Page 1 of Thinking of buying a Macbook pro?

Hello everyone, not been on here for ages, hope you're all doing well.......

I have saved up some money and was thinking of making a change from Windows to a Macbook Pro.

Have been using an old Acer nettop for the past couple of years connected to my TV and i am finding it a little too slow now. I am also getting fed up with Windows. Recently i have been getting constant crashes with chrome even with all extensions disabled and fresh installs of it and have not got to the bottom of it so have had to change everything over to firefox.

I have the latest antivirus and anti maleware installed and it still gets infected after a while. I got an email from Santander on Sunday night saying my bank details had been compromised, someone in North America was using a clone of my card to make transactions. I am very carefull with my details and have no idea how this could have happened.

I know IOS is not totally safe either but i think a lot safer than windows?

Was looking at the two top end macbook pro's and wondering about any differences, the top end model has added amd graphics chip......would this make a big difference compared to the model below with just the intel?

I feel like i am being robbed buying a mac but i  haven't bought a new PC for years so was thinking this hi spec model would last a quite a while.

Anybody recommend a switch to apple?

Cheers.

This item was edited on Wednesday, 7th October 2015, 14:29

In short, no, I can't recommend it. Overpriced gear for posers

Odd that you've had so many issues. I can count the number of times I've been infected in the entire time I've been using PCs on one hand, and even then that was due to me knowingly doing something that could compromise my system (and it was always recoverable). It helps to run a software firewall in tandem with any hardware firewalls as it alerts you to outbound connections that you might otherwise miss. With that and any decent AV solution you shouldn't have any problems, so maybe you've been unlucky.

As for Chrome, when you say clean reinstall, did you clear out everything it leaves in the user profile after an uninstallation? If the corruption is in there it'll just reoccur when you install it again. You need to delete/move it. On a slightly alarmist note, the last time I had Chrome crashes when Firefox worked it was a sign that my HDD was about to die... That's probably not the case, but it's worth scanning to check.







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To be honest, i have never really been in to macs myself because it looks too simple to use but i think everything may run a bit smoother on one because its custom built to run apple software. i have read that a macbook will also run windows better than a standard laptop/tower?

I would maybe just get an ipad air 2 if it could do most of the things a mac could do.

As for chrome, i have totally cleared out everything, i have had problems before and always found a solution but not for this issue, my browser crashes mainly when i type a search into the address bar.

This item was edited on Wednesday, 7th October 2015, 15:07

Hey Skirpy

Welcome back!

I would ask the question, what is it you want the Mac to do as opposed to a Windows machine? (Apart form running faster)

Are you Android or IOS phone person?

I do love the Mac Book, especially the top spec ones - it's something I covert. 
But I would be using it for film editing and design, and also if I had external clients it gives the perception that you know what you're doing (when I only do in part)

End of the day if you've got the cash to get it I think you would love it.

But I know the chaps here would equally say you can get a laptop with better spec for 2/3 the price. :)




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you could always buy a laptop without OS from the likes of Novatech and install something like Linux Mint if you worried about security.

I think comparing Macs to Windows PC, is a bit like Skoda Vs Seat Vs VW Vs Audi, where to a certain extent they're the same car, same chassis, same engine, but the way they're put together, the trim etc is better (arguably)on the Audi.

I wouldn't buy a Mac, but a colleague bought a top of the range mac book pro, he showed me it was still responsive, while  running 4 Linux server VMs, and was silent. the build quality is good, but then it cost a fair bit more than the same spec on paper from Dell.

So, they are a nice bit of kit, but you are paying a premium, for the name, the built quality, and the aesthetics, I personally wouldn't buy one.

I don't own a Mac, but I would recommend them. You are paying a premium, and you can get something as powerful a lot cheaper with Windows on it, but then it has Windows on it.

For the price of a Macbook you get software written specifically for a small selection of hardware by one company, that spends a lot of time making sure it all works together smoothly. And if you have a problem with it you can take it to an Apple Store and they'll try and help you.

For the price of a Windows laptop you get software written to run on a wide variety of hardware, with drivers written by multiple companies who often only care about your drivers for about 3 months if you are lucky let alone a Windows update, and a load of shovelware and malware pre-installed that you have to spend a few hours removing after you get it. If something goes wrong with it, well, yeah that's painful.

And I'm not bitter because I've just had to rip out my X-Fi Sound Blaster card from my desktop PC today because on top of all the sleep/hibernate issues it caused or crackling that happens after its been on a few hours, this morning it decided to cause bootup to take 10x as long and Aero to break completely until I removed it.

I'm also not bitter that I have to launch VMs to use my Epson printer and scanner because they couldn't be bothered to write drivers for them newer than XP.

Nor am I bitter that the onboard sound on my 6 month old Gigabyte motherboard only has digital out via a two pin header on the motherboard itself and not anywhere actually useable.

The only thing wrong with Macs are the price, but then no successful company ever sold anything at cost.

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genuine question, do the mac store ppl help you if you have a software problem with something like Firefox or MS Office? Not with functionality as in how to do somehting, but if say it crashes.

a mate of mine is going to take his kid's iPad in there cos Netflix won't work, but works on his iPad so he doesn't think it's anything he's doing wrong, but then we all think that when we have problems with computers and we have a certain amount of knowledge ;)

are those scanners/printers usb, or parallel?

also, some Macs you can't upgrade the memory, it's soldered in.

also, true story, my dad was thinking about buying a laptop a while ago, I asked if he went in the Mac store, he said he went in, someone asked him if he needed help, after a brief conversation my dad didn't like his attitude so left :) To be fair, that could have been my dad being awkward, and the sales assistant may well have seen him as a time waster, but I reckon it was more like the Hollister boss who doesn't want certain ppl using his products ;)

This item was edited on Wednesday, 7th October 2015, 22:09

Thank's everyone for the feedback, i think i will still  go for the mac though, i have been using windows since windows 95 and have been using android from day one roooting all my phones and tablets and have dabbled with linux.

I want to try something new and am also interested in doing some video editing on some old vhs tapes, the price is putting me off but i have saving up and working 14hrs a day for the past 6 months so think i deserve a wee treat.

Cheers.

Quote:
admars says...
"are those scanners/printers usb, or parallel?"
USB. :/

Epson Stylus Photo 950 printer released 2003, Vista released 2006, no 64-bit drivers.

Epson Perfection 2580 Photo scanner released 2004, same story.

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Quote:
Rob Shepherd says...
"I'm also not bitter that I have to launch VMs to use my Epson printer and scanner because they couldn't be bothered to write drivers for them newer than XP."Surely that's Epson's responsibilty?
Must say I was impressed and surprised that I can still use my old R300 Printer using inbuilt drivers in W7.  Wouldn't be happy if I could no longer do so in W10.  In fact it'd probably stop me 'upgrading'.
Serious question, would it be any different with a Mac?
skirpy, why will a Mac run windows better than a 'PC'?  I can see how a Mac may run a particular app better than it might on an equivalent PC (depending on coding) but Windows would just depend on hardware spec etc.?

Ste