Tech Q of the week: Feb 5th

Since it’s Tuesday I feel the need to continue with my new column: “Tech Q of the week”. Every week I answer reader questions on tech related questions bothering them.

This week reader Andy was asking whether he should get a Macbook or a Macbook pro.

The solution to this problem is actually quite simple: look at the names of the laptops and you can really work it out. There’s the vanilla Macbook and the Macbook Pro. The question a potential owner needs to ask is whether they are a pro user or not? If your primary occupation is a graphics designer or you’re in video editing then you can consider yourself a pro user.

The difficulty comes for people who can consider themselves in between the two differentiations. People like myself who occasionally use some of the Adobe software could use a Pro but it seems useless to justify an extra five grand to support software you only use occasionally. For people who find themselves in-between you need to consider a couple of important factors.

The first factor is screen size. The Macbook has a 13-inch screen with a maximum resolution of 1280X800. The Pro on the other hand has a 15-inch screen with a max resolution of 1440X900. I’ll be honest the screen on the Pro is a lot better but if like myself you need a portable machine then the Macbook is a better option.

The only other differentiator is the amount of RAM in the machines and the internal graphics card. The processor in the Pro is .04Ghz faster so we’ll ignore that for comparisons. The RAM is no issue as it can easily upgraded at less than a thousand rand. The internal graphics card does not affect the user and can cope perfectly with HD video and some older games.

In summary, do you want a portable machine that is incredibly capable and powerful or do you want an uber powerful desktop replacement. In Andy’s case, I recommend he saves the 5 grand and get a Macbook, you wont be sorry as it’s the best machine I’ve ever used.

Enjoy this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed.