I don't know about the older macbooks but for my new macbook, the number of finger determines the actions mapped to them. four fingers swiping down activates expose and four fingers swiping up moves the windows away or returns to your screen from expose .. . three fingers navigates between pictures like a flipping a page in a photo album you can even use two fingers to switch the orientation of the photos by twisting them. one and two finger functions are pretty much self explanatory.
It's very intutiive and effective imo, iirc, my old pc laptop alllowed me to scroll up and down on the trackpad but using one finger on the far right edge of the trackpad, this worked but not as well as the two finger scroll anywhere on the trackpad because you had to be on the right most edge and only one finger can be touching the trackpad or else the cursor would go crazy. my only complaint would be that you can't map more functions to the 3 and 4 finger motions .. . I'd love to be able to launch dashboard with a three finger up or down swipe as well.
It's very intutiive and effective imo, iirc, my old pc laptop alllowed me to scroll up and down on the trackpad but using one finger on the far right edge of the trackpad, this worked but not as well as the two finger scroll anywhere on the trackpad because you had to be on the right most edge and only one finger can be touching the trackpad or else the cursor would go crazy. my only complaint would be that you can't map more functions to the 3 and 4 finger motions .. . I'd love to be able to launch dashboard with a three finger up or down swipe as well.
I don't see why it can't be done by a 3rd party. completely customizable multi touch actions...
I think CS4 (photoshop in specific I believe) will be taking advantage of it as well. Cool sounding, but I'm not sure how effective it really will be.
Can't you already do this with hot corners? I have mine set up so that if I move to the upper right of the screen, Dashboard opens. Upper left is Expose, and bottom left hides all windows
yeah, but some people use dashboard quite a bit.. it would be far quicker if they could just configure one of the multitouch swipes. I understand it's trivial for the most part, but the whole point is customizable conveniences.
MultiClutch is your friend. You can map almost any global or app-specific action to the gestures.
LtPage1
Diamond Member
- Jan 15, 2004
- 6,311
- 2
- 0
You have to pay to play. Do you want to buy the cutting edge of computer design and innovation, or do you want to pay $1-200 less to get the features Apple was putting in their laptops 2 years ago?
Also, I absolutely maintain that you cannot compare hardware to hardware in order to make a decision here. When you buy a Mac, you're buying so, so many things that aren't available, for any price, on a Windows laptop. All of the software, the OS itself, the phenomenal tech support/warranty coverage- that, to me, is worth way more than any fanciful "Apple Tax." Articles like this are stupid. Comparing two products is only viable when you actually compare the whole package, not just one (albeit important) aspect of the two in a lame attempt to show how Macs Suck. Put a Macbook next to any comparably spec'd Windows notebook, and then try telling me it isn't work the extra cash.
Also, I absolutely maintain that you cannot compare hardware to hardware in order to make a decision here. When you buy a Mac, you're buying so, so many things that aren't available, for any price, on a Windows laptop. All of the software, the OS itself, the phenomenal tech support/warranty coverage- that, to me, is worth way more than any fanciful "Apple Tax." Articles like this are stupid. Comparing two products is only viable when you actually compare the whole package, not just one (albeit important) aspect of the two in a lame attempt to show how Macs Suck. Put a Macbook next to any comparably spec'd Windows notebook, and then try telling me it isn't work the extra cash.
I'm sorry, but BluRay is not an earth shattering feature on any system. Nor will it ever be, IMO.
Who said 'earth shattering'? No one did, and why bring BluRay into this? BluRay is pointless unless you have the screen to actually play it back, which only so many laptops have.
As for important features.... how about LED backlit screens across the entire line? Or how about Button-less (at first blush) trackpads with multi-touch support. Sudden Motion Sensors standard across the entire line, 802.11n, and a unibody construction that makes a slab of granite feel flimsy?
Zebo
Elite Member
- Jul 29, 2001
- 39,398
- 19
- 81
LOL. So true but more Mercedes Benz. I don't even use a Mac so can't comment on software or support - but seeing them all the time and they exude quality PC makers simply don't have anywhere.
The Dell XPS 1330 I have tries - but rattles and squeaks worse than my Thinkpad which is cheap ABS commercial looking plastic. The 'old' G5 case is still better than any PC case you can get being about 3x thicker aluminum than a competing li lian. Apples monitors with aluminum wrappers are much nicer than anything PC has with hundreds to choose from. Their monitors inside imac and standalone are expensive and superior S-IPS's found in inside expensive NEC's.
Bottom line Apple is more than just a PC it's about being surrounded by beautiful things and that's worth paying for.
KeypoX
Diamond Member
- Aug 31, 2003
- 3,655
- 0
- 71
Originally posted by: Agentbolt
Dude...
Porches also have cutting edge performance and styling. You're seriously trying to make the claim a Ford vs. a Porchse is the same thing as a PC vs. a Mac?
indeed that is what people think. And will often make such comparisons.
People think that apple has different specialized parts under the hood so to speak. When in fact for the most part they do not.
Originally posted by: KeypoX
Originally posted by: Agentbolt
Dude...
Porches also have cutting edge performance and styling. You're seriously trying to make the claim a Ford vs. a Porchse is the same thing as a PC vs. a Mac?
indeed that is what people think. And will often make such comparisons.
People think that apple has different specialized parts under the hood so to speak. When in fact for the most part they do not.
