Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

How to convince my parents to let me buy a 17" MacBook Pro

Ulf1103 said:
I knew, but I don't wont a pc, 'cause our pc at home really hates me…
And I hate it back. :)
Click to expand...

Lol!!!...i had images in my mind of you and the PC growling at each other in the room..

Anyways, just one question - why a laptop? Is it so you can do work whilst in college?

At 17inches I would suggest its not that portable and you may be better off spending your money on a 27 inch iMAC?

just a thought...
 
Would you consider getting the 13" or 15" MBP plus a 24" or 23" external monitor. That would cost you less that the 17" MBP and give you a big screen when you need the space. The 13" would be ideal for carrying to class and taking notes. Back in the dorm hook it up the the external monitor and you have lots of screen space to do your work.

Just saying.
 
ojaysimsanson said:
This forum peeps really need to stop telling the OP that he's 18 and just help him out. I think he knows he's 18.

Buddy what I recommend if you don't need specs is to buy a way cheaper macbook pro, say the low end 15" which still has a dedicated graphics card and it a great comp, then buy an external display you can get a 19" LCD for 150Euros or less if you look for a sale. Then use the laptop while in class and all and use the big display when doing your work at home, this would be a lot cheaper than the 17" MBP.

To convince your parents tell them macs dont get viruses, tell them about the education price, about the free 100$ Mac app store gift card, so you can buy iwork for college instead of office.
Click to expand...

Didn't see your post before I commented the same advice. This is the best solution to the original posters problem.
 
sheareb said:
Lol!!!...i had images in my mind of you and the PC growling at each other in the room..

Anyways, just one question - why a laptop? Is it so you can do work whilst in college?

At 17inches I would suggest its not that portable and you may be better off spending your money on a 27 inch iMAC?

just a thought...
Click to expand...

That would be like heaven.
But I may not buy a MacBook and an iMac.

That also would cost me too much.
I've a nice backpack were the 17" MBP can fit in, so I don't think that it's gonna be a problem to carry around.
And qua weight, well, if you buy a 15" pc laptop it's probably gonna weigh more then the 17" MBP. :)
 
xlii said:
Would you consider getting the 13" or 15" MBP plus a 24" or 23" external monitor. That would cost you less that the 17" MBP and give you a big screen when you need the space. The 13" would be ideal for carrying to class and taking notes. Back in the dorm hook it up the the external monitor and you have lots of screen space to do your work.

Just saying.
Click to expand...

I'll be needing a pc/laptop with good specs. Because the MBP will be my only laptop, it has to have good specs. (not a 2.7 dual core but at least a quad core). :)
 
Ulf1103 said:
I'll be needing a pc/laptop with good specs. Because the MBP will be my only laptop, it has to have good specs. (not a 2.7 dual core but at least a quad core). :)
Click to expand...
The 15" comes standard with a quad core.

And with your uses, I really think a quad core is totally over doing it. But, if you really do plan on using it for 4-6 years, then may as well get the best you can :cool:
 
Hello fellow Belgian,

I had to proof to my company, why I wanted a MacBook Pro instead of a Dell Inspiron, so I first surfed to the webstore of Apple to get the price and configuration that I liked and than to the webstore to get an Inspiron with the same config:

This was my outcome:

A Macbook Pro 17", i7, 500Gb HD and 8GB Ram came to €2699 (including 21% VAT)
A Dell Inspiron 17" with the same configuration came to €2649 (excluding the 21% VAT), so it clocked off at €3205,29.

So test this with your configuration first and there's a good chance that an equal Inspiron will be more expensive than the MBP.
Use the Dell Inspiron, because it's the pro-line like the MBP are too.

Hope it helps,
Zendo
 
Zendokan said:
Hello fellow Belgian,

I had to proof to my company, why I wanted a MacBook Pro instead of a Dell Inspiron, so I first surfed to the webstore of Apple to get the price and configuration that I liked and than to the webstore to get an Inspiron with the same config:

This was my outcome:

A Macbook Pro 17", i7, 500Gb HD and 8GB Ram came to €2699 (including 21% VAT)
A Dell Inspiron 17" with the same configuration came to €2649 (excluding the 21% VAT), so it clocked off at €3205,29.

So test this with your configuration first and there's a good chance that an equal Inspiron will be more expensive than the MBP.
Use the Dell Inspiron, because it's the pro-line like the MBP are too.

Hope it helps,
Zendo
Click to expand...

I'll surtanly will look it up.
I'll post mi conclusions here.
 
