my mom can get a discount on mac's and for graduation present she said she could get me a "Macbook" laptop with 1.8 ghz core duo 13 inch screen with 512 mb memory. do you know about mac laptops? is that a good one? I think its the new mac with windows, but I havent heard wether or not they are good. would I be able to use mac programs like final cut or would I be using windows shit like adobe?
New Mac laptop?
- Thread starter djikstra
- Start date
its a mac so everything for mac works on it. the windows is optional and right now you have to buy windows seperately and put it on using boot camp(free from apple) or with a program called parallels which runs xp and os x at the same time($80). im going to run parallels but 512 mb of ram isnt enough for it.
skiatgore69
Active member
mac cult?
Itsbackfliptime
Active member
No macs have windows. They are capable of running windows but you still need to install windows yourself. With that being said, the laptop you're speaking of is really there lowest end laptop. Its still good though. You can get an education discount on any apple products. What price is she gonna get on this? On apple.com with the education discount its 1049.
freeridinskier
Member
you will just be frusterated as hell trying to run final cut pro at that system. 512 megs of ram is not nearly enough, and upping the ram is pointless in less you have a faster processor. I have a macbook pro with 2 gigs of ram and 2.16 ghz core duo processor, and if i am running photoshop, itunes and a few other small apps, the computer is starting to bog.
oh but are you talking about final cut pro or final cut express? Because these are two totally different programs, when you talk about the system requirements to run them. What i was talking about above is for final cut pro, I have yet to use express.
oh but are you talking about final cut pro or final cut express? Because these are two totally different programs, when you talk about the system requirements to run them. What i was talking about above is for final cut pro, I have yet to use express.
Chubby.Chaser
Active member
can't upgrade the graphics, can't run final cut pro either
StealthSteez
Active member
Pm nomensteven. He just got a mac laptop. Seems to know a bit about it and should be able to help you out.
t-man152
Active member
nope on laptops (alienware and Falcon Northwest being an exception) the videocard is built into the motherboard.
the only difference between the mac and the macpro is the videocard and the screen.
I was really suprised when they came out with the macbook and it had a core duo because thats a good value and value and apple never really belonged in the same sentence before.
as for final cut pro. it will work fine, I doubt youll be doing any heavy editing with more than 5 videos on screen at the same time (not very practical with the small screen size anyways.
im looking at the 13 inch screen im using to type this and cant imagine trying to do any type of editing on this thing. if you do get it, invest in a larger screen. although the videocard may not be able to handle heavy editing.
the only difference between the mac and the macpro is the videocard and the screen.
I was really suprised when they came out with the macbook and it had a core duo because thats a good value and value and apple never really belonged in the same sentence before.
as for final cut pro. it will work fine, I doubt youll be doing any heavy editing with more than 5 videos on screen at the same time (not very practical with the small screen size anyways.
im looking at the 13 inch screen im using to type this and cant imagine trying to do any type of editing on this thing. if you do get it, invest in a larger screen. although the videocard may not be able to handle heavy editing.
skicraze123
Active member
adobe is a mac program or at least thats where it originated just look on the site www.apple.com
freeridinskier
Member
the issues i have had are because of the large photo files i work with. my scanned in images are 64 megs and some of the panaramic photoshop stuff i have been doing is making large files. I really dont want to create smaller files because i am printing some of my stuff very large.
Paul-o-Rama
Active member
its a great laptop if you don't plan on doing anything crazy ram eating on it, if you are, then get a macbook pro. but i grew up with macs so i guess im prejudiced
cmeriptahoe
Active member
its nice but it wont run final cut pro. my friend tried it on his and it was depressing how poorly it ran. he ended up takin it back and gettin the pro. thats the way to go if you really wanna edit but obviously its more expensive. whether its worth the extra grand is up to u.
freeski1620
Active member
well, since its all spread around, ill sum some things up for you and imput my knowledge
that being said, i have a mac book with the 2.0 ghz core duo in it with the 120 gig hard drive and 1 gig of ram. running xp pro. but for some reason my boot camp is messed up. i still can boot it though.
