Vanity: Should I buy a MacBook Pro?

4-25-2011 | Self

[balch3]

So, an older relative wants a laptop so he can surf the web from his recliner. His computer skills consist of being able to turn the computer on, open his browser, and do simple word processing/printing. He's tired of viruses and malware. I've been talking up the Macbook. He's decided on the Macbook pro with 17 inch monitor, Way more computer than he needs, but he likes the big monitor because it will be easier on his eyes.

All sounds good, right? That is, until I go online and look at the price. Yikes! Nearly $2500. He can afford it and doesn't seem phased by it, but...still, Yikes! My worst case scenario fantasy is he isn't satisfied and I'll feel guilty for giving him a bum steer. Or, something goes wrong and we have to send it back. Or, I have trouble setting up the wireless LAN--Seems simple enough, but I've never done it before. Or...well, you get the picture.

Somebody talk me into (or out of) this, please?

[tubebender]

My time is much too valuable to read each reply so if your relative wants a Mac Book Pro and it’s his/her money then buy for them. My wife uses her 6 month old 15” MBP every night with it on her lap and has never complained of over heat as a matter of fact I just checked it and it is COOL to the touch. Perhaps if she was one of those of juvenile mind still playing games it might be a problem....

[antiRepublicrat]

I had to get used to things “just working” and me not having to do things the hard way.

My favorite example is the UPS I bought for our PC and the Mac. PC went through the whole spiele, turn off computer, hook it up, but don’t plug in USB, install drivers (don’t plug in USB first or you’ll be sorry), reboot, plug in, find custom app to control the UPS, make settings.

I searched for drivers for the Mac for a while, couldn’t find any. Finally I just plugged it all up (including the USB) and turned the system back on. Still couldn’t find a configuration app. Then I found out the Mac automatically puts UPS settings in with the Energy Saver preferences when an UPS is detected.

It was so easy I had a problem with it. It’s like I had an old hand-crank starter car, and when I got one with an electric starter I was stumped trying to find out where to insert the crank. Much of learning the Mac is actually un-learning bad habits and low expectations.

[brytlea]

:)

[CurlyDave]

Let him buy whatever computer he wants. It is his money, not yours, not yet at least.

He will love the MacBook Pro. If it is more than he needs don’t worry, at least it won’t give him problems.

Don’t bother setting up wireless internet for him. He can do it himself without you and it will work first time out. That is one of the beauties of a Mac.

He should get Applecare and max out the memory. He will call Apple instead of you, he will talk to someone who speaks good idiomatic English in an accent he can understand. Someone based in the US or Canada.

I have a MacBook Pro and a wireless router. I have had a lot of people visit over the past two years. Every single one with a Mac, I tell them the network name and write down the password. No one ever has a connection problem. Every single Windows user, I give them the same info and they can never connect. All the teenage kids claim they must have gotten a virus. Inevitably, I can get their computer connected, but it takes 15-30 minutes to fight through the Windows settings.

We became an all-Mac family several years ago and the time fighting computer problems dropped to less than 10% of what it used to take. Anything I can’t fix at home, even with free phone help, I make an appointment (same day) at the local Apple store, and they fix it for me — free.

I think the real “Windows tax” is the time it takes to do anything.

I have never noticed a lack of software for my Mac, although I do not play games. I see no disadvantage there.

Everything else works just like you think is should, not the way Windows thinks it should.

I run Parallels and Windows stuff works just fine on my Mac, running right alongside my Mac programs, right down to the same crappy mouse response I always get on a Windows box.

MS Word and Excel work on both Mac and Windows, and the files exchange seamlessly. Powerpoint, not so much. Pagination and fonts are different, but that is Microsoft’s problem, not Apple’s.

[Swordmaker]

That makes the ratio of malware to installed base roughly the same, lending credcence to the observation that there’s less of it written for the Macs because there are fewer of them.

WHAT!? What statistical universe are living in? 18 Mac malware to 50,000,000 installed OSX Macs. V. 2,000,000 Windows malware to 1,600,000,000 installed Windows PCs.

That's 1 : 2,777,777 vs. 1 : 800 !!!

They aren't even in the same order of magnitude by FIVE orders.

[tacticalogic]

You're missing the point.

/sarc

[tacticalogic]

You're missing the point.

/sarc

[Swordmaker]

You're missing the point.

You are begging the question... You claim that the evidence there are no Mac OSX viruses is NOT because it is inherently difficult to write one... it's because it is obscure. We have pointed out MANY TIMES that crackers have profitably written viruses for far more obscure devices to 50,000,000... such as the Witty Worm virus that successfully infected ALL ~12,000 un-updated BlackIce protected Windows Machines it was designed to infect less than 45 minutes after it was released into the wild regardless of where they were situated in the world; or the ~30,000 cellular phones another virus writer created his opus to infect; or the dozens(!) of iPhones that had been converted to run Linux that an enterprising cracker had written a malicious virus to infect... yet not one cracker has successfully written one to infect the 50,000,000 sitting duck OSX computers out there, of which more than 97% are conservatively running sans AV? And only 18 have come up with anything close to a viable Trojan? Give me a break. What this proves is that the malware writers go WHERE THEY CAN MAKE MONEY... where the vulnerabilities are. It proves they have learned to go after the low lying fruit.

Security by obscurity where Mac computers are concerned DOES NOT APPLY!

THAT is the point.

[tacticalogic]

You’re trying to convince him that if he goes out and buys a new PC today, every piece of Windows malware ever written is just waiting to infect his computer.

[Blue Highway]

Sorry for the OT post but this pic was attached to the heading of this story on AOL today. Is this really how Steve Jobs looks now? Is the cancer affecting his appearance as he looks much different than I remember. If I didn't know he had cancer, I'd almost suspect he had some kind of radical plastic surgery. His nose sort of has that Michael Jackson look to it where it never did before. What's going on?

Here he is in a fairly recent picture.

[Swordmaker]

Sorry for the OT post but this pic was attached to the heading of this story on AOL today. Is this really how Steve Jobs looks now? Is the cancer affecting his appearance as he looks much different than I remember. If I didn't know he had cancer, I'd almost suspect he had some kind of radical plastic surgery. His nose sort of has that Michael Jackson look to it where it never did before. What's going on?

His cancer is gone but he had a Pancreas and Liver transplant two years ago and he is taking major anti rejection drugs that interfere with his appetite. The pancreas is heavily involved in digestion, conversion of carbohydrates to fat, and production of cholesterol that transports fats. His is not working too good any more. His Krebs cycle is not working properly. I think he is not producing fat properly or sufficiently... That's why he took the medical leave of absence. Protein he can do well, fats and carbs? Not so well.

[Blue Highway]

Thanks for your answer, I did not know about the other ailments besides his cancer. Sending prayers up.