basics on macbooks

square_nothing · 8 Jun 2009 at 16:27

looking at getting a macbook for university and basicly i dont know much about them. and in need of some guidence.
1. a macbook will run a on a normal screen?
2. how well dose the bootcamp work? i will need it to be able to run CAD programs will it run any pc program?
3. will there be a large advantage of getting the normal macbook over the macbook white as the white is ddr2 and the normal one is ddr3
4. is it worth getting the basic modle and upgrading the ram and hd on your own?

if there anything elce i need to know that i might have overlooked?

thanks for any help

Vonhelmet · 8 Jun 2009 at 16:50

1) Yes
2) Yes
3) Tiny difference, but barely noticeable
4) Yes

square_nothing · 8 Jun 2009 at 16:52

vonhelmet said:
1) Yes
2) Yes
3) Tiny difference, but barely noticeable
4) Yes

thanks

how hard is it to change the hd and ram? ram is ment to be easy right? but hd can be harder to change?

Blackhawk47 · 8 Jun 2009 at 18:21

square_nothing said:
thanks
how hard is it to change the hd and ram? ram is ment to be easy right? but hd can be harder to change?

Hard drive should be just as easy to be honest. Not done it on my macbook but it all looks like it is easy to access both ram and hdd.

square_nothing · 8 Jun 2009 at 19:10

Blackhawk47 said:
Hard drive should be just as easy to be honest. Not done it on my macbook but it all looks like it is easy to access both ram and hdd.

thanks, looks like upgradibility of laptops are not as bad as i thort

. do you know how easy is it to replace the cpu? and do macs even use the same cpu's as pc's?

square_nothing · 8 Jun 2009 at 19:12

oh just thort of another question.
when you have added music to you mac in the normal mac's os would the music be useable when in the windoes mode? and dose this also work for other files?
also can you have both os's running at the same time? so playing music on one oc and playing a game or using word on the other?

yashiro · 8 Jun 2009 at 19:13

Users can only replace the ram, HD and battery on current macbooks. This may well change with the new sealed battery range.

Anything else requires electronic engineering experience and a soldering iron.
So no you can't drop in a new CPU.

square_nothing · 8 Jun 2009 at 19:57

yashiro said:
Users can only replace the ram, HD and battery on current macbooks. This may well change with the new sealed battery range.

Anything else requires electronic engineering experience and a soldering iron.
So no you can't drop in a new CPU.

ok thanks

square_nothing · 8 Jun 2009 at 20:31

looks like mac just make a new 13'' mac pro just for me. im totaly soled

looks so good, 7 hour battery life aswel!
now i want one now dont want to wait :rolleyes:

LordSplodge · 8 Jun 2009 at 20:36

You wanted a MacBook? Looks like it's a 13" MacBook Pro and cheaper to boot!

square_nothing · 8 Jun 2009 at 21:13

LordSplodge said:
You wanted a MacBook? Looks like it's a 13" MacBook Pro and cheaper to boot!

yes it dose!

from a person who questioned why people got them to thinking that they are truly awsome, just look at it compaired to other laptops, stunning.

square_nothing · 8 Jun 2009 at 21:49

sorry one last question, how would i connect the macbook pro up to a normal monitor? dose it have the same conection a pc would have? or do i have to use a adaptor? was just looking at the mac monitors and they use a different conection method.
thanks.

Blackhawk47 · 8 Jun 2009 at 22:17

square_nothing said:
sorry one last question, how would i connect the macbook pro up to a normal monitor? dose it have the same conection a pc would have? or do i have to use a adaptor? was just looking at the mac monitors and they use a different conection method.
thanks.

Depending on what connection the monitor uses you would have to get an adapter from Apple (or anywhere really).

I recently got my Macbook which has the Mini Display port so i neeeded to get an vga adapter for it so i could use it with my monitor. Works fine so id recommend doing that, just be sure to check whether your monitor uses a vga or dvi connection.

LordSplodge · 8 Jun 2009 at 22:41

square_nothing said:
sorry one last question, how would i connect the macbook pro up to a normal monitor? dose it have the same conection a pc would have? or do i have to use a adaptor? was just looking at the mac monitors and they use a different conection method.
thanks.

Most likely MiniDisplayPort to DVI or VGA from Apple. The option is there to buy it when ordering online.

square_nothing · 8 Jun 2009 at 23:10

ah thanks guys, yeah the adaptor is about 20pounds so not to bad.
i have the non hd input plug for my monitor i have to use an adaptor from my 8800gtx to use it (the older type of plug you get on the lower resolution monitors), what type is that? sorry a very nooby question