i also have a desktop i custom built myself that would blow your mind. i promise. but thats not our subject.
first of all get more ram than 512 megs, the new windows vista reccomends atleast a gig or it, the new mac os is going to be the same way, i chose 1 gig cause i didnt want to spend the money for 2 gigs quite frankly.
when choseing a processeor what you have to do is realize that if you have a core duo processor it is going to have 2 cores so a possible processing speed of up to 4 ghz. now if that has hyper threading in it loke the core 2 duo processors do then it has a possibility of 4 logical processeors and 8 ghz possible logical processing speed. i dont remember if you can get that processor in there, it smokes tho.
the graphics card is not to good, its only 128 megs. in my desktop i run dual monitors and have 2 bridged 512 sli cards. dont expect it to show up with stuff realy nice. look for it to be average. built in gpu's are notorious for being slow in lap tops because the front side bus of the actual computer is so slow and most gpu's run faster than the motherboard they work with.
if you do intend to edit video i reccomend that you get the 120 gig hard drive. my roomate uses final cut all the time cause he edits for 2 plank and he is always having storage problems on his imac cause he doesent have enough hard drive space. i would reccomend an external hard drive though if you do edit, its just a good edition to the set up.
i think that about covers it, but if you have any more questions feel free to ask, im cisco a+ certified so i can go way way more in depth on a lot of these if you want.
that being said, i have a mac book with the 2.0 ghz core duo in it with the 120 gig hard drive and 1 gig of ram. running xp pro. but for some reason my boot camp is messed up. i still can boot it though.
i also have a desktop i custom built myself that would blow your mind. i promise. but thats not our subject.
first of all get more ram than 512 megs, the new windows vista reccomends atleast a gig or it, the new mac os is going to be the same way, i chose 1 gig cause i didnt want to spend the money for 2 gigs quite frankly.
when choseing a processeor what you have to do is realize that if you have a core duo processor it is going to have 2 cores so a possible processing speed of up to 4 ghz. now if that has hyper threading in it loke the core 2 duo processors do then it has a possibility of 4 logical processeors and 8 ghz possible logical processing speed. i dont remember if you can get that processor in there, it smokes tho.
the graphics card is not to good, its only 128 megs. in my desktop i run dual monitors and have 2 bridged 512 sli cards. dont expect it to show up with stuff realy nice. look for it to be average. built in gpu's are notorious for being slow in lap tops because the front side bus of the actual computer is so slow and most gpu's run faster than the motherboard they work with.
if you do intend to edit video i reccomend that you get the 120 gig hard drive. my roomate uses final cut all the time cause he edits for 2 plank and he is always having storage problems on his imac cause he doesent have enough hard drive space. i would reccomend an external hard drive though if you do edit, its just a good edition to the set up.
i think that about covers it, but if you have any more questions feel free to ask, im cisco a+ certified so i can go way way more in depth on a lot of these if you want.
Rez4frederick
Active member
You dont need final cut pro for editing ski movies, final cut express and adobe after effects is perfectly fine.
ryanwar6
Active member
I have the black macbook 2.0 ghz with 2 gigs of ram, and it does just fine with pretty much anything I throw at it. As many have said, don't get 512mb, my friend right next to me has the same computer as I do with 512mb rather than 2gigs and is always mad.
One thing I would recommend, don't get memory through apple unless your mom gets a huge discount. I am guessing she just gets an educational discount? If so, it saves you like $50. If so, get 2gigs of RAM from a 3rd party online. If you get 2gb on apple it is $500, if you get it anywehre else, the most you will pay is $250. Trust me, the $250 is worth it.
