Thinking of getting a Macbook.....

jesta

jesta

jesta

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As my PC has gone kaput I think its time for a change.Always wanted a Apple computer and since I'm going uni this September I thought I get a laptop anyways.Currently my sister is in Hong Kong and I have asked her if she can get the Macbook(cheapest one) as it cost about £540.Does anyone know if they use English keyboards or do they use Chinese keyboard layout?Also are Apple Warranty covered worldwide?

As I never had a Mac before I'm not sure if this will be sufficient for my needs. I'm doing an Architecture course and will use it for Uni work,listening to music,internet browsing,MSN,a bit of photoediting and play Football Manager. Will the Macbook 2ghz be ok for this?If not is it just the case of putting more RAM into it?

Thanks.
 
The macbook will be more than suitable for your needs with those things you mentioned; browsing/music/msn/FM etc.

Do you use any software for your course? It's just that I find the macbook resolution a bit small so if you had to run anything for it, you could run into problems. You can also run Windows XP SP2 / Vista so no need to worry about Windows 'what ifs'.

As for the keyboard layout and warranty, I will leave that to someone else. Personally I would suggest trying to get one from within the UK, but that would just be for a better peace of mind.
 
Thanks for the reply,doesn't matter about the buying from Hong Kong now as my sister said she won't have time to look for one for me.

I have a 17" TFT monitor,am I right in thinking I can just plug the laptop in and use the monitor if I need certain programs.I'm not entirely sure what kinda programs I will need for my Architecture course as it be my first year this September.Also is the hard drive user upgradeable?
 
I don't think the hard drive is upgradeable without voiding the warranty. The MacBook Pro is given a user-upgrade 'area' which is basically a slot in the back, which you pop off and then slot RAM in. As far as I'm aware it's limited to RAM at the moment.

Should be fine with the external monitor as well, the process is made pretty painless.
 
You could try waiting until October for Leopard and also when you are at University you can purchase the base MacBook for £601.60 with Higher Education discount (current price). A three years warranty is included with HE purchases unlike with non-HE purchases where you only get one year warranty.

If you wait then you'll save over £150 with HE discount and without having to purchase Leopard to upgrade Tiger as it'll be included with the MacBook already and have a UK keyboard :p

The hard drive and the RAM can be upgraded by yourself without voiding the warranty :)
 
The likeliness is that your monitor will be a VGA connection and Mac Books have a digital monitor input, but as good as Apple are, they provide a nice little screen adapter so you can plug VGA screens into the Mac Books.

As regards to what Slogan was saying: you're right, you can't upgrade the hard-drive without voiding the warranty un-less you get it done by a certified Apple engineer but they normally put a nice little fee ontop of the price for getting it done. Also, I think the max. RAM you can have in the latest Mac Books / Mac Book pros is 3gb.

Just seen this:

Cybertronic said:
The hard drive and the RAM can be upgraded by yourself without voiding the warranty
Click to expand...

If you change the Hard-drive then it definately voids the warrenty. Apple have some mystical way of telling if you take the hard-drive cover off (and this mystical way is called a little sticker :) ) or so I have been informed by an Apple engineer guy.
 
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themask70 said:
If you change the Hard-drive then it definately voids the warrenty. Apple have some mystical way of telling if you take the hard-drive cover off (and this mystical way is called a little sticker :) ) or so I have been informed by an Apple engineer guy.
Click to expand...

I've yet to see one case where those stickers have ever stood up in court. ;)

You can't just go putting stickers on everything so that users void the warannty when they perform an upgrade that the laptop is designed to do. The same with pre-built pc's.
 
Decisions decisions,when in October is Leopard coming out?When it does release does it replace Tiger straightaway on Macbook or do I have to wait a bit longer in order for them to release the Macbooks with Leopard preinstalled?

Also I heard that there are Macbook revision soon or is that just rumours?
 
themask70 said:
If you change the Hard-drive then it definately voids the warrenty. Apple have some mystical way of telling if you take the hard-drive cover off (and this mystical way is called a little sticker :) ) or so I have been informed by an Apple engineer guy.
Click to expand...

Which is why Apple themselves provide instructions on how to change the hard drive:

http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/MacBook_13inch_HardDrive_DIY.pdf

The HDD and RAM on MacBooks are user-replaceable parts, on the MacBook Pro this only applies to the RAM.
 
Caged said:
Which is why Apple themselves provide instructions on how to change the hard drive:

http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/MacBook_13inch_HardDrive_DIY.pdf

The HDD and RAM on MacBooks are user-replaceable parts, on the MacBook Pro this only applies to the RAM.
Click to expand...

Interesting reading lol, I was told by the engineer that if I had of tryed to reaplce the HDD in my 15" MacBook Pro it would have voided the warrenty :confused:
 
jesta said:
Also I heard that there are Macbook revision soon or is that just rumours?
Click to expand...

Am certain that the range was updated quite recently, have a look here. I'm in a similar situation to you (although i can't decide between MB or MBP), but am definately going to wait until Leopard is released. It's too close now not to!

BTW, does anyone have a list of prices of the different MB/MBP models with the HE discount? I know they are/were in a sticky but can't help but think these would be outdated now... :confused:
 
It's unlikely that new laptops will come out in October, it's more than likely that they're out in the new year (Macworld 2008 in February) so buying in October would mean you'd be buying one of the last C2D MacBooks or SR MacBook Pros in production.

If you're willing to wait that long then wait till the new ones in Feb, otherwise buy now and just upgrade to Leopard when it's out :)

Oh, and FYI: Upgrading the hard drive and memory is 100% fine in a MacBook, but only the memory is fine in a MacBook Pro.

richieboy said:
Am certain that the range was updated quite recently, have a look here. I'm in a similar situation to you (although i can't decide between MB or MBP), but am definately going to wait until Leopard is released. It's too close now not to!

BTW, does anyone have a list of prices of the different MB/MBP models with the HE discount? I know they are/were in a sticky but can't help but think these would be outdated now... :confused:
Click to expand...

The price for HE is usually the price shown (the one without VAT) ~ 14% :)
 
The last update was halfway through May for the Macbooks so yup seriously doubt an update in October.

Anyone know if the Macbooks are still CCFL backlit or are they using LED's in them now? Sorry for the slight thread hi-jacking btw... :p

DJLOREY said:
The price for HE is usually the price shown (the one without VAT) ~ 14%
Click to expand...

Thanks for that. Do you know if it's true you also get a three year warranty as standard? Does that apply if you buy from a store/online/over the phone etc or only online?
 
richieboy said:
The last update was halfway through May for the Macbooks so yup seriously doubt an update in October.

Anyone know if the Macbooks are still CCFL backlit or are they using LED's in them now? Sorry for the slight thread hi-jacking btw... :p



Thanks for that. Do you know if it's true you also get a three year warranty as standard? Does that apply if you buy from a store/online/over the phone etc or only online?
Click to expand...
The MacBooks are still CCFL backlit :)

Yes, 3 years warranty is standard.. the £58 deal they offer is an extension on the phone support (which you will never need).

AFAIK you can claim the HE discount online and instore at an Apple store but not sure about premimum resellers
 
I was looking at the Education part of the Apple site and theres a Education and Higher Education part where you can shop.Is there a big difference?I see that the Higher Education says you need to be on campus to order or mail stuff to them but whats the benefit,do you get more of a discount or something?
 
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