, but I still prefer the control and multitude of software (i know the argument for virtual PC, but that program sucks so many resources that it slows your mac down a lot) of a windows system.
That being said, if you don't know what you're doing or are too lazy to take steps to protect your system, get a mac hahaha. I worked for network services at UCLA for over a year, and it was ridiculous how fast unprotected systems became infected when they hooked up to the network. Literally within seconds, they would have a lot of viruses and we had to quarantine them to a different subnet until it was resolved.</p>
<p>my laptop is compaq presario 2500. bought it for about.. i guess 1500.. and it's not worth the money. makes annoying noises, gorgeously slow even though it has tons of memory left..</p>
<p>just purchase some toshiba or dell.. but i dun think u'd get a decent one with a 1000 or less.</p>
<p>collegekid88 - my roommate has a sony vaio. she just got it a couple of months ago. she really likes it alot. the only complaint she has is that it gets hot pretty fast.. the problem with a lot of sony laptops is that their fan/vents are on the bottom, which is where it gets hot.. as all of the hot air comes out there. .. at least that's what she told me. my toshiba vents are on the sides. we both picked up these targus fan's that you put under your laptop, and not only does it ekep your lap from getting hot, but it really cools down the computer as well. other than that, her sony is a bit bulky (its like 8.8lbs or something) so it just depends what you're looking for. as i've mentioned above, i think that mac's make the best laptops, and after that is ibm and toshiba. then sony, then th rest are all about the same... in my mind anwyay.</p>
<p>this ones onsale for 900 dollars. <a href="http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=1099384806399&skuId=6963958&type=product&productCategoryId=cat01174&cmp=++%5B/url%5D">http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=1099384806399&skuId=6963958&type=product&productCategoryId=cat01174&cmp=++</a></p>
<p>sager or cyberpower</p>
<p>thanks guys! anyone know of any particular sony vaio models that are good value?</p>
<p>man, i should've bought a sony vaio laptop a series last week when it was only $1000!</p>
<p>I know it's not a huge deal, but are there decent p2p softwares that work on Macs?</p>
<p>limewire is good</p>