I'm in the market for a new laptop and the one I was just about to buy (Dell M1210) doesn't have DVI video output. I was sort of planning on this replacing a desktop machine - ie, I'd plug in another monitor to it and work from that most of the time, but now I'm wary about it because the quality of DVI is generally much better than VGA (at least if you have leetass FPS playing 60fps>30fps eyes like I do).

So I was just wondering for all youse people with laptops, do they have DVI? My dad's Asus thing does. MacBooks appear to have this weird non-standard plug for video I've never seen which I assume is some Mac-only thing.

MacBooks use Apple's crazy mini-DVI. It can output DVI, VGA, Composite or S-Video depending on which adaptor you connect to it.

those macs are so smart man!

Laptops are j0r and I did believe that my lappy truly was a desktop replacement until I bought spare bits and assembled a PC which spanks the laptop in gaming performance for < $800.

I have an optioned-out M1710 (the M1210's big brother). Comes with DVI and VGA blah blah blah.

It is pwn but almost non-portable considering its a laptop!

It is pwn but almost non-portable considering its a laptop!

Just cuz its so HEWG?

ASUS G1

too big, but looks pretty awesome

I have a 17" macbook pro as my everywhere/everything comp. Truly portable 17". Love it. Standard DVI.

Although they've recently refreshed it with a 6800M GT (mine has a radeon x1600), and an optional 1920x1200 display (mine has a 1680x1050)... not cool :P but hey, happens.

Also, OS X rocks :)

last edited by Farseeker at 22:11:48 13/Jun/07

most Asus's do...

most asus under 15" dont, at least on the CA site

I have a 17" macbook pro as my everywhere/everything comp. Truly portable 17". Love it. Standard DVI.

mmm, 17" is pushing it. I'm sort of torn between my desire to get a Mac (to avoid the MS tax) and my gut feeling that I still need Windows, even though I'll prolly end up rnning Linux on it most of the time.

the 15" MacBook Pro's also have DVI and as someone else mentioned, the 13" Macbook's also have DVI, you just need the mini-dvi to DVI adaptor and it will work fine.

Yeah. I was lucky that I was able to take an intermediate step and try out my dad's 15" powerbook for a year. The jump to a 17" intel mac was easy.

I knew I didn't need windows, because a week after starting to use the mac, I stopped using my PC. I literally didn't turn it on, everything I did on my PC (p4 2.8), worked better on the mac (1.5ghz powerpc, radeon 9700). Which honestly didn't include a lot of gaming.

Regarding the size, I knew that 17" was fine for me because I got used to how the 15" powerbook was to handle. In the end my 17" laptop + bag was lighter and more managable than the 15" + bag was.

As far as gaming goes for me, these days it's WoW/WC3 with friends occasionally, booting into windows to LAN. I guess I'm just not that into gaming these days.

That's what my experience has been: With everything else apple have done software/hardware-wise for their macs, imo it's the perfect laptop. With Leopard coming in October, it's only getting better. Good times :)

i would get a macbook. they have mini dvi for another monitor if you need it and they can run windows these days if you need to fall back into that.

but you shouldn't really need to. they have office, terminal services and msn. what more do you need from windows to work productively with?

Because it's an Intel CPU you can run whatever you want afaik.

MacBook Pro does Windows

Still hanging on to that old PC so you can run the occasional Windows-based application? Boot Camp lets you install and run Windows XP or Vista on your Intel-based Mac. Thanks to Boot Camp, your Mac is the only computer you’ll ever need.

If it were me I'd be going with the 15" $3600 model, with the 256MB of videoram. One sexy beast right there.

Just cuz its so HEWG?

It haves much hewg. Its also a bit heavy, but I lug it to and from work every day without too much hassle. Its impossible to use on a plane outside business class. Well, I assume that it would be ok in business with their acres of room, but I've never flown business.

But teh hewgness aside it is a true desktop replacement. This was important - I needed to be able to work just as well on the road at a client site as from home or in the office. The desktop-quality video card didn't hurt either :D

I use the mini-dvi plug on the Macbook to drive my once-cutting-edge $750 17" LCD monitor. Extra $35 for the adapter.
I am tempted to buy a cheap 22" widescreen instead and use it externally in portrait mode as the laptop can also drive this no problems.

Macbook Pros cost way too much for the minimal increment you get over the Macbooks.
You can get a decked out Macbook for 2 grand.

i only just noticed the other day the macbook doesn't have a pcmcia slot.

Minimal increment? Like the larger screen, X1600 and ability to drive the built-in LCD plus two other DVI devices? Or the faster processor and more memory in the base models?

To answer the initial question, the MBP has both a DVI port and a mini-DVI port, allowing use of either dual-link DVI or just having three monitors total.

As far as gaming goes for me, these days it's WoW/WC3 with friends occasionally, booting into windows to LAN. I guess I'm just not that into gaming these days.

Neither of which you need Windows for.

i only just noticed the other day the macbook doesn't have a pcmcia slot.

