New Macbook Pro, I don’t think I like it….

[FN-GM]

From what google tells me, the new Macbook Pros are just nice to look at. I don’t like the MacBook air look, that the new MacBook Pro will incorporate. I think the current look is better it looks for professional and has a proper keyboard!

[Rozzer]

I also think they are getting ride of the older firewire as well

 

I was going to get the new one but i am thinking of holding off

 

Ross

[HodgeHi]

I believe that firewire may be on its way out. The Xserves have had the front firewire replaced. The Macbook has from the looks of it had their firewire removed. I only think it will be a matter of time, possibly when USB 3 arrives, when the macbook pro's will lose their firewire ports as well.

[torledo]

I also think they are getting ride of the older firewire as well

 

I was going to get the new one but i am thinking of holding off

 

Ross

 

Hold off until when ? They decide to ditch usb aswell.

 

If the rumours about the macbooks ditching plastics for aluminum is true then i think it makes good sense. I've advocated more consistency in their notebook lineup for some time.....

 

Infact i believe the macbook pros and macbook should be merged into one product line.....keeping the current screen sizes or ditching either the 15.4 or 17 inch models.

 

Getting rid of DVI-I for mini-DVI is a given, as for ditching the older firewire standard......mac fanboys will be up in arms but much ado about nothing really.

 

I don't believe for a minute that conveniently blurry photo is the new macbook pro.

[tech_guy]

I was going to get a MacBook Pro but I ending up just getting a plain old entry level MacBook.

 

Glad I did because:

 

Defective NVIDIA GPUs present in MacBook Pro | Hardware 2.0 | ZDNet.com

[somabc]

Apple make me sick.

 

They have cut prices in the US and put them up in the UK!

Even the basic Macbook is now more expensive!

(was £699, now £719)

 

WTF happened to the 2.4GHZ White Macbook that was £829?

Buy Apple 13.3in White MacBook 2.4GHz. at Argos.co.uk - Your Online Shop for .

The nearest Macbook is now £1149?

 

 

US Macbook = $999 / £571

UK Macbook = $1,257 / £719

 

The only time I will be buying a Macbook now is on a visit to NYC, although a decent thinkpad and a copy of ubuntu is becoming more and more attractive.

Edited October 14, 2008 by somabc

[Andrew_C]

Seems a good place to ask this rather than start a new thread....

 

I mainly deal with the A/V side of things, and am more and more coming across presentations prepared on Macs that cause me grief using a M$ based laptop for the presentation. So...

 

1) How hard is it to set up a Mac to run true Powerpoint 2007 and the Mac version?

 

2) Is it best to set up a dual boot? How hard is that?

 

3) Any specific Mac laptops to avoid/prefer?

 

4) Any specific "Gotchas!" apart from not having VGA type outputs as standard...

 

5) Anything I've missed?

 

Today I have 15 different presentation "Opportunities" in four venues; but that belongs in the FFS forum!

[FN-GM]

How hard is it to set up a Mac to run true Powerpoint 2007 and the Mac version?

 

isntall office 2008 for mac and it will be fine, it uses the same format etc

 

Is it best to set up a dual boot? How hard is that?

 

if you use windows allot dual boot it, easy to setup.

 

Any specific Mac laptops to avoid/prefer?

 

avoid macbook air, its just a fashion laptop

 

Any specific "Gotchas!" apart from not having VGA type outputs as standard...

 

if you have a macbook you will need a mini VGA adapter

[tmcd35]

1) How hard is it to set up a Mac to run true Powerpoint 2007 and the Mac version?

OpenOffice 3 has got to be worth a look on any platform

 

2) Is it best to set up a dual boot? How hard is that?

Unless you want to play games, VirtualBox by Sun is a free VM, works very well as far as I can see. Better than dual booting.

[torledo]

Seems a good place to ask this rather than start a new thread....

 

I mainly deal with the A/V side of things, and am more and more coming across presentations prepared on Macs that cause me grief using a M$ based laptop for the presentation. So...

 

1) How hard is it to set up a Mac to run true Powerpoint 2007 and the Mac version?

 

2) Is it best to set up a dual boot? How hard is that?

 

3) Any specific Mac laptops to avoid/prefer?

 

4) Any specific "Gotchas!" apart from not having VGA type outputs as standard...

 

5) Anything I've missed?

 

Today I have 15 different presentation "Opportunities" in four venues; but that belongs in the FFS forum!

 

dual boot is very easy. Bootcamp is now available default in leopard so it's just a case of running the bootcamp utility in osx and selecting partition sizes for both OSX and windows, then insert windows xp sp2 (a slipstreamed XP SP2 disk is required here) then it reboots and runs into the windows setup routine.

