Help with questions RE: buying a MBP

[trudat15]

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to the forums but have been mulling over a purchase and wanted some advice. I am heading to law school in the fall, and was planning on getting a new laptop. Was originally thinking of a Lenovo Thinkpad, but might go with a MBP instead.

Been looking into deals on the MBP and saw the Microcenter deal at 999 for the 13" i5.
I also have a friend who typically gets 20% off apple products, so I could get the i7 for 1199. Is the difference really worth $200? I plan on using it for internet and office. MAYBE bootcamp or Parallels so I can run OneNote.

Should I be waiting for the ipod deal? Do other stores (ie Microcenter) typically get the back to school Ipod deals, or if you bring that deal into the macstore, will they price match and give me the ipod as well? If I went with my friend and the i7, I dont think I could get an Ipod on top.

Was also thinking of upgrading RAM to 8gb through Newegg. Is this easy to do? Does it void the warranty? If the MBP comes with 2gb x2, could I just get one 6gb stick and add it to the preexisting 2gb stick, or should i buy 4gb x2? Do brands matter for RAM?

Lastly - was thinking of upgrading to SSD, again, doing it myself. Only if it's that much better.
So taking out the DVD drive (making it a superdrive) and installing SSD in the bay, and moving the HDD to the optical drive. THen using SSD to boot OS and Programs and HDD to save things. Does this sound right? Just did a quick cursory glance about it online.
I asssume this def voids the warranty, right? Since I'd be completely opening up the MBP.


Anyways, sorry for the barrage of questions. Any insight would be much appreciated.

 

[r0k]

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to the forums but have been mulling over a purchase and wanted some advice. I am heading to law school in the fall, and was planning on getting a new laptop. Was originally thinking of a Lenovo Thinkpad, but might go with a MBP instead.

Been looking into deals on the MBP and saw the Microcenter deal at 999 for the 13" i5.
I also have a friend who typically gets 20% off apple products, so I could get the i7 for 1199. Is the difference really worth $200? I plan on using it for internet and office. MAYBE bootcamp or Parallels so I can run OneNote.

Should I be waiting for the ipod deal? Do other stores (ie Microcenter) typically get the back to school Ipod deals, or if you bring that deal into the macstore, will they price match and give me the ipod as well? If I went with my friend and the i7, I dont think I could get an Ipod on top.

Was also thinking of upgrading RAM to 8gb through Newegg. Is this easy to do? Does it void the warranty? If the MBP comes with 2gb x2, could I just get one 6gb stick and add it to the preexisting 2gb stick, or should i buy 4gb x2? Do brands matter for RAM?

Lastly - was thinking of upgrading to SSD, again, doing it myself. Only if it's that much better.
So taking out the DVD drive (making it a superdrive) and installing SSD in the bay, and moving the HDD to the optical drive. THen using SSD to boot OS and Programs and HDD to save things. Does this sound right? Just did a quick cursory glance about it online.
I asssume this def voids the warranty, right? Since I'd be completely opening up the MBP.


Anyways, sorry for the barrage of questions. Any insight would be much appreciated.

I can only help with a few items. The iPod deal requires you to pay up front and Apple mails you a check. Not worth waiting for unless you need an iPod Touch. Careful. iPod Touch is a gateway drug that can lead to iPhone addiction.

SSD is kind of expensive right now. I picked up a "hybrid" 500 GB 7200 / 4 GB SSD for $140 at Best Buy. I could have gotten it cheaper online if I was willing to deal with mail order. It's great. Unless you can make do with Mac Mini class storage requirements (60 to 120 Gig) I would tend to avoid SSD until they cost "merely double" what 7200 RPM drives cost or go for a hybrid. I have the Seagate Momentus XT.

I just dropped 4 Gig of RAM in my early 2008 Macbook. What a difference. 2 Gig was plenty. 4 gig + hybrid SSD feels like a new machine.

Rip out the optical drive to put in SSD? Only if you want to save money by booting from a 60 Gig SSD located where the superdrive should be and leave the other drive in the machine. I don't want a Macbook without a superdrive unless it's a MBA. I like being able to pop in the OS DVD when I need to without rummaging around for a USB DVD drive (which I know is around here somewhere).

I was very tempted by the $999 Microcenter deal. Now for $200 I've bought myself some time and have what feels like a new machine. I wouldn't dirty my Mac with Windows even if it was free. For the handful windows things I do use, I find Crossover works well enough and I bet OneNote is one of the supported programs that can run inside Crossover (Wine emulation).

hope this helps...