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monkeycid

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 12, 2012
34
0
Hi!

Just a quick tip that worked for me. I recently bought a 15-inch rMBP (1,600) and needed to think of something fast to avoid my parents' rampaging. I live at home and I remember them going a bit insane when I first received my £900 Dell so I knew I'd be be risking death with this rMBP but I needed a new computer and wanted to try a Mac this time around.

I knew my sister had a MacBook Air but it only cost £800 so I phoned her and told her to tell my parents it cost over £1,000 and within minutes of me ringing her, my mum asked my dad to ring my sister and ask how much hers had cost. A few gasps and shocked faces later, I'm still alive and my rMBP is due to arrive in the morning and none of my parents has tried to kill me yet.

Although now my mum is looking in her catalog at all the £600 and under laptops and constantly asking me why they wouldn't have been suffice. /sigh
 

gnasher729

Suspended
Nov 25, 2005
17,980
5,565
Although now my mum is looking in her catalog at all the £600 and under laptops and constantly asking me why they wouldn't have been suffice. /sigh

Do your parents pay for your food, money for the pub, for the car, car insurance (that's a big one), rent, and so on? Did they ever have to bail you out when you were in debt? Are you spending Grandma's live savings? If the answer is yes, they are right and you should have bought something cheaper. If the answer is no, they are wrong - but don't upset them, they're your parents.
 

Chundles

macrumors G5
Jul 4, 2005
12,037
493
Wait, you said YOU bought the laptop? If you bought it why should they care about the price?
 

monkeycid

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 12, 2012
34
0
They do feed me and pay for my broadband but I pay them a monthly sum to cover me living here. I didn't use any of Grandma's savings. Unfortunately all of my grandparents died before I was born.

I did use all my own money, though I had to dip into my savings but my parents see savings as only for emergencies or essentials so they are a bit hard to negotiate with when it comes to buying an expensive computer.

The hard part now is going to make the rMBP last longer than this PC did. :D
 

paulrbeers

macrumors 68040
Dec 17, 2009
3,963
123
Wait, you said YOU bought the laptop? If you bought it why should they care about the price?

Well if say the OP was supposed to be saving for School, or if the OP is over 18 and should be out of the house and should have been saving for his own place, etc. etc. etc. Frankly, living under your parents roofs means living by their rules and their expectations. If my parents were still responsible financially for me, it wouldn't matter if it was "my money" or not, because I am consistantly spending THEIR money by living under THEIR roof.

Further, the OP wanted to "try a mac", which means he could have bought a Mini, could even have bought an Air, but instead went to the 15" rMBP and while a very very nice laptop, a bit extravagant for someone's first Mac!
 

r0k

macrumors 68040
Mar 3, 2008
3,611
75
Detroit
They do feed me and pay for my broadband but I pay them a monthly sum to cover me living here. I didn't use any of Grandma's savings. Unfortunately all of my grandparents died before I was born.

I did use all my own money, though I had to dip into my savings but my parents see savings as only for emergencies or essentials so they are a bit hard to negotiate with when it comes to buying an expensive computer.

The hard part now is going to make the rMBP last longer than this PC did. :D

Making a Mac last longer than a PC is no trick. I still have my 2005 G4 mini and if I powered it on, it would still run fine with it's overflowing 80 GB HDD. :eek: My 2008 Macbook is sitting on my desk waiting for me to wipe deleted space so I can sell it. I think 4 years is a good amount of time to get out of a computer but I could have gotten more if I hadn't wanted to take advantage of some features in Mountain Lion (which won't run on the 2008 MB). Also note that if I had bought a MBP in 2008, it would still work with ML so I could have gotten 6 years or more rather than "just" 4. In your situation, a rMBP is good for 6 to 8 years unless some feature comes out you decide you can't live without.
 

mslide

macrumors 6502a
Sep 17, 2007
707
2
I'm with the OP's parents. I'd be really annoyed if I had an adult son/daughter living at home and buying really expensive laptops like a 15" rMBP. While they're living under my roof, it's not their money. They should be using their money more wisely and saving for college or their own place instead of buying overpriced laptops that they don't need. Those expensive toys can come later in life.

I would have said something like "since you can afford to buy expensive laptops, you obviously don't need to be living here".
 

monkeycid

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 12, 2012
34
0
"since you can afford to buy expensive laptops, you obviously don't need to be living here".

That's exactly what my mum said! Of course, I am lucky to have a dad that is soft with me but my mum has the wrath of God.
 

CrickettGrrrl

macrumors 6502a
Feb 10, 2012
985
274
B'more or Less
It's a tool that can help earn a living, earn more, or aid getting a degree. I squeezed the hell out of a PPC iMac for the last few years but saved enough for a 2011 iMac, which, had I had it sooner, I would have completed some projects easier & faster. And sorry, getting a cheaper Win machine would have cost as much or more because I would have had to get Adobe Creative Suite for it instead of using all my old programs.