 

One of the brilliant things about setting up windows on any Mac is the driver install bit. Just insert the Mac OSX install disk that came with the mac after the windows installation completes and then run the bootcamp installer in XP and it will detect every single device, and you won't have to touch it, just go away for 5-10 minutes and come back and everythings done.

 

The OSX install disc that came with your newest Mac should have a rollup of all the drivers for all older intel apple hardware. So you should be able to use it across any of the hardware - notebooks and desktops......atleast that used to be the case, not sure it still applies.

 

But that would be preferable to keeping a install disc for every machine type.

 

I would also run a VM in addition to dual booting....Vmware Fusion is currently the leader of the pack. And it's cheap.

 

As for presentations, office 2008 for Mac as FN-GM mentions....but also look at iwork....it includes Keynote which is the equivalent of powerpoint, but is a lot cooler. I think i'm right in that Jobs uses it for his keynotes and Al Gore used it for his inconvenient truth and that was very slick.

Edited October 15, 2008 by torledo

[Domino]

Well, except that bootcamp is built into leopard.

 

And if staff are gonna use it it'd be easier for them to select the operating system than to boot a vm.

 

Howvever could they not just export as powerpoint....or a movie?

[Andrew_C]

Howvever could they not just export as powerpoint....or a movie?

They could (but it isn't foolproof) but when they turn up 10 mins before their presentation with a Mac presentation that doesn't quite work on XP, I have to find a way around it!

[tmcd35]

And if staff are gonna use it it'd be easier for them to select the operating system than to boot a vm.

 

VMWare has a mode called 'unity' - basically Windows apps on the mac desktop. Both Parallels and VirtualBox have their own equivalents. VirtualBox is Freeware.

 

You could easily set the mac to automatically boot the Windows VM in Unity mode as OS X is login on. Now all those Windows apps work on the mac and the staff won't see the difference.

[HodgeHi]

Fusion 2 Betas' unity is very slick. It works almost seamlessly. You could (if your licenses permit) install the boot camp option and use that partition to boot the VMware. This means that you get the best of both worlds.

 

I've not tried this so unsure as to how it works, but Parallels has the option to use the Boot Camp partition. Whether it converts the partition into a virtual HDD i don't know. Perhaps its worth a look. Maybe someone can say how it does its thing?

[localzuk]

I use Parallels with coherence mode on, and it works flawlessly. If you want it to use your bootcamp drive, you just select it and it does a bit of driver installation etc... and voila a working dual boot/coherence os x/windows system.

[Andrew_C]

Someone on another forum has suggested a Mac Mini; does anyone know if it can does a "Presenters View" and a clean projection view using adapters of which I know not?

[mac_shinobi]

dont you get the mini dvi to vga convertor cable with your mac book or mac book pro as standard ?

[Andrew_C]

dont you get the mini dvi to vga convertor cable with your mac book or mac book pro as standard ?

 

Maybe, but my question above refers to the Mac Mini; desktop thingy. Can you do two outputs from one of those?

[Domino]

you can with a maxtor dualhead2go unit.

 

they're a bit pricy, but I bet one of those, and a mini would still be less than a macbook.

 

and if its keynote you're using it'll definately do a presenter view through it.

[mac_shinobi]

if you use the convertor cable you get with your mac that converts it from dvi or mini dvi to vga then surely you could get a vga splitter box and that would give you 2 outputs ?

 

Also Neo Office for os x is better then open office for os x as its ported to os x so it runs ( or at least I found it did ) run a lot better.

[Andrew_C]

if you use the convertor cable you get with your mac that converts it from dvi or mini dvi to vga then surely you could get a vga splitter box and that would give you 2 outputs ?.

Sorry, but have you ever done "presentation view"? It isn't a simple duplicate screen. The speaker gets his notes, a view of the next slide and control of the presentation on a laptop screen. The VGA output ONLY shows the current slide.

[Domino]

yeah...and a dualhead2go will do that...

[mac_shinobi]

havent tried it as havent got a mac book or mac mini or whatever but from past experience it should detect it as another display ( in display prefs ) you can either set it to clone the display or have it as extended so you could in theory open two copys of the same document and always have the copy on the laptop screen one screen or slide ahead of the one on the main display ie the projector.

 

So am guessing if this is a mac book when you use the convertor cable when you connect the projector as the secondary display you can do the same and set the projector as an extended desktop or screen and run a duplicate document on each screen.

[HodgeHi]

Also Neo Office for os x is better then open office for os x as its ported to os x so it runs ( or at least I found it did ) run a lot better.

 

 

 

Open Office 3 has just been released as a native install now. It no longer needs the X11. Upon my testing it seems a lot better for this.

[mac_shinobi]

Open Office 3 has just been released as a native install now. It no longer needs the X11. Upon my testing it seems a lot better for this.

 

just downloading now and gonna try it