Zendokan said:
Remember that VAT (BTW) is included in the prices on the Apple Webstore for Belgium, but aren't included in the prices of the Dell Webstore.
Click to expand...

I can't find the congigurator in my iPhone. The site wasn't clear.
I found a page where I needed to have flash, but it didn't say what it was for (the site).
Maybe they don't let you configurate laptops anymore.
I'll look it up on my pc :( when I've more time.
 
People (including me) have been studying computer science long time ago when nobody had a computer like the one you describe.

Also, I think it is just a bad investment. I have no way of knowing how much money your family has, but electronics in general are never a good investment. In particular the most powerful computers on the market always end up losing a great deal of their value already in their first year of use as newer processors and other components become available.

Even if you do not care about the money, there are still better ways to spend it. If I were you, I would consider saving the money or at least getting something that makes more sense for a guy your age. Outside of highly special uses, 17'' Mac laptops are expensive toys for men in midlife crises.
 
A base 15 inch with high res display and 128gb SSD is the best investment it will outperform the 17 inch and the more pixels should easily allow you to open two side by side windows or get the 11 inch air for portable use and 21 inch iMac for home intensive use thats what I plan on getting in the future and it's still cheaper than a 17 inch.
 
instead of getting a 17" mbp, get a 15" one with the specs you want and get a cheap 24" monitor. it will provide you with a lot of screen real estate that won't break the bank and the 15" is much more portable.
 
Zendokan said:
Hello fellow Belgian,

I had to proof to my company, why I wanted a MacBook Pro instead of a Dell Inspiron, so I first surfed to the webstore of Apple to get the price and configuration that I liked and than to the webstore to get an Inspiron with the same config:

This was my outcome:

A Macbook Pro 17", i7, 500Gb HD and 8GB Ram came to €2699 (including 21% VAT)
A Dell Inspiron 17" with the same configuration came to €2649 (excluding the 21% VAT), so it clocked off at €3205,29.

So test this with your configuration first and there's a good chance that an equal Inspiron will be more expensive than the MBP.
Use the Dell Inspiron, because it's the pro-line like the MBP are too.

Hope it helps,
Zendo
Click to expand...

I think the line that draws far more parallels with the pro line of macs are the xps series from dell. the inspiron is more like the white macbook.
 
I dont get this.. if your 18 you do not need your parents consent to do anything... You can buy what you want, do what you want( to a point in their house), and even get a credit/debit card.... :confused:

You do what you want with your own money. If youre 18 you dont need to consult to your parents to buy something...
 
Ulf1103 said:
Reasons why I need a MacBook pro 17":

1) I need a 17" screen 'cause when you're working on 2 text doc. it will fit just on the screen, with a 15" in won't. (You can see that for yourself at our own pc.)
2) The MacBook pro screen has a very high resolution 1920 by 1200 (that's higher then any 17" pc laptop) LED screen.
3) It has 2 GPU's, one very powerful for when it's needed. Yes I'll be needing a good GPU for the work at school, but not all the time. That's were the other, low energy GPU is for, for a longer battery life.
4) It has the longest battery life of all laptops. (7hrs low usage and can be charged a 1000 times before losing anything of that 7hrs battery life. Any other laptop is at 500 times. So the battery lives longer.
5) The MacBook pro's are made to last, the will easily become 6 years without losing to much speed. A pc laptop will be having a hard time after the 3th year (watch my brother laptop, and it's not even 3 years old => losing speed and battery life)
6) The OS of a Mac is way better then windows. *OSX gets refreshed +/- every year, windows +/- 2 years. Updating OSX cost 24€, updating windows 120€.
I'll try to post it before July.
Click to expand...

Recently my MBP died. I came down to two options, iMac 27" + 11" Air. Or dell XPS 15 beefed up and money for food, alcohol, etc during semester.

This is what i thought when i read your problem
1) a Dell XPS 15, with a 1080p screen? You can easily fit to text documents side by side on that resolution.
2) Get a big monitor. with the cash you save.
3)It has a 2gb Nvidia with optimus, that's exactly the same the MBP has, but with a more powerful GPU.
4)It's rated for about 5 hours on the integrated CPU. wich ain't that bad.
5)Not exactly, My mbp got dented and scratched easily. The are well built but they are nowhere near a thickpad. :)
6) For your needs, you'll be better on windows. Since you'll be programming FOR windows mate. (that's at least my gut feeling).
7) There is no 7.

