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toblix

Buying A Computer

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Has there been any meaningful speculation about future updates to the Macbook / Macbook Pro? What would a LED screen do for me? (Uses less energy?)

I have a 1,5 year old Powerbook G4 which I bought just before the switch to Intel. I'm probably going to get a new laptop in 1,5 years (instead of my usual 4 year upgrade cycle) since I use this baby for pretty much everything. But I don't want to make the mistake of buying something too early again.

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LED LCD screens basically last longer, are brighter, use less energy, provide more saturated colours, and because of the way the color phosphors or whatever work you get a pure white rather than the slightly tinted look that essentially any typical LCD unavoidably has (You want warm whites or cold?), which of course carries over into all other colours.

It's not a total revolution, but it's sure a better option if you can wait for it -- especially if you do graphical work. It's getting rolled into desktop monitors throughout the year two, with a 24-inch Samsung one already unveiled.

There've been rumours about Apple using them in the next Macbook Pros, which would make sense since they tend to stay towards the cutting end of display technology. Plus, LED LCD screens are easier to make for smaller devices than larger ones.

Edit: This is a decent explanation: http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1739404

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Well, I finally decided to get past the tension and hit that "Order Stuff" button. I'm very excited as there're loads of PC games I've basically just ignored since early 2005 due to my computer being an absolute bag of shit. Plus, Quake Wars is on its way soon. :tup:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4ghz Socket 775 FSB1066 4MB Cache

Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-6400C4 TwinX 2x1GB

Asus P5B Deluxe WIFI Socket 775 Core 2 Duo P965 FSB1066 DDR2 SATA Audio ATX

BFG GeForce 8800 GTX OverClocked (600MHz) 768MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI PCI-Express

Some 320GB 7200rpm Samsung hard drive

Vista Ultimate DVD (but not being used for six months or so)

I wasn't kidding when I said my set up was like Thunderpeel's. :tup:

For reference, I'm on a trashy AMD 2800+ XP whatever with an AGP 6600GT and 1gb of DDR RAM at the moment.

Of course I'll probably end up wanting to move up again a year from now as running games on 1920x1200 is a bone-crushing endeavour. :fart:

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Ooooh, a thread I can take part in!

When they were saying the MacBook has a slow graphics card, they weren't lying. When they said it's completely unsuitable for gaming, they were lying.

If you are looking for a laptop machine with which you can play the latest (OK, late as in after 2005) graphics-heavy games, get a MacBook Pro. If you want to play the latest games with the graphics settings tuned to low (and without an external screen with a bigger resolution), a MacBook is a very suitable choice. Civ4 runs quite well on the 13 inch screen MacBook with all options at defaults (even though the game complains that it won't work on this setup), but when you plug in a bigger monitor with a bigger resolution, the game slows down considerably (not surprising).

Surprisingly many games have a native Mac release (playing Max Payne at the moment) and Bootcamp works like charm. The only problem is that booting to another OS is... well for some reason you don't want to do it, even though when gaming you won't have any use for the programs running in the bachground anyway.

Fable: The Lost Chapters ran OK in Windows when I tuned down all the settings considerably. What a game, I'd been missing out. I wonder if the Mac release will be faster?

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I'm just waiting for someone to enable emulated 3D acceleration for Windows while in OS X. Very much looking forward to being able to play my old 3D stuff without having to reboot. The only thing I'm playing on the MacBook right now is Broken Sword 1, and obviously it runs without a hitch.

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Just to follow up on this, new MacBook Pros have been unveiled and they do indeed have LED-based screens, amongst a load of other shit.

http://www.apple.com/uk/macbookpro/

As you've probably noticed Apple tends to love doing this every year, so expect your hardware to become obsolete just as quickly as a PC and don't upgrade until shortly after they unveil an update or new product if you want to cling onto that feeling of owning the best a bit longer. :tup:

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