To MacBook or not to MacBook?
OK, I have a luxury problem. In fact, I don't have a problem at all... I have a pondering, gadget-temptation thing going on. Despite owning a perfectly good Sony Vaio VGN-S5HP laptop and an Apple G5 Dual 2,5 GhZ desktop, I catch myself dreaming of owning a black MacBook. They just look sooooo nice. I much prefer their appearance to that of the MacBook Pro. Also, the Apple adverts (and possibly my creative, Mac-loving girlfriend too) are getting to me and slowly convincing me that I will in fact be more creative if I work on a Mac.
The interface of the OS on a Mac does look much better than Windows, but there are a couple of tiny things that still annoy me about Macs. Firstly, the absence of a DELETE key on the MacBook (Pro) keyboard and the absence of a right-click functionality (rather important when running Windows on the Intel-based Mac). Also there are less things you can do with the keyboard compared to Windows. For example, in Windows, when you get a dialogue window, you can switch between the three options with your cursor keys.
On a Mac you are forced to use the mouse to switch to a non-default option. If anyone knows how to do this without using a mouse on a Mac, please let me know!!
Anyway, those complaints are quite small and I am still left with the luxurious dilemma of buying a well-equipped MacBook for €1600,= or waiting for my one-year-old Vaio to explode. Oh yes, I forgot to mention that the excuse I gave myself for possibly buying the MacBook is so that it can function as a second Final Cut Pro machine in my business - capturing footage and rendering etc. while the G5 is in use. It also gives me the option to work on projects away from the office... can you feel me convincing myself 
April 19th, 2007 - 15:03
Isn’t a second FCP license going to make this all even more expensive? And I though you hated macs? Is love making you blind?
April 19th, 2007 - 22:44
I think Suzanna is blinded by her love of gagetry. None the less, I have to say that I do really love my macbook pro and have become a total convert. The issues you mentioned about right clicking and such are simply not so. there is a right click on a macbook pro (two fingers on the touch pad while you click with the thumb) and I have a delete key. There are also very convenient switching shortcuts. If you run parallels (cheap program about $70-) you can run windows on the mac book pro and switch back and forth between your mac and windows programs. (so both are running at the same time!)
Thing is, for me there is a lot of mac support around and directly available with several apple stores nearby. At the apple store, the customer service is excellent and I really like having a human being to talk to face to face who can show me stuff.
But Suzanna…do you really need another computer?
Why don’t you put off any rash decisions till after you come visit in the summer. I’ll take you to the apple store.
April 20th, 2007 - 09:11
I don’t hate Macs and I don’t hate Windows… I am a genuine bi-techual;-) No I don’t NEED another computer desperately – like I said, it’s a luxury dilemma/temptation thing. I thought I didn’t NEED a colour laser printer but now that I have one I wouldn’t want to live without.
Denise mentioned in a seperate e-mail that maybe I should wait for Leopard OS which I think is a very good point! And seeing as I have to spend $500 on a Final Cut Studio 2 upgrade soon, I guess I should hold back on the spending spree.
April 20th, 2007 - 09:12
Oh and the DELETE key I mentioned – I don’t mean BACKSPACE, but really DEL (deleting to the right instead of to the left). You have one of those, Denise?
April 20th, 2007 - 09:14
@ Roy: Regarding the 2nd FCP licence.. I actually own 2 licences, but will need to upgrade one of them as it is still FCP3. That shouldn’t cost more than a couple of hundred $$.
December 5th, 2007 - 17:16
In the meantime I spoke to Apple about the FCP licence and it seems that if you own a desktop and a laptop Mac you are allowed to install FCP on both of them legally, as long as you don’t use them at the same time. Perfect for me.
Wow, I have never experienced a big company to be so galant with their software.
And, as an update. I purchased the MacbookPro at the end of August and to be honest I haven’t looked back. It’s great. I can edit away from the office and my 2 computers are basically much more compatible with eachother.