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Buying my first Macbook

K

kylep6190

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 4, 2007
67
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I will be going to college next fall and I have decided on a Macbook for my laptop. I have used windows all my life but a lot of my friends have Macs and I did my research and a Macbook really isn't any more expensive than a Vaio of equal specs. But I have a few questions before I buy it:

1. When should I buy it? I don't really need it till next fall so I was thinking of waiting until they update them again early next year and buying one when they have a graduation sale in May or June. My computer right now is a POS running XP with 512 gb of ram and I am about to throw it out the window.

2. Are refurbished Macbooks any good? Normally I wouldn't even think about buying a refurbished computer but I have heard many good things about refurbished Macbooks - and it will save me $100 that I can spend on extra RAM.

3. When do they usually have the best sales? I am guessing christmas time and graduation would be the biggest, and if there isn't any significant difference then I will just wait until graduation since they will be updated between christmas and graduation.

4. I am going to be majoring in MIS or Information Technology so I know my way around computers pretty well but my school said that they recommend a Windows laptop for my major. Worst comes to worst I can just get parrallel and throw Vista on there right? If I do this, how much would this slow down my Macbook, and how much room would it take up?

5. Would 1 GB of RAM on Leopard perform better than 1 GB of RAM on Vista? From what I have read OS X is coded much better than Windows OS's so it makes them run much better and faster.
 
1. We expect a summer update which should include a hd increase, superdrives for every model and a speed bump. when to buy is your choice, but if you need it buy it. they just got updates.

2. Most people on here are in favor of refurbs, i am too

3. the ipod/back to school one is good if you want an ipod/printer. otherwise refurb/edu/ and black friday sales are pretty much it.

4. inconsequential, make sure you have enough ram.

5. yes
 
kylep6190 said:
I will be going to college next fall and I have decided on a Macbook for my laptop. I have used windows all my life but a lot of my friends have Macs and I did my research and a Macbook really isn't any more expensive than a Vaio of equal specs. But I have a few questions before I buy it:

1. When should I buy it? I don't really need it till next fall so I was thinking of waiting until they update them again early next year and buying one when they have a graduation sale in May or June. My computer right now is a POS running XP with 512 gb of ram and I am about to throw it out the window.

2. Are refurbished Macbooks any good? Normally I wouldn't even think about buying a refurbished computer but I have heard many good things about refurbished Macbooks - and it will save me $100 that I can spend on extra RAM.

3. When do they usually have the best sales? I am guessing christmas time and graduation would be the biggest, and if there isn't any significant difference then I will just wait until graduation since they will be updated between christmas and graduation.

4. I am going to be majoring in MIS or Information Technology so I know my way around computers pretty well but my school said that they recommend a Windows laptop for my major. Worst comes to worst I can just get parrallel and throw Vista on there right? If I do this, how much would this slow down my Macbook, and how much room would it take up?

5. Would 1 GB of RAM on Leopard perform better than 1 GB of RAM on Vista? From what I have read OS X is coded much better than Windows OS's so it makes them run much better and faster.
Click to expand...
1. When you need it.

2. Refurbs are generally as good as new, with the possible exception of occasional minor cosmetic issues.

3. Best sale is usually on Black Friday, but even a total Apple fanatic would call the savings modest at best. Typically 10% off consumer Macs and accessories.

4. Fastest way to run Vista is Boot Camp, which will run Windows as fast as it would on a Windows machine. Parallels is more convenient but slower. Vista will take up as much room as it does on the PC, with a bit of extra overhead if you use Parallels.

5. Leopard on 1GB of RAM is probably better than Vista on 1GB, but 2GB would definitely be better, and 4 if you can. Just get it from a 3rd party supplier like macsales.com instead of Apple.

Edit: CRAZYBUBBA beat me to it. Took too much time to compose...
 
Wait until may/june. By that time, you'll be accepted to college, and thus eligible for the educational discount. Also, there should be some sweet new macbooks out by that time.
 
Eh there is no sense in me waiting for the education discount, my brother is in college so I could just have him buy it for me, then if he wants something in the next year (even though he is a PC user and so am I until i get my macbook) I will probably try and convince him to get a macbook soon and he can just have me buy it for him with my edu discount.

Basically I am wondering, will the next MB upgrade at the beggining of next year be all that big or just a small bump like this one? Because if they give you an option to get any model in black or white than that would save me about $125 since I gotta have the black one, I can't stand looking at something that bright white for a long time.
 
kylep6190 said:
Eh there is no sense in me waiting for the education discount, my brother is in college so I could just have him buy it for me, then if he wants something in the next year (even though he is a PC user and so am I until i get my macbook) I will probably try and convince him to get a macbook soon and he can just have me buy it for him with my edu discount.

Basically I am wondering, will the next MB upgrade at the beggining of next year be all that big or just a small bump like this one? Because if they give you an option to get any model in black or white than that would save me about $125 since I gotta have the black one, I can't stand looking at something that bright white for a long time.
Click to expand...

There's a chance it could be big (aluminum case change, etc.) and there's a change it could be a speed bump. No one knows. If you don't want to wait, then buy it...
 
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