PC user wanting to swap to Mac has some queries.

Well I went out of my way to go to an Apple store today. They had the hi-res antiglare screen but only the standard glossy. The font, icon size etc of the hi-res was fine for me but I didn't like the antiglare, looked a bit dull to me even with brightness set on max. I would have liked to see the standard screen side by side with the hi-res glossy but I can't. I assume photos etc with look better and more detailed with the hi-res? If someone can confirm that I'd appreciate it.

The store I went to did have all different specs in so could have bought a 'customised' one then and there, but I'll be buying it on finance and they don't do finance in store, online only. With regards to the RAM upgrade obviously it's cheaper buying aftermarket, but on finance it only works out at £4/month ($6.3/month) extra so won't even notice it.

I think I've decided to go the Mac route. Thanks for all the device, and thanks for making me aware that Macs have their flaws as PCs do. I just fancy something new.

Just found this video. It does appear that you can do a straight swap from HDD to SSD, and using the same 'plug' so this is something I could look at doing at a later date when SSDs come down in price 🙂

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kdenB6gKo4

Yeah some will say it's stupid paying over the odds for the RAM, but like I say I'll not notice the extra.

I'm now questioning the Hi-res screen, as the one I saw was actually on the 17" screen. Whilst the layout was fine and the text size was fine I'm wondering if it will be too small on the 15" 😕

On my PC laptop I can change the screen resolution, can you do this on the MBP ie change the hi-res screen to 1440x900 ( like the standard screen)? I know this would be a waste of money, but it would be better than having a laptop I don't like the screen of.

So I've had a change of heart after looking at the finance options as the interest rates are pretty high, therefore I'lll be buying the Macbook straight out. This means that the price difference of RAM upgrade is now important so will be looking at buying aftermarket. However, Apple list the RAM upgrade as 8GB (2 x 4GB) 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM but I can't find any aftermarket with these specs. The best site I've found is crucial, but they only let you select DDR3 OR SDRAM not both DDR3 AND SDRAM. What are these and what difference does it make?

I've found these products, would these be the same as those supplied by Apple, albeit a different manufacturer?

http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/partspecs.aspx?IMODULE=CT2KIT51264BC1339

Thanks Shootist007 once again. Does the Voltage matter, I can't find the 1.35V in the UK. Does this have something to do with the different mains power supply in the UK (240V)?

Will this crucial one run as fast as the apple one with it not showing as SDRAM, whatever that is? The Macbook I will be getting is the 15" 2.4GHz quad core intel core i7, I assume this RAM from crucial will be compatible and not waste clock cycles?

I have managed to find the 1.35V one on the Crucial UK site now. But there's a 204pin DIMM

http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/partspecs.aspx?IMODULE=CT2KIT51264BF1339

and a 204-pin SODIMM

http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/partspecs.aspx?IMODULE=CT2KIT51264BD1339

Does it matter which one I use?

Shootist007 wrote:

From everything I read at the crucial US site the voltage doesn't matter other then the lower voltage uses less power. But not enough to notice any difference in battery life. Not sure about heat output as I've only used the 1.35V stuff.

Crucial still lists it on the US site.

http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.aspx?model=MacBook%20Pro%202.2GHz%20Intel %20Quad-Core%20i7%20(15-inch%20DDR3)%20Late-2011&Cat=RAM

Good job I asked then, and glad there's people on here much more knowledgeable than me. Thanks, you've save me a lot of money 🙂

Well I finally got to see the 15" hi-res (albeit the anti glare) and the standard screen side by side. The difference in screen quality is night and day, BUT the hi-res does make it too small for me. This leaves me with a bit of a dilema as if I go with the standard screen having now seen the hi-res I can't help but think I'm always going to be disappointed. I know that future products can't be discussed on this forum, but I have heard rumours of a product possibly being released later this year that might be the best of both worlds.

In the meantime the guy at the Apple store told me the difference between the 2 base 15" MBP's (ie the 2.2GHz/512MB Grahpics card vs 2.4GHz/1GB GC) isn't worth the £300 ($470) difference. What are peoples views on this? Whilst it might not be worth it, if I'm going to notice improved performance in rendering HD video, and for software such as logic, plus make the MBP more future proof then I would be prepared to swallow the cost.

Well I've gone and ordered a MBP. Thanks so much for the help on here. I went back to the Apple store to have another go on the hi-res screen and the guy found a setting that makes web browsing much better. You can select a minimum font size, and when I set this to 14 it made the world of difference and did not affect the layout of the pages.

So after a lot of deliberation I decided to go with the lower spec model (2.2Ghz) with hi-re glossy screen (I don't like the colours on the Anti glare), and am going to buy 3rd Party 8GB RAM and 512GB SSD.

I'm hoping I'll get on with the hi-res screen now that I've found the above workaround for web browsing, and don't find other menu systems too small. I do have the comfort of the 14 day returns, but I'm pretty confident I'll be fine with the hi-res.