Well I finally got a Macbook
Basically been a Windows man for awhile, going from XP to Server 2003 and then to Vista.
I had a pretty good experience with them all but just found them lately to abit boring possibly mundane.
I have always built my own PC's and for that reason alone was why I stayed with Windows as it supported my hardware.
It wasn't untill reasontly that I got ahold of Kalyway's 10.5.1 and gave it a go on my Quadcore desktop and found
that with a few patched drivers it ran like a dream. I then only booted into my windows drive for abit of gaming but even
then that was few and far between.
About 4 weeks ago I decided to sell my desktop as I wasn't using it all that much and downgrade to a decent laptop.
After numerous debate I ended up purchasing a Dell XPS M1530 as it was comparible to a Macbook Pro and people seemed
to a decent result in installing Leopard on it. But despite Leopard installing Sound,sleep and reboot where all issues so I went back to
Vista, which again runs well on this Laptop.
I just couldn't afford a Macbook Pro and even with the XPS upgraded to a T9300, 8600M GT 256mb, and 320HD with 1440x900
screen It still only cost me £799 which is alot cheaper than the base modle MBP.
But after about a week in Vista I couldn't stand it......By chance and I mean by chance, I was over on ebay
and found a 2.2GHz core 2 duo black macbook with 160HD carrying case and an apple care warranty until 2010
going for £650
I asked for more pics and some more details as i thought there was a catch for it to be going for this cheap, but
the guy just wanted a quick sale so I snatched it up immediatley.
In the end it seemed OSx86 was a gateway drug and after spendin some time in Leopard I just couldn't go back to
Windows.
The Macbook arives today and the Dell is being sent back tommorow for a full refund

Congratulations! Welcome to a whole new world.

One thing though, you stated you desired a Macbook PRO and you compared your Dell XPS to it, however, you purchased a black Macbook. Not to bring you down but a Macbook and a Macbook Pro are two different things.

You won't be disappointed with your new Mac though.

It might take a bit to get used to not as much power, but congrats on the purchase, that's really a great steal

Me too.

Built pc's for years. Did a sweet osx86 hack with my set up. Issues with updates, sleep and restart pssed me off enough.

Found a beat up Mac Pro with 2 x 2.66 Xeons for around £700 and got it. Bought a 2nd hand mint Mac Pro case and transferred the contents so it looks brand new. Whacked up the memory, installed my old HD's and it's a beast! What's more it's pretty upgradeable as well what with you being able to put in new HD's, processors and memory!

So for me OSX86 was the final thing that pushed me to go official. Loving it now. Can't believe I stuck with XP for so long!

So maybe Kalyway and the likes were some of the best advertising Apple could of asked for. I am in a very similar boat. I work in an IT field, and have spent years in windows....as well as building my own boxes. Recently after trying fairly desperately to get Kalywyas and the likes to run....I started seeing the beauty of the OS and architecture............Even though it wasnt working. Low and behold, I abandoned the hope, and set into reality, by stopping off at the apple store and buying a macbook.

i just build my macs turns out to be the same price maybe alittle more, depending on what i put in it, and i'v built 2 so far, and working on the 3rd build to give to a family member....great thing is it may cost the same if not alittle more but you dont have to dish out that money all at one time. Built 2 G4's and working on the 3rd, next project is a G5.

Yep, did the same thing, but got started by hacking the iPhone, the installed OSX on my pc, THEN bought a macbook and now will buy a Mac Pro 8 core

Hello.

Me Too!

After years of suffering the "Windows User Experience" on commercial PCs, then spending piles of money trying to build my own to do video editing, and then playing with VISTA .....

Someone gave me a copy of Leo4All..

I liked it so much, I went and got a nice Mac Pro quad shortly after the 8 core ones came out.

Steve Jobs could decimate the PC market by making a "Live CD" of Leopard that can't be installed but could allow Vista users to try something that actually works on their MS based machines.

Why not official Leopard for PCs? Well, Apple probably doesn't want the support headaches or the drop in Apple hardware sales that would result and they probably have an agreement with MS not to do that because of that bail-out of a few years ago. But a Live CD would make an excellent Demo for real Macs.

For my video editing, I'm thrilled with the performance of this ancient Mac Pro 1.1. Using Premiere Pro I went from rendering at about 35fps on a FAST C2D 6750 Windows PC (with Hardware RAID) to about 120fps on the MP (Leopard).

I would have saved a TON of money and time if I had bought one in 2006 when they first came out.

Keri

Well, Sorta...While I am a huge fan of my new MacBook, and started seeing the beauty of OSX after toying with leo4all....Vista is in its own right a very good OS. The reason OSX works so well is because it is built for the non common denominator. Apple Assembled Hardware. I like OSX Styling, but if MS built a machine strictly for their OS, it would run great. But they cant do that......they have to build it for Joes PC Shack and Tackle. Apple has a lot of luxuries of selling their hardware and OS, partially because MS is the evil giant living in the woods. Im not bashing, but if a Live CD were released....people would be up in arms that it doesn't run on their p3 733Mhz.

Yes, of course you're right about Apple Assembled Hardware keeping the complications down. And if MS sold machines built for their OS, they would undoubtably run better as well. And of course all the peeps that expect the latest softwares to run on their fossilized antiques or Bare Bones Cheapest I Could Get systems.

You know what? all of the OEM makers like HP, Dell, etc.... they DO build machines strictly for use with Vista. As significant partners, they get help from MS as well. I've tried a few of them and found them lacking, even with all the R&D that these reputable companies put into their product. This was before HP released their very respectable top of the line killer systems though.

I was running Vista on a PC built for Vista with decent, modern components. Like an Intel brand P35 board, C2D 6750, 4gb RAM, ATI 3850, a strong Seasonic PSU and it was SLOW. always accessing the drive(s) and if you dared interrupt it when it was busy, *crash* goes your program, though not usually Vista. Adding Hardware RAID0 got it performing decently. Trying to shut down some of the dozens of native services helped. But mostly, I feel Vista was just trying to do too much. Leopard amazes me at what it doesn't do (in a good way), more than what it does do. The whole "Activation" mess (on a legit system) was the straw that got me a Mac though.

Speaking of lowest common denominators, that's probably why Vista tries to do so much.... to try and make everyone happy! Leopard just does what it does and does it well. Probably that would offend some that expect it to dry their socks.

Maybe I should say "put a significant dent in" rather than "Decimate"?

Keri