<p>So I’ve been a PC user for years now, my first computer was a 2001 Sony Vaio Desktop with Windows XP, a little over three years ago I got a HP Compaq Presario V2000 laptop which also has Windows XP. </p>
<p>I’ve loved my laptop for as long as I’ve had it but like with all computers, things start to go. It’s begun to overheat, even with a cooling pad, and especially when I have a CD or DVD in the drive I can usually bet that it will shut off due to the overheating if I don’t keep an eye on it. It’s also begun to freeze up when I have too many applications open, though that could be because I only have about 6.5 GB left on my hard drive (it only came with 80GB of hard drive to begin with) due to so many files saved on it. So it’s safe to say I need to get something newer.</p>
<p>I’ve loved the Windows XP operating system and would definitely go the Microsoft route for a laptop again if it weren’t for Vista. I’m not too fond of it after having played around with it on my friends laptops and all of the problems that have been reported with it, well it’s giving me second thoughts and now I’m starting to look at what Apple has to offer.</p>
<p>I’m down to two options, the newly upgrade Macbook White and the Aluminum Macbook (the $1299) one. I just have some questions about the switch over based on the things I currently do on my laptop that I would need to do on my new laptop. Any help with these questions would be very appreciated.</p>
<li><p>I do web design so would need to have a program similar to Notepad where I can write out the HTML code and then save the document as a .html file so that I can upload it through an FTP client.</p></li>
<li><p>I’ve heard that MAC does not come with software that can readily copy a DVD from another DVD. I’m not talking about copyright protected DVDs, but DVD-R/RW. Because with my HP I have Sonic DVDPlus where I can just put a DVD in, it copies it, then I put in a blank DVD and it’s done.</p></li>
<li><p>Is it worth it to get the Microsoft Office for MAC or should I just get the iWork?</p></li>
<li><p>Is the iMovie program similar to Microsoft Movie Maker, because I need a program where I can edit video clips but also write copyright watermarks on top of them.</p></li>
<li><p>What audio files can absolutely not be played on a MAC?</p></li>
<li><p>Finally which would be better for me, the new Macbook or the Macbook White. I’m not so concerned with look per say, since I might get one of those nifty colored colors for it anyway. Which one would be better when watching DVDs, since I do use my laptop to stream and watch movies all the time.</p></li>
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<p>I’m concerned about price, so I may get one refurbished, though I’m still debating doing that.</p>
<p>Once again any help at all would be appreciated, I’m not trying to start a war between the two since I’m open to switching in the first place.</p>
<p>1) i think textedit would work for that.
2) you can easily install a freeware program for that. mactheripper is what i have, and i’m sure there are many others out there.
3) i have both iwork and microsoft office, and i think pages '09 is better than word 08, and numbers’09 is worse than excel 08. then again, it depends on what you want to do. if your college has a copy of office 08 then go with it.
4) i think imovie is much better but i never used the two, so can’t say anything about that.
5) itunes can convert pretty much anything, including wmas
6) both would be equally nice, though since apple is gradually moving towards the aluminum case designs and macbook white is like 2 years old, i would go with the new macbooks.</p>
<p>I’ve been researching and apparently a program called textwrangler would meet my HTML needs, and it’s free to download which is better yet!</p>
<p>I used to use Wordpress on my old desktop, and always hated it but fortunately I got a discount on MS Office when I got my laptop and was so thankful to have the ease of Word back! I’ve only occasionally had to use Powerpoint, I’m a theatre major so it’s not a program that comes up often. Excel I never really use except when I’m writing out my schedules for classes or making a nice looking schedule for when I’m in theatre productions. In fact I use Excel more like a spreadsheet and have never used it for calculations or the like.</p>
<p>The reason I’m torn between the two Macbooks is because this week they apparently just released an upgraded version of the Macbook White, giving it more Ram and now enabling it with a Nvidia graphics chip, so except for the major external differences, inside the two Macbooks are quite similar.</p>
<p>Also, on reliability, I am currently using a first generation Mac Mini from 2005, and my current PowerBook G4 is from 2004. Both still work perfectly, which is more than I can say for any PC that we have had for even a remotely similar amount of time…</p>
<p>You might consider cleaning out your old notebook. Dust and other dirt can collect in the airways of a laptop over time and sometimes vacuuming out the dust that you can reach and blowing air through the intake vents can drop operating temperatures considerably. Some laptops are easy to take apart for cleaning but I don’t think that the Sony Vaio falls into that category.</p>
<p>iMovie is quite a bit different than Movie Maker from my perspective. With iMovie, you can make a movie right off your webcam. I don’t think that you can do video editing with iMovie though. I think that you have to buy some software to do that. I’ve only played around with iMovie for a few hours though.</p>
<p>I use xemacs for text editing on Mac.</p>
<p>You can might consider Open Office (free) for an office suite. That’s what I use. My son has Microsoft Office Ultimate ($60 at theultimatesteal.com for students) and I can use that in a pinch - Windows only so you’d need dual-boot or a VM package.</p>
What audio files can absolutely not be played on a MAC?
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iTunes doesn’t play any open formats, like OGG or FLAC. I carry around a copy of Portable VLC for Mac so that I can play audio files in those formats if I’m ever forced to use a Mac.</p>
<p>5) As someone has mentioned, you can download VLC player - which is free - if you find Quicktime/iTunes doesn’t play the file you want (.avi can be tricky on Quicktime, for example).</p>
<p>6) Hm, if you’re not gonna be using the computer for video editting/major photoshopping, then the white macbook is fine, and you get to save quite a bit. The difference can get you a 16GB iPod Touch. I have a white macbook now, and as advice: it can get pretty dirty, and after a few month you’ll get small cracks on the palm rest (Apple will fix it for free, though).</p>