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Macbooks - Plenty of questions
ShimSham
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Me and my fiancee are getting married in a few months and our families are giving us a generous "start up fund." Most of that is going into savings and what all, but one thing we did want to spring for us (her) is a 15" Macbook Pro. She's been wanting one for years, couldn't really afford it, and the laptop she has now is kind of shit.
I had some questions though.
1. Just going off the Mac store site there's a $1799 and $2199 version of the 15" book. To say the least, I'm rusty on all my hardware knowledge, but is the difference between these two worth the $400? I.E would someone using the thing for "normal" computer use notice the difference? I have no issue paying if I felt it were worth the extra money though.
1b. Any of the optional upgrades recommended? Anything worth the money that makes a notable difference? (RAM and 7200 rpm HDD are my big two questions there)
2. Do the MbPros have problems with overheating or any other notable/common hardware failures to be wary of? That's a big problem with her PC Laptop now, thing overheats very easily. Granted it is a 17 inch, plastic desktop computer crammed into a laptop case. (and it costs less than half of what a new Macbook Pro would)
3. Are the MbPros definitely worth the price over the normal Macbooks? I honestly don't know all the differences between the two. She has a bit more experience with the brand than I do because of where she works, but I'm just trying to get some other opinions.
4. The wedding is in September, but I was looking into maybe getting one for her relatively sooner. Should I wait? I don't know when Macs release new models et cetera and all that jazz. I just didn't want get caught late in a cycle and buy something, only to have the newer model come out a month later for a comparable price.
5. I've heard you can find refurbished Pros for much cheaper but I don't know all the details of that and whether or not someone with more knowledge of them would just go with a new book.
6. Anything big I should know that I'm probably not thinking about at all?
I had some questions though.
1. Just going off the Mac store site there's a $1799 and $2199 version of the 15" book. To say the least, I'm rusty on all my hardware knowledge, but is the difference between these two worth the $400? I.E would someone using the thing for "normal" computer use notice the difference? I have no issue paying if I felt it were worth the extra money though.
1b. Any of the optional upgrades recommended? Anything worth the money that makes a notable difference? (RAM and 7200 rpm HDD are my big two questions there)
2. Do the MbPros have problems with overheating or any other notable/common hardware failures to be wary of? That's a big problem with her PC Laptop now, thing overheats very easily. Granted it is a 17 inch, plastic desktop computer crammed into a laptop case. (and it costs less than half of what a new Macbook Pro would)
3. Are the MbPros definitely worth the price over the normal Macbooks? I honestly don't know all the differences between the two. She has a bit more experience with the brand than I do because of where she works, but I'm just trying to get some other opinions.
4. The wedding is in September, but I was looking into maybe getting one for her relatively sooner. Should I wait? I don't know when Macs release new models et cetera and all that jazz. I just didn't want get caught late in a cycle and buy something, only to have the newer model come out a month later for a comparable price.
5. I've heard you can find refurbished Pros for much cheaper but I don't know all the details of that and whether or not someone with more knowledge of them would just go with a new book.
6. Anything big I should know that I'm probably not thinking about at all?
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3. The mac pros are worth the increase in cost if you are doing tasks that require the increase in CPU and GPU. Mainly game playing, heavy photo editing, video processing, etc.
Get the $300 warranty. Trust me.
General use primarily, basic internet and all. At the most probably streaming video on Netflix/Hulu/etc.
Get the base amount of factory RAM (4GB for MBP) and just pick some up online for cheap if you really feel later that you need it. Install it yourself and you'll save about $100
Also, if she's just gonna use it for internet and stuff, I'd say just get the base Macbook Pro, if not just a normal Macbook (I'm guessing the clincher is the extra 2" on the screen, though)
*which should happen in June/July time frame.
4. Wait until after WWDC (I think that's next week). That's when products are likely to be refreshed and it can lead to discounts on old inventory. That said a product line could be updated at any time.
As others have said already I really don't think she needs anything more than an Air.
Is the $400 difference between the 15" models worth it? In my opinion, no, but that largely depends on how much gaming or graphics work you think you'd like to do with it. The improvement on the CPU is minimal, the hard drive is laughable, which only leaves the graphics card carrying the brunt of the cost.
If you're looking at a stock model though, I'd buy from Best Buy right now. They have them on sale, which is fucking unheard of with Apple products. $1709 and $2059 for the two 15" models.
Are either of you still students? The student pricing will beat even the sales there, and if you wait another week or so, Apple will probably be rolling out their back-to-school deal, which would net you guys a free iPod too.
If your eyes can handle it, get a non-glossy hi-res display. 15" MBPs start at 1400x900, but for $100 you can go to 1680x1050. Another $50 will also do a matte screen instead of glossy, which is totally worth it...Apple's matte screens don't look as shitty as other matte screens that I've seen. Both of these can be found on the refurbished MBPs, as well, just look for "hi-res" and "anti-glare".
I've had the left side of my keyboard heat up, but that's it. No random hardware failures on any of a dozen or so MBPs in my circle of friends.
As someone who buys a laptop intending to keep it for years, I definitely think the unibody pros are worth the extra money.
Definitely, definitely this. Here is the 15" MBP refurb section, and if you can find what you want there, GET IT. It's way cheaper, and the hardware is just as good. As I mentioned above, if you want the hi-res and/or matte screen, the magic words are "15.4-inch LED-backlit antiglare Hi-Res widescreen display (1680 x 1050 pixel)"
Yeah, what kind of laptop are YOU gonna get when you see how awesome your wife's is?
