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Considering buying a MacBook...

A

Afflicted Max

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 30, 2008
43
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I have a 24in iMac with 1tb harddrive and 4gb of RAM at my mom's house.

It's my first Mac, but I love it <3

Anyway, my parents are divorced, so I have to travel between their houses (50+ miles apart) and I'm going to be a Junior in high school next year, taking all honours/AP courses.

So I'm finally trying to push for a laptop, and being a :apple:nerd, I want to get a Mac, but I want it to last me most of the way through college.

Unfortunately, a 15inch MBP is too expensive, even with my goal for it to last 6+ years... So I'm considering buying the Mac Book. Logical, no?

So now for my questions...

Is this a viable option, considering I have a home Mac to play games on etc.?

And can I hook it up to a monitor? I have a monitor hooked up to my Xbox 360, and if I buy a mouse/keyboard, could I just plug it into the monitor and treat it as a desktop at my dad's house? Albeit a minor thing in the long run, it still interests me (I dream of a single screen that I can watch TV, play Xbox and surf the web with :cool:).

Any other things I should consider? Advice is welcome :)

Thanks,

Max
 
If you can wait a few weeks the rumor is new MB and MBP are due out soon.

And yes you can do all what you want with a MB
 
MacBook is fine for that. It plays all games okay but don't expect nice graphics in future. It has Mini DisplayPort so you can hook it to a screen and use it as a desktop. Then you can also get EyeTV to watch TV on your MacBook (and on the external display) so yeah, it suits nicely for your needs
 
A Macbook or Macbook Pro will be great. Regarding it lasting 6+ years: definately wait for the next revision of Macbook Pros. I am not sure about the status of Macbook updates, however a Macbook Pro refresh, with i5/i7 chips is just around the corner.
For 6+ years, I highly recommend the newer chip architecture.
Currently, the Macbook Pro 13" and the Macbook share the same graphics. If this might change in the future is unknown.
 
Awesome. I read that the Macbook Pros/Airs are going to be upgraded, does this mean regular ol' MacBooks will be too?

And another quick question. I'm refurnishing my room, and I'm assuming that the MB would easy enough to connect to a ViewSonic or a Samsung monitor, and I wouldn't have to use the official :apple: one?

Also, if the aforementioned question is answered with a yes; Could I just plug my MB into the wall to charge, and then connect a Mighty Mouse/Apple Keyboard, and then put to the side, and just browse off of my monitor? I mean like close the screen and I'd still be able to use it, or would I have to have it open and just have it stream on both screens?
 
Afflicted Max said:
And can I hook it up to a monitor? I have a monitor hooked up to my Xbox 360, and if I buy a mouse/keyboard, could I just plug it into the monitor and treat it as a desktop at my dad's house?
Click to expand...

You can connect any monitor up to 1920 x 1200 or 2048 x 1152 without problems. If you use an external keyboard + mouse you have the choice of using external monitor + builtin screen or only the external monitor. And it works fine with non-Apple items, both monitor, mouse and keyboard. Also for long term, upgrading to a bigger hard drive and more memory is very easy with the MacBooks. Eight GB in the MacBook works, and in three years time it will be really cheap.
 
So if I pick to use just the external monitor, the built-in screen would go black, or w/e? :)
 
Can't go wrong with Mac Book

I don't think you can go wrong with Mac Book, I have one and I think they are great. When you factor in price and performance they make lots of sense. Bootcamp it with Windows and the machine can take you anywhere you need to go in your future studies. In 3 - 4 years you will want a new one, 6 years is a long time for a notebook especially for one that costs $900 or less.
 
Heat and 6 years

I would not close the MB because of heat. 6 years if forever in the computer world, and the battery world, but if you don't need the portable function in about 3 years and you don't feel the need to have the latest greatest in 6 years I suspect the MB will still power on. I would also keep in mind that the internet requirements will also be vastly different in 3 years and light years different in 6 it is very likely that you will have a modern browser choice in 6 years that would run on it. 3 years is a more realistic expectation of usefulness I'm sure you would still get some use at 6 but not at all the same as today.
 
I'm thinking about buying the 13in MBP... I don't see a significant difference besides the MBP being 100$ more.
 
Afflicted Max said:
I'm thinking about buying the 13in MBP... I don't see a significant difference besides the MBP being 100$ more.
Click to expand...

With the 13" MBP you get: a slightly higher quality screen, 2 more GB of RAM, a better graphics card, better battery life, and the build quality of aluminum.

It's $200 more but since the refresh totally worth it.
 
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