Investing in a Macbook pro

Blasingame · Post by **Blasingame** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 12:33 am

I saved up enough over my summer to buy a Macbook pro I'm thinking of buying refurb and i was wondering if there were any pros and cons to this piece of Hardware, the one i'm looking at is here.

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/W ... .5.1.1.5.0

Questions:

1) So I want to know is it really worth my time to invest refurb from mac store or should I buy brand new?

2) should I wait til the new Mac OS comes out or is it easily upgradable?

3) There's a rumor that windows applications are compatible with the new mac OS, is this true?

My reason for getting one: I do alot of video editing, I am a film major at my University, and I would like to take my work on the road with me wherever I go. I think this would be something that I invest in that would last me for about 4-5 years perhaps.

casualsax3 · Post by **casualsax3** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 2:31 am

Blasingame wrote:1) So I want to know is it really worth my time to invest refurb from mac store or should I buy brand new?

Depends what kind of warranty it comes with - you should also be able to extend it with Applecare, which I highly advise.

2) should I wait til the new Mac OS comes out or is it easily upgradable?

It will be easily upgradeable.

3) There's a rumor that windows applications are compatible with the new mac OS, is this true?

Sort of, maybe. Apple purchased a company with a product called Parallels, which sort of fakes running Windows apps. Rumor has it Apple will be making the integration even better than this:
http://creativefriday.com/parallels.html

My reason for getting one: I do alot of video editing, I am a film major at my University, and I would like to take my work on the road with me wherever I go. I think this would be something that I invest in that would last me for about 4-5 years perhaps.

You might consider going with a non refurb if you're looking for that longevity.

Also, the link you posted seems to be your shopping cart, and doesn't work.

And before you commit to buying a mac:
http://teenagefanboy.blogspot.com/2007/ ... ore-i.html

Blasingame · Post by **Blasingame** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 2:41 am

You might consider going with a non refurb if you're looking for that longevity.

I plan to get lots of warrenty on my Macbook, but have there been many reported problems with refurb Macbooks?

Listed below are great deals on Apple Certified Refurbished Mac models and Mac accessories. Apple Certified Refurbished products are pre-owned Apple products that undergo Apple's stringent refurbishment process prior to being offered for sale. All Apple Certified Refurbished products are covered by Apple's One-Year Limited Warranty. For extended coverage, you have the option of purchasing the AppleCare Protection Plan with your Apple Certified Refurbished product. For your convenience, we have placed the appropriate AppleCare Protection Plan at the bottom of each Apple Certified Refurbished product collection.

I was reading their warranty information and their Refurbishing process and it seems that they do care when it comes to problems with a refurbished piece of hardware such as the macbook. Am i being fooled by this statement?

Edit:
thanks for the Blog link

casualsax3 · Post by **casualsax3** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 2:44 am

Sweet screenshot of the new parallels beta:
http://flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=344568665&size=l

adventure_of_link · Post by **adventure_of_link** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 2:48 am

What about using bootcamp and dualbooting OSX, XP, and/or Vista?

also, right now I'd personally wait till macbooks use nvidia for graphics.

edit:

the blog wrote:5. You will no longer dread turning off your computer. - Nearly every Windows user I know cringes at the thought of shutting down a PC. They hate the idea of waiting five minutes before the computer loads into a state of usefulness. I am sure everyone reading this knows what I am getting at. First, you go through 2 minutes of a Windows XP logo with a little loading blue bar. Next, you log-in. Done, right? Hahaha, you couldn't be more wrong. Useless applications start loading out of no where. AIM followed by MSN Messenger and Yahoo! EZ Web Chat something or another. Who the hell needs that many messaging clients? Why do they assume I want to use them when I start my computer, causing another 5 minutes of load time? On my Mac, I see a short load screen followed with a prompt for my user password. I am then loaded and ready. Start up literally takes less than 20 seconds.

You can fix it to where you don't make the messengers and useless apps start when windows starts. Just use msconfig, or search through the program options, and uncheck all entries of start when windows starts (or decheck the program in msconfig), and you're fine.

Starman Ghost · Post by **Starman Ghost** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 3:12 am

adventure_of_link wrote:Lots of words

It is uncheck, not decheck.

