Macbook Heavy Usage

[Brad Gamma]

I switched about 2 weeks ago, got a refurb 2.4 penryn MacBook. So far I am really loving it. After falling in love with iTunes and front row, handbrake and other things, I've started looking at Apple TVs and I'm in the process of ripping my DVD collection.

I have about two thousand episodes of various TV shows, and the settings I'm using on handbrake mean that they take about half an hour each. During this time my cpu will be almost full load. So far i've been doing it in 2 to 10 hour bursts in my spare time.

Im wondering if this sort of heavy usage is risky on the MacBook. Are there any instances of macbooks breaking after heavy use? Has being an xbox 360 owner made me paranoid?

So am I worrying over nothing?

P.S. Depsite how paranoid I seem, I really do not wanna get apple care, its expensive and theres a good chance i'll sell this thing and get a pro in a year

 

[JNB]

As long as you make sure you have sufficient ventilation (which is the case for all electronics, anyway), you shouldn't have any issues whatsoever. It's not like you have x processor cycles before it wears out.

As far as AppleCare, it's a lot less expensive than your time to re-do all of your work if you did fry the machine. Of course, there is no specific need for it as long as it's still within the first year (unless you want free phone support after 90 days), but try to get a dead computer repaired on Day 366... So, if you truly do replace it inside of the first year, you're fine on that score. But, things change, you may have to keep it beyond then--or you discover that you don't need the added cost of another new machine because the MB is working perfectly for you--don't forget to reconsider APP before that year is up.

 

[Brad Gamma]

Can I get apple care 10 or 11 months in? Im not too fussed about phone support

 

[UltraNEO*]

Can I get apple care 10 or 11 months in? Im not too fussed about phone support

You can buy AppleCare within the first 12 months of warranty and provided you've activated it by registering online, your system will be covered for the further two years. Remember, buying the AppleCare membership package doesn't automatically cover you, you must register it online, attach your systems serial number to it.

 

[Brad Gamma]

Ah okay then. Thanks both of you, helped a lot

 

[Laco]

Can I get apple care 10 or 11 months in? Im not too fussed about phone support

Yes you can (well at least you could a year ago when I read about it) until the end of the first year.

I'm sort of thinking about getting apple care. I'm on the fence. Since it is 300 dollars and for that price I could easily replace the hard drive and ram, or buy a superdrive, or maybe even a lcd screen. So I think i won't get it...besides my hard drive just died and apple replaced it with a new one. Now im rambling haha sorry.

 

[Brad Gamma]

Yeah, I think if I got it, I'd be quite pissed if my mac didnt completely break before the end of it. Peace of mind though I guess.

 

[Bobioden]

Yes you can (well at least you could a year ago when I read about it) until the end of the first year.

I'm sort of thinking about getting apple care. I'm on the fence. Since it is 300 dollars and for that price I could easily replace the hard drive and ram, or buy a superdrive, or maybe even a lcd screen. So I think i won't get it...besides my hard drive just died and apple replaced it with a new one. Now im rambling haha sorry.

For the Macbook, the Applecare is $249 retail. You can find it cheaper at Amazon, or do like I did and buy it on eBay for $140.

 

[Laco]

For the Macbook, the Applecare is $249 retail. You can find it cheaper at Amazon, or do like I did and buy it on eBay for $140.

oops i was talkin' canadian , eh. It costs 299 here in Canada. Stupid Canadian pricing, its more even when the Canadian dollar is more than the US.

 

[alphaod]

oops i was talkin' canadian , eh. It costs 299 here in Canada. Stupid Canadian pricing, its more even when the Canadian dollar is more than the US.

Well just get it from the US and activate it...

 

[anmoldagreat]

i put my macbook through a lot of heavy usage (some complicated actions through photoshop for thousands of 10mp raw files sometimes) and as long as it doesnt over heat (i use my roommates laptop fan) i never have problems

my macbook is roughly 10 months old and ive been using it hard ever since.

but im also picking up a refurbed mac pro over summer so i dont end up killing this poor mac