To buy or not in India

[chan2004]

Hi guys,

i have been researching macs for around 4 weeks and i really liked wat i heard

i would like to go 4 a macbook but the serious doubts i have are

1) international warrany - heard it is true everywhere
but what are the kind of support and quality of support that i will get
this is very imp 4 me as i am a neophyte in the mac world

2) is it safe to trust service centres of apple in india as there is a fear that thy can change parts if thy want

3) apple service centres are very few in india. it is not atleast in my place,i.e. trivandrum (in kerala of S.India). so, wat are the options i have in case my mac gets into trouble.

4) how easy is it to debug problems in mac by the user. I was able to fix windows problems almost all the time

5) how easy is it to reformat mac's(is it necessary for regular users?). I believe apple gives mac OS cd's during purchase

6) connectivity to broadband thru external problem. if the local suppliers are not able to do it on mac OS, can i install windows and configure it accordingly

7) also, i heard that some mouse functionalities won't work in windows for mac's . is it so?

the major worry i have is Q.3

so, i would really like to get some viewpoints on wat u will do for same case
mac is good, but if it causes recurring problems and i need to contact service centre, i need to take a ride for 5 to 6 hours min. to reach the service centre.
is it worth it?

id not mac, i will go for some dell
cause after seeing mac i think the only laptop which is worth the money is dell
sony i feel is overpriced

mac experts, help me with ur views

[samh004]

Originally Posted by chan2004

Hi guys,

i have been researching macs for around 4 weeks and i really liked wat i heard

i would like to go 4 a macbook but the serious doubts i have are

1) international warrany - heard it is true everywhere
but what are the kind of support and quality of support that i will get
this is very imp 4 me as i am a neophyte in the mac world

Everyone has a different view of this, but I have bought in Hong Kong and had my computers fixed in Australia, so for me they have worked out.

2) is it safe to trust service centres of apple in india as there is a fear that thy can change parts if thy want

If they're an Apple-authorised service centre then they'd be stupid to change parts in your computer, as they'd lose their contract. I doubt they'd do that, in a PC it might be easy, but not so easy to find a part that has the same function and is supported in a mac.

3) apple service centres are very few in india. it is not atleast in my place,i.e. trivandrum (in kerala of S.India). so, wat are the options i have in case my mac gets into trouble.

You can Phone an Indian Apple support number and they'll tell you where to go if you run into problems. They might suggest sending it in for service as oppose to going to a service centre.

Indian Apple toll-free # 1800 425 4646

4) how easy is it to debug problems in mac by the user. I was able to fix windows problems almost all the time

Obviously it's a different OS so there will be a learning curve for you. You are able to fix things on your own, in time, but don't expect it to be exactly the same as windows, it's not. It's different.

5) how easy is it to reformat mac's(is it necessary for regular users?). I believe apple gives mac OS cd's during purchase

Easy to do, though you wont need to reformat every year like some people do with PC's.

6) connectivity to broadband thru external problem. if the local suppliers are not able to do it on mac OS, can i install windows and configure it accordingly

You could install Windows if needed, but the settings wouldn't be saved on your mac side. Most broadband these days is pretty much plug-and-play so it's not necessary to have an additional program. However if an additional program was needed, and it wasn't available on the mac, you'd be out of luck. Ask your broadband company about their support.

7) also, i heard that some mouse functionalities won't work in windows for mac's . is it so?

You can right-click just as you can in windows, on a mac.

Look under Resllers on the right of that page to find locations in India, possibly near you. There are lots.

[John Jacob]

Originally Posted by chan2004

Hi guys,

i have been researching macs for around 4 weeks and i really liked wat i heard

i would like to go 4 a macbook but the serious doubts i have are

1) international warrany - heard it is true everywhere
but what are the kind of support and quality of support that i will get
this is very imp 4 me as i am a neophyte in the mac world

2) is it safe to trust service centres of apple in india as there is a fear that thy can change parts if thy want

3) apple service centres are very few in india. it is not atleast in my place,i.e. trivandrum (in kerala of S.India). so, wat are the options i have in case my mac gets into trouble.

4) how easy is it to debug problems in mac by the user. I was able to fix windows problems almost all the time

5) how easy is it to reformat mac's(is it necessary for regular users?). I believe apple gives mac OS cd's during purchase

6) connectivity to broadband thru external problem. if the local suppliers are not able to do it on mac OS, can i install windows and configure it accordingly

7) also, i heard that some mouse functionalities won't work in windows for mac's . is it so?

the major worry i have is Q.3

so, i would really like to get some viewpoints on wat u will do for same case
mac is good, but if it causes recurring problems and i need to contact service centre, i need to take a ride for 5 to 6 hours min. to reach the service centre.
is it worth it?

id not mac, i will go for some dell
cause after seeing mac i think the only laptop which is worth the money is dell
sony i feel is overpriced

mac experts, help me with ur views

1. Warranties are international, so don't worry about it. I bought my Mac in Canada, had a problem that I got fixed in France, and most of the time I am here in Bangalore. If you are buying a laptop, it is worthwhile to go for AppleCare (Apple's extended warranty program).

2. I suppose there could be dodgy service centres, but then that would be true of PC service centres as well. And car service centres, and TV service centres, and everything else. We don't have much choice here.

3. My father bought his iBook in Kochi, and I believe there is a service centre there too. So you could go there if there are none in Trivandrum.