Joe Camacho · Post by **Joe Camacho** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 3:34 am

I had a large post, but I fucked it up, so I will just say: Get it. You might only need to get more ram along the way, but not much else.

adventure_of_link wrote:
the blog wrote:5. You will no longer dread turning off your computer. - Nearly every Windows user I know cringes at the thought of shutting down a PC. They hate the idea of waiting five minutes before the computer loads into a state of usefulness. I am sure everyone reading this knows what I am getting at. First, you go through 2 minutes of a Windows XP logo with a little loading blue bar. Next, you log-in. Done, right? Hahaha, you couldn't be more wrong. Useless applications start loading out of no where. AIM followed by MSN Messenger and Yahoo! EZ Web Chat something or another. Who the hell needs that many messaging clients? Why do they assume I want to use them when I start my computer, causing another 5 minutes of load time? On my Mac, I see a short load screen followed with a prompt for my user password. I am then loaded and ready. Start up literally takes less than 20 seconds.
You can fix it to where you don't make the messengers and useless apps start when windows starts. Just use msconfig, or search through the program options, and decheck all entries of start when windows starts (or decheck the program in msconfig), and you're fine.

And AOL, dude, the point is, that you can just open the fucking macbook and it's ready, no turning on, not waiting even 15 seconds, you open it and READY. You don't even need to wait for POST.

adventure_of_link · Post by **adventure_of_link** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 3:49 am

Starman Ghost wrote:
adventure_of_link wrote:Lots of words
It is uncheck, not decheck.

oops, my bad.

and thanks again, Joe.

Blasingame · Post by **Blasingame** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 4:06 am

I had a large post, but I fucked it up, so I will just say: Get it. You might only need to get more ram along the way, but not much else.

ya i would sit more comfortable with 1gig of ram

casualsax3 · Post by **casualsax3** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 5:41 am

Blasingame wrote:
I had a large post, but I fucked it up, so I will just say: Get it. You might only need to get more ram along the way, but not much else.
ya i would sit more comfortable with 1gig of ram

No way, not if you're doing video editing. You want at least 2 to start - also be aware that most Macbooks have a 3GB limit.

funkyass · Post by **funkyass** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 6:22 am

the only good thing about mac hardware is OSX.

a cold boot, from a proper shutdown, is not instantaneous.

OSX has some considerably sane logic concerning suspend and hibernations, which has eluded MS for a while - you close the lid, and then goes to suspend mode, then after a while it goes to hibernation mode.

Except this hibernations is sane - it only dumps the ram thats that isn't mapped in the page file - it doesn't dump all of the ram, and it loads that back up when you de-hibernate it

you want to make you windows "boot" faster, enable hibernation - its faster than a standard boot, but its dumps, and loads, all the ram.

Slap a hacked OSX on lenovo thinkpad, you get the same results(identical hardware too, if you want).

You are, regardless if its refurbished or not, paying a premium for an license if you buy mac hardware.

Apple could really hurt MS if they sold OSX, but they are a hardware company.

Blasingame · Post by **Blasingame** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 6:57 am

well apparently the next version up, that features 1gb of ram is a 2.16 core Duo. Would it be in my best interest to buy the notebook ram seperately and just upgrade it myself?

Joe Camacho · Post by **Joe Camacho** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 7:04 am

Blasingame wrote:well apparently the next version up, that features 1gb of ram is a 2.16 core Duo. Would it be in my best interest to buy the notebook ram seperately and just upgrade it myself?

Yeah, but DON'T buy the ram at Apple Store, they are known for overpricing ram.

Blasingame · Post by **Blasingame** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 7:55 am

Ok so i called the store to ask questions but the guy sold me on this one.

Refurbished MacBook Pro, 15-inch, 2.16GHz Intel Core Duo
15.4-inch widescreen display (1440x900 resolution)
1GB (single SODIMM) 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM
100GB 5400-rpm Serial ATA hard drive
Slot-load SuperDrive (DVD±RW/CD-RW)
ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 with 256MB GDDR3 memory
Built-in iSight Camera
Front Row and Apple Remote

I also got the exented 3 year warenty on it.

Firon · Post by **Firon** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 11:22 am

Not bad. How much did you pay for it?

casualsax3 · Post by **casualsax3** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 6:33 pm

Sweet machine, you'll like it. Is it the Core Duo or the Core2Duo?

Blasingame · Post by **Blasingame** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 9:00 pm

I went with core duo and after taxes it came out to be $1650 (state taxes suck esp. Washington's 8%)

kevman · Post by **kevman** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 1:16 am

Joe Camacho wrote: Yeah, but DON'T buy the ram at Apple Store, they are known for overpricing ram.

They are also known for denying warranty coverage on machines that have the RAM hand-upgraded.

Though I also heard that you can put the original RAM back in before you RMA it.

Just remember that their warranty service isn't exactly the best, and their hardware isn't exactly the most reliable.

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Investing in a Macbook pro

Investing in a Macbook pro

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