Once again... PC vs MAC

[katharsis]

I am in need to buy a new laptop. My Sony VAIO finally gave in, after numerous repairs and less than 2 1/2 years of age. Never a Sony computer again, ever! Just too much hassle and pretty poor customer service.

Just to make one thing clear, I am not a fanboy of either side. This is needed for work and needs to be up to standards and not break on me 2 years down the road again. I mainly use PCs at my office and at home, but we also have a few MACs and I am able to use whatever I need to do on them work wise.

I do not want a Blu-ray drive in it, as it will mainly be for work, but if it does have a built-in DVD I would prefer it so I can at least watch a movie once in a while on a plane etc...

I will be running Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Flash, Premiere, Dreamweaver and Soundbooth) and some basic Office programs such as Word and Excel (or other spreadsheet applications).

It needs to have a fast enough processor and RAM to support the above programs.

While checking around I found several Dell XPS laptops that seem quite suited, but all come with Windows 7 64bit so I will need to buy new programs anyways (all my current systems have 32bit).

I am willing to pay about $1600 - $1800.

Just want some honest opinions of what would work better (no bashing on either system!)

Dell XPS laptop or a Macbook Pro notebook ?

What are you thoughts?

[RiseDarthVader]

I have 32 bit programs running on Vista 64 bit so I don't see why it won't work. I would go for a XPS laptop. It will have more processing power and RAM for the same price or less the what the Mac would costs you.

[sfmarine]

I'm currently in the market for Macbook Pro....what ones have you looked at and are considering? I'm currently stuck on what processor to get with the 15".

[katharsis]

Originally Posted by RiseDarthVader

I have 32 bit programs running on Vista 64 bit so I don't see why it won't work. I would go for a XPS laptop. It will have more processing power and RAM for the same price or less the what the Mac would costs you.

Sure there are a few that can be used, but I know that a fried of mine had to purchase a whole bunch of programs in 64 bit format because the regular versions would not work properly.

I guess I should look for a list of what's available and what not.

[katharsis]

Originally Posted by sfmarine

I'm currently in the market for Macbook Pro....what ones have you looked at and are considering? I'm currently stuck on what processor to get with the 15".

I am looking at both the 13" and 15" ones (2.53GHz).
Trying to get to the Apple store today just to see the size and weight difference, from there on I can decide.
Same with the XPS, there is a 13" and 16" version.

[sfmarine]

Originally Posted by katharsis

I am looking at both the 13" and 15" ones (2.53GHz).
Trying to get to the Apple store today just to see the size and weight difference, from there on I can decide.
Same with the XPS, there is a 13" and 16" version.

I'm headed to one as well. lol The 2.53 is interesting but it may be too slow... I want to try them all out for myself. I may go with the 2.66.

[katharsis]

That's what I am thinking too.
Seems to be a lot cheaper to just add more processing power and ram in a PC system though....

argggghhhh! I hate to do choices like that!

[Uniquely]

Originally Posted by katharsis

Sure there are a few that can be used, but I know that a fried of mine had to purchase a whole bunch of programs in 64 bit format because the regular versions would not work properly.

I guess I should look for a list of what's available and what not.

Like what programs? There really shouldn't be a problem with running 32 bit programs on a 64 bit system. I switched to 64 bit about two years ago and have yet to find a program that I couldn't run.

Pros and Cons of a 64 bit system:
You can address much more than 4GB of memory, which is ideal for avid gamers, CAD, video editors and heavy multi-taskers. However, any 32 bit software you use will still be restricted to 4GB memory – you need a 64 bit CPU, OS and applications to take full advantage of the extra RAM.

16 bit applications will no longer run. Although this is unlikely to be a problem, if you use very old software (from the Windows 3.1 days!) then it will not work under a 64 bit OS.

Existing 32 bit drivers no longer work.If you have older or poorly supported hardware you may find that it can no longer be used. Got a 7 year old scanner that just about works in Vista? You may not be able to get it working in 64 bit Windows 7.

Unsigned kernel-mode drivers no longer work. Along with the issue above, the inability to run unsigned kernel mode drivers will cause problems for old hardware. (There is reportedly a way to bypass this check).

