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Ipad to compliment aging laptop

J

jol45

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 18, 2009
27
0
I have a 2007 MPB that has slowed down considerably over the years. It still runs ok in small doses, but streaming video and doing too many things at once overwhelms it now. It gets hot, slows down, and occasionally will freeze and start blinking-forcing a manual shut down.

I don't really have the money to purchase a new laptop with all the fixings for around $1400 but can't really use this as my primary mode of streaming video for much longer. The only real nightmare scenario involves buying an ipad and then my laptop entirely melting down (I need M.Soft Word--netbook?)

Since I want to knock out paying for cable from my life I will rely heavily on things like MLB.TV, Netflix and Hulu+ for media consumption.

Do you think it's worth ponying up for an Ipad in order to save my computer the exhaustion of streaming video? Or is a new laptop a necessity?
 
For what you mention, I think that is kind of what the iPad is for. Casual use, media streaming, browsing, games, and u can save your laptop for real work like typing papers and stuff, lol. Not saying that its not time for you to upgrade it, but I think it would ease the load off your laptop.
 
In my opinion the iPad cant replace a laptop, there just not as versatile. If your on a tight budget I'd look at buying a used MacBook from eBay or something. Prices are much lower than new and you'll get a great laptop. Or look at Apples refurbished store.

One thing I'd say is don't waste money on an iPad if you needa new laptop more.
 
i have a 2008 macbook core 2 duo and 4gb ram that i'm going to compliment with an ipad 2. all i really have to do is upgrade to a larger hdd which i will be doing this week.

the macbook works great when i have to type documents like resumes and stuff and do taxes and such. also a good computer to be syncing my phone, ipad, etc. also great for downloading.

the ipad is going to be a streaming device and for me to be used like the coffee table magazine and encyclopedia collection that will be useless when the ipad arrives. where the macbook is held back (in regards to the ipad) in mobility, quick use, and battery life. the ipad makes up for those cons. but the ipad does not have a good ability to download torrents and do the things that a laptop can do. i will merge the 2 with a remote desktop for the ipad though to work around some things. ie: login to laptop and open itunes for home sharing, etc.
 
Not to thread jack, but I am in the same boat as the OP. I have a late 2007 model macbook which is still running great. The hard drive crashed on me and the battery died, both of which i replaced. But aside from that, everything runs like it did when i first bought it (although I'm not an extremely heavy user...mainly internet, office, iTunes, torrent dl's and the occasional garageband recordings for fun). I want the new iPad, but I'm debating if I should just put in a little more money and get a new MBP or even an Air for its portability.

Sadly, i want them all...but i need to draw the line somewhere. I sometimes feel like spending ~$700 on a new ipad plus accessories is way too much when i can get a Air for $999 or a Pro for $1199. The iPad for me would be more of a new toy really. Something to use on the couch and a travel companion.

Decisions... decisions...

EDIT: I am also afraid of something else failing on my macbook which would force me to buy a new laptop anyway. (which i guess could be an excuse to get both? lol) I just dont like spending excessive amounts of cash if i dont need to....but still need/like to have my gadgets too.
 
To the OP: Go for it. Sounds like a #winning combo (pardon the Sheenism).

With the iPad handling your video playback needs, the MBP is then free to do other things, and you won't need to flip screens to work on the MBP while the ball game's on. The MBP, "old" as it is (I had a Toshiba Satellite circa 2003 up until a couple of months ago-- now that's old), would still work nicely as the backup/sync point for the iPad, provided you have Leopard on it, as I'll bet you probably already do.
 
Yeah, I'm running snow leopard on it. I guess my main concern is the occasional freezing which is followed about 10-15 seconds later by repeated blinking until I need to manually shut it down.

I took it to an Apple Store but since I'm out of Apple Care protection there wasn't much they could do. They checked out all the graphics and stuff and said that came back clean.

Anyone else ever experienced a similar problem? It's been doing it off and on for a few months now, and I'm just afraid of a melt-down.
 
I have an even older macbook pro (2006) and it doesn't exhibit any of the problems yours does. I guess if you really wanted an iPad you could back up the contents of your current MBP to an external hard drive and get an iPad. That way, if your laptop completely fails you'll have a back up ready for when you can afford a new machine.