I also had my new Mac addressed to my dog, which was a nice distraction at the time. :cool:
 

lord_flash

macrumors regular
Aug 6, 2003
166
0
Brighton, England
But, to be fair, the Mac is rubbish value for money. For what my current laptop cost I could have had a powerful Windows laptop that runs all the same software I use, and four or five Chromebooks to rest my feet on or something.

I justify it to myself by saying it retains value, etc. etc. and that's true to some extent, but really it's a only little bit better than Windows for a lot more money –*the law of diminishing returns.
 

shoulin333

macrumors 6502a
Jun 26, 2007
700
21
California
Wow... I thought I was the only one with parents like this...

I own my own house and still have to hear it from my parents when they come over and they see that I bought a new computer... oddly I always feel like I need an excuse hehe.
 

jjhoekstra

macrumors regular
Apr 23, 2009
206
29
Your parents are absolutely right: trying an Apple can be done for far less money. A nice MBA or a mini would have done very nicely. But I understand your wish for a rMBP, I love mine!
So why not be honest and just tell them, in a respectful way, that you just wanted it, that is was your money and that you decide yourself how to get rid of your money. It might be an interesting learning experience for both you and your parents... :)
 

Kissaragi

macrumors 68020
Nov 16, 2006
2,340
370
Its your money so its none of their business at all, but if altering some facts makes your life easier with them then go for it.

You could have also said it was a refurb model, or ex display.
 

Chundles

macrumors G5
Jul 4, 2005
12,037
493
Well if say the OP was supposed to be saving for School, or if the OP is over 18 and should be out of the house and should have been saving for his own place, etc. etc. etc. Frankly, living under your parents roofs means living by their rules and their expectations. If my parents were still responsible financially for me, it wouldn't matter if it was "my money" or not, because I am consistantly spending THEIR money by living under THEIR roof.

Further, the OP wanted to "try a mac", which means he could have bought a Mini, could even have bought an Air, but instead went to the 15" rMBP and while a very very nice laptop, a bit extravagant for someone's first Mac!

Ah, he's still living at home. Well yeah, that changes things a bit.
 

gnasher729

Suspended
Nov 25, 2005
17,980
5,565
I'm with the OP's parents. I'd be really annoyed if I had an adult son/daughter living at home and buying really expensive laptops like a 15" rMBP. While they're living under my roof, it's not their money. They should be using their money more wisely and saving for college or their own place instead of buying overpriced laptops that they don't need. Those expensive toys can come later in life.

I would have said something like "since you can afford to buy expensive laptops, you obviously don't need to be living here".

Strong contradiction here. The OP _is_ living at home, but handing over money (which in my experience many young adults are _not_ doing). The rMBP is expensive, but not _really_ expensive, and well worth the money - my first MacBook is now almost seven years old and still working fine; I'd expect a rMBP to be not very expensive per year. There are kids who can spend £100 just to get pissed out of their head, or £200 to go to a football game (including getting into some fight, especially when football + getting pissed is combined); I'd rather have my kids spending money that _they_ saved on a computer that is most definitely not overpriced.
 

monkeycid

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 12, 2012
34
0
Yes, arrived this morning! I paid for express delivery and it should've came yesterday but due to problems verifying my address, it had to be postponed until today. But 2 days is still snappy.

I have no idea what I am doing on it yet. Using two fingers to move the cursor and click. :D But did a software update, had to add billing information to my Apple account in order to update iPhoto, though. Seemed strange.

Downloaded and played Diablo 3 and despite the posts I read about it playing at full resolution, it doesn't. I tried inside the starting town, single-player and the FPS fluctuated between 25-30. Not game breaking but with another player and a big battle, I'd imagine it being pretty bad. However, the default setting of, iirc, something like 19xxx16xx is great and with everything on high except shadows - 60 FPS. Not bad, really, for the base model.

Set up iCloud and that's it really. Bit scared to tinker with the desktop customisation yet and still contemplating buying a mouse. Ah, I've just figured how to right-click trying to correct all the redlined text in this post. :D

Edit: One little problem I have is trying to lift up the display. Because the MacBook is so light, it ends up sliding along the desk if I try to open it with one hand. And not wanting to put my grubby hands all over it, can be quite a challenge! :(
 
Last edited:

rockyroad55

macrumors 601
Jul 14, 2010
4,152
59
Phila, PA
What was your main reason to get the computer? Could what you are doing be done on a cMBP or MBA? You just said you don't know what you are doing with it which means this purchase wasn't really necessary. But it's your money so I'm not judging.
 

monkeycid

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 12, 2012
34
0
I did need a replacement for my current Windows computer and wanted to try a Mac. Although I don't particularly do anything creative, I had it set in my mind that this time around I would try one. Though, I needed something that would be seen as an upgrade from my current PC and the only choices available to me where the high-end iMac, rMBP base model or the high-end cMBP which is the same price as the rMBP.

Having played with the Mac from the perspective of a Windows gamer, I do actually enjoy my experience more on a Mac than Windows. It is super-fast, one-click mail, an easily accessible app. store, automatic updates for drivers, etc. In all, I had to part with a lot of money but so far I am thoroughly enjoying the purchase.
 
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