Switch to a mac?
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- Casey Tucker
- 3 valves
- Posts: 463
- Joined: Sun Mar 26, 2006 12:25 pm
- Location: Houston
Switch to a mac?
so for a while now, i've been thinking of switching from my Dell PC to a MacBook at the end of the year. my dell is really a "starter" computer. it has a 60 gig hard drive, cd/dvd burner, 15.4 screen but has less than a gig of ram. I really want a nice Mac and i'm looking for some advice and the apple reps that i've met with keep trying to push $2000+ macbook pro's on me. i frequently use itunes (over 9 days worth of music), finale, and smart tunes along with the occasional word processor, spread sheet and the internet/email. the size of the screen really is of no worry. what would you suggest? anything helps. thanks!
- DonShirer
- 4 valves
- Posts: 571
- Joined: Fri Mar 19, 2004 9:08 am
- Location: Westbrook, CT
I often use music composing programs on my 15 inch Powerbook G4, but since my wife got an iMac with a 20 inch screen, I sneak over and use her computer for Finale or Sibelius every chance I get. The bigger screen lets you see more of the music at once--very handy for copying or arranging.
Don Shirer
Westbrook, CT
Westbrook, CT
- Ricko
- bugler
- Posts: 121
- Joined: Tue Mar 30, 2004 8:42 am
- Location: Nashville, TN
Make the switch! Any Macbook would serve you well - there are folks selling used iBook G4's pretty cheaply but I'd recommend staying with the newer machine.
The Macbooks come with very well loaded out - beyond iTunes, iPhoto has become a very nice photo app, iMovie HD is phenominal for amatuer video editing. I've not taken time to figure out Garageband but it looks like a lot of fun.
As for the hardware - it comes out of the factory a very capable machine. But you can easily max out the memory on the unit for around $100 (check out www.dealram.com).
You may want to also consider the applecare program - this might give you some extra protection should anything go wrong a couple of years from now.
The Macbooks come with very well loaded out - beyond iTunes, iPhoto has become a very nice photo app, iMovie HD is phenominal for amatuer video editing. I've not taken time to figure out Garageband but it looks like a lot of fun.
As for the hardware - it comes out of the factory a very capable machine. But you can easily max out the memory on the unit for around $100 (check out www.dealram.com).
You may want to also consider the applecare program - this might give you some extra protection should anything go wrong a couple of years from now.
- DaTubaKid
- bugler
- Posts: 225
- Joined: Tue May 17, 2005 9:04 pm
- Location: Chicago
Yup, those cats over at apple take real good care of ya.Ricko wrote:You may want to also consider the applecare program - this might give you some extra protection should anything go wrong a couple of years from now.

Colby Fahrenbacher
Principal Tuba, Danville Symphony Orchestra
Associate Tuba, Civic Orchestra of Chicago
Principal Tuba, Danville Symphony Orchestra
Associate Tuba, Civic Orchestra of Chicago
- LoyalTubist
- 6 valves
- Posts: 2647
- Joined: Sun Jan 29, 2006 8:49 pm
- Location: Arcadia, CA
- Contact:
Most of what goes wrong with a Mac is so simple, you don't need much training to do repairs. Recently, I dropped my laptop (iBook) when it was running. I bruised the hard drive. I had to boot the computer from a Mac OS 9.22 startup disk and run Disk First Aid. It was a very simple procedure. True, I had to reinstall Mac OS X 10.3 (and all the updates to boost it to 10.3.9). But had this happen on a PC, I don't think I could do it myself. I would have a nice big paperweight for the coffee table.
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