my college requires that architecture students get Macbook Pros, and seeing as I have little to no experience with macs I have some questions.

Can I run pirated software on macs? or is their shit too tight.

will the track pad have full multi touch functionality under windows xp?

Find a new college.

Im sure you can break macs too to run illegitimate software.

^This^

Macs suck.

There's a Mac board. You may have more luck there.

-deus-

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Yes, you can run pirated software - it's technically possible, and easy. But your university may check your computer or something. Make sure you know what their policy is before you run any cracks or anything. Oh, and there's a great application called "Serial Box" that's published monthly (it'll be available on Demonoid and TPB) where you can get serials for a bunch of apps.

I don't think there's any multitouch gestures available under Windows XP, apart from right click (two-finger tap) and scrolling (two-finger slide). Could be wrong, though.

Mac book pro... what a rip off.

You can get a Dell XPS laptop (with specs that exceed Macbook Pro) AND an Inspiron 530S desktop for the price of one mac pro.

MacBook Pro earns “Best in Class” from Maximum PC

June 25, 2008

When Maximum PC pit the MacBook Pro against the Dell XPS M1530, Apple’s pro notebook walked away the clear winner. Awarding MacBook Pro an impressive score of 9 (out of 10), editors praised its thinness (calling it “impressive next to other notebooks in its class”), its fast GeForce 8600M GT graphic processor, its “top-notch” Intel processor, and its battery life. It also found Mac OS X “really, really slick.” Filed under: Mac. Read more: maximumpc.com

You PAY for performance.
That's why Dells are cheap

http://neatorama.cachefly.net/images/2008-01/shipment-of-fail.jpg

http://neatorama.cachefly.net/images/2008-01/shipment-of-fail.jpg
http://blog.usa.gov/roller/govgab/resource/images/addy.jpg



TL/DR: I guess you forgot to look at the facts. Dell has the same video card that you rave about, double the RAM, a sound card, 3 OSs to select from, fingerprint scanner, 120GB bigger hard drive, for $500 less.

You pay for shit.

It's called premium pricing. Classic marketing technique. It's where you charge a shitload for a product so that the consumers think it is high quality.

Oh, and take the extra $500 and buy another computer.

XPS 1530
PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T8300 (2.4GHz/800Mhz FSB, 3MB Cache)
SCREEN 15.4 inch LED LCD
RAM 4GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz (2 Dimms)
HARD DRIVE Size: 320GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive
INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE Slot Load DVD+/-RW (DVD/CD read/write)
VIDEO CARD 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT
WIRELESS CARDS Dell Wireless 1395 802.11g Mini Card
SOUND OPTIONS Integrated Sound Blaster Audigy HD Software Edition
FINGERPRINT SCANNER Finger Print Reader XPS M1530
OS Windows Vista, Ubuntu, FreeDOS
$1499

Macbook Pro:
PROCESSOR 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB on-chip
SCREEN 15.4 inch LED LCD
RAM 2GB (two SO-DIMMs) 667MHz DDR2 memory
HARD DRIVE 200GB or 250GB
INTERNAL OPTICAL DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW
VIDEO GeForce 8600M GT
WIRELESS Built-in AirPort Extreme (802.11n)
SOUND Built-in stereo speakers, multijack.
FINGERPRINT None
OS Mac OSX
$1999


Results:
Processor: Same
Screen: Same
Ram: Dell has 2GB more
Hard drive: Dell has 120/70 GB more
Internal Optical: Same DVD±RW, CD-RW
Video: Same, you dolt
Wireless: 802.11g for Dell, 802.11n for Mac
Sound: Dell has sound card Audigy, Mac has mobo sound
Fingerprint: Dell 1, Mac 0
OS: Dell 3, Mac 1

Yes, because thousands of people lined up at midnight on the FreeDOS release date to snag their copy.

And fingerprint scanners are overrated, by the way.

And stop arguing about a fucking Dell. His college said he had to get a MacBook Pro, so it's irrelevant. Go back to Redmond where you belong.

Yeah, I guess I should stop telling people about products with superior specs that offer more options for less money.