- Make sure to get a Mini DisplayPort->DVI adapter, so you can hook up to another monitor/TV. MBPs have a non-standard display output.
- You can get an 8GB RAM kit for less than a $100, which is .... hey Apple only charges $200 for an 8GB upgrade, so if you're uncomfortable opening a laptop, that's not terrible. But if you're at all competent inside a computer, just get your RAM upgrade elsewhere.
- If you don't have an external USB hard drive, you might want to get one. The built-in backup software in OSX (Time Machine) is dead simple to setup with a USB hard drive.
She's going to be a student from now until August, so I'm going to try to take advantage of that deal while I can. But I'm also interviewing for some teaching positions around and I think I might be able to get an even bigger discount if I can get in at a school who I know just recently signed a big deal with Apple, given that half the teachers there now are carrying around Macs.
I'm hardware savvy enough to upgrade RAM, I wasn't sure how easy it was to do so with a Mac.
It's pretty easy, just some tiny little jeweler's philips screwdrivers. I did strip out one screwhead on mine, but that's just cause I'm an idiot. And if all you're doing is basic usage, don't even bother, 4GB is plenty. This isn't Vista here. :P
Oh, one other thing I thought of: if you're interested in running a virtual machine (for any holdover Windows programs), there is a free VM called VirtualBox that has a decent OSX interface. It's not as slick as VMWare or Parallels, but it'll get the job done.
1) It looks like the primary difference here is gaming prowess. Probably 300 of that 400 dollars is in the video card. The cheaper option will run some games decently. The expensive option will run must games decently.
2) As long as you keep the outward facade rather pristine (don't dent it) Apple is pretty decent about warranties and replacing stuff
3) Yes. Worth it. It's a totally different class of computer. Macbooks are baseline laptops. MBP's can actually run software and do stuff.
4) Looks like MBP's are mid-cycle right now, so don't expect any updates within the next two months. http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/
5) 10-20% cheaper depending on how much the product line has evolved. I doubt you'll get a relatively new MBP for more than 15% off. I think with laptops, because they are such sensitive creatures, should be bought new. Just my opinion.\
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
I feel that if you guys are just going to use it for internet and email and media, then a MacBook Air is perfect for you, like others have noted in this thread. You should wait for the impeding refresh, as well as the educational discount + iPod offer.
YMMV.
edit: and if you're going to use a laptop as your primary machine, it doesn't hurt to have more than 256GB of hard drive space
And with that said, I'd still make my personal machine the 13" Air. It's gorgeous, it's surprisingly fast at everything we've thrown at it, and it feels rock solid. Wait for the next refresh though.
the pro is way overkill for basic computer use. and you lose a lot in terms of size/weight and heat vs. the air. you can use an external harddrive for storage and connect it over the network.
Do Macs also have user profiles that we could set up on both machines so that all of our individual settings could be quickly switched between?
What impressed me the most about it was the screen resolution. The 13" Air has almost the same resolution (albeit slightly wider) than the 15" Pro, at a fraction of the size and weight. And super-long battery life. If she wants a laptop that she can actually have on her lap and carry around without thinking about weight, Air all the way. As a bonus they're dead quiet and simply don't get hot.
We're generally past the point where a basic computer (especially a basic Apple computer) won't do most everything you'd want to do, unless you have specific requirements that are particularly taxing. If she recorded music, did serious photo processing, worked with large volumes of video files, or something like that? Yeah, getting the Macbook Pro or an iMac would make more sense. But the Air can still DO all of that stuff very well.
I have a 1.5 yr old plain Macbook that I run Lightroom on and otherwise do everything your fiance wants to do, and have had no troubles or complaints about its speed or ability.
Yes.
i guess we'll see (but it looks like a good excuse to upgrade to 13 inches for me anyway)
also re: mbp heat. my brother's gets really hot, but it's a very early model of the unibody, but either way i'm sure the air generates less heat and is less noisy too
We both definitely fell in love with the 13 inch Airs. I was considering a Pro for myself but considering that in recent years I'm not doing near as much with applications that would require a ton of power, I'm liking the Air more and more. I also have a 500 gig external that I use for entertainment files.
Plus, I'm an educator and probably/hopefully should have a teaching job here later this month. *crossing fingers* So I can take advantage of that price plan.
I keep hearing about the refresh of the Airs, are they just putting new processors in them? And is the June 6th date that others mentioned the expected date?
Edit: I've sort of warmed up to a 13 in. book, but I'm noticing the MbPro 13inches are a lot cheaper than a new 13 in. Air, (since I'm not going 128 gig hdd) so we may go that route. Still debating. Though it seems like a 13 in MbPro might have overheating problems.
If it's announced at WWDC on the 6th it could be out that day but it'll most likely be available for order and ship with in a few days to few weeks.
The question of overheating is the only thing keeping me from settling on two of those.
Thanks for the tip on buying Applecare online.
after student discount, applecare is about that price anyway
for example: base model 15 inch mbp applecare without is 350$
same computer with education pricing is 240$
I have one with a Core 2 Duo, and it goes get hot sometimes. Generally when I'm on Skype, or playing Starcraft II. Nothing thats like "Oh my god I can't touch it" but enough to make me shift the weight on my legs.
Thanks everyone who offered their input.
E: with that said, is there any way to make it truly close out of an application when you click the red button, rather than you having to go to the top bar and click close from the drop down menu?