No, it has Expresscard/34. Get with the times, geez ;p

but you shouldn't really need to. they have office, terminal services and msn. what more do you need from windows to work productively with?

A RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON HAHAAHAHAHAHAHAH

Nah its really more that I've spent pretty much half my life learning how to use Windows effectively and I'm so comfortable using it. I really like using Mac OS X but each time I do I feel like I'm struggling a bit to perform simple tasks.

eg, there's a few things that really irk me - I'm sure you can DO these things in OS X, I just don't know how and they're just examples of More Things To Learn that are putting me off it.

- I can't seem to CTRL-shift-select text in like URL bars
- tab ordering in Firefox at least seems completely shot
- there's no start->run

i only just noticed the other day the macbook doesn't have a pcmcia slot.

I got around that by using my 3g's phone + bluetooth as a transport. I can't really see any other practical use for the expansion other than a 3g or wimax module

Trog, what sort of notebook are you looking for, I just went through the CA list, and i'd say at least 70% of the asus' on there have DVI.

Obviously cheaper and smaller notebooks aren't going to have it, but 14 and 15 inch notebooks almost all have DVI.

- I can't seem to CTRL-shift-select text in like URL bars

Command-shift-select.

But I agree, Finder is rotten for transferring files around the place, particularly when you're dealing with network file systems.

As for the lack of PCICIA, if you only want it for Wimax/GPRS, most providers have ExpressCard/34 cards for these already anyway. Optus and Telstra certainly do, and Vodafone use a USB device. USB is kinda supposed to be able to replace PCMCIA anyway.

Obviously cheaper and smaller notebooks aren't going to have it, but 14 and 15 inch notebooks almost all have DVI.

I want a cheaper and smaller one :) The 14"s I looked at on CA didn't have DVI, but I didn't look at all of em - I'll check it out again but I don't know if DVI's going to be enough to make me wanna get Asus.

But I agree, Finder is rotten for transferring files around the place, particularly when you're dealing with network file systems.

I've read a few complaints about the current Finder being heaps s*** compared to the old one (I assume from some previous OS X version). I haven't used it for anything serious yet so not really sure why its so bad.

See they really should change the Mac mantra of "Everything just works" to "Everything just works, but I can't DO anything"

Pity Dell don't have their Ubuntu laptops over here in .au yet; I'd definitely be getting one of those :(

Most docking stations have DVI on the even if the laptop only has VGA out on the back.

what about 1 of those alienware lappies.. looks pricey but looks like a pretty solid desktop replacement

also can u plug a normal mouse into a mac?

i dont think i could have played wow as good with out at least 4+ buttons on my mouse

middle mouse fear break ftw

The Asus A8 Notebooks are nice.

You can get those express card docking stations now. I believe belkin make a fairly good one.

Also there is that Asus Express Card to PCI-E 16x adapter that allows you to use any videocard in it.

can't someone just make up my mind for me?

Say what you want exactly, specs wise... and say how much you want to pay. We can then help.

I really know what I want, I'm just being lazy and fussy. It's a pity no hardware vendors just let you tick off all the components you want and show what impact it has on price, weight, power consumption, etc.

ahem

oh bugger, you need to be a member.

it's a $2300 15" Macbook Pro.

Nah its really more that I've spent pretty much half my life learning how to use Windows effectively and I'm so comfortable using it. I really like using Mac OS X but each time I do I feel like I'm struggling a bit to perform simple tasks.

Beyond getting used to stuff like keystrokes and the OS X file structure/how OS X works in general (not beyond you I'm sure), what made it all work for me was quicksilver.

http://www.lifehacker.com/assets/resources/2007/03/launch firefox.png

With it, there's not much on an OS X system thats further than a few keystrokes away. it's pretty powerful, kinda hard to explain. Here's a couple demos:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=EBvFUhTqKK4&mode=related&search=

http://media.libsyn.com/media/macbreak/macbreak-012-600p-h264.mov

Once you give OS X + quicksilver a few days, the general rule is faster and easier.

Anyway, as far as actually choosing your laptop.. the paradox of choice is fun. Lots of factors... for me, the macbook pro is a solid balance; and I'm able to use some of the world's best apps for it. good luck :)

Beyond getting used to stuff like keystrokes and the OS X file structure/how OS X works in general (not beyond you I'm sure), what made it all work for me was quicksilver.

I hate the idea of making myself and my productivity dependent on a closed source application. What if they stop updating it and Apple release a new version of OS X? I'm boned!

Yeah, that would suck. although there will always be app launchers at least as good as start->run.

http://digg.com/software/Quicksilver_To_Be_Fully_Open_Source

Hope it happens.

i dunno trog, u wouldnt really be suffering sticking with vga hey
its not that much of a difference

certainly wouldnt let it hold back getting the lappy you have your eye on

if it comes with dvi? dreamy
if it doesnt but has everything else you need, id just go with it;