windows------> Macbook pro 13"

[narreth]

Hey, i am a 100% windows user that's never used OSX in my life. i am on the verge of buying a macbook pro 13" tho, (the 1500$ one).

How is the transition from windows to OSX?
Does bootcamp work well? Is the windows on macs perfect?... just as if i was on a PC?

One thing i read in reviews was that the battery was built into the macbook.... if something goes wrong with my battery or it gets weaker over time, that means i have to ship it back to apple right? What is the warranty on the battery? Is apple service good with these situations?
How much would it cost to replace the battery if this happens?


Thanks in advance!

 

[Shlong]

Transition is pretty easy, you'll get used to it.

Bootcamp works pretty well but sometimes you'll run into driver issues, but it's more than capable of running windows fine.

As for the battery, it costs $129 to ship, replace, and ship back to you. You probably wouldn't have to do this for 4-5 years and by then you'll most likely upgrade.

 

[narreth]

Originally posted by: Shlong
Transition is pretty easy, you'll get used to it.

Bootcamp works pretty well but sometimes you'll run into driver issues, but it's more than capable of running windows fine.

As for the battery, it costs $129 to ship, replace, and ship back to you. You probably wouldn't have to do this for 4-5 years and by then you'll most likely upgrade.

Ok nice, what do you mean about driver issues tho? anything deal-breaking? because the whole reason that im getting a mac is the thought of my PC messing up the night before a lab is due etc; ( this happens to my brother...lol)

also im buying this for university and im going into chemical engineering so i might need to use the windows more than other people for some engineering programs, so i need to make sure it works well.

 

[dmw16]

If you are a student you should qualify for a $100 discount. I'd suggest considering the $1599 (down to $1499 for students) 15" Macbook Pro. I had a 13" Macbook and found the screen too small for stuff like Matlab and larger excel spreadsheets. I was an engineering student as well (although different field) so I'd assume you'll be doing similar things as I was doing in school.

As for the battery, as a PP said it is $129 to get it replaced, but should last you a good long while. The new MBP have a lithium-polymer battery which should prove out to have excellent life.

 

[Shlong]

I've heard some compatibility issues (drivers) coming up with the macbook pro's and bootcamp, I don't know exactly because I've been using a hackintosh. I just ordered my first macbook pro today and it should arrive this week. I got the $100 educational discount even though I don't go to school, they don't check. Just pick a school near your address and you're good to go.

 

[TheStu]

Most of the driver issues would probably center around either the trackpad, or perhaps the graphics driver being out of date.

I put the Win 7 RC onto my first generation MacBook and everything but Audio works great.

Tyranicus put it onto his previous gen MacBook Pro (Unibody, but no built in battery, otherwise all the exact same as the new ones) and IIRC, it works great, with no issues whatsoever.

Honestly, aside from the no-audio thing I am experiencing now, I have never had driver issues on my MacBook, and most of the drivers get picked up by Vista/7 anyway. You really just need the drivers for the media controls, better trackpad controls (namely scrolling/secondary clicking) and whatnot.

You might want to also consider running Windows in VMWare, which shouldn't have any issues whatsover.

 

[narreth]

Originally posted by: dmw16
If you are a student you should qualify for a $100 discount. I'd suggest considering the $1599 (down to $1499 for students) 15" Macbook Pro. I had a 13" Macbook and found the screen too small for stuff like Matlab and larger excel spreadsheets. I was an engineering student as well (although different field) so I'd assume you'll be doing similar things as I was doing in school.

As for the battery, as a PP said it is $129 to get it replaced, but should last you a good long while. The new MBP have a lithium-polymer battery which should prove out to have excellent life.

I really want the portability of the 13" tho. I will also probably be carrying my 19" 1400x900 monitor to university. I would be able to just connect this to the macbook while in my room to solve that excel/matlab problem right?

