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Switch to MacBook (Pro)

I am considering to switch to a Mac specifically the MacBook or MaBook Pro in the near future. There I said it. I even laughed at Arjen Poutsma for showing up with his iBook at the Microsoft DevDays 2005 event. Think about it for crying out loud.

There are lots of reasons for me to move to the Mac. The biggest reason is my disappointment in Windows Vista. I have been running Vista ever since the early betas and installed the RTM as soon as it was made available on MSDN. Months later and various driver updates Vista still isn't capable of running my games at the same speed Windows XP was capable of (performance drop is somewhere between 10-25%). Nothing big since I treated myself with an XBox 360. Lately I have been experiencing these annoying freezes and quits. Not to mention the release of Vista without support for VS.NET 2003 and buggy support for VS.NET 2005. Recently I tried to install Vista on my ThinkPad T40p which was a nightmare in itself due to lacking driver support (no wireless, no sound, no gpu drivers).

The fact is that I need a stable and reliable notebook for the typical office and windows development work.

The only thing holding me back from not switching to Mac is fear, the price tag and the expected "Santa Rosa" + LED-backlit display update later this year.

Posted: May 18 2007, 07:09 AM by p.gielens | with 13 comment(s)
Filed under: ,

Comments

Arjen Poutsma said:

Muhaha,

Actually, I think it must have been the dev days 2004 or something. I haven't been at the Microsoft Marketing^W Dev Days for three years.

Try it, you will like it!

Arjen Poutsma

# May 18, 2007 7:28 AM

Mark Wisecarver said:

Please calm down and get a hold of yourself.

Spit that nasty taste out of your mouth...

Then come back to our side of reality. ;-)

# May 18, 2007 8:07 AM

Thomas said:

I recenty switched to a Mac Book Pro and love it.  I can still run windows with Parallels Desktop and it works great.  I reccomend the 17" with 2GB of Ram.

Also I found that when using windows via Parallels use an external Hard Drive, and you get great performance.  I am using a USB2.0 drive and it's like running two systems in one.

# May 18, 2007 8:54 AM

Claudio Perrone said:

Hi Paul!

LOL, I had exacly the same thoughs. My experience on Vista has been so bad that in the last couple of months I switched one of my laptops to Ubuntu...

If it wasn't that I have 2 laptops already I would have probably bought a macbook pro and a copy of TextMate already.

BTW, I'm going to Amsterdam this weekend with my wife! It's my first time there and I have great expectations :-)

Seeya!

# May 18, 2007 8:55 AM

Davin said:

This reminds me of when XP first came out. Poor driver support, software incompatibility but it is improved a lot for the hardware I run since the RTM.

The performance for games is somewhat lacking I agree and hopefully that will be fixed soon as all the DX10 games start to come out.

# May 18, 2007 8:59 AM

stuartd said:

> I am considering to switch to a Mac

Do it: you will never regret it.

# May 18, 2007 9:02 AM

Jeff said:

I've had my MacBook Pro now for more than a year, and I'd never go back. I too use Parallels, in coherence mode of course so I can still write my 1337 .NET code. I was so sold on it that I bought a quad-core Mac Pro for home as well.

Anything to minimize my daily exposure to Windows is good.

# May 18, 2007 10:21 AM

Lodewijk Bolt said:

My comment is a bit late, the same goes for your switch.

Welcome to the happy people.

# May 30, 2007 10:16 AM

Bucky Adams said:

I've had my Macbook Pro 2.4GHZ Intel Core 2 Duo now for around 3 months.  If you were on the balcony while we're smoking, you might here us often say, "Man, I am so glad we don't have an PC clone and didn't get the ol'e Dell XPS!  I'm so glad we got the Macbook Pro!  OS X is so much more tastier than Windows XP or Vista."  I can't tell you how much you will love a Macbook Pro.  Just get an iSkin for it to protect the keyboard.  That $25 will save you a lot of heart ache in the future.  Trust me.  It feels good under your fingertips, too. :)  I massage mine every now and then just for the feeling of it.  I'm an Apple fanatic. :)  Long gave up Bill Gates and the evil Microsoft empire!

# September 26, 2007 10:15 AM

Bucky Adams said:

I've had my Macbook Pro 2.4GHZ Intel Core 2 Duo now for around 3 months.  If you were on the balcony while we're smoking, you might catch us often saying: "Man, I am so glad we don't have a PC clone and get that old Dell XPS!  I'm so glad we got the Macbook Pro!  OS X is so much tastier than Windows XP or Vista."  I can't tell you how much you will love a Macbook Pro, but be prepared to be amazed and satisfied.  Just get an iSkin for it to protect the keyboard.  That $25 will save you a lot of heart ache in the future.  Trust me!  It feels good under your fingertips, too! :)  I massage mine every now and then just for the feeling of it.  I'm an Apple fanatic. :)  Long gave up Bill Gates and the evil Microsoft empire!  I run Ubuntu Linux, Windows XP and Windows 98 under Parallels and of course the famed OS X Tiger. :)  Why would anyone need anything else?  I even play Warcraft and Neverwinter Nights.

# September 26, 2007 10:18 AM

Bob said:

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# September 29, 2007 2:09 AM

Paul Gielens:ThoughtsService said:

A while ago I wrote that I was in the market for a MacBook. Now don’t get me wrong, I still am. It is

# November 11, 2007 9:41 AM

Raytown said:

If you can afford it, there's no reason you shouldn't get one.

The Santa Rosa MacBook Pros are true "all in one" mobile PCs that have the power to pretty much do anything you need, from playing the newest games, to rendering HD movies, and audio/video production/editing.

It is the very definition of interoperability. And it can only be done on a Mac ;)

# February 9, 2008 3:21 AM
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