4. Easier than Windows. And if in doubt, you could always ask the question here.

5. Quite easy. But totally unnecessary, unless you are the type who does such
things for fun (I am). I've reinstalled my Powerbook four or five times, not because I needed to, but just because I enjoyed tweaking my installation. My father on the other hand, has never reinstalled his iBook.

6. USB modems may not have drivers. But most broadband providers will give you a router with an Ethernet port. These will work with any Mac. You can always install Windows if you want.

7. Most USB Mice have Mac compatibility. PS/2 mice won't work. If it is a gaming specific mouse with extra buttons that are programmable, they may not work in Mac OS X (but check if you can download drivers). The normal left and right buttons and scroll wheel will work.

Bottomline: I don't see any issues buying a Mac in India. But if you have a friend who is visiting the USA, ask him/her to get it for you instead. It will work out cheaper.

[chan2004]

thanks guys

also,
how flexible is mac to use with windows os
i.e. how to send files created using microsoft office into mac os and vice versa
is there any freeware for this?

how easy is it to get software for apple, i.e freeware

what about the pdf, zip and zar files?
what about the multimedia files like wmv, mp3, real player....

i like a little bit of gaming
mostly sims, pes6( winning eleven), AOE & football manager(all in windows)
prefer macbook to macbook pro

wat are the additional expenses i should take into consideration when buying apple?
apple care protection plan,.....
remember i am an win user, so i need all the things that i can get which will may my transition easier

pls advice

[himansk]

Originally Posted by chan2004

thanks guys

also,
how flexible is mac to use with windows os
i.e. how to send files created using microsoft office into mac os and vice versa
is there any freeware for this?

how easy is it to get software for apple, i.e freeware

what about the pdf, zip and zar files?
what about the multimedia files like wmv, mp3, real player....

All software you need is available for the mac, u can buy microsoft's office mac or use a freeware office application, or try apple's pages for word/etc docs. pdf, zip rar are all supported by the OS itself so u dont need anythin special. wmv can be played in quicktime after installing a free plugin, and so can other file types by installing Perian for quicktime. real player & vlc player are all available for the mac. in short dont worry about file/doc/extension support on the mac.

Originally Posted by chan2004

i like a little bit of gaming
mostly sims, pes6( winning eleven), AOE & football manager(all in windows)
prefer macbook to macbook pro

Macbook will be able to play AOE2 fairly easily, and probably FM without any problems. But for anythin GPU intensive MBP is recommended, but it depends on how much u actually play these games.

Originally Posted by chan2004

wat are the additional expenses i should take into consideration when buying apple?
apple care protection plan,.....
remember i am an win user, so i need all the things that i can get which will may my transition easier

pls advice

Apple care is not a compulsion to buy, you get 1yr free warranty, applecare just extends it to 2 additional years. so you can decide to buy it towards the end of the first year of ownership if you want. Also dont forget, there are no additional costs like virus scanner, firewall, spyware blocker, etc needed on the mac.

[chan2004]

how about migrating all my win files to mac os x
will it convert all the files to mac os formats or i call still use it in windows formats
these are the 2 things i will definitely do once i get mac
1)i will be connecting it to my old computer and transferring
2) i also have an external hard disk but it is in windows format
is this easy or is it on the harder side?

also, if i have some application like pics created in mac os and wants to send them to my friends who use windows, is it doable or do i need to convert the file into win format & then send it?

wants to b on the safer side before taking the plunge
:-)

[himansk]

Originally Posted by chan2004

how about migrating all my win files to mac os x
will it convert all the files to mac os formats or i call still use it in windows formats
these are the 2 things i will definitely do once i get mac
1)i will be connecting it to my old computer and transferring
2) i also have an external hard disk but it is in windows format
is this easy or is it on the harder side?

also, if i have some application like pics created in mac os and wants to send them to my friends who use windows, is it doable or do i need to convert the file into win format & then send it?

wants to b on the safer side before taking the plunge
:-)

Have you tried using any other OS apart from winblows, like maybe some flavor of linux? normally all common/standard file formats are supported in the modern OSes. Though you wont be able to directly transfer the emails from windows since outlook keeps them in a proprietary database file. All OSes use standard file formats for images, microsoft is the only one tries to force users into using their formats which are not open standards. files like png, jpg, mp3, avi, etc are all cross platform due to the open standards, while wmv is not an open standard so it has to be specifically added using plugins.
FAT32 format is supported by all OSes I think, while NTFS has at least read support in most OSes (including Mac) while write support is still experimental.
In short, this is not the dark ages, OSX has a large community of developers, and a dedicated apple behind it, so you wont have major problems in migrating. If you still do have any problems, then you can always dual boot into windows, or use parallels/vmware virtualization software anyway.

[di1in]

I'm planning to buy an mbp and I'm confused whether i should buy it from the usa or from india. I'll be using the mbp wholly in india so is there any benefit in making the purchase from india?

thanks in advance guys.

[shyam09]

Originally Posted by di1in

I'm planning to buy an mbp and I'm confused whether i should buy it from the usa or from india. I'll be using the mbp wholly in india so is there any benefit in making the purchase from india?

thanks in advance guys.

im sure like other posters have said that apple service is available wherever you are.
im my opinion, since you are in America,buy it in America. its $1199 USD, but according to the Indian Apple Store its 72900 Rs. or about $1600 USD