I had purchased a netbook last fall as a standalone replacement to my former laptop. It worked fine for the light internet use and typing up text docs for class (forgetting about the considerable eye strain though). The last week I noticed some slowdown and some shoddy performance and naturally thought a virus was ravaging my system. Nope. But my hard drive failed. Hp has a year long extended warranty, blah blah, and Iâ,,,ll take care of that within the next few days, but Iâ,,,ve decided to settle on grabbing a macbook pro in the meantime as my default instrument for the next few years of college.
I need something a little more streamlined and I think this might be the way to go.
Seeing as quite a few members use apple products, can I get some input on where to head? I understand this has probably been covered ad nauseum, but conversation seems to be at a lull here and your opinions are as good as any (better than most probably).
Moneyâ,,,s obviously an issue and Iâ,,,m certainly not looking for the high of the high end, rather the opposite. Iâ,,,ll probably end up financing too, unless anyone has had a negative experience doing such through apple?
Right now Iâ,,,m just looking at the base 13â, model and the specs seem more than sufficient. Upgrades? Better ways to go? Abandon the idea completely?
Really though, I do appreciate input here especially seeing as this sort of thing is definitely not a specialty of mine.
Thanks in advance unless nobody posts. Then, thanks for nothing.
If you're looking for something that will last a good few years, any of the MacBook Pros would be good for hardware (core i5 + 4gb of ram standard), battery (8 hours I think), and physical durability.
If you wait a few weeks Apple is sure to roll out their 2010 college student specials (free ipods, etc), and there's already a $100-200 student discount.
Quote from: wziard on May 22, 2010, 12:56:02 PM
If you wait a few weeks Apple is sure to roll out their 2010 college student specials (free ipods, etc), and there's already a $100-200 student discount.
What I am waiting for.
Also
Sgt. Pepper Boognish, I'm pretty sure that the normal macbook has exactly the same specs as the 13 inch macbook pro (although it looks a lot less sexier) so if you're trying to save a few hundred I'd jump on that.
Quote from: StrongBad007 on May 22, 2010, 01:23:48 PM
What I am waiting for.
Also Sgt. Pepper Boognish, I'm pretty sure that the normal macbook has exactly the same specs as the 13 inch macbook pro (although it looks a lot less sexier) so if you're trying to save a few hundred I'd jump on that.
nicer screen, graphics besides shitty integrated ones, and firewire make it worth it
So I'm looking at the 13 inch right now, and do you think it's worth the extra $300 to go from the 2.4GHz to the 2.66GHz processor?
Quote from: StrongBad007 on May 28, 2010, 07:36:32 PM
So I'm looking at the 13 inch right now, and do you think it's worth the extra $300 to go from the 2.4GHz to the 2.66GHz processor?
No not really, if that's the only thing that gets upgraded.
Why would you switch over to a Mac if you can get the same things done on your PC?
Quote from: wziard on May 28, 2010, 10:53:47 PM
No not really, if that's the only thing that gets upgraded.
Slightly bigger harddrive, but I don't care about that.
Quote from: TheSequel on May 28, 2010, 10:58:45 PM
Why would you switch over to a Mac if you can get the same things done on your PC?
I'm still contemplating going towards a windows machine, but I'm looking at all my options. I can do everything that I will need to do on either machine.
Well Macs are more expensive than most other computers. Does it have to be a laptop?
Quote from: TheSequel on May 29, 2010, 10:59:34 PM
Well Macs are more expensive than most other computers. Does it have to be a laptop?
Yes it has to be a laptop.
Quote from: Strongbab on May 30, 2010, 10:16:02 AM
Yes it has to be a laptop.
It sounds like you could get a PC that would suit your needs for $600-$700, which cost significantly less then a Macbook Pro. But if money is no matter get the Macbook Pro.
I agree with Cookie.
Yeah, I'm going for the 13" pro.
I could invest another $700 in another pc, but I've had three fail in the last two and a half years with only light use on each machine. I dont really have a whole lot of patience with the idea anymore. I just want something that works and works well. I dont have a need for incredible specs or anything, but this semester and the next few are going to be pretty demanding so I'd like to know I have something that covers things.
Quote from: Rainy Day Mushroom Pillow on June 01, 2010, 03:56:15 PM
Yeah, I'm going for the 13" pro.
I could invest another $700 in another pc, but I've had three fail in the last two and a half years with only light use on each machine. I dont really have a whole lot of patience with the idea anymore. I just want something that works and works well. I dont have a need for incredible specs or anything, but this semester and the next few are going to be pretty demanding so I'd like to know I have something that covers things.
