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Black Macbook...Opinions needed!

D

drknight

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 13, 2008
4
0
Alberta, Canada
I am a huge apple fan, have owned a 20" imac for over a year and want to make the jump to a notebook as well:). For the longest time I was sure that I was going to buy the last gen 15" MBP refurb but the NVIDIA GeForce8600M problem just seemed too much of a gamble for me.Also, for the prices I don't think the new macbooks are for me. I have decided to go with the Black Macbook refurb and will upgrade to 4gb ram. My main uses will be for internet, light photo and video editing and watching dvds for long periods of time. Due to the nature of my work I am able to watch up to 6hrs of dvds a night. However, I will be able to hook up to a larger external monitor so the 13" screen size is not a real issue. The only gaming I might look at doing is SPORE or SIMS.

Am I misguided in thinking this notebook will do the job for me? Any help would be greatly appreciated:D
 
From your description it sounds like the BlackBook might work well for you.
Certainly at the price you are getting a lot of computer.
 
Note that you will ba able to play both games at only lowest graphics and still be in the 5-20 FPS range.
 
I hope you aren't serious about wanting to game on an Intel integrated graphics card. Not happening.
 
eXan said:
Note that you will ba able to play both games at only lowest graphics and still be in the 5-20 FPS range.
Click to expand...

emt1 said:
I hope you aren't serious about wanting to game on an Intel integrated graphics card. Not happening.
Click to expand...

Woah, ok the integrated graphics aren't the best on the old Macbooks, but I manage to get a decently smooth frame rate playing Spore in XP via bootcamp and that's using an old Macbook with the old gma950, so the last revision blackbook with 4gb ram should cope alright with the games the OP wants to play, as long as he can accept its never going to look brilliant.
 
Thanks for all the opinions! It has been really helpful. I spent most of yesterday at work looking over the fourms and apple store trying to decide what to do. Haven't quite made a decision, but am now leaning towards the new 13" 2.0ghz macbook with an upgrade of ram to 4gb. Just want to make sure I am getting the most bang for my buck. Lots of good comments on the new macbooks, so that is swaying me a little bit. Hope to make a decision soon!
 
I play the sims 2 on my blackbook all the time and it runs fine. Not sure if the sims 3 will require more power when it comes out though.
 
drknight said:
Thanks for all the opinions! It has been really helpful. I spent most of yesterday at work looking over the fourms and apple store trying to decide what to do. Haven't quite made a decision, but am now leaning towards the new 13" 2.0ghz macbook with an upgrade of ram to 4gb. Just want to make sure I am getting the most bang for my buck. Lots of good comments on the new macbooks, so that is swaying me a little bit. Hope to make a decision soon!
Click to expand...

The blackbook is great laptop, I think you'd be very happy with it.
 
I'd get the refurb MBP if I was in your shoes. For $1350, you can't beat it. With AppleCare, you can extend the warranty up to 3 years to protect you incase your video card was to go.
 
I have to admit the idea of the prev gen refurb MBP is making a bit of a comeback. However, I am in Canada so the price is actually $1449.00. I did however make the profound realiziation that I am eligible for an education discount because my wife works at a college in our town. Used it for our iMac. So, I wont get the discount on the refurb, but can use it for the AppleCare. Takes it from 299.00 to 239.00 on the refurb MBP. Would it make more sense to get the refurb and uprade to 4gb of ram? or leave it at 2gb?I know I said i didnt need a note book for anything intensive, but I guess I'm thinking it doesn't hurt to have it be able to do what I want it too and much more. Also, is there a proven way to try and wear out that NVIDIA video card sooner than later? Once again, thanks for all the input, it is very much appreciated.
 
drknight said:
I have to admit the idea of the prev gen refurb MBP is making a bit of a comeback. However, I am in Canada so the price is actually $1449.00. I did however make the profound realiziation that I am eligible for an education discount because my wife works at a college in our town. Used it for our iMac. So, I wont get the discount on the refurb, but can use it for the AppleCare. Takes it from 299.00 to 239.00 on the refurb MBP. Would it make more sense to get the refurb and uprade to 4gb of ram? or leave it at 2gb?I know I said i didnt need a note book for anything intensive, but I guess I'm thinking it doesn't hurt to have it be able to do what I want it too and much more. Also, is there a proven way to try and wear out that NVIDIA video card sooner than later? Once again, thanks for all the input, it is very much appreciated.
Click to expand...

If you are using it a lot (gaming, major graphic design, not just photoshop) it would be more likely to fail, but do remember, not every graphics card will fail instantly and most will likely last for 4-6 years. As I said before, the Pro is an awesome machine and I highly recommend buying one.

If/after you get it, if 2 GB of RAM seems to slow for you upgrade it to four.
 
While the black MB you initially describe sounds a very impressive machine, I'd recommend a refurb MBP for your needs. The screen is excellent, and the machine itself is powerful and performs very well. I have a MBP and love it, it is by far the best computer I have ever owned. The refurb comes tested and tried, with Apple's warranty (to which you can add Applecare), and a generous discount.
Cheers and good luck
 
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