Predicting and the macbook

KPeh

KPeh

KPeh

Soldato
Joined
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Hi

Is it possible to predict when the next upgrade to the Macbook will be released, and what it might be? I could buy one as late as August, but if I purchase now I'll get a student discount. In some ways I'd prefer to buy one later since a) the specs may be better (I wish it were less heavy), and b) my finances will be better suited. Thoughts?

If I do buy it now, is 1gb enough for music/web/dvds/word etc? Is the 160gb hard drive upgrade ok value? I have 80gb of music as it is, so need to upgrade it... Edit: hmm, maybe 120gb will be ok if the OS and other software doesn't take up too much space... I don't have a clue about macs really.

Oh - and also how durable are they? This is pretty important - ie, is it going to die an early death if it's in a bag while I'm cycling along? Solid state hard drives are far too expensive..

Thanks :)
 
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It's too late to read that lot (sorry!) but the solid-state vs. spinning platter thing in terms of durability doesn't make a difference when they're off. I wouldn't expect to see any ill-effects from putting it in a bag while cycling, providing you aren't planning to get run over.
 
Thanks :)

Hm. If I bought the cheapest macbook, would it be ok to replace it with any 2.5" (is this the correct size?) hard drive? I guess it would have to be 5400rpm, otherwise it would get too hot? The MacBook also comes with the OS disk, I presume...
 
KPeh said:
Hi

Is it possible to predict when the next upgrade to the Macbook will be released, and what it might be? I could buy one as late as August, but if I purchase now I'll get a student discount. In some ways I'd prefer to buy one later since a) the specs may be better (I wish it were less heavy), and b) my finances will be better suited. Thoughts?

If I do buy it now, is 1gb enough for music/web/dvds/word etc? Is the 160gb hard drive upgrade ok value? I have 80gb of music as it is, so need to upgrade it... Edit: hmm, maybe 120gb will be ok if the OS and other software doesn't take up too much space... I don't have a clue about macs really.

Oh - and also how durable are they? This is pretty important - ie, is it going to die an early death if it's in a bag while I'm cycling along? Solid state hard drives are far too expensive..

Thanks :)
Click to expand...

Thing is with Macs, there is always a new one around the corner, if you wait and one comes out, it will only be a matter of time before another one comes. Best thing to do is, if you need it now, then buy it, if you can and want to wait, then wait and see what comes out. I would think the next upgrades will be around June for Penryn processor updates.

1GB RAM will be fine for your needs, if you do want to upgrade the RAM, don't do it with Apple, buy from OcUK as it's cheaper.

£100 for a 160GB upgrade is a bit expensive, so again I would buy from OcUK and fit it yourself (Which is very easy to do, remove a cover and replace, same for the RAM)

The OS itself take up approximately 5-8GB.

They're very durable, it wont die an early death, don't worry about that.

Also, they keep they're value very well, so if you did buy now and wanted to sell it in a years time, you wont loose much money like you would with a PC equivalent.

KPeh said:
Thanks :)

Hm. If I bought the cheapest macbook, would it be ok to replace it with any 2.5" (is this the correct size?) hard drive? I guess it would have to be 5400rpm, otherwise it would get too hot? The MacBook also comes with the OS disk, I presume...
Click to expand...

Yeah, any 2.5" HDD as long as it is SATA, 7,200 rpm would work too, but it will get a bit hotter and use a bit more battery up. You can hardly notice a difference in HDD speed unless you're doing a lot of video encoding work.

Yes, it comes with the OS disk.
 
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KPeh said:
Hi

Is it possible to predict when the next upgrade to the Macbook will be released, and what it might be? I could buy one as late as August, but if I purchase now I'll get a student discount. In some ways I'd prefer to buy one later since a) the specs may be better (I wish it were less heavy), and b) my finances will be better suited. Thoughts?

If I do buy it now, is 1gb enough for music/web/dvds/word etc? Is the 160gb hard drive upgrade ok value? I have 80gb of music as it is, so need to upgrade it... Edit: hmm, maybe 120gb will be ok if the OS and other software doesn't take up too much space... I don't have a clue about macs really.

Oh - and also how durable are they? This is pretty important - ie, is it going to die an early death if it's in a bag while I'm cycling along? Solid state hard drives are far too expensive..

Thanks :)
Click to expand...

Mate, if you live your life waiting for the next thing to come out then you always going to be waiting! Wait if it better suits your finances. I wouldn't expect anything too amazing to be upgraded.

I would get the 160GB, always handy to have the extra space. Especially with 80GB music.

They are tough little laptops, obviously treat it with care but a few knocks and bumps should be ok. :)
 
I bought a second hand macbook for £380 and then ordered from OCUK - 2gig of ram and a 2.5inch sata 5400rmp toshiba 250gig hdd to it for £106 = £486 for a 2gig dual core, 2gig of ram and a 250gig hdd. The only snag is it doesn't have the santa rosa graphics setup.
 
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