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MacBook or Pro?


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I'm a long-time computer user who's been looking at Macs for many years now. I'm a part-time web developer, and I want a machine that can run the following quite happily:

  • Photoshop CS2
  • TextMate
  • Dreamweaver
  • Ruby
  • Apache

And the other sort of things that web developers use very often. I don't want to spend too much, and the MacBook seems like the only affordable option for me at the moment. I wondered if that would be a smart choice...

 

What do you think? :tomato:

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I'm thinking of a BlackBook high-end...

 

Trust me, I would love a MacBook Pro, too, but I can't really afford one. Do you think it would be a worthwhile investment in a black MacBook with all the extras? Or I could always buy an older iBook / PowerBook off eBay.

 

I do love the look of the MacBook Black, and I don't mind having a smaller screen - I'll probably plug it into the external monitor at some stage. The DELL laptop I have now only has a 14in screen (4:3), and I use it to design...

 

I found this on another post, and if it's true, it would seem that a BlackBook is just what I needed.

 

I'm more interested in the power of the 'Books compared, if you know anything...

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in my opinion (my opinion as a hardware developer) there is about 5% diffrence you wont notice the diffrence unless your trying to use it for games get the lower end macbook it will do everything you want it to

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Thanks mate! I'll keep an eye on that. The other thing I'm worried about is that the MacBook seems to be coming to the end of its cycle. The new Leopard supposedly will have touch-screen capabilities, and so Apple will jump right in and change the whole line.

 

I'll miss the thought of a BlackBook!

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i dont know where you heard that but leopard will not have touch screen features leopard is and will be 100% fully compatible with all existing macs down to and including G4

 

anymore questions and im happy to help

 

?

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Go for the low end macbook but load it up with RAM - 2GB - Photoshop loves RAM and it's amazing the difference between 1GB & 2GB. I would upgrade the HDD up to 160GB (5400rpm) - if space is more important than speed go for the 200GB (4500rpm)

 

Defintely stick with the new Intel line rather than buying an old iBooks/Powerbook otherwise you will not be able to take advantages of Photoshop CS3 & Dreamweaver CS3.

 

Personally I would go with the Macbook Pro just because of the screen size, but you stated that is not important.

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Defintely stick with the new Intel line rather than buying an old iBooks/Powerbook otherwise you will not be able to take advantages of Photoshop CS3 & Dreamweaver CS3.

what do you mean take advantage of photoshop and dreamweaver cs3? those are universal applications and run equally well on ppc or intel.

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Allright then... the white MacBook (SmallBook, as I like to call it) seems like a good option. Are you absolutely sure that the 200MHz won't make that much difference. It seems (even 2GHz) very small compared to my 2.6GHz machine. Is this just a fact of Mac OS X?

 

Also, will upgrading those components void my warranty? Should I get AppleCare for it? Thanks :(

 

PS - Why will it only make a difference when you try to game. I don't really want to game - there aren't many out there for the Mac. I'm going to run Photoshop quite often. Will this make a difference? Oh, and if I want to do Boot Camp or Parallels, is it enough?

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I've got a Dual Core 2.0ghz (Black) MacBook with 2gb RAM and it runs all of those absolutely fine. Only a 13.3" display, but it's absolutely fine for design work for me. It still reaches a 1280x800 resolution :]

 

Plus these are compact, sleek little beasts!

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Well, it's obvious which one I should get - the SmallBook of course. (SmallBook = 1.83 MacBook). I saw one today and asked the owner what she thought of it. She said she loves the look and the OS, but the reliability and endurance of the 'Book is awful. Almost everything has gone wrong.

 

Mind you, she has a Core Duo (1st Gen) model. Have all these faults been fixed in the 2nd Gen?

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Well you can buy the Apple Care within that first year of warranty and then if anything happens and the design of the macbooks have changed then you can usually get upgraded if its a major problem.

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