MacBook Buying Questions

[JulianC]

Ok, I currently have use my Mom's dell and have been using it since Decemer when my 4 year old Alienware desktop broke. I will be going away to college in September (Lafayette) and am set on buying a MacBook. I will only use this MacBook for about a year and then give it to my mom and buy a MacBook with Merom and hopefully a discrete video card. I have a few questions however.

When I try to log onto Lafayette in Apple EDU Store it takes me to Lafayette where I am prompted for an network id and password. Since I have not moved there yet, I do not know these. Should I just order from another school because technically I am in college just not ordering from the right one but that is apple's fault?

I am set on the Black 2.0 ghz Macbook but I was wondering if I should upgrade the Harddrive to 100gb from 80gb. How much room does OS X take up and how much do room do you guys think I need. Also I would be able to go to Apple Store to buy it if I go stock and then can prove I go to college and can also return it if it is faulty.

Ram wise I will be getting 512 from Apple. But I want to upgrade to 2gb immediately and I was thinking about going Crucial but I have heard that I can get it somewhere else for cheaper but I would rather get better quality and pay more. Could anyone enlighten me about these retailers.

I will be purchasing Apple Care as well.

Finally, I am thinking of holding off my purchase until later in the summer for 2 reasons: I have heard that Apple has a back to school sale and could someone enlighten me further about that. The second reason is that maybe some of the problems such as heat and noises can be ironed out if I order it later. But I also want to get OS X ASAP.​

First Post but I have been reading this site since December! Thanks so much for your time,
Julian

 

[JulianC]

/bump. Sry to bump this but I am holding my cursor (of this POS dell) over the order button so could someone please reply. Thank you.

 

[faintember]

You can order it online or in the store. Make sure that you have proof of being a student (acceptance letter, college ID, etc.) Contact the Apple store for other possible forms of identification. If you order online there is a slim chance of an audit, but as long as you are legit it is not a problem.

The HD space needed depends on your needs. 80GB should be fine for most, and it is easy to upgrade later. OS X is around 17GB with all the bells and whistles IIRC. You can do a fresh install once you get the MB, choose what you want to install and get the OS down to under 10GB easily.

The more RAM you can afford the better. Try Datamem or OWC for RAM that is cheaper than Crucial, but is certified to work with the MB.

Dont bump your own posts. The reason no one replied might be that these topics have been beaten to death. Remember that people posting here do it on their own time, so you are not entitled to anything. In other words, the search function can be your friend.