HP Laptop to Macbook - Downgrading or no?

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Blackfang

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Jul 20, 2008
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ok right now i have an HP Pavillion dv9000 which has:

-17 Inch Screen, 1440 x 900 resolution
-140 GB HD
-Nvidia Gefore Go 6150
-Lightscribe Disk slot
-1.7 Ghz
-AMD Duel Core
-Windows Vista Ultimate
-2 GB Ram
-Built in camera and mic

Now i really want a mac instead, but the only laptop i can really afford is a Macbook.(which im find with, but heres the specs):

-13.3 Inch Screen 1280 x 800 resolution
-250 GB HD
-2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB on-chip shared L2 cache running 1:1 with processor speed
-Mac OSX Leopard
-2 GB Ram
-Built in camera and mic

So what do you guys think? I really want a mac but i just dont wanna feel like im downgrading. I paid $1200 for my laptop now,and id be payign about $1200 for the macbook.
 
As long as you don't mind the smaller screen size, and you don't game on it, you might find the Macbook even faster then your HP. Deffinatly far from a downgrade. Some would say the screen difference is even a benefit as it's still big enough to web browse, and it makes it much lighter and more compact.

As far as direct spec to spec comparison goes, the processor in the Macbook is very much superior to that of the HP. That added to the more optimized OS of the Mac (I'm no fanboy, but my Macbook Pro is much faster then my HP lappy in terms of startup time..), and you have yourself an upgrade in speed.

It's up to you though.. In retrospect, $1200 is a lot to spend for such a minimal upgrade.. I would stay with the HP, but it's up to you.
 
If you really want to get a mac and don't mind the reduction in screen size (of course it'll weigh less, too - that's a plus to some) then I'd say go for it.

But what would you use the mac for that you can't do on the pc? If the HP was about to go south then I would probably buy something else, otherwise the $1200 might be better spent on something else. PM me if you want to send me a check - I'll find something good to use that on. :P

Oh and did you take off all the bloat-ware that came installed on the HP? If not then doing that will speed it up quite a bit (assuming that one reason you'd switch is because of the perceived peppiness).
 
Well I'm not a big fan of macs, but if it is either your HP or mac then go for it. But you do realise for 1200 you can have an even more killer desktop pc.
 
Oh i agree 100%, i just want something i can keep with me. the thing i like about the macbook is that its small, simple, turns on and off in literally 5 seconds, while i have to sit there for a minute waiting for my HP to turn off before i can even close it.
 
Consider the following though

  • The Apple OS takes pretty much half the time of Windows to boot up
  • Because of the smaller screen, the MacBook would be slightly ligheter
  • Larger HD on the MacBook
  • The processor on the MacBook is superior to the processor on the HP.
  • Many games are not compatible with the MacBook. Starcraft? Sure. Steam based games? No. (At least I think so)
  • I've generally found MacBooks to be slightly cooler than other latops. Might just be my experience.
 
I personally would be scared to own a MacBook. Their so unbelievably thin that I don't think they would be able to stand up to much, or be too durable. Slight bend in the screen by accident, or something small like that = cracked screen? Stuff like that would be my main concern.
 
@ AWperator

Well i doubt id be playing Steam games on it, thats what i have a desktop for =P. Im using the laptop for flash projects, and other things. not only gaming.

@ Biohazardd

the macbook really arent THAT thin. not like i'm getting a macbook air or anything =P
 
Haha as long as you're not gaming, I would recommend a Mac over any windows based system any time.

Although it does appear (After some research) that you can play steam games on Macs!
 
Thats pretty cool. im still undecided, but i really do want a mac. i with they had a 15 inch macbook
 
You're not going to be playing ANYTHING on that Macbook without a dedicated video card... That's why I said in my first post that it's only a good option if you aren't looking to game on it. For that, you would have to delve into Macbook Pro territory, and that's an entirely different price range...

It's definitely possible to any games on a Mac, though.. I do it with my Macbook Pro on occasion. Just run bootcamp on it... It's basically dual-booting on a normal PC. After that, it's no different then any other Windows XP laptop (assuming you have a spare copy of the OS lying around..).

It's always nice to have the option to game on your laptop, too.. For those lazy days where you just want to play TF2 in bed... :p
 
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macbooks are epic, unbelievably reliable and fast, and instant on/ two finger scroll is awesome.
 
i think a lot of university are offering a free ipod touch if you buy a macbook/imac in san diego at least
 
imo... im not a mac fan, so... yeah...

Macs are good for animation / drawing (photoshop sort of things) / and anything else that requires rendering and so on. So if your doing flash stuff like you said you want to do, then it would prob be good.

the only issue you might have with the mac is finding stuff that will actually work for it. Approx 90% of the computers in the world have a windows OS on it.

I will tell you though, you can probably buy a laptop pc for about the same price as a macbook and will be more powerful.
 
Exactly what bliz said.

I've never owned a mac, but I have a few friends who do.
Flash projects + mac = awesome
Listen, don't buy a laptop to game on. Don't. Unless it's something that you spent $2000 on, don't game. Gaming laptops are just dumb.

-The HP would be better for a lot of things.
-The mac is faster than the HP.
-Mac's look awesome.

Go get a Mac. If you've never had one, fine. But don't say I've tried a Mac if you haven't. I'd say you would be pleased with your purchase.
 
AWPerator said:
Consider the following though

  • The Apple OS takes pretty much half the time of Windows to boot up
  • Because of the smaller screen, the MacBook would be slightly ligheter
  • Larger HD on the MacBook
  • The processor on the MacBook is superior to the processor on the HP.
  • Many games are not compatible with the MacBook. Starcraft? Sure. Steam based games? No. (At least I think so)
  • I've generally found MacBooks to be slightly cooler than other latops. Might just be my experience.
Click to expand...

A few steam games are already playable with mac (Google: "CrossOver Games")
 
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