I need some advice from you techies and programmers et al: I need to get a new laptop and am looking at the MacBook Pro with a 15" screen through the university. I can get it at roughly R8000 for the midrange model as opposed to about R16000… I’m tired of Windows as per Billy boy. The university also loads all the software for free used in-house but it’s MY laptop. Is it a move you’d advise or not?
either way you are making an insanely rich douchebag richer. as far as i’m concerned, mac is a workhorse for graphics and design, windows for word processing. depends what you want out of your machine.
i’m a fan of linux myself.
A machine is a means to an end, to me. While OS X is beautiful in comparison to tacky Win 7, can you get the software you need to do what you want? There is a shitload more Win software than Mac software. Also, having programmed for both, be aware that on Win the preference is for software that does what it supposed to do even if not entirely pretty, while on the Mac you will find lots of very pretty programs that don’t quite do what you want LOL. 
That said, if I could get a Macbook Pro for R8k, I probably would not be able to resist.
You could always set it to dual-boot, of course.
Whatever you decide, never forget the inescapable fact that Apple is evil. FACT.
and MS isn’t? 
Get a midrange PC from Sahara without Windows, then install Linux on it.
Compare the specs of the MacBook and a 8k laptop with Win 7 on. I’m guessing that they would be pretty much comparable, but can’t say without knowing the exact model of MacBook. 8k sounds like a good deal, but it might be a old one that cost 15k when it came out, but not now.
If you are truly tired of Windows, and the deal is as good as it sounds, then I’d say go for it, you can always install Win 7 if you find that something you need isn’t working.
These are the technical specs:
2.0GHz or 2.2GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor with 6MB shared L3 cache; or optional 2.3GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor with 8MB shared L3 cache
4GB (two 2GB SO-DIMMs) of 1333MHz DDR3 memory; two SO-DIMM slots support up to 8GB
and the software includes:
Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard (includes iTunes, Time Machine, Quick Look, Spaces, Spotlight, Dashboard, Mail, iChat, Safari, Address Book, QuickTime, iCal, DVD Player, Photo Booth, Front Row, Xcode Developer Tools)
iLife (includes iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, iWeb, GarageBand)
The University load Windows 7 as well with an MSOffice package that is apparently compatible with Mac OS.
Yeah, I’d say go for it then. Won’t get a laptop with those specs for that price. And you get a Win7 license in the bargain as well.