<p>My parents are getting me a laptop as a graduation present and I have some input into it. My family has always bought PCs, but I've been looking around and nothing really has me excited. I've been thinking about asking them to get a Mac instead. I've used a Mac desktop for a class before, and it was a beautiful computer once I figured out what I was doing, but I have a few quibbles. I know they're more reliable than PCs, but could a Mac reliably last me through 4 years of college? (That would probably make the price palatable, since that is an issue, but buying 2 windows computers in 4 years would presumably cost more than 1 Mac in the same period.)</p>
<p>The other thing is that I have a fair number of video games already bought for windows that I really wouldn't want to bother getting again for a mac. Several of them are quite old and have a little difficulty working on Windows 7. I keep hearing things about double booting, but it sounds expensive and troublesome. Would that be worth it? Or do older games tend to act up with that? And is it costly?</p>
<p>(Also, are there any good threads/websites/etc. comparing macbooks to macbook pros?)</p>
<p>Dual booting is fairly easy. Even my technological inept dad did it with Linux. Not even expensive. You basically buy Windows 7 which is like $30 for students (or free from ur school) and download it. You have to partition your hard drive which requires some knowledge. Then for PC’s, each time when you turn on the computer you come to the “black screen with the plain white font” where you select the operating system with ur arrow keys. Mac should be the same or easier.</p>
<p>When you use W7 with mac, you’ll have to download drivers for your graphics card, sound, wifi, etc which should be automatic. However, for some things, especially the graphics card, you have find the drivers on AMD/Nvidia’s website. Games should work BETTER on W7.</p>
<p>Either a Mac or a decent Windows-based laptop will last you all 4 years if you don’t abuse it. I still use my Dell Latitude D610 which is probably 4-5 years by now.</p>
<p>
If you’re going to buy the Macbook just to run Windows on it, then you may as well buy a Windows-based laptop, because with respect to hardware, Macs tend to be a lot more expensive, so people who buy Macs just want the Mac OS.
If you want to dual boot, you’ll have to buy a copy of Windows. OEM Windows 7 is about $100 right now, although schools offer better deals. It’s not extremely difficult to dual-boot, as it’ll just lead you through the steps.
And just in general, if you’re into gaming, people will tell you that the choice is trivially a Windows machine. So if you’re going to get a Mac, you’ll have to dual-boot.</p>
<p>Seriously, it’s obvious a Windows PC would serve you better for your needs. Don’t be an iSheep and buy a Mac for the looks and the fact that you see them in Starbucks. Macs are great for what they do, but you clearly don’t need one.</p>
<p>There are many notebooks from Sony, Asus, Dell, Toshiba and HP that have the horsepower and graphical prowess you need for gaming at a lower price.</p>
<p>No no! You want to fit in at starbucks! Otherwise you won’t have much of a sex life…</p>
<p>lol jk :)</p>
<p>If you want to buy a laptop that’ll last you 4 years, you might want to look at a Thinkpad or an EliteBook or an Inspiron. </p>
<p>Chances are, you’re not interested in any of those anyway. </p>
<p>What kind of games are we talking? The Intel graphics on the MacBooks and the 13" Pro might not be usable for said games, but if it’s not Crysis or whatever… it’ll be fine.</p>
<p>You can run alot of windows programs through things like parallels or VMware which “emulate” (not sure how they do it, hence the quotes) windows program and allow you to run them inside OSX. They even go as far to let you place these programs in your dock and treat them like Mac applications which can be incredibly convenient if you need it. I’m sure if these games are old enough, you could get away with running them through a virtual machine without any lag. The new Sandy Bridge processors apple is putting in all their Macbook Pros have some amazing power for laptops, though i’m sure you could get the same hardware for cheaper in a windows machine. That would be your decision though.
I agree with @JoJoBear to a certain extent, but since the OP doesn’t seem like they’re wanting to play Crysis or anything that intensive, a full windows platform with native game support doesn’t seem like the best option. I personally don’t like gaming on a laptop, but I certainly see the need for it if you enjoy gaming and you’re away at school.</p>