Mac Software

Posted by Derek Cornish
Apr 18, 2008 at 05:17 PM

Hugh wrote:
>A mid-scale white MacBook purchased mid-2007, but now
>running Leopard. Sorry, I don’t have the exact specs (Core 2 Duo?) because it’s not
>with me at the moment, but I use it on a daily basis mostly for planning, writing and
>numerical analysis, for which it is perfectly suited, usually with a Bluetooth
>keyboard and mouse and an external 22-inch screen, which it drives happily.
>I
>wouldn’t use it for gaming or video editing; for those I think a MacBook Pro or a top-end
>desktop would probably be required. But from the Scrivener forum I understand people
>have successfully run writing software such as Scrivener and similarly demanding
>apps on previous-generation, pre-MacBook laptops - probably more smoothly under
>Tiger rather than Leopard.

Thanks, Hugh. It is writing that I mostly have in mind. It was Scrivener - and the general abundance of outlining and notetaking/organizing software - that made me think about the possible benefits of switching to a Mac in the first place - that is, once my Thinkpad (A31) pegs out.

In the meantime, you’ve got me curious about the pre-MacBook generation laptops. This might be a relatively inexpensive way of getting my feet wet until I have to trade up from the A31. Does anyone have suggestions about which Mac models might be worth looking out for?

Derek