Is it time to get a Macbook?

iMacMart

iMacMart

iMacMart

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Well......

Been building PC's and gaming for 5 or so years now, but lately I have lost the buzz and spend more time downloading stuff, watching DVD's or reading stuff on here :) added to the fact that I have to smashing baby son's to entertain me now...ahhhh

I have (what I class) a good spec'd system (in sig) and I don't really get the use out of it now for the past few months, so I'm thinking of selling the lot and hopefully getting £600/£700 together and buying a Macbook?

I have played with one before and the build quality is fantastic, never had one of my own to use on a daily basis though....

Really not sure what to do but the longer I leave it the less I will get for my current setup and therefore less I can spend on a MB :(

If gaming is dead for me will the Macbook make a good unit for general day to day stuff as mentioned above i.e surfing (wireless) converting and burning DVD creating documents? Seen some nice one's on flea bay for £600 or there abouts....

Manythanks :D

p.s. I did call Apple before and the sales guy said he would throw in an Ipod as well which I thought would be nice but that may have been a one off or a promotion so I would have to call again and see?
 
Take away gaming and for me there is nothing really that you can do with a Windows/PC machine that you can't do just as well, if not better and with a lot less hassle, with a Mac/OS X.

The only thing I would say is get as much memory as you can, at least 2GB.
 
Is RAM cheap for the Macbooks?

I see OcUK sell 2gb upgrades....

I'm just worried that I won't get on with the operating system :(

But as you have said and others too the OS is very good....

edit: I'm also a part time student at college so would I get any discount if I went direct?? Thanks
 
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You will get qualify for the student discount, or you can ring up and blag the HE discount which is what most of us have done, will get you 14% off.

Buy your RAM from OcUK or elsewhere, don't upgrade with Apple, they rip you off. \

As for the OS, it's very easy to get used to, everything just works.
 
RAM is cheaper from 3rd parties such as OCUK, it is just standard memory, do not get it from Apple as they charge an arm and two legs for it.

If you start using OS X with an open mind and don't expect it look and work just like Windows (a mistake a lot of people make, even experienced PC users) then you should get on fine. If the worst comes to the worst you could install Windows but then to be honest it would be a waste of money getting a Macbook.

Students do get a discount, college students less so than Uni students I think but yes, if you ring Apple direct and tell them you are a student you should get cheaper prices. When I got mine I also got a big discount on Applecare so might be worth checking if that offer is still on.

I switched a couple of years ago and would not go back now at all, its not a case of which is better it's what you enjoy using and for me Mac/OS X wins every time.

Good luck! :)
 
The HE discount will end up being abandoned if everyone's stumbling around trying to blag it. I think that encouraging people to abuse it should be disallowed on the forum.
 
I don't think that Apple would stop the HE discount, they would probably just make it mandatory for their sales reps to get some kind of proof before they allow you to have it.

A Macbook is an excellent way to get into Apple hardware and should give you a few years of good service to boot :)

Just a word of warning about being very careful about getting Macs on the bay, there are a lot of fake auctions out there, even from people who seemingly have good credibility.
 
tweakinfreak said:
Is RAM cheap for the Macbooks?

I see OcUK sell 2gb upgrades....

I'm just worried that I won't get on with the operating system :(

But as you have said and others too the OS is very good....

edit: I'm also a part time student at college so would I get any discount if I went direct?? Thanks
Click to expand...

Even if you find that you can not get on with OSX at all then you can also use something called boot camp which will allow you to install Windows XP or Vista on your Macbook, you can then boot into which ever OS you want so for example you could boot into OSX leopard or Windows Vista.

By using boot camp with Windows you loose no functionality with the feature of the Macbook so this means you can still use the Airport wireless card, blue tooth and Isight camera ect. I have had first hand experience with my friends Imac running XP in boot camp and it ran very well.

Although even though I have used OSX for a little ammount of time I love it, its really nice compared to both Windows XP and Vista. So I'm sure you will like OSX.
 
Try out a Mac at a local Apple shop / reseller, then take the plunge.

There's no greater feeling than getting a new machine and playing with it :D

*looks at wush*
 
EVH said:
Try out a Mac at a local Apple shop / reseller, then take the plunge.

There's no greater feeling than getting a new machine and playing with it :D

*looks at wush*
Click to expand...

Thats so true i love my macbook pro and learning new stuff in OS X leopard but still cant part with my desk top pc for games and my 24" monitor. If only MBP came with a 8800GTX then i may only then replace it for my PC ;)
 
tweakinfreak said:
That my problem though I don't game hardly ever now so its wasted on me
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I go through stages of about 3-6 months where i dont play games then lots come out and i'm hooked again COD4 Halflife2 Crysis etc, plus i just love tinkering with my PC as i'm getting old now :p
 
Lol I like to tinker too but its usually ends in my breaking summit that was working fine before :) trying to get it to go faster or look better lol
 
tweakinfreak said:
Lol I like to tinker too but its usually ends in my breaking summit that was working fine before :) trying to get it to go faster or look better lol
Click to expand...

hehe breaking things is part of the fun i just know if i sold my PC i would be crying with a few weeks. Cant you have both :p
 
I say just go for it if you know that by selling your PC you will have enough money for a Macbook. But I would only go for it if you know that you will not have an urge to start playing games again I have to say I have not really had the urge to play PC games for a while maybe because I have an Xbox 360 which I don't even play any more.

I do have to say that the Macbook is a great purchase I am really impressed, even though I had a few troubles with the Airport card but this was because the Macbook was faulty but it has been replaced now :). I really like OSX there is a lot of programs out there for it which can do everything you can do on Windows but they do it better.

OSX out of the box already has a lot of features, I really like the Isight camera and photo booth the effects are really cool. Also the dashboard and spaces is pretty cool to.

Hope my post has given you an insight to your situation as I also have a over specced computer now I could do everything I do on my windows pc on a lower spec machine. But I am lucky and I have still got my PC although I just use it for download/data storage and watching TV in bed.
 
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