A few questions about my MacBook

[tbaker00]

First off I am a newb. But I got a MacBook in 2007 and didn't know much about it, but I do love it. My questions are, the battery in my MacBook does not hold a charge, so if it is unplugged it will automatically turn off, I looked on the apple web site and I think all the batteries (for all MacBooks depending on color) are the same, is this true? Is there another fix for this? Or just buy a new battery and be happy?
Next question, I haven't done much/do much with my computer. I mostly just use it for Itunes and web browsing. No typing documents or using it for a calander or web chatting or any of the hundreds of other awesome things you could use it for. So the question is are the software updates good enough or is there any ios' that I should purchase to download to the computer? (Snow leopard)
I haven't really been into my computer much but I am getting interested in it, are there any other software/hardware that you guys would recommend looking into? I am not to picky, and any and all advice is welcome!
Last question. If for some reason my MacBook crashes the only important thing on it is my itunes library. Will all my music be saved in itunes or just the stuff I purchased on itunes. Such as music I have downloaded from other sites or burned from a CD? (Yes I know keeping it on a external hard drive will prevent all of this but I am just curious to know if it will or not)

 

[AlphaDogg]

First off I am a newb. But I got a MacBook in 2007 and didn't know much about it, but I do love it. My questions are, the battery in my MacBook does not hold a charge, so if it is unplugged it will automatically turn off, I looked on the apple web site and I think all the batteries (for all MacBooks depending on color) are the same, is this true? Is there another fix for this? Or just buy a new battery and be happy?
Next question, I haven't done much/do much with my computer. I mostly just use it for Itunes and web browsing. No typing documents or using it for a calander or web chatting or any of the hundreds of other awesome things you could use it for. So the question is are the software updates good enough or is there any ios' that I should purchase to download to the computer? (Snow leopard)
I haven't really been into my computer much but I am getting interested in it, are there any other software/hardware that you guys would recommend looking into? I am not to picky, and any and all advice is welcome!
Last question. If for some reason my MacBook crashes the only important thing on it is my itunes library. Will all my music be saved in itunes or just the stuff I purchased on itunes. Such as music I have downloaded from other sites or burned from a CD? (Yes I know keeping it on a external hard drive will prevent all of this but I am just curious to know if it will or not)

First- All batteries available for the White MacBook with the replaceable battery will work with yours. (any White MacBook from 2006 to early 2009)

Second-None of your music will be saved, unless the internal hard drive still works after the computer "crashes." It would be a good idea to buy an external hard drive and back up all of your stuff on it.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

First off I am a newb. But I got a MacBook in 2007 and didn't know much about it, but I do love it. My questions are,
the battery in my MacBook does not hold a charge, so if it is unplugged it will automatically turn off,

It will turn off as soon as it runs out of charge. My seven year old iBook's battery can at least hold a charge for ten minutes now, so if I unplug it, it will not **** down immediately.
Btw, the MacBook will go to sleep first and write the contents of the RAM (open applications and documents) to the HDD, thus if you power the MB up again, all will still be there.

I looked on the apple web site and I think all the batteries (for all MacBooks depending on color) are the same, is this true?

The batteries for the white and black MacBook are the same, see here for an example: http://store.apple.com/us/product/M...fnode=MTY1NDEwMQ&mco=MTA4NDE2MzA&s=topSellers

Is there another fix for this?

This should answer most, if not all, of your battery questions: Apple Notebook Battery FAQ

Or just buy a new battery and be happy?

You might find better deals on original Apple batteries on Amazon or even eBay.
Don't buy any third party battery though, but that is only my opinion.

Next question, I haven't done much/do much with my computer.
I mostly just use it for Itunes and web browsing. No typing documents or using it for a calander or web chatting or any of the hundreds of other awesome things you could use it for.

So the question is are the software updates good enough or is there any ios' that I should purchase to download to the computer? (Snow leopard)

Depends on what Mac OS X version you have on that MacBook, as 2007 was the release of Mac OS X 10.6 Leopard (end of 10/2007).
If you have Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, the 10.6 Snow Leopard update for 10.6 might be a good idea, but not necessary.
If you have 10.5 Leopard, the same applies, though many more applications are supported in Leopard than in Tiger nowadays.
But it is up to you.
Btw, what do you mean by the bolded ios part? iOS is the name for the OS (Operating System( for the iDevices (iPhone, iPod touch, iPad) but not for the Macs.

I haven't really been into my computer much but I am getting interested in it, are there any other software/hardware that you guys would recommend looking into?

Depends on your usage. Otherwise we could recommend lots and lots of applications.
Links to Software Recommendation Threads

Last question. If for some reason my MacBook crashes the only important thing on it is my itunes library. Will all my music be saved in itunes or just the stuff I purchased on itunes. Such as music I have downloaded from other sites or burned from a CD? (Yes I know keeping it on a external hard drive will prevent all of this but I am just curious to know if it will or not)

Depends again. Normally music imported into iTunes gets copied (not moved) into the iTunes Music folder (Macintosh HD / Users / YourUserName / Music / iTunes), be it purchased one or download and added later one or ripped music (copied from an audio CD - burning is the process of writing data onto a CD or DVD).
Therefore if that is the case and you made a backup of that folder, you should be save.
But if you meant crash as in the computer's logic board or display breaking down, but the HDD being still okay, then you can safely remove the HDD from the MacBook and put it into an external enclosure for 2.5" S-ATA HDDs and connect it to another Mac or to a Windows PC and use MacDrive to recover your data.

Also have a look at this: Helpful Information for Any Mac User

 

[tbaker00]

Thanks for the quick responses. And yes it does shut down if the power cable comes unplugged, it shuts down (screen goes black), I plug the power cable back in and press the power button, it boots back up, then asks me for my password. I don't lose anything it just powers off and I have to restart it. If it goes to sleep first and then saves everything thats great. I didn't mean to bold ios' if I did. And I just thought that all apple operating systems were ios not just for the iphone, ipod touch, and ipad (remember I am a newb, sorry). Again thanks for the information and the links. If you have any other opinions for buying/downloading any other updates or OS' (anything you have found helpful to enjoying your Mac experience) please feel free to recommend it and I will look into them.

 

[tbaker00]

So I went ahead and bought snow leopard. Is there anything I need to do to save all my music before installing it? Or will it automatically read what is on my computer and transfer everything that is already on it?

 

[simsaladimbamba]

So I went ahead and bought snow leopard. Is there anything I need to do to save all my music before installing it? Or will it automatically read what is on my computer and transfer everything that is already on it?

No, but a backup is never a bad idea.

The SL Upgrade DVD will only replace the system files and will leave your Home directory mostly untouched, therefore your files (music) will not be deleted during the standard installation of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard.