Lots of questions about Macbook

[fearxtragedy]

Okay so I'm planning on getting my Macbook sometime this summer (early July) and even though I've (thoroughly!) researched it, there are some questions I'd like everyone's opinion on.

1) Screen Resolutions: I went into Future Shop to look at the Macbook today. I noticed that compared to the iMac's, the Macbook's screen resolution was set really high, the Dock at the bottom only had room for about 6 icons, and they were huge. I also noticed that the display looked kind of thick, I'm not sure how to describe it. Anyway, I just need to know: Can the Macbook display higher resolutions, or will the screen feel too small and cramped? Will it look as sharp as the iMac's? I'm really not too picky I just don't want to end up with a screen that hurts my eyes and feels tiny.

2) Speed: We just happened to open up Microsoft Word on the Macbook, and it must have taken 6 or 7 seconds to open it up. If I get one, it will be the newer 2.16 ghz one, but is it seriously that slow? Probably the most demanding program I'll be using on it will be Photoshop, and not too extensively. Will it run Photoshop under light use without a problem?

3) Another thing I was just wondering about. People on here seem to have a Mac PC and a laptop. Well right now I'm on a Windows PC and if I do get the Macbook, it will be my primary computer. Is it reliable and sturdy enough for everyday use, and if so, why do people seem to need both a PC and a laptop?

Thanks a lot in advance

EDIT: Also, is iWork worth the money, or will other free programs do what I want and not seem out of place in OS X?

 

[thejadedmonkey]

2- speed. Word is a powerPC application, and to run, OS X needs to emulate the old processor type. This causes it to run much slower then most apps. It will be updated in the next office release.

 

[72930]

1) Screen Resolutions: I went into Future Shop to look at the Macbook today. I noticed that compared to the iMac's, the Macbook's screen resolution was set really high, the Dock at the bottom only had room for about 6 icons, and they were huge. I also noticed that the display looked kind of thick, I'm not sure how to describe it. Anyway, I just need to know: Can the Macbook display higher resolutions, or will the screen feel too small and cramped? Will it look as sharp as the iMac's? I'm really not too picky I just don't want to end up with a screen that hurts my eyes and feels tiny.

The dock size is adjustable...I have it quite small on the left. It is on auto-hide so I get more screen space...I also have Adium (my instant messenger on a screen edge auto-hide. I would suggest splashing out a few dollars for Menufela, to autohide the menubar

2) Speed: We just happened to open up Microsoft Word on the Macbook, and it must have taken 6 or 7 seconds to open it up. If I get one, it will be the newer 2.16 ghz one, but is it seriously that slow? Probably the most demanding program I'll be using on it will be Photoshop, and not too extensively. Will it run Photoshop under light use without a problem?

Right now Office is pretty much the only major application that has not been rebuilt for the Intel platform, so does perform slow, especially without sufficient RAM (the technical terms are that it is not Universal, so it runs under Rosetta). I personally use NeoOffice, which is great and free, but the next version of Office, coming in a few months, will be much faster. Light Photoshop is fine, but remember to get more RAM if you're going to be using it a lot.

3) Another thing I was just wondering about. People on here seem to have a Mac PC and a laptop. Well right now I'm on a Windows PC and if I do get the Macbook, it will be my primary computer. Is it reliable and sturdy enough for everyday use, and if so, why do people seem to need both a PC and a laptop?

A desktop is great if you need the extra hard drive space, but don't want to buy/there is no hard drive big enough for a laptop. The macbook also has an integrated graphics chip, so people who play games, or do 3D work often have a more powerful machine. A lot of people are satisfied hooking their macbook up to an external monitor when they are at home for larger screen space.

 

[Scarlet Fever]

1. The highest resolution it can display is 1280 x 800. I would think it would look pretty similar to the iMac display, but I haven't compared them, so I don't know for sure.

2. MS Office was running under emulation software called Rosetta. Because the instruction set on the Intel chips is very different to the PPC chips, older programs must be emulated to run on new computers. Rosetta, although it appears to be slow, is a very good emulator. At the moment, Word is slower than it is on some of the PPC Macs, but is still very usuable. I run Photoshop CS on my MacBook under Rosetta, and i don't feel like its running terribly slow. I have tried the CS3 beta, which is native to Intel Macs now, and it ran a hell of a lot better.

3. Some people use Windows for the few apps which aren't available on the Mac platform, and some use PCs for their work stuff, and Macs for everything else. It's all a matter of preference; I use my Mac for everything; typing up documents, making music and movies, doing presentations, watching movies, etc., and i haven't had any problems with it.

i hope that answers your questions

 

[lil' brudder]

What he said^^^ and, the native resolution is 1280 x 800 i believe and yes, the dock is adjustable by grabbing the little bar between the application and folder sides of the dock and dragging up or down/left or right.
The laptop is generally pretty sturdy other than the discoloring plastics on the wristwrests, the trackpad bumps, and the easy scuffing. other than that, its a durable computer from what I have seen. Hope that helped

 

[chex]

also, OS X has buil in optimisation code, and it remember which apps you run and wchic aspects of those apps you use most often, so they get faster and faster over over time. (up to a point ofc)

 

[Dynamyk]

You'll run Photoshop just fine

Word will be slow on almost anything cept the older Power PC models which they are optimized for.

Umm, My iMac runs 1440x900, so it's still bigger than the Macbook but the Dock can be resized.

You'll really enjoy it man, make sure and take advantage of the Free iPod offer.

 

[fearxtragedy]

Haha I already have a 1gb Nano, which is fine for how much music I listen to at a time, I'm excited though about Futureshop's "Buy a computer, get a photo printer for $29.99" thing that's on now.

Also, one more thing:

Are there any dis/advantages to buying online from Apple over going to Futureshop to get it?


Thanks for replying so fast!

Oh, and maybe I wasn't very clear on my "1" question... I wasn't really asking "can the dock be resized/moved etc?", I was just comparing the size of the dock to the size of the screen. Everything on the screen looked too big.

 

[lil' brudder]

Also, one more thing:

Are there any dis/advantages to buying online from Apple over going to Futureshop to get it?

Well, I don't know if futureshop has tax or not but apple in the US has a brick and mortar store in every state so they are required by law to charge sales tax. And remember, apple has a printer deal going on too!

 

[Dronomophone]

Well, the macbook's screen is much smaller than the imac, but the dock being resizable is why it looked so big on the one you saw. When you make it smaller, itll be just like the one you saw on the imac.

 

[iToaster]

Well, I don't know if futureshop has tax or not but apple in the US has a brick and mortar store in every state so they are required by law to charge sales tax. And remember, apple has a printer deal going on too!

There aren't any stores here in KY... if only there were. We just have to shop online or in some other state, but not every state.