 

[TheWart]

Originally posted by: narreth

Originally posted by: dmw16
If you are a student you should qualify for a $100 discount. I'd suggest considering the $1599 (down to $1499 for students) 15" Macbook Pro. I had a 13" Macbook and found the screen too small for stuff like Matlab and larger excel spreadsheets. I was an engineering student as well (although different field) so I'd assume you'll be doing similar things as I was doing in school.

As for the battery, as a PP said it is $129 to get it replaced, but should last you a good long while. The new MBP have a lithium-polymer battery which should prove out to have excellent life.

I really want the portability of the 13" tho. I will also probably be carrying my 19" 1400x900 monitor to university. I would be able to just connect this to the macbook while in my room to solve that excel/matlab problem right?

Yes, but you might need a mini-displayport to dvi/whatever your monitor is.....get it from www.monoprice.com

I have the 13" and I think the screen size is perfect, for what it's worth.

 

[narreth]

Originally posted by: TheWart

Originally posted by: narreth

Originally posted by: dmw16
If you are a student you should qualify for a $100 discount. I'd suggest considering the $1599 (down to $1499 for students) 15" Macbook Pro. I had a 13" Macbook and found the screen too small for stuff like Matlab and larger excel spreadsheets. I was an engineering student as well (although different field) so I'd assume you'll be doing similar things as I was doing in school.

As for the battery, as a PP said it is $129 to get it replaced, but should last you a good long while. The new MBP have a lithium-polymer battery which should prove out to have excellent life.

I really want the portability of the 13" tho. I will also probably be carrying my 19" 1400x900 monitor to university. I would be able to just connect this to the macbook while in my room to solve that excel/matlab problem right?

Yes, but you might need a mini-displayport to dvi/whatever your monitor is.....get it from www.monoprice.com

I have the 13" and I think the screen size is perfect, for what it's worth.

ok nice, and is it worth the extra $300 to upgrade from the 2.26 to 2.53 macbook?
i was thinking since im in engineering i might need the extra processing speed + ram?

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: narreth

Originally posted by: TheWart

Originally posted by: narreth

Originally posted by: dmw16
If you are a student you should qualify for a $100 discount. I'd suggest considering the $1599 (down to $1499 for students) 15" Macbook Pro. I had a 13" Macbook and found the screen too small for stuff like Matlab and larger excel spreadsheets. I was an engineering student as well (although different field) so I'd assume you'll be doing similar things as I was doing in school.

As for the battery, as a PP said it is $129 to get it replaced, but should last you a good long while. The new MBP have a lithium-polymer battery which should prove out to have excellent life.

I really want the portability of the 13" tho. I will also probably be carrying my 19" 1400x900 monitor to university. I would be able to just connect this to the macbook while in my room to solve that excel/matlab problem right?

Yes, but you might need a mini-displayport to dvi/whatever your monitor is.....get it from www.monoprice.com

I have the 13" and I think the screen size is perfect, for what it's worth.

ok nice, and is it worth the extra $300 to upgrade from the 2.26 to 2.53 macbook?
i was thinking since im in engineering i might need the extra processing speed + ram?

You can get a 4GB kit for $70 on newegg, so you are really paying $230 for the faster processor, and I don't think that you are going to see that much of a benefit. I learned matlab on single core Pentium 4s. I then ran it without any problems on my MacBook (see sig), so I think the 2.26GHz Core 2 is going to be just fine.

 

[TheWart]

Originally posted by: narreth

Originally posted by: TheWart

Originally posted by: narreth

Originally posted by: dmw16
If you are a student you should qualify for a $100 discount. I'd suggest considering the $1599 (down to $1499 for students) 15" Macbook Pro. I had a 13" Macbook and found the screen too small for stuff like Matlab and larger excel spreadsheets. I was an engineering student as well (although different field) so I'd assume you'll be doing similar things as I was doing in school.

As for the battery, as a PP said it is $129 to get it replaced, but should last you a good long while. The new MBP have a lithium-polymer battery which should prove out to have excellent life.

