I don't know if this has already been answered or not... But how are Macbooks with gaming? Are they powerful enough to handle higher level games? What are the graphics cards?

 

Since Apple has just a small share of the market, not many games are written for Macs. Of the ones I've played, they do great. Macs are the preferred platform for video game design as well as most other graphic and video design. They are more than powerful enough.

I've ran into many more problems with Macs than I have with PCs...Couple that with the ungodly prices and the minimal differences (you may call them advantages), and they're not worth it.

 

I can't imagine you've used Macs anywhere near as much as me, so I'm going to chalk your experience up to bad luck coincidence. If you're only using it for Internet and basic uses, the only advantage is stability and durability. The 5-year-old G4 I use at work is as or more powerful than most any PC save for what the most hardcore gamers and hackers use. The only modifications made from brand new is one stick of memory added.

Unless you're into graphic arts or do other graphics-heavy work, its kind of pointless to spend way too much money and time learning an entirely foreign system on a computer that is incompatible with the rest of the computing world. Just get a good PC and treat it right. Macs are for yuppies. :-)

I disagree. I only do light graphic design (and that's only on occasion) and switching to a Mac was the best computer-related decision I ever made.

 

I used PCs my entire life. When I went to college my parents got me a laptop. It died after about a year. So I get another PC laptop. It also bit the dust. So I get another PC laptop.......same old song and dance. All 3 were unable to be repaired.

 

I bought a Macbook 2-3 years ago and haven't had a single problem out of it. It still runs as if it were new. Not one single virus, not one single problem.

 

I thought it'd be difficult to learn too.....I was WAY wrong. Is it different from a Windows-based computer? Yes, but in a good way. Everything is so easy and MAKES SENSE.

If your PC laptops kept dying after 1 year, then they were either very cheap or were abused (dropped, etc.)

Yes, which speaks volumes about the quality of a Mac. As a college student, they would indeed get dropped, things spilled on them, and eaten alive with viruses.

On October 6, 1997 Michael Dell was asked what would be the first thing he would do if named the head of Apple computer. He replied, "I would give the stock holders their money back. Not only did Apple catch Dell, this week their collective market value is 8 times the worth of Dell.(218 billion vs 25 billion) Apple has more money in cash in bank than Dell is worth. ( 40+Billion vs 25.8 billion). Should we also mention they are a debt free company.

I love my MacBook. With Parallels loaded, I can work on VS/SQL 2008-10 stuff in Windows 7, VS/SQL 2005 or less programs in XP, and php/Java programs in OS X almost seamlessly. I plan on installing a Linux VM in the near future and I can't wait to get Crystal and Coherence setup so I can run programs in every virtual machine straight from my MacDock.

 

However, the decision to integrate the battery with the motherboard is retarded. I don't care how good a computer is built, batteries go bad. Even the lith/ion ones, especially if they are not taken care of. Also, with the newest versions of the MacBook, you have to remove the entire bottom cover to upgrade, be it ram or hard drive. The bottom cover doesn't seal real well with the case either and Snow Leopard, though inhanced, still has problems with Cisco VPNs, even though the client is built right into the operating system.