MBPs Are beautiful. But i think sometimes they aren't the best choice. I ended up on a 27" iMac + MBA. Real state plus portability. Win/Win. :)
 
Last edited:
I'm going to give you the same advise I gave years ago to a 14 year old boy who wanted a MAC G5:

You'll need to show your parents that the MBP is going to help you earn money.
Present it to them as an investment (how it's going to pay itself), not as a cool and expensive toy (avoid highlighting the fun stuff).

If you are planning on developing software with it, then YOU MUST get the 17" MBP. No going around. You'll need the resolution and display size for xCode.
Otherwise, you'll need to buy an external monitor.
The reason why you want an MBP and not an iMac must be portability, right?
Spending hours programming on a small screen will cause you eye strain, and headaches.

[In the case of the 14yo boy, he started doing video editing with his Windows PC and started earning some money ($130.00 per one hour video), and prove his parents that with the G5 he was going to be able to make much more and also faster. He was able to convince his parents so well, that they even paid for half of it. And we are talking about an approximate total cost of $6000.00 at that time.]
 
Last edited:
Mumstalker said:
Recently my MBP died, i do two majors, Pure mathematics, and theoretical Physics, so i need a computer ASAP. I came down to two options, iMac 27" + 11" Air. Or dell XPS 15 beefed up and money for food, alcohol, etc during semester.

This is what i thought when i read your problem
1) a Dell XPS 15, with a 1080p screen? You can easily fit to text documents side by side on that resolution.
2) Get a big monitor. with the cash you save.
3)It has a 2gb Nvidia with optimus, that's exactly the same the MBP has, but with a more powerful GPU.
4)It's rated for about 5 hours on the integrated CPU. wich ain't that bad.
5)Not exactly, My mbp got dented and scratched easily. The are well built but they are nowhere near a thickpad. :)
6) For your needs, you'll be better on windows. Since you'll be programming FOR windows mate. (that's at least my gut feeling).
7) There is no 7.

MBPs Are beautiful. But i sometimes they aren't the best choice. I ended up on a 27" iMac + MBA. Real state plus portability. Win/Win. :)
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear that... Fortunately, I still have my now ancient 2007 17" MBP, which was also my first Mac. My plan was to later buy an iMAC, but my MBP resulted to be capable enough for every task. Very soon it became my primary computer, and finally got rid of all my Windows PCs.

After getting an iPad, my MBP now sits at home 99% of the time, so if something was to happen to it, I would get a 27" iMAC as a replacement.
 
Amazing Iceman said:
I'm going to give you the same advise I gave years ago to a 14 year old boy who wanted a MAC G5:

You'll need to show your parents that the MBP is going to help you earn money.
Present it to them as an investment (how it's going to pay itself), not as a cool and expensive toy (avoid highlighting the fun stuff).

If you are planning on developing software with it, then YOU MUST get the 17" MBP. No going around. You'll need the resolution and display size for xCode.
Otherwise, you'll need to buy an external monitor.
The reason why you want an MBP and not an iMac must be portability, right?
Spending hours programming on a small screen will cause you eye strain, and headaches.

[In the case of the 14yo boy, he started doing video editing with his Windows PC and started earning some money ($130.00 per one hour video), and prove his parents that with the G5 he was going to be able to make much more and also faster. He was able to convince his parents so well, that they even paid for half of it. And we are talking about an approximate total cost of $6000.00 at that time.]
Click to expand...

Well, you gav me a few more reasons why I need the 17". Thanks.
My parents aren't gonna pay the half, 'cause mu older brother got 1000€ back in 3 years (my parents paid 333€ every time he oases a year on college. :) )
That's wy I'm gonna get 1000€ back and pay 2000€ myself.
Ps: I worked for my money to buy the MacBook pro.
I also worked for my iPhone 3GS (unlocked 675€) an I nagged about it for 2 months before they let me buy it.
 
Ulf1103 said:
Well, you gav me a few more reasons why I need the 17". Thanks.
My parents aren't gonna pay the half, 'cause mu older brother got 1000€ back in 3 years (my parents paid 333€ every time he oases a year on college. :) )
That's wy I'm gonna get 1000€ back and pay 2000€ myself.
Ps: I worked for my money to buy the MacBook pro.
I also worked for my iPhone 3GS (unlocked 675€) an I nagged about it for 2 months before they let me buy it.
Click to expand...

I know the feeling. Been there, done that.
It's always better to get them to agree with you, before you proceed to purchase your MBP. If later, for some reason you have to endure any hardship, they will be willing to help you.

You should make them convince themselves that you need your MBP, instead of just nagging about it. It may seem hard to do, but it's possible, and works for the best.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back