One thing to keep in mind is that if you are going to focus on a mobile device like an iPad--do you really need another expensive macbook pro to go with it? Has the iPad replaced the need for your laptop in most cases? Why spend 2K on something you don't use much?

If so, why not get an inexpensive PC? You can pick one up for a fraction of the price of a new macbook pro and it can do the heavy lifting in those instances where your iPad won't work well.
 
This is why I'm getting an iPad--to replace all the casual use of my aging laptop. It's not dead yet, but getting old and for web browsing, e-mail, games, pictures and videos, I'm going to have a nice portable fun fast alternative now.
 
tomandshell said:
This is why I'm getting an iPad--to replace all the casual use of my aging laptop. It's not dead yet, but getting old and for web browsing, e-mail, games, pictures and videos, I'm going to have a nice portable fun fast alternative now.
Click to expand...

I never thought about it that way...i think i will probably end up doing the same! :D
 
Yep same here. I have a late 2007 15" MBP. The keyboard and track pad don't work that well. So a carry around a keyboard & mouse with it. I intend to keep using it for photo, video & graphic design projects. I'm not in the market to buy another.
Purchasing an IPad2 to do all the other things and take workload off the MBP. Somehow I get the feeling a few years from now I will do everything on an iPad that I do on my MBP anyway.
 
I have played around with a 1st gen. IPad before and appreciate it for certain things, but definitely understand that it's just a compliment to a laptop.

I still need a laptop for Microsoft Word and I want to be able to view flash content if need be. My laptop is at its worse when I'm streaming content, have it on for too long, or am trying to do too many things at once.

The IPad is appealing, because I'd be paying ~$550 plus case and keyboard accessories as opposed to ~$1400 on a MBP.
 
iPad to complement aging.....

sam2428 said:
I never thought about it that way...i think i will probably end up doing the same! :D
Click to expand...

I guess you could say the iPad is a worthwhile alternative to replace almost anything aging in the computer world. I say "almost" as I am aware of its limitations too. My iPad has become the goto for my aging eMac (remember those?) that still keeps chugging, but struggles with video, and I'm now running out of HDD space. It serves as my iPad host mainly these days. ;)
 
i have a 2007 mbp with 2gbs of ram. I got the first ipad in august. since then ive noticed that i dont use my mbp as much because most of my time is used for surfing internet. So my hopes is that the ipad will allow my mbp to last until 2012.
 
Have you checked to see if the harddrive is failing on your laptop? Also how much memory do you have as not having much may cause the laptop to freeze temporarily while it writes stuff to the hard drive.

In reply to your original question, I have a 4 year old Macbook Pro which I bought a iPad to compliment about 6 months ago. The keyboard and trackpad on the laptop had stopped working so I'd been using it as a desktop anyway; main uses being Web Development, Audio Recording and simple Video Editing for which it works fine if a little slow at times. This is with the max of 3Gb of Ram and a 500Gb Hybrid Drive.

Anyway, the iPad has proved really useful for controlling Logic remotely with the computer in a different room when I am recording with mics and as a general on the move computer for checking email, web and watching videos on, leaving my old laptop to do the rest :)
 
Thanks for the advice everyone. I don't really use a computer for much more than web browsing, word processing, and video streaming (netflix, hulu, mlb.tv). With those requirements a cheap PC makes the most sense but like most people on this board, I'm pretty loyal to Mac products for the simplicity and customer service.
 
Are we still talking about sorry laptops? I'm typing this on my original MacBook. That's right, the 2 GHz Core Duo MacBook from the spring of 2006. My second battery is completely dead, so I have to keep it plugged in at all times. The LCD backlight has a flicker that has gotten progressively more annoying over the past year. I think it has already been ruled out for 10.7 Lion, which means I should probably move on. I decided last year that I would wait for the iPad 2 and ditch my laptop altogether. It won't be a big deal, as I really only use it for for the web, email and remote access to my business with TeamViewer. I bought my wife a new iMac in October for any heavy lifting, which means I can be 100% iPad 2 this Friday. At five years, this is the longest that I've ever gone with one computer, and I won't miss it one bit.
 
You're going to regret it if your computer dies, because the iPad cannot replace a computer. Might I suggest a MacBook Air 11"? Best of both worlds.
 
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