Decided on getting the first Unibody MacBook, now what?

[js81]

Your opinion is one I've considered a lot, but the basic white MacBook leaves a lot out for me. The main big features (that I could never change) are not there. (Illuminated keyboard, aluminum, easily accessible battery.)

While it's new, I wouldn't be happy with it. By that logic, I play a similar trick on my friends.

If you're spending $750 on an old MacBook, get a new white one?
If you're spending $800 on a new white one, why not upgrade to a Pro?
If you're spending $1,199 on a MacBook Pro, why not get a bigger screen?

Before you know it, I'm buying a $26,000 Mac Pro with 4 cinema displays and 16TB of storage. The upgrading (price and product) have to stop somewhere. Unfortunately.[/QUOTE]

VERY, VERY TRUE!!! lol

I guess that's how I ended up with a 15" i7... after all, it was "only $300 more" to get the i7 and more VRAM! Guess that explains why the good 'ol US of A (and myself) are so much in debt...

 

[shyam09]

That's what I figured. I've gotten the opportunity to get my hands on almost every laptop Apple's had after the iBooks except the new Air, and sure, they've gotten clearer since then, but as far as the glass screens go, they all look just as nice to me. Like I said, I'm used to 1024x768, and I find that nice enough.



Hmm. You know, the more I think about it, I really want this laptop, but another question weighs heavy. Should I just wait until the end of next Summer, get a MacBook Pro at $1,199?

It would go like this:
$1,199 MacBook Pro ____________________ ~ Total: $1,199
$249 AppleCare ________________________ + Total: $1,448
$200 iPod Touch that I'd sell ______________ - Total: $1,248
$100 HP Printer I'd also sell _______________ - Total: $1,148
$100 education Rebate (Finishing College) ___ - Total: $1,048

So, I figure it out like this. If I can get 25% off the total price ($750) I'd buy now, and get a laptop from 2008 potentially with a year of AppleCare left, and maybe some extra accessories.
If I can't, I'd just suck it up, pay 1/4 more than what I want, and get the latest available next Summer.

you could wait till next summer... however there are some errors in your total:
the iTouch is currently $229 base so Apple may give it free, but we would have to wait..
and where did you get the printer? (oh is that HP e-Printer really free for students.. it says on the apple store that the printer can save up to $100.. but is it free? sry i did not see that before so im getting a bit excited! (im planning to buy a MBP too!)

okay so i did the total: you saved some money from the apple care (it was 183, but it was auto-enroll)
so here is the total including the $140.96 sales tax for your location
the total came to about $1,751.91

here is a picture:
it looks like you have a 9.2% tax or something..
now if we subtract all the freebies:
-229 for itouch - 229 for selling it =
-100 for printer - 100 for selling printer
my total comes to about $1093.96... (now this once again lies on you selling it at market value..)

if you go to microcenter:
its 999 + 9.2% = 1090.91 + applecare

so based on this.. yes going through apple discount would be cheap...(only $50 or so bucks above your !

but once again if you need it than you still might be able to get a bigger deal from apple edu store because you would end up buying more things!

but if you go to delaware as some other poster mentioned.. it would be $999 +$249 (for apple care) = $1248


EDIT: sry for the ginormous picture..i dont know how to shrink it

 

[SkippyThorson]

So I had a thread about a different opinion, this MacBook vs the Air (rev. c), but that was a short lived idea. I've decidedly set a budget of $750 on this one. I'm too cheap.

Is there anything about this MacBook I should know, or look into? Should I really push for one with some warranty left, or would it really not make too much of a difference. I've never had a warranty on any Apple products, and haven't had any major issues with any of them.

 

[wordoflife]

So I had a thread about a different opinion, this MacBook vs the Air (rev. c), but that was a short lived idea. I've decidedly set a budget of $750 on this one. I'm too cheap.

Is there anything about this MacBook I should know, or look into? Should I really push for one with some warranty left, or would it really not make too much of a difference. I've never had a warranty on any Apple products, and haven't had any major issues with any of them.

I think you should get one with some type of warranty left. I never thought I would use warranty either, but it looks like I will be using it very shortly.

 

[BurningJah]

Just buy it! I have the first unibody too! not the same specs as you want! But I have it for two years now ( bought it when it was available in belgium )
my only problem I had in the 2 years was my screen went vertically black in a 5cm line! so they exchanged it for free! ( parts and workinghours )

so after that I had no problems!
whatever you decide? it is a good choice!

 

[alust2013]

So I had a thread about a different opinion, this MacBook vs the Air (rev. c), but that was a short lived idea. I've decidedly set a budget of $750 on this one. I'm too cheap.

Is there anything about this MacBook I should know, or look into? Should I really push for one with some warranty left, or would it really not make too much of a difference. I've never had a warranty on any Apple products, and haven't had any major issues with any of them.

I don't think the warranty is crucial. I didn't get applecare, and I haven't had an issue with my computer. I make sure to treat it well, and I don't think there were any major issues with this model, so warranty would just be a bonus for me. You may want to upgrade the RAM to 4GB, as it's very cheap right now. I also put in a 7200 RPM hard drive, which gives a decent performance boost.

 

[SkippyThorson]

Success!

I finally sprung for the MacBook of my dreams. A little over budget, but I personally think it's worth it. After shipping, it'll come to $845 total, and I literally got everything I wanted!

The laptop is my beloved 2.4ghz model, near mint pristine condition, with 2gb ram, 320gb hard drive and illuminated keyboard, with a year of AppleCare left. The seller is adding on a bluetooth Mighty Mouse, new bluetooth aluminum keyboard, new aluminum remote, new power adapter, Snow Leopard retail disc, 320gb external hard drive, and a 30 pack of CDs. I couldn't want more.

I'm going to partition the drive to 250gb for Snow Leopard, and I'll throw Windows 7 Professional on the remaining part. Is there anything that I may want to keep in mind on that journey? I've heard of some issues with the illuminated keyboards under Windows.

Anyhow, I'm thrilled to have a new addition to the iLineup. I can't wait to play with it when it gets here. To put the icing on the cake, the seller and myself got to chatting back and forth, and she's willing to ship it out on Monday so that I don't die of anticipation, even though she's just coming off holiday. I got very lucky on this one.

 

[alust2013]

You may want to use the 64-bit version of windows should you decide to upgrade the RAM (not a bad idea) you may want to check out this thread to install the bootcamp drivers. Congrats on the purchase, it's a wonderful little machine

 

[SkippyThorson]

Thank you very much. You (as well as everyone else in this thread) ((and the numerous others I created)) have been great help in my hunt for the perfect laptop. I'll see how I can live with 2gb of Ram, and sometime after the holidays, I'll upgrade if I think the need arises. I'm just excited to compare it to my iBook.