Getting ready to order, any suggestions or tips?

[ppfd]

Going to place my order for a white MacBook 13" 2Gh 1 G memory with superdrive.

Couple of questions:
I'm gonna stick with the 80g internal H.D. and pick up an external in the future. What is a good brand?

What about Ilife 06, aperture, and final cut express? Are any of these needed? I need to be able to write papers for school, will the mac come with some sort of "office" program? Can one work with photos and DVD/CD's with out buying these extra programs?

I've read not to buy the extened warranty, true?

I am going to use the university discount. Is this a straight forward program? Do I need to submit any paperwork?

And finally will the Mac pick up my home wireless network?

I told some "Windows" friends about my purchase, they are pretty jelous!
Thanks
Tony

 

[alexprice]

I'm gonna stick with the 80g internal H.D. and pick up an external in the future. What is a good brand? Lacie

What about Ilife 06, aperture, and final cut express? Are any of these needed? I need to be able to write papers for school, will the mac come with some sort of "office" program? Can one work with photos and DVD/CD's with out buying these extra programs? You'll need is iLife, that comes free with it. Theres a version of Office for the Mac

I've read not to buy the extened warranty, true? No, worth every penny.

I am going to use the university discount. Is this a straight forward program? Do I need to submit any paperwork? Depends where you live and what type of education you will be doing.

And finally will the Mac pick up my home wireless network? Yes

 

[roland.g]

Going to place my order for a white MacBook 13" 2Gh 1 G memory with superdrive.

Couple of questions:
I'm gonna stick with the 80g internal H.D. and pick up an external in the future. What is a good brand?

What about Ilife 06, aperture, and final cut express? Are any of these needed? I need to be able to write papers for school, will the mac come with some sort of "office" program? Can one work with photos and DVD/CD's with out buying these extra programs?

I've read not to buy the extened warranty, true?

I am going to use the university discount. Is this a straight forward program? Do I need to submit any paperwork?

And finally will the Mac pick up my home wireless network?

I told some "Windows" friends about my purchase, they are pretty jelous!
Thanks
Tony

Lots of good drives out there, just do a search on the forums.
iLife is preloaded, I would get used to iMovie and get Final Cut Express later.
There are some free Office programs, open office and another. You can also get the student edition of Microsoft Office with Word, Excel, Powerpoint for $149. Pretty sure that's the price.
Get the Applecare. Definitely worth it for the laptops. There's also a student discount on that.
Yes, Macs pick up wireless networks easily.

As far as ordering it, go to Apple.com and click on the 2nd row where it says Education. From there you should see something allowing you to select what level of education you are and then shop. There may be an online store for your school or not. Either way you will end up at an online Apple store for education with the education prices reflected in everything. Order your Macbook, add the Applecare and Office if you want it. Might want to add a bluetooth mouse to it to. Nice to not always use a trackpad.

 

[johnee]

You might want to consider a student developer membership. You get a large discount, better than the edu discount even with the $99 membership fee.

There have been many posts about it, you should be able to search MR and find all the threads which discuss this option

 

[siurpeeman]

You might want to consider a student developer membership. You get a large discount, better than the edu discount even with the $99 membership fee.

There have been many posts about it, you should be able to search MR and find all the threads which discuss this option

the student developer discount is not so great on the macbooks. actually, i think it might be cheaper to go with the standard edu discount than to pay for the developer fee and get the developer discount. also, the developer discount is good for one use per lifetime, and i don't think using it on a macbook is the best use of that discount; he may want to buy a macbook pro in the future, and that would see a much better use of the developer discount.

to the op, you might consider iwork. you can use it as a replacement for word and powerpoint, and i know it costs only $39 at my school. it's something to consider when office costs $149.

 

[mags631]

I've read not to buy the extened warranty, true?

First, I would recommend get a warranty on any laptop. There's just too much that can go wrong with them, and it's unlikely that if something does go wrong, you can't fix it (cheaply).

Second, if you can't afford to replace the machine yourself and you need it, then get a warranty.

Third, I've noticed that reselling machines that have current warranties is a lot easier, and can command a better price.

 

[hircus]

I've read not to buy the extened warranty, true?

If you're still going to be a student in a year's time, you can consider holding back on the warranty and spend the money on something else. AFAIK (but you better check) you can get AppleCare anytime in the first year. You won't get software support until you sign up for AppleCare, but you might not need it.

I am going to use the university discount. Is this a straight forward program? Do I need to submit any paperwork?

No paperwork the three times I've used it You just go to their education store, tell them the zipcode for your school, pick the right one, and voila. They reserve the right to ask for credentials (naturally)

And finally will the Mac pick up my home wireless network?

It should. I've not had trouble using it with WEP, WPA, and connecting it to the campus VPN.

Have fun!

 

[jng]

Couple of questions:
I'm gonna stick with the 80g internal H.D. and pick up an external in the future. What is a good brand?

I have one of these and I love it!
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/1394/USB/EliteAL/

 

[ppfd]

Thanks all!
Actually I read NOT getting the warranty in a book I picked up to get the basics of the Mac and the OS. I'll be sure to get the Apple Care plan.

I'll check out iwork as well. I just wanted to be sure I can use the machine right out of the box on papers and what not.

I've looked at the developer plan, and taking Mac Rumors advice, I'm gonna hold off right now, get the basics down and maybe use it later on a imac or MBP in a year or so.