Which Macbook to buy?

[Bowlerguy10]

Hey guys, which of the two listed macbooks is the better value?

Condition - refurbished

Processor - 2.0 Ghz Core 2 Duo

RAM - 1 gig

HD - 80 gigs

Price - $850

or...........

Condition - new

Processor - 2.1 Ghz Core 2 Duo

RAM - 1 gig

HD - 120 gigs

Price - $1,000

So, which one gets the nod? I will be upgrading the RAM on the one I get to 2 gigs for $40 either way, so please keep that in mind.

[Hawkeye411]

Personally I don't like the idea of purchasing refurbished stuff.

[vansouza]

Always buy the most that you can afford without fear of the poorhouse.

[basesloaded190]

buy the first one...sounds like a steal. only thing, that hdd will fill up fast so with that money you saved, use it to eventually upgrade that.

[beppo]

you can always upgrade the hard drive later and you probably won't even notice the .1GHz difference

[Bowlerguy10]

I think I am probably going to go with the refurb as some of you have said mainly because I don't want to spend a whole heck of a lot of money. I am going to buy a 500 gig external 7200 HD to go with it, my question is though, can I use the HD for programs music etc and time machine at the same time?

[ChrisN]

The first one sounds like what I have and I really think that the HDD is waaaaay to small and the RAM is only upgradeable to 2 GB which sucks so I would get the second one.

ChrisN

[priller]

If its a Santa Rosa its upgradable to 4gb. You can partition an external drive and have 1 partition for timemachine and 1 for data.

[mac2mac]

Get the new one because a 80 gb hd isn't that big and the latest Macbooks can handle 4gb of ram and run cooler.
:cool:

[Cave Man]

I think I am probably going to go with the refurb as some of you have said mainly because I don't want to spend a whole heck of a lot of money. I am going to buy a 500 gig external 7200 HD to go with it, my question is though, can I use the HD for programs music etc and time machine at the same time?

You ought to just buy a 320 gig internal drive. They're only about $140 and can be replaced in 5 min. You'll get substantially better performance with it than any 7200 rpm external drive.

[Cave Man]

If its a Santa Rosa its upgradable to 4gb.

...the latest Macbooks can handle 4gb of ram...

Unless Apple's crippled the logic board, they should be able to take 8 gigs.

[Bowlerguy10]

You ought to just buy a 320 gig internal drive. They're only about $140 and can be replaced in 5 min. You'll get substantially better performance with it than any 7200 rpm external drive.

What kind of HD does a macbook take? Serial ATA, IDE, etc?

[Cave Man]

What kind of HD does a macbook take? Serial ATA, IDE, etc?

Internal is SATA - 1.5 gbps because of the Intel controller. Of course, you can put a 3 gbps in there, it just won't be any faster. Right now, the two fastest notebook drives for sustained write speeds are the Samsung and WD 320g/5400r drives. A close third is a 200g/7200r drive (which costs a lot more).

For external, MB can only take USB2 and Firewire. Both are in the 400 mbps range conceivably, but USB2 is substantially slower in real life.

[Bowlerguy10]

Could you link me to a 250 gig under $100?

[John.B]

Personally I don't like the idea of purchasing refurbished stuff.
Understandable, generally. But Apple refurbs have a really great reputation. I'd never buy any refurbished Sony product, but I'm typing this on a refurb blackbook 2.2GHz. Go figure...

[Cave Man]

Could you link me to a 250 gig under $100?

No, but for another $10 you're there (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010150380+1309729183&name=250GB).

[Halon X]

I just purchased a refurbished Macbook with the same specs you are looking at as a birthday present for my Mom.

I spent another $80 on 4GB of RAM and $120 on a 250GB 2.5" USB drive. With the low cost of a 4GB RAM upgrade, I don't think I'd want to purchase anything with more than 1GB in it.

Other than the box, there is absolutely no way to tell it's a refurb. Upgrading the HD is a snap so I wouldn't let the small size sway you either.

It's a great laptop for the price.

[Ryuukumori]

Unless Apple's crippled the logic board, they should be able to take 8 gigs.

What? Where did you get that idea?

Apple laptops have always been 4 GB RAM max (up to date).

[iToaster]

The SR MB and MBP are theoretically able to recognize 8 Gbs of RAM, but due to there being no 4 Gb chips on the market, this is untestable, but stated by intel.


I'd go with option 2 by the way. More storage is great and you don't have to fuss with screws (not that it's hard), but you might want to throw in more RAM, and besides, there's nothing like a new Mac.

[iFizz]

Get the new one because a 80 gb hd isn't that big and the latest Macbooks can handle 4gb of ram and run cooler.
:cool:

Right on the money.

[wedge234]

refurbs are good, they usually go over the macbooks with a fine-toothed comb back at the plant, and you might get a surprise like extra memory if the previous owner upgraded. I'd recommend applecare anyway, just in case.

[John.B]

Other than the box, there is absolutely no way to tell it's a refurb.
Yeah, the box, oh, and the serial number. :)

[XP Defector]

Always buy the most that you can afford without fear of the poorhouse.

What on earth for?

[greenmeanie]

Find yourself a student and buy a brand new Blackbook.

[Jiddick ExRex]

What? Where did you get that idea?

Apple laptops have always been 4 GB RAM max (up to date).

Whoa there. I cannot even count on my fingers how many untruths you managed to cram into that post.

First of all, when counterposting someone's statement, it's a good idea to support it with documentation (http://www.apple.com/macbook/specs.html). Next is your generalization. By 'Apple laptops' you also include iBooks and Powerbooks, which were only able to support 1.25/1.5 (http://crucial.com/store/listparts.aspx?model=iBook%20%28G4%201.42GHz%2C%2014-inch%29) to 2 GB (http://crucial.com/store/listparts.aspx?model=PowerBook%20G4%201.33GHz%20%2817-inch%20Display%29) of RAM. Secondly, MacBooks and MacBook Pros with Intel Core Duo and Intel Core 2 Duo only supported 2GB (http://crucial.com/store/listparts.aspx?model=MacBook%201.83GHz%20Intel%20Core%202%20Duo%20%2813-inch%20White%29%20MA699LL/A) and up to 3.3 GB RAM recognized when used with 2 x 2 GB RAM.

What I am basically saying is to back up your claims and do some more research before posting please?

And yes, the new SR Platform (as well as Penryn) will in theory support 8GB RAM. It's just that there's not many SO-DIMM 4 GB sticks around yet.