Alright, maybe this forum has enough life left in it to help me with this.
I think I'm ready. I'm ready to make the switch to Mac. I love my iPhone and I'm about to have an iPad. So I figure I might as well go full out Apple. Is there anything I should know before I make the switch? Anything I should prepare for? I have never used a Mac. So how difficult a transition will it be?
I'm thinking the MacBook Air is a little too small at 13". My current laptop is 15" and is a nice size for me, but I may go to the Apple store and check out the 17" MacBooks. Any suggestions?
Re: Making the jump to Mac...
Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2012 12:17 am
by xer0s
FYI, I plan to use this for web surfing, music, very little word processing, and Diablo 3...
Re: Making the jump to Mac...
Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2012 4:33 am
by obsidian
Macs are more like a PC than most people think. Assuming you're not a complete computer idiot, you should be completely used to using a Mac in a couple of weeks. Besides, how hard was the initial transition for you to iOS on your iPhone or iPad? Probably not a big deal once you get used to the interface differences. Many things are in fact easier than a PC and a whole lot less maintenance. OS X is also memory efficient, so 4GB of RAM should be plenty.
Office for Mac is the same as the PC version. Otherwise, iWork is cheaper and may do the job just fine. It will open and save Office documents but you might encounter some minor layout issues on a PC (usually font substitutions). Macs will work with most types of PC documents, so you don't have to worry about music, photos, movies, PDF files, office documents, text files, etc.
Personally, I love the 13" MacBooks (Air or Pro). Perfect size for portability and still big enough to use as your everyday computer (13" Air actually has a slightly higher resolution screen than the Pro and higher resolution than most 15" PC laptops).
13" Pro has a 1280x800 screen
13" Air has a 1440x900 screen
By comparison, a 15.6" HP DV6 only has a 1366x768 screen!
Diablo 3's recommended system requirements should be met by the Intel HD 3000 graphics on both 13" models. The only reason I would go to a 15" is if you really need the GPU for some other game.
Keep in mind that the Air is slower than the Pro, but does have the SSD to help it. Also, the SSD and memory are built on-board and are not user replaceable. The Pro on the other hand is quite serviceable with normal HDD/SSD and RAM.
Re: Making the jump to Mac...
Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2012 1:57 pm
by xer0s
Awesome. Thanks for all that. Now you've got me wondering about the 13". I think I'll just hit the Apple store today and check them out. Maybe they're not as small as I think. And if Diablo 3 will run on it, no problems.
Thanks again for all the info...
Re: Making the jump to Mac...
Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2012 9:20 pm
by xer0s
I checked out the Macs when I picked up my iPad. The 13" isn't as small as I thought. But I think I'd go with the Pro rather than the Air to get a little more umph...
Re: Making the jump to Mac...
Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2012 8:07 pm
by Doombrain
17 MBP is too big.
Re: Making the jump to Mac...
Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2012 10:09 pm
by xer0s
I agree. I'm leaning toward the 13" Pro.
But I think I'll wait another month before making the purchase, since I just got my iPad. I try to limit myself to one large purchase per month.
Re: Making the jump to Mac...
Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2012 10:19 am
by MKJ
Doombrain wrote:17 MBP is too big.
I agree. 15mbp is just right.
Re: Making the jump to Mac...
Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2012 1:55 am
by Dark Metal
iPad has made me never want to purchase an apple product.
Re: Making the jump to Mac...
Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2012 9:09 pm
by Doombrain
OK.
I sold my iPad as soon as I could.
Re: Making the jump to Mac...
Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 8:24 am
by MKJ
wife n kid love it. i never use it, everything I want to use it for feels like a chore.
the problem might lie with me
Re: Making the jump to Mac...
Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2012 9:07 pm
by Doombrain
I have a Xoom with ICS which we both find very good. Before ICS it wasnt very user friendly at all :-(
Re: Making the jump to Mac...
Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2012 3:34 pm
by shaft
13" is awesome size for laptop. Love my mbp.
If its your only computer and you want to game you're going to have to sacrifice some portability and get a 15" with Radeon gfx.
For Diablo3? Go 15" mbp and 27" ATD.....or two of them and you can be like this douche.
Just swapped out the 17" i had for a 15". The 17" was a nightmare to work on on a flight/train and way too heavy. I do a far bit of walking/tubing around london so this 15" is like carrying a feather now.
Got a STM Velo bag as well. After always having Crumpler bags I didn't think you could get better. I WAS WRONG.
I don't know if I can wait. I need it for Diablo 3!
Re: Making the jump to Mac...
Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2012 12:27 pm
by saturn
Which one did you get?
Gave my 5 year old 24" iMac to my sister and bought the MBP 15" retina to use as my main computer. The screen is so sharp; can't look at my 2010 Macbook Air anymore. Incredibly fast with 2.6 Ghz i7 and 512 gB SSD
Re: Making the jump to Mac...
Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2012 6:22 am
by shaft
I'm waiting for a retina macbook air.
Re: Making the jump to Mac...
Posted: Sat May 11, 2013 6:00 am
by saturn
That would be awesome.
Re: Making the jump to Mac...
Posted: Sun May 12, 2013 8:59 pm
by Doombrain
hi
Re: Making the jump to Mac...
Posted: Mon May 13, 2013 9:43 pm
by saturn
sup
Re: Making the jump to Mac...
Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2015 2:59 pm
by [HBZ]G-News
Had to replace my mid 2010 15" MBP due to the second mainboard failure in two years. Now on a late 2014 15 rMBP, very nice upgrade. Runs Q3, too;) Should try running it at 2800x1800, really.
Re: Making the jump to Mac...
Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2015 8:42 pm
by Porto
Apple's iDevices have too many restrictions for my liking (eg not being able to download stuff from any dev, only from the appstore) but their PC's are fine (not for gaming obviously) as long as you don't mind having very few programs that are built for Apple. I (try to) make ROM hacks of GBA games for instance and there's no software for Apple for that, only for Windows. I guess if everyone switched to Apple it'd be developed for Apple too, but that's not the case, sadly.
Re: Making the jump to Mac...
Posted: Fri May 01, 2015 5:35 pm
by obsidian
Porto wrote:Not being able to download stuff from any dev, only from the appstore