One thing I would recommend, don't get memory through apple unless your mom gets a huge discount. I am guessing she just gets an educational discount? If so, it saves you like $50. If so, get 2gigs of RAM from a 3rd party online. If you get 2gb on apple it is $500, if you get it anywehre else, the most you will pay is $250. Trust me, the $250 is worth it.
freeski1620
Active member
as gay as this sounds, do any of you know the memory speed for that computer?
t-man152
Active member
their running DDR2 at 667 mhz.knowing apple its probably very high latency. but that wont effect you much unless your doing gaming or speedy memory intensive applications.
luckily most people dont know shit about memory latency and the only difference between 512 mb of DDR2 at 667 mhz for 50 dollars and 512 mb of DDR2 at 667 mhz for 100 bucks is 50 bucks.
luckily most people dont know shit about memory latency and the only difference between 512 mb of DDR2 at 667 mhz for 50 dollars and 512 mb of DDR2 at 667 mhz for 100 bucks is 50 bucks.
SIX-SOLDIERS
Member
get it mcas are dope
t-man152
Active member
the Core Duo is a laptop processor while the core 2 duo is the desktop processor.
apple is not going to put a desktop processor in one of their laptops any time soon. the only available proc for any of their laptops currently is the core duo.
some hardcore manufacturers do make laptops with core 2 duos but those are thicker for cooling reasons.
also a processor with multiple cores doesnt mean faster processing it just means processing.
to give an example consider a processor to be a truck that makes deliveries going at 100 mph (maximum speed), having 2 trucks wouldnt allow the truck to make the deliveries at 200 miles per hour it would just be 2 trucks working side by side making deliveries.
in some cases this will technically double the speed but sometimes it wont. it really depends on the type of processing the application requires. and applications have to have code to take advantage of this. think of the application as the buisness that the truck is delivering too. if the buisness only has one loading/unloading dock then the second truck would be inefective and not be able to do anything.
continuing with this analogy one of the extremely cool things of dual core is that the "trucks" dont have to deliver to the same place so you can be running 2 applications that are only designed for one processor.
some of the things I do are:
play video games online I have one processor assigned to run the network host (so im running the server) and one proc running the game so im playing on my own server with a ping of 0 (doesnt get any closer than inside your own computer case)
burn a DVD and do editing, or 3d animation, or anything else while my DVD burns.
allow my downloads (bit torrent, and limewire) to only use one processor (chosen by me) that waythey dont slow down my computer. when the programs are running my computer is just a fast single processor machine.
apple is not going to put a desktop processor in one of their laptops any time soon. the only available proc for any of their laptops currently is the core duo.
some hardcore manufacturers do make laptops with core 2 duos but those are thicker for cooling reasons.
also a processor with multiple cores doesnt mean faster processing it just means processing.
to give an example consider a processor to be a truck that makes deliveries going at 100 mph (maximum speed), having 2 trucks wouldnt allow the truck to make the deliveries at 200 miles per hour it would just be 2 trucks working side by side making deliveries.
in some cases this will technically double the speed but sometimes it wont. it really depends on the type of processing the application requires. and applications have to have code to take advantage of this. think of the application as the buisness that the truck is delivering too. if the buisness only has one loading/unloading dock then the second truck would be inefective and not be able to do anything.
continuing with this analogy one of the extremely cool things of dual core is that the "trucks" dont have to deliver to the same place so you can be running 2 applications that are only designed for one processor.
some of the things I do are:
play video games online I have one processor assigned to run the network host (so im running the server) and one proc running the game so im playing on my own server with a ping of 0 (doesnt get any closer than inside your own computer case)
burn a DVD and do editing, or 3d animation, or anything else while my DVD burns.
allow my downloads (bit torrent, and limewire) to only use one processor (chosen by me) that waythey dont slow down my computer. when the programs are running my computer is just a fast single processor machine.
skifree919
Active member
I have a new macbook, and i love it. I've been a pc guy for all my life, and I am really happy that i finally switched over to mac. Everything is so smooth and clean, I love it. For video editing, defintiely go with the macbook pro though
dilla_says_go
Active member
a couple years ago i got the powerbook g4 when i was a freshman. its survived 2 years of video editing, blatant file downloading, drunken garageband sessions, crushed up altoid and pencil shavings curtosy of p waite and a smith, a drop from 4 feet, and a bunch of other shit that would have easily destroyed any shitty pc. with that being said, get the mac, just because it will last you through the rugged collegiate environment.