I have had a few things happen to my August 2007 MacBook, which have me considering a new one....
1-Screen suffered liquid damage. It works, but its got splotches, so it's been more annoying. 200 bucks to fix it/replace it.
2-Seems my firewire port has crapped out. Have had intermittent problems with a FW enclosure with hub, but drives directly connected without it seemed fine. Now I've tried a couple drives with a couple cables. Drives all come up fine on USB2, but no joy with FW.
And 3 isn't so much an issue as a choice...but I wanted to get my wife a new laptop for Christmas, one that our kids (not quite 3) could use for educational software in a year or two (with kid-proof mouse and keyboard, of course).
So my ideas so far:
1-Buy daddy a new MBP, repair the screen on the MB and give the MB to the wife.
I hesitate at this because between the two expenses, it's over 2k, and I am not totally sold on the MBP yet.
2-Buy daddy a refurb or clearance MBP (15.4, 2.4ghz, matte), for like 40% off or whatever it works out to. Still repair the screen in the MB and hand it down.
Yes, it's old tech, but it's proven and it should be more than adequate for photos and video. The MB was fine for the most part, but more power would be nice, and i want that lighted KB.
3-Buy the wife a new or refurb MB, suffer with what I have, maybe replace the screen. Cheap,1k for all of the above....
4-Possibly get her a Dell. Shes a windows girl, its what she knows. yes, i can dual boot for her. the other nice thing about the dell is a card reader. yes, we have a USB one. but its one more thing she can and does mis-place. i have too many card readers....
One thing with the newer MBP is I hear a lot of people waiting to see Snow Leopard, saying with the multiple GPUs it should really fly....maybe so, but I kinda think I'd want to wait till after MWSF to buy, in part because of that.
Price wise....the MB-esque price point of the older MBP appeals to me. Had FW remained in the new MB, it would be a no brainer (though the mid-level for the backlit KB). More power is always nice, but I know most of what I do is handled fine by the 2.16 C2D MB I have.
So what should I do? Am I crazy for thinking about the older MBP? I've heard both ways....and I still cannot decide.
1-Screen suffered liquid damage. It works, but its got splotches, so it's been more annoying. 200 bucks to fix it/replace it.
2-Seems my firewire port has crapped out. Have had intermittent problems with a FW enclosure with hub, but drives directly connected without it seemed fine. Now I've tried a couple drives with a couple cables. Drives all come up fine on USB2, but no joy with FW.
And 3 isn't so much an issue as a choice...but I wanted to get my wife a new laptop for Christmas, one that our kids (not quite 3) could use for educational software in a year or two (with kid-proof mouse and keyboard, of course).
So my ideas so far:
1-Buy daddy a new MBP, repair the screen on the MB and give the MB to the wife.
I hesitate at this because between the two expenses, it's over 2k, and I am not totally sold on the MBP yet.
2-Buy daddy a refurb or clearance MBP (15.4, 2.4ghz, matte), for like 40% off or whatever it works out to. Still repair the screen in the MB and hand it down.
Yes, it's old tech, but it's proven and it should be more than adequate for photos and video. The MB was fine for the most part, but more power would be nice, and i want that lighted KB.
3-Buy the wife a new or refurb MB, suffer with what I have, maybe replace the screen. Cheap,1k for all of the above....
4-Possibly get her a Dell. Shes a windows girl, its what she knows. yes, i can dual boot for her. the other nice thing about the dell is a card reader. yes, we have a USB one. but its one more thing she can and does mis-place. i have too many card readers....
One thing with the newer MBP is I hear a lot of people waiting to see Snow Leopard, saying with the multiple GPUs it should really fly....maybe so, but I kinda think I'd want to wait till after MWSF to buy, in part because of that.
Price wise....the MB-esque price point of the older MBP appeals to me. Had FW remained in the new MB, it would be a no brainer (though the mid-level for the backlit KB). More power is always nice, but I know most of what I do is handled fine by the 2.16 C2D MB I have.
So what should I do? Am I crazy for thinking about the older MBP? I've heard both ways....and I still cannot decide.