Running some 32 bit applications on a 64 bit OS could actually be slower. The additional overheads in running 32 bit software in 64 bit mode could cause a slight degradation in performance. It will take some time for 64 bit software to become the norm.

[xtop]

Originally Posted by katharsis

Sure there are a few that can be used, but I know that a fried of mine had to purchase a whole bunch of programs in 64 bit format because the regular versions would not work properly.

I guess I should look for a list of what's available and what not.

i find that extremely hard to believe. the programs will work (especially the basic ones you named), and if for some crazy reason they don't, there's a compatibility mode that will run them.

and since you're willing to drop way too much money on a laptop (for what you listed you could easily go for a $800 laptop), go for the mac, use boot camp and install 7 too for the best of both worlds

[katharsis]

Well it's usually not the programs themselves, but rather supported drivers that will be needed. I am doing video editing and one problem was that we never were able to get Adobe Premiere 32bit working on the 64bit PC due to its inability to properly capture HD from a dv camera. Had to install a bunch of extra drivers for audio (did not work at all before) and video (had a lag before new drivers).

Also some defrag software would not work at all.

I also know that some of MS programs will run slower on the 64bit environment.

So instead of having to search for new drivers for each application that I need to use I would probably just get the proper 64bit version (if available).

[xtop]

sounds like you've already made up your mind, what exactly are you looking for out of us? i'm sure you could walk into best buy right now and get vista on your computer and send in a card for a 32bit copy of 7

[brettallica]

I absolutely love and prefer Apple laptops to PC laptops, regardless of how reputable the PC brand is. PC laptops are just always buggy, I've found. When it comes to desktops, I'm closer to 50/50 and not as favorable for either platform. Laptops, though, in my opinion there is no competition: Apple all the way.

[Uniquely]

If you're into video editing... especially HD video editing.... I would think 64 bit would be a must have. Only 4 gig of RAM seems like it would be very slow for HD video editing. I would also think that most hardware capable of handling HD video would have 64 bit drivers readily available at this point in the game.

[katharsis]

Originally Posted by xtop

sounds like you've already made up your mind, what exactly are you looking for out of us? i'm sure you could walk into best buy right now and get vista on your computer and send in a card for a 32bit copy of 7

I am not looking for answers of whether to use 32 or 64 bit, my main question is which system (PC or MAC) would be more suited and will last me longer than my previous one.
Like I mentioned before the Sony VAIO laptop gave me trouble from the get-go.
My wife has a HP laptop (less than a year old) that just got really slow (even after virus scans, defragmentations etc) and she does not even have a lot of software on it.

To come to the point, I am trying to see if it's worth it to shell out the extra money and get a MAC or higher end PC laptop without replacing it again in 2 years. Anyone who did the transition from PC to MAC? What are you thoughts?

[Chevypower]

Originally Posted by robinandtami

If you're into video editing... especially HD video editing.... I would think 64 bit would be a must have. Only 4 gig of RAM seems like it would be very slow for HD video editing. I would also think that most hardware capable of handling HD video would have 64 bit drivers readily available at this point in the game.

I have 4GB Ram on my Macbook Pro and it handles HD video editing just fine. Though for big jobs I use the Mac Pro with 16GB Ram, but that's mainly cos it has Final Cut Pro on it. We started it out with just 4GB Ram and it worked just fine. But the new laptops handle 8GB if one needed that much.

Originally Posted by katharsis

Anyone who did the transition from PC to MAC? What are you thoughts?

That's nearly every Mac user, and myself and any Mac user I talk to doesn't want to, and has never wanted to go back to a PC.

[bogo5]

i can never understand the need for a Mac, can do so much more on PC. Mac feels so alien.

[brettallica]

...and here we go...

[GLaDOS]

Why can't both owners just accept each other's software? But for me, I find the Mac to be a lot more convenient; I even use it to chat with you guys online.

[xtop]

Originally Posted by brettallica

...and here we go...

this is one of the bigger anti microsoft, pro apple places on the internet, are you really gonna get upset over that?

one step in that apple thread and you'd think apple was the only computer company

that said..i do 90% of my posting from my mac, i'd hate to be without either

[katharsis]

Thanks for all your input!
Like mentioned before I will be going to the store today to have a look at the 13" vs 15" and try to get some spec info from the sales guys there