I really want the portability of the 13" tho. I will also probably be carrying my 19" 1400x900 monitor to university. I would be able to just connect this to the macbook while in my room to solve that excel/matlab problem right?

Yes, but you might need a mini-displayport to dvi/whatever your monitor is.....get it from www.monoprice.com

I have the 13" and I think the screen size is perfect, for what it's worth.

ok nice, and is it worth the extra $300 to upgrade from the 2.26 to 2.53 macbook?
i was thinking since im in engineering i might need the extra processing speed + ram?

I would argue that you would see a much more noticeable improvement by putting that $300 towards an SSD.

 

[Injury]

Originally posted by: TheWart
I would argue that you would see a much more noticeable improvement by putting that $300 towards an SSD.

That's a pretty good point. I never thought of it that way.

 

[dmw16]

Originally posted by: Injury

Originally posted by: TheWart
I would argue that you would see a much more noticeable improvement by putting that $300 towards an SSD.

That's a pretty good point. I never thought of it that way.

I'd be inclined to agree.

I like the 15" screen since when I did take classes I took a lot online while I was on travel for work, but if you have a monitor you can use it pretty much solves that issue.

The extra processing power isn't worth much in MATLAB (depending on the nature of what you are doing), and the RAM can be upgraded for cheap. A SSD would be sweet and would extend the time you can run between charges.

But really, if money is an issue and you don't really need the 15" screen I'd just get the basic 13".

 

[HomerSapien]

Consider this. How are you carrying it and how long are you staying on campus? Bike? car? walk? Load a 15" and a few books and space is consumed in most backpacks very quickly. I prefer the 13" over the 15" primarily for portability. Most department computer labs will let you hook up their monitor to your laptop allowing a double screen as long as you put it back as found.

The processor will not make much difference in the matlab run unless you are running some monster problems. Most of what you initially perform will complete fairly quickly. A RAM kit from newegg is probably the best option as OSX just runs better with as much RAM as you can give it.

 

[Injury]

Originally posted by: HomerSapien
OSX just runs better with as much RAM as you can give it.

heh, pretty much a given for any OS provided it's compatible with said amount of ram.

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: Injury

Originally posted by: HomerSapien
OSX just runs better with as much RAM as you can give it.

heh, pretty much a given for any OS provided it's compatible with said amount of ram.

Yes and no. OS X for whatever reason, you really see a whole lot of benefit from increasing the RAM from 1GB to 2GB. Taking it from 2 to 4 I don't think you see as much of a benefit, but or every increase up to 2GB, you are definitely see performance spikes. The only time that you will see something like that with Windows is if you are running way under (acceptable) minimum and then up it to something significant. Like going from 128MB to 1GB or so.

I had 1GB in my old desktop, and then I built a new one with 4GB (and other significant upgrades as well), I never actually noticed much of an improvement in Windows Vista compared to my old desktop.

 

[citan x]

I would just get the cheap unibody 13" MacBook. The upgraded one is a rip-off for 99% of users. As a university student (even an engineering one), anything you will use the computer for will probably not come close to taxing the CPU for any extended period of time. Since the resolution of the 15" and 13" is the same, you will be seeing the same amount of stuff on both, but it will just look bigger on the 15". If you're in college, then I don't think you should have any trouble with your eyesight and the greater portability and lower price of the 13" is way better.
I would definitely look into getting an SSD, but not the crappy one Apple is using.

 

[BrianP]

Originally posted by: citan x
I would just get the cheap unibody 13" MacBook. The upgraded one is a rip-off for 99% of users. As a university student (even an engineering one), anything you will use the computer for will probably not come close to taxing the CPU for any extended period of time. Since the resolution of the 15" and 13" is the same, you will be seeing the same amount of stuff on both, but it will just look bigger on the 15". If you're in college, then I don't think you should have any trouble with your eyesight and the greater portability and lower price of the 13" is way better.
I would definitely look into getting an SSD, but not the crappy one Apple is using.

