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Replacing stolen MacBook Pro

T

thriftykid

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 30, 2012
7
0
Hey there, long time lurker and first time poster. Just made an account because I need serious advice! I got my 2010 13" MacBook Pro stolen about a month ago. I've been saving up money and want to buy a new one in the next few weeks but I can't decide.

I don't want to splurge and the more expensive the laptop is the longer I'll have to wait to get it. I'm a student and have educational pricing as well. I know for sure I want a 13" laptop, 256gb SSD and 8gb of RAM. I do plan on using this as my primary computer for 4-5 years. If I go with a MBP should I install the SSD myself? Or is it better to have it preinstalled because I do use the optical drive.

$1639 for MBP with 8gb of ram, 256 SSD, 2.5 ghz i5
$1539 for MBA with same specs but 1.8 ghz i5
$1899 for rMBP with same specs as MBP

Like the MBP for the possibility of upgrades in future(still using 07 iMac thats running strong because of upgrades) but don't like the screen resolution. MBA is nice but the MBP is only 100 more for faster processor and optical drive. I really like the retina screen but not sure if its worth the price jump.

I also could wait until 2013 models come out but would be using an ipad for school and iMac at home which isn't as preferable as a laptop as my primary computer at home and on the go. Thanks for any advice!
 
SDAVE

SDAVE

macrumors 68040
Jun 16, 2007
3,574
601
Nowhere
Sorry about getting your Mac stolen :(
Did you have Find My Mac installed? You should look into Undercover in the future to track stolen Macs. I believe some universities have insurance and will cover the stolen goods if you have such programs installed.

To answer your question, since you're a student, if you get the Refurb Macs, you're not saving much because you can easily get $100-200 off retail of brand new Macs.

If you are looking at the rMBP, I do not really think the 13" is a good value. Now the 15" is a fantastic machine, but I don't think it's the best purchase for a student.

You can definitely get an cMBP with the stock HDD and pop in a 256GB SSD yourself. There are plenty of price slashes right now and you can easily save money.

The biggest question to ask is, if you were happy with the 13", that means you liked the size of it and the speed. I would definitely recommend another 13" MBP. The MBA's are kind of small-ish and slower. I see them as mostly browsing/email/word processing/very light photo manipulation type of systems. At least the 2012 13" cMBP has an Intel HD4000, which is a decent integrated GPU (miles ahead of the 2010 integrated GPU)
 
T

thriftykid

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 30, 2012
7
0
Thanks for the advice, I will definitely take it into account. I did have find my mac enabled but unfortunately the person who stole it never connected it to the internet. Sorry I should have clarified but the prices I listed were for new macs under student pricing.

If I were to get the cMBP with the basic hard drive would installing an SSD myself void the warranty? If so, I'd rather pay the money upfront to have them pre install it.
 
hallux

hallux

macrumors 68040
Apr 25, 2012
3,437
1,005
thriftykid said:
If I were to get the cMBP with the basic hard drive would installing an SSD myself void the warranty? If so, I'd rather pay the money upfront to have them pre install it.
Click to expand...

NO. Apple considers the HDD and RAM user-serviceable, replacing either will NOT void your warranty on the system (except for those parts you changed). The best suggestion with that in mind, get the BASE CONFIG of the speed you want (with 4 GB RAM and the smallest HDD offered) then buy the upgrades you want. You'll save lots of money and get BETTER upgrades - 16 GB RAM costs less on Newegg than Apple wants for the BTO upgrade to 8 GB and a 256 GB SSD is less than half what Apple wants.

Here's the memory I used for comparison, it's the kit I have in my 15" and it's worked PERFECTLY for 6 months. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233265
 
Spink10

Spink10

Suspended
Nov 3, 2011
4,261
1,020
Oklahoma
hallux said:
NO. Apple considers the HDD and RAM user-serviceable, replacing either will NOT void your warranty on the system (except for those parts you changed). The best suggestion with that in mind, get the BASE CONFIG of the speed you want (with 4 GB RAM and the smallest HDD offered) then buy the upgrades you want. You'll save lots of money and get BETTER upgrades - 16 GB RAM costs less on Newegg than Apple wants for the BTO upgrade to 8 GB and a 256 GB SSD is less than half what Apple wants.

Here's the memory I used for comparison, it's the kit I have in my 15" and it's worked PERFECTLY for 6 months. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233265
Click to expand...

Do exactly what this person said. Why? Because you want to get the best MBP on a limited budget.
 
Yebubbleman

Yebubbleman

macrumors 603
May 20, 2010
5,785
2,377
Los Angeles, CA
thriftykid said:
Hey there, long time lurker and first time poster. Just made an account because I need serious advice! I got my 2010 13" MacBook Pro stolen about a month ago. I've been saving up money and want to buy a new one in the next few weeks but I can't decide.

I don't want to splurge and the more expensive the laptop is the longer I'll have to wait to get it. I'm a student and have educational pricing as well. I know for sure I want a 13" laptop, 256gb SSD and 8gb of RAM. I do plan on using this as my primary computer for 4-5 years. If I go with a MBP should I install the SSD myself? Or is it better to have it preinstalled because I do use the optical drive.

$1639 for MBP with 8gb of ram, 256 SSD, 2.5 ghz i5
$1539 for MBA with same specs but 1.8 ghz i5
$1899 for rMBP with same specs as MBP

Like the MBP for the possibility of upgrades in future(still using 07 iMac thats running strong because of upgrades) but don't like the screen resolution. MBA is nice but the MBP is only 100 more for faster processor and optical drive. I really like the retina screen but not sure if its worth the price jump.

I also could wait until 2013 models come out but would be using an ipad for school and iMac at home which isn't as preferable as a laptop as my primary computer at home and on the go. Thanks for any advice!
Click to expand...

Going for the non-retina 13" MacBook Pro makes the most economical sense. Plus it means you get to keep the optical drive that you use frequently. Upgrading the RAM is easy and cheap. Upgrading the SSD is just as easy, not as cheap. The only downside to not pre-configuring a 13" non-retina with an SSD is that you lose out on native TRIM support. No biggie, not even a little, but it's nice to have the OS actually support heathy usage of your SSD without having to download and use the TRIM Enabler every time there's an OS patch.

Otherwise, I'm sorry your computer got stolen. If my MacBook Pro got stolen, I don't know what I'd do.
 
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