Laptop for digital side of workflow

[Bob McCarthy]

I'm kinda pumped on getting a Mac. I began with Apple (II), moved to Mac (SE) though PPC in 95. Went PC and I like the idea of coming back (lots of PC software is PC only essential to business).

Beyond the mouse, a couple more questions, can two screens (internal + one external) be separately calibrated? Can Mac be upgraded to 4 gig with non Mac memory? External drives, are they mac only or can they be partitioned for both OS's?

And mac pro offered two screens, is the matte one better?

I have a lot of traveling in my future and whatever I purchase will be my primary machine for a while.

Bob

[Frank Petronio]

matte = less glare
glossy = sharper details
Powerbooks = max 2gb RAM and it is sensitive as to quality of the RAM so buy only the best stuff that can be tested or buy full-price from Apple
It comes with 2x256 that need to be tossed if you buy third party RAM so also consider that. In the future they may make 4gb RAM that fits but not yet.
Soon to be here MacPro towers = max 16 gb RAM!
multiple screens can be calibrated independently and you can switch profiles for different environments
External HDs all work interchangablly although not for boot disks, only as data
Apple Bootcamp puts XP on a new partition and you boot from either.
Parrallels software allows you to run OSX and XP from the same drive and the same time, but faster than Virtual PC ever could...

[CXC]

Another difference between MacBook Vanilla and MacBook Pro is the screen size, as you get 2 more inches with the Pro, 15.4 instead of 13.3. And remember that these are the new wide screens, so the total real estate is markedly reduced for the same numerical size, compared to the old screen shape.

Regarding matte/glossy, ideally you want to go to an Apple store and see them side by side. But I assume that for accurate detail work you should go with glossy, and find a spot, or arrange your other lighting, so that reflections are minimized.

One final thing I dislike about the MacBook Vanilla is the keyboard, which is "chiclet" style, the keys kind of snap, with no shock absorption or play.

[Bob McCarthy]

I've looked everywhere I normally buy without an answer to this question.

Can one use more than 2 gig of ram on a duo-core laptop?

Bob

[Marko]

I've looked everywhere I normally buy without an answer to this question.

Can one use more than 2 gig of ram on a duo-core laptop?

Bob

Short answer: No.

Long(er) answer: Memory needs more power and dissipates more heat. Neither of which is desirable in a laptop. The heat could be dealt with adding a fan, but that would require more power still.

On the other hand, laptops are not made to be main image processing machines. So we have a 2 gig limit as a compromise. For the time being, of course.

Similar reasoning goes for disk capacity and speed.

[Bob McCarthy]

Thank you all. This has been very helpful.

Bob

[Ted Harris]

A further note on memory. Frank is right on about Apple being picky about the memory you use but there are lotsa third party sellers that can provide certified RAM and way way way way (and may more ways) less than Apple charges. I just got a new MacBook and the additional RAM from my favorite supplier cost me ~ $200 for 2 GB of certified RAM with a lifetime warranty. You can get it a bit cheaper sometimes but these guys are generally right there with the best prices. The company is Data Memory Systems www.datamem.com you can call them at 800-662-7466. Ask for Bud, tell him I sent you and you may get a small discount if you are buying a couple of hundred worth of stuff. I have no affiliation with these guys other than being a loyal customer for more than 15 years. They are quick to ship, quick to replace dead memory or flash cards, etc. and knowledgable when you need help. The second or third RAM chip I bought for them was for a Powerbook 140 (you figure out how long ago that was) and I installed it, turned the machine on and smoke curled up into the air. I called them and they replaced it with next day FedEx at no cost. I also had a 1 GB CF card die a year ago and they sent me a new one at no cost. Good people.

[Charles]

Another important point to consider is the speed of the hard drive. Most laptops come stock with 5400 rpm hard drives. I'm not sure about Macs or whether their hard drives are easily upgraded. I upgraded to an aftermarket Toshiba 7200 rpm HD in my laptop and it made a world of difference in performance with Photoshop when processing large files that had to be temporarily written to the HD. The speed of the HD can significantly impact video editing, especially if you intend at some point in the future to edit high definition video.

As for Mac vs PC laptop build quality, it simply depends on which brand you compare to the Mac. There are a number of PCs built as well or better than Macs. There is nothing special about the build quality of a Mac. They use the same oem suppliers as the PC industry. The quality of a Mac or PC, or any piece of consumer electronics for that matter, is directly related to how well the product is mechanically engineered (especially a laptop or any portable electronics with mechanical components) and the level of quality of compnents specified. Virtually everything nowadays is surface mount so problems in the field are a result of mispecifing parts values and tolerances, or poor fabrication of the PC board.

And for what it's worth, the new Macs are just as susceptible to viruses as a PC, there just aren't as many viruses out circulating intended to hit Macs. But the number of viruses being written now for Macs is surprisingly high and it will only get worse.

[Bob McCarthy]

As for Mac vs PC laptop build quality, it simply depends on which brand you compare to the Mac. There are a number of PCs built as well or better than Macs.

What PC's would fit this better build quality?

Bob

[Ted Harris]

"And for what it's worth, the new Macs are just as susceptible to viruses as a PC, there just aren't as many viruses out circulating intended to hit Macs. But the number of viruses being written now for Macs is surprisingly high and it will only get worse."

I'm not sure this is correct. AFAIK it might be true for Intel based Mac's that are booted up to Windows but still not for Mac's running OSX or any UNIX operating system for that matter. As far as the "suprisingly high number" my understanding that there have been less than a dozen Mac viruses in the "wild" in fact I think evenlower than that.