The resolutions of the 13" and 15" are not the same.

 

[Tyranicus]

Originally posted by: TheStu

Originally posted by: Injury

Originally posted by: HomerSapien
OSX just runs better with as much RAM as you can give it.

heh, pretty much a given for any OS provided it's compatible with said amount of ram.

Yes and no. OS X for whatever reason, you really see a whole lot of benefit from increasing the RAM from 1GB to 2GB. Taking it from 2 to 4 I don't think you see as much of a benefit, but or every increase up to 2GB, you are definitely see performance spikes. The only time that you will see something like that with Windows is if you are running way under (acceptable) minimum and then up it to something significant. Like going from 128MB to 1GB or so.

I had 1GB in my old desktop, and then I built a new one with 4GB (and other significant upgrades as well), I never actually noticed much of an improvement in Windows Vista compared to my old desktop.

Agreed. I put 4GB into my MacBook Pro because it was cheap, but I really don't notice that much of a performance increase over 2GB. It does use more than 2GB from time to time, but right now, about a week from my last restart, with Safari, Transmission, Mail, iTunes, and iChat running, I'm only using 1.76GB.

 

[narreth]

hey, i have another question... are there any formatting differences between the mac version of office and the windows version of office? The office version for macs is 2008 and for windows its 2007. I'm going to have to be handing things in so I want to make sure there won't be any problems.....

 

[TheWart]

Originally posted by: citan x
I would just get the cheap unibody 13" MacBook. The upgraded one is a rip-off for 99% of users. As a university student (even an engineering one), anything you will use the computer for will probably not come close to taxing the CPU for any extended period of time. Since the resolution of the 15" and 13" is the same, you will be seeing the same amount of stuff on both, but it will just look bigger on the 15". If you're in college, then I don't think you should have any trouble with your eyesight and the greater portability and lower price of the 13" is way better.
I would definitely look into getting an SSD, but not the crappy one Apple is using.

The screen difference between the 13" unibody macbook and the 13" macbook pro is quite substantial. If you like the older screen, then it is not a biggy, but I found it to be too washed out and with horrible viewing angles. The new one is a definite improvement imo.


As for 2gb vs 4gb of ram, I only have 2, but I am looking to upgrade once I can find a ddr3 kit for $50 or less. While I am in OSX, 2gb seems to be plenty, but I occasionally run XP in VMWare Fusion, and the 2gb runs out very quickly in that scenario.

 

[slicksilver]

I've been a windows user all my life and just got the macbook 13 a week ago. Its just fine. I got it for a change. I love the build quality and battery. Other than that nothing has impressed me really.

I hate :

1. Maximizing window size is an ass for any application
2. Right click. It can be enabled ofcourse but I fail to understand why apple does not enable it right out of the box.

JMO

 

[Parasitic]

Right click is enabled by default. You just place two fingers on the touchpad then click.

OP, I was a chemical engineer back in college and the only programs we used (on our own computer) were Office, Matlab, MathCAD, ASPEN, Polymath, Super ProDesigner and COMSOL. Out of those, the only program you may run into problem is ASPEN and SPD - I don't think there is a Mac version plus the computational efforts were too extensive to run under VM. However, you use ASPEN at a very late stage in your program (we did for separations and plant design). COMSOL also requires a lot of CPU time, as well as running Excel macros to solve for reactor thermal, viscosity and velocity profiles.

One issue you may run into with Bootcamp is Windows x64 support. While the Mac hardware can do it, Apple places quite a few hurdles for you to adopt Bootcamp x64 on your notebooks. You may want x64 for the extra memory allocation and management, but since all those programs can be and have been made to run on slower processors you can get away with running x86 in Bootcamp.

I personally have never experienced driver problems in Bootcamp, aside from the annoying missing tap-click feature, which is a non-issue on the new unibodies since they added support for it.