Macbook Pro or LG Laptop

[Anonymous]

I am in need of a bit of assistance. My current laptop (a 17" HP Pavilion, P4 3.2 GHz, 2 GB Ram, OS Win XP Pro SP2, AC 10) is in need of replacing. I am considering two options; the 15" Macbook Pro and a 17" LG laptop. The difference in screen size is not that important as my laptop functions as a desktop replacement; so a docking station allows for an external monitor, keyboard, mouse, scanner & printer to be connected.

The Macbook Pro has the 2.5 GHz processor, 2 GB Ram, 250 GB hard drive (5400 rpm), nVidia 8600M GT (512 MB) graphics card and the OS is Leopard (of course).

The LG has the T8100 (2.1 GHz) processor, 4 GB Ram, 320 GB hard drive (5400 rpm), nVidia 8600M GT (512 MB) graphics card and the OS would be Win XP Pro SP2.

I thought that I would ask for opinions on both systems as I primarily use the laptop for ArchiCad and am unsure which will perform better (Mac or PC).

One concern that I have with the Macbook Pro is that I have read (on some of the Mac forums) it can overheat and unexpectedly shut down. If this were the case it would obviously be a problem as I use my laptop as a desktop replacement.

There are also the cost implications of moving from the PC to the Mac world so if I make that leap I want to ensure that the Mac will be giving something more than the PC. As a note I do realize that the Mac can run a Windows OS.

Any comments (pro or con) for either would be most appreciated.

[Anonymous]

I've been using Apple and IBM laptops as desktop replacements for years with no problems of overheating or otherwise*. While the Thinkpads were great (not so sure now that they are Lenovo) I have found most other PC laptops heavy, clunky and of lesser design and build quality. I don't know about the LG but my experience with Goldstar (their previous name) was that they made consistently mediocre stuff. I suggest you check them out in person (if you haven't already) and look for reviews online.


*I did suffer from the widely reported "broken glass" problem with Leopard and ATI video cards, but that appears to have been fixed with updates and doesn't apply to the newer MacBooks anyway.