Ordering Macbook on Friday...

BeatMaster

BeatMaster

BeatMaster

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Well looks like I'm going to bite the bullet and order a Macbook on Friday, Merom or no Merom. However I need help deciding what to get exactly specification wise :) I'll be using it for exploring the OS X world, some Windows XP, Office Suite for University work, Programming, Digital Camera photos and that's about it really other than the usual browsing the web, Adium (I'm learning already :p) and such like.

I was thinking that the 1.83Ghz processor will be adequate, or is it worth the extra to get the 2.0Ghz in terms of performance? I can only see the difference really been the superdrive and to be honest, the superdrive is really slow compared to my main PC Pionner DVD+-RW so can't see any other to upgrade to that other than the slightly quicker processor?

Memory wise I was planning on upgrading that with 2Gb but with prices increasing, what I could have had 2 weeks ago - 1Gb for £52 is now £70 so instead of been just over £100 for 2Gb it's £140 :o So instead I was thinking of paying £52 for the upgrade to the 1Gb through Apple (HE Discount) and then maybe when prices start coming down then upgrading to 2Gb if necessary?

Hard drive wise I'm struggling as I can't decide between 60Gb and 80Gb but since it'll only be £35 to upgrade to the 80Gb over the 60Gb it seems a logical solution? However I could hold on and get a bigger drive later on as a 160Gb Hitachi drive when they are instock are only about £100 plus it's quicker and uses less power. I'm going to install Windows but it'll most likely just to be for emergencies if there isn't a program I need on OS X so wouldn't need a lot of space for the partition, maybe about 15Gb to be safe. Not sure how much OS X takes up? 15Gb? leaving 30Gb/50Gb for storage which is quite a lot and just maybe buy an external drive instead.

I'll need a bag, sleeve and maybe a cloth for the screen but I think I'll hang on for now and maybe order it from the USA. I know CocoPops did but have added him to MSN to discuss how much that came too.

The one thing that baffles me is the warranty, I'm trying to work what exactly the Applecare offers for HE Students. I mean you get a 3 year parts and labour warranty as standard now so what exactly does the £58 cover other than the chin wagging on the phone? The guy from Apple was pretty useless on the phone talking about it so I'm still left uncertain :( Do you have to pay to return a faulty item if you don't have Applecare, I mean with pre-paid labels or do they send them out even if you just have the normal warranty?

Any help, comments and suggestions welcome,

Thanks,

BeatMaster :D
 
first of all congrats. a mac if a great buy especially the macbook which imo is fantastic value. i personally feel that 1.83 would be fine for what you will use the machine for so save your money and get the cheaper one.

With regard to ram i fond them decent @ 512 but i took my mbp to 1.5gb i fitted it myself (easy).

Extra hard drive space is essential. I'd get the 80gb now

Id go for parallels over a dual boot too
 
willems said:
first of all congrats. a mac if a great buy especially the macbook which imo is fantastic value. i personally feel that 1.83 would be fine for what you will use the machine for so save your money and get the cheaper one.

With regard to ram i fond them decent @ 512 but i took my mbp to 1.5gb i fitted it myself (easy).

Extra hard drive space is essential. I'd get the 80gb now

Id go for parallels over a dual boot too
Click to expand...

Thanks :) I added you to MSN but you musn't of accepted me? Was regard to your MBP ;)

I'll most likely go along the lines of Parallels but how exactly does file sharing between and XP machine and the actual OS X machine work? :confused:

BeatMaster :D
 
The Applecare in the case of HE students is for discussing problems with OS X, included software etc (i.e; how do I do this in GarageBand?). Hardware is covered under the warranty.
I went without the Applecare.
 
has the macbook always had a 3 yr warranty cover as standard?
i got mine about 3 months ago and im sure they guy on the phone told me it was only 1 yr warranty therefore i bought the 3 yr applecare.
 
I switched a couple of weeks ago.

I decided that 1.83Ghz was fine me. I bought 2Gb of RAM for ~ £90.00.

I went for the 60Gb drive, as I can get another (new one) for ~ £40.00. The larger drives are likely to drop to (from) about £60.00 in the near future.

As I am not a gamer, I have installed the trial version of Parallels, and added a 300Gb firewire external drive.

So far, so good. :)
 
disfunktion said:
I paid £85 for 2gb for mine.
Click to expand...
What brands are these (as long as this doesn't violate the no competitors rule), that are available for £85-90? Are they just run-of-the-mill unbranded chips?

At the moment I'm looking at 2GB of Crucial RAM for a MacBook, and that's £180. I always thought Crucial were good value for money (being the consumer arm of Micron), but if I could get the same - without sacrificing quality - for half the price...
 
I'm using 2 x 1gb ADATA DDR2 667 SODIMM R-PC5300 in my Macbook and it runs just fine.

£41.49 per stick plus postage. Came to £85 for the pair.


EDIT: just had a look and they are now £77.97 EACH!!! Why such a hike in price?! :eek: Glad i got mine so cheap!
 
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Big-Mac-Please said:
I want a 1gb ddr stick for my G4 mini and I'm looking at £76 from OcUK for crucial!

I thought you had to go down the road of crucial for macs?
Click to expand...
Logic would suggest any brand would work fine as long as it's the right RAM. Bare in mind the Mac Mini will take different RAM to the MacBook.

disfunktion said:
EDIT: just had a look and they are now £77.97 EACH!!! Why such a hike in price?! Glad i got mine so cheap!
Click to expand...
That sounds more like it to me. I've had a search around and I'm struggling to find 2x 1GB DDR2 PC-5300 SODIMMs for less than £150. I think I might as well settle for the Crucial at £180; at least I know they are a reputable brand and I won't have any issues with them if, on the offchance, I run into trouble :)
 
disfunktion said:
I'm using 2 x 1gb ADATA DDR2 667 SODIMM R-PC5300 in my Macbook and it runs just fine.

£41.49 per stick plus postage. Came to £85 for the pair.


EDIT: just had a look and they are now £77.97 EACH!!! Why such a hike in price?! :eek: Glad i got mine so cheap!
Click to expand...


Yes, I have just checked and the price has nearly doubled - I bought mine on 24 August 2006. :eek:
 
I got my 2GB of Corsair ValueSelect PC5300 DDR2 SDRAM PC5300 for about £55 per stick (£110). However they have gone up to £70 a stick now. I have had zero problems with the RAM and it works fine. Likewise I bought a 120GB Seagate Momentus for about £100 and it works flawlessly, so easy to upgrade.

As for the case, I have a Tucano microfible sleeve for my MacBook and it fits like a glove, much better than the ones in the Apple store that cost the same but don't fit the MacBook properly.
 
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I just recieve mt BTO Macbook, 2GHz, 1GB RAM, 80HDD. I'm very please with it. Havne't yet test it under 3D with games - still yet install bootcamp (I've only Windows games :( )

For normal task, I'm finding the 1GB sufficient - start the test drive MS office and it open very quickily after initial set up blah blah blah. I'm using Neooffice tho, not buying Office yet.

<3 My Macbook.
 
I've got 2 choices with relating to RAM either...

Upgrade RAM to 1Gb through Apple - £60

Upgrade RAM to 2Gb elsewhere for - £130 ;)

The main question is really whether I'll benefit from another 1Gb, I personally think that it might be a waste but how are people finding 1Gb, Dr Jones?

BeatMaster :D
 
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