The reason people think that is simple... they only see the outside. They don't care what's on the inside. It's a little sad, yes... but it's the easiest analogy to to masses.
Originally posted by: randomlinh
Originally posted by: KeypoX
Originally posted by: Agentbolt
Dude...
Porches also have cutting edge performance and styling. You're seriously trying to make the claim a Ford vs. a Porchse is the same thing as a PC vs. a Mac?
indeed that is what people think. And will often make such comparisons.
People think that apple has different specialized parts under the hood so to speak. When in fact for the most part they do not.
The reason people think that is simple... they only see the outside. They don't care what's on the inside. It's a little sad, yes... but it's the easiest analogy to to masses.
There's nothing sad about it.
I don't see any laptop manufactures using a magsafe power connection, or an extra power cable along with the short plug converter. How many manufacturers use a slot loading dvd drive? I can bet not many. What about DVI? Which manufactures use better keyboards that don't feel like cheap plastic pos? I like the simplicity look of Apple's stuff.
I don't know, I'm willing to pay more to use the OS. Of course on paper you can get a awesome laptop but you have to deal with Vista and I'm not a fan of that OS at all. I'm hoping Windows 7 is a lot better but I think it's gonna be a while before Microsoft gets a better foundation.
I guess I should clarify that it's sad people can't make a proper comparison. I can't think of a good analogy, but I agree the car one is a poor one. But then again, I like cars, and my desire for a porche has more to do w/ the engineering than the aesthetics side of things. The macbooks are luxury notebooks, yes, but I just don't particularly agree with the porche analogy.
Originally posted by: SoundTheSurrender
Originally posted by: randomlinh
Originally posted by: KeypoX
Originally posted by: Agentbolt
Dude...
Porches also have cutting edge performance and styling. You're seriously trying to make the claim a Ford vs. a Porchse is the same thing as a PC vs. a Mac?
indeed that is what people think. And will often make such comparisons.
People think that apple has different specialized parts under the hood so to speak. When in fact for the most part they do not.
The reason people think that is simple... they only see the outside. They don't care what's on the inside. It's a little sad, yes... but it's the easiest analogy to to masses.
There's nothing sad about it.
I don't see any laptop manufactures using a magsafe power connection, or an extra power cable along with the short plug converter. How many manufacturers use a slot loading dvd drive? I can bet not many. What about DVI? Which manufactures use better keyboards that don't feel like cheap plastic pos? I like the simplicity look of Apple's stuff.
I don't know, I'm willing to pay more to use the OS. Of course on paper you can get a awesome laptop but you have to deal with Vista and I'm not a fan of that OS at all. I'm hoping Windows 7 is a lot better but I think it's gonna be a while before Microsoft gets a better foundation.
Magsafe -No one else has anything even close to similar
Power Adapter - One of the smallest out there, meaning less space taken up in your laptop bag, as well as included cable management (though quite a few have that) and the little 2 pring adapter is nice
Slot load - Dell XPS and I think the Studios use the slot load, as well as a couple of others
DVI - It seems like you get 2 choices with most other OEMs, VGA or HDMI... and that is it. At least with DVI/MiniDVI/MicroDVI/MiniDisplayPort you can use a wide variety of things and are not locked into either digital or analog. Yes, it is a pain to have to buy the adapters.
Keyboards - Lenovo?
Well, choosing a better analogy is difficult. Apple tends to have, in my opinion, much better build quality than the competitors, particulary on little things. Like the number of people I know who have had screws either come loose on, or straight up fall out of, their laptops. Mine never has had a loose screw that fell out. Or how sturdy the keyboard feels and holds up to my pounding typing method (hit the keys as hard as you can, that way they know who is boss).
Also, the visual design is quite a bit better in my opinion as well. There is a symmetry to the designs, a lack of excess that gives them a much cleaner look than most other OEMs.
The software that comes with them, from the OS to the included iLife apps, also has a lot to do with the comparison.
The ease of use of the system, in most all aspects. The optical drive is slot loading, no need to hunt for the eject button to put a disk in, just slip it into the slot (that's what she said), and then when you are done, hit the obviously labelled eject key on the keyboard. The ports are all on one side of the system (previously this was limited to the iBooks, PowerBook 12" and MacBooks, now the new Pros are the same way) so no need to hunt for things.
Apple's propensity to move on from, and abolish 'old' standards (floppy drive, ADC, ADB, serial, SCSI, 56k modems, optical drives and so on) means that they are trying to push the industry forward, perhaps faster than it can handle, but forward all the same. How many consumer systems have floppy drives anymore?
So, you need a comparison that takes into account all of these things. I cannot think of one either, but these are all things that must be taken into account.
That's exactly why I don't really like the porche analogy. The Macbooks simply have a different, and generally unique, subtle amenities.
I leave out the OS because that gets really subjective. There are some things that irritate the hell out of me with OS X. I prefer it, but it's not w/o it's issues.
At this point, we're just nitpicking really. The Apple tax is simply paying for something different, either you like it, or you don't. In some cases, it's insanely high (*cough* blackbook *cough*) and in others, it's not really that much.
God, I hated the blackbook tax. I wanted one so bad... but I had a hard enough time justifying the SuperDrive tax (back in '06) which would also have gotten me a slightly faster CPU, let alone the additional blackbook tax.
The adapter tax is more than a little annoying. I have all 3 miniDVI adapters for my macbook, and none of them will work when I upgrade now that Apple has transitioned to MiniDisplayPort.
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