MacBook Advice + Time Machine Question

[Doju]

MacBook

Should I get 2.0GHz or 2.4GHz? Is there a big difference? I sorta want the backlit keyboard... And I assume I shouldn't buy RAM from Apple?

Time Machine

Can I use any external hard drive for Time Machine, or do I need to use Apple's Time Capsule. Is it just me or is it overpriced? If so, why would I buy it?

Do I need an external hard drive to use it, or can I back it up on my actual iMac?

cheers.

 

[MarkMS]

If you can afford it, go for the 2.4 since you want the backlit keyboard. Versus the 2.0, there isn't too much of a difference. But think about this; for $300 more, you get the backlit keyboard, 400MHz extra and 90GB more HDD space.

As for RAM, buy from Newegg and install it yourself. Takes no more than 5 minutes. While Apple has dropped their prices, it's still somewhat expensive.

You can use an external drive for Time Machine. Time Capsule is mainly for those with a few computers on the network and don't want to bother with external drives for each computer.

And yes, I believe you can back up data on your iMac. Just set up a partition for backups on the iMac drive and enable file sharing. Go into Time Machine on the MacBook and browse for the partition.

 

[Doju]

Perfect, thanks!

And you don't find the 13" screen too small?

Also, what kind of RAM from newegg should I get?

 

[MarkMS]

No, I don't find the 13" screen too small. But that's just a matter of opinion. The last time I had something that small was back when Apple was making the 12" PowerBook. Since the Intel switch, I've been buying 15" MacBook Pros because of their dedicated video cards. Now that the MacBooks have decent integrated video cards, I might start buying them. I just wish Apple made a 13" MacBook Pro.

Anyway, anything from Newegg is great. Just make sure to check out the reviews. Crucial.com and Macsales are also good places to shop for RAM. From what I can see, Macsales has the best prices on 4GB (2x2GB) RAM at 1066MHz.

Here's the link: http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/8566DDR3S4GP/

 

[abramson1111]

Question #1- Buy RAM from http://MacSales.com

question #2- any external hdd works, but it needs to be big enough to accommodate all your files... I'd say go to Radio Shack, Best Buy, or one of those kinda stores