I'm doing the same thing! The free iPod and the student discount are awesome additions.
Quote from: Strongbab on June 01, 2010, 04:41:22 PM
I'm doing the same thing! The free iPod and the student discount are awesome additions.
I'm planning on selling the ipod right away. It'll put a slight dent in the dues owed I think.
Quote from: Rainy Day Mushroom Pillow on June 01, 2010, 03:56:15 PM
I've had three fail in the last two and a half years with only light use on each machine
Define "light use." What the fuck could you possibly be doing to them? How do they fail?
Typing up fucking text docs and school stuff. No significant downloads. No viruses. No heavy graphically demanding programs.
Hard drive failed on TWO of the three machines and my shit ass inspiron fell victim to some graphic card hardware failure and they wouldn't take it in due to warranty being shot. Of course it's some shoddy integrated piece of worm food.
Hp's repairing my last one, but they wiped my entire hard drive in the process.
You've had bad luck then, oh well.
Why is it that every thread where someone says they're getting a Mac someone goes 'hurr durr they r expensive y u get that'?
In terms of laptops, Macs generally rank among the top in reliability, and on the occasion they do fail, Apple has been named repeatedly as like 1 or 2 in customer satisfaction with its customer service. So yes, they're more expensive but for the $400 more you're paying over a Dell or Sony you are getting something much less prone to failure (Oh god, Dells. WHY YOU DO THIS TO ME) and a customer service experience better than
"hi my computer wont turn on half the time and when it does i get random characters and blocks"
"hi this is taji i will help you today. did you *suggestion of something obviously unhelpful, thus wasting hours of your time just to diagnose that your motherboard is fried*"
Quote from: Khadafi on June 04, 2010, 08:46:05 AM
Why is it that every thread where someone says they're getting a Mac someone goes 'hurr durr they r expensive y u get that'?
In terms of laptops, Macs generally rank among the top in reliability, and on the occasion they do fail, Apple has been named repeatedly as like 1 or 2 in customer satisfaction with its customer service. So yes, they're more expensive but for the $400 more you're paying over a Dell or Sony you are getting something much less prone to failure (Oh god, Dells. WHY YOU DO THIS TO ME) and a customer service experience better than
"hi my computer wont turn on half the time and when it does i get random characters and blocks"
"hi this is taji i will help you today. did you *suggestion of something obviously unhelpful, thus wasting hours of your time just to diagnose that your motherboard is fried*"
OMG YOU TOO? AND IF YOU CALL BACK THEY START OVER FROM THE VERY BEGINNING. akudood;
Quote from: FAMY2 on June 04, 2010, 01:15:24 PM
OMG YOU TOO? AND IF YOU CALL BACK THEY START OVER FROM THE VERY BEGINNING. akudood;
I don't have to call Dell, we are able to order the parts right away but in the past I had to deal with that BS.
When I fried my battery (lol lightening), the process was basically bringing my computer to the apple store, running a few tests to make sure it was the battery and getting a new battery. 15 minutes tops. None of this stupid bullshit. also apple is one of the only companies that includes batteries in the extended warranty(applecare), Dell, HP, and others will only cover it for 6 months to a year.
I'm glad I don't have to worry about any of this because I build my own computers, and don't plan on using a laptop :D
Because everyone has the time to build their own machine and provide support if a part were to fail. The extra cost pays for the warranty of the machine as a whole. I believe if your motherboard fries your ram while you are running your own build, you're sol and would have to buy new ram as the warranty wouldn't cover it.
not true for prebuilt.
it is all a battle of cost vs efficiency
Quote from: Khadafi on June 07, 2010, 07:24:42 PM
Because everyone has the time to build their own machine and provide support if a part were to fail. The extra cost pays for the warranty of the machine as a whole. I believe if your motherboard fries your ram while you are running your own build, you're sol and would have to buy new ram as the warranty wouldn't cover it.
not true for prebuilt.
it is all a battle of cost vs efficiency
I'm not disagreeing in anyway, but when it comes to a prebuilt, the warranty completely depends on what company you purchase from. Some companies, (XFX), offer double lifetime warranties with no questions asked. Others may offer limited warranties that may still cover damage that was out of your control. Others may say that they have a simple limited warranty, but get the right person when trying to RMA, and you can get much more than what the warranty says.
But for the average computer user, it is muuuuccchh more efficient to shell out a few extra bucks on a prebuilt machine with a wonderful warranty to lessen your worry. The time it takes to try send in the faulty hardware and wait for new hardware to be sent in return, then installed yourself, it can get tedious, and most people do not want to deal with that.
I was about to post something similar to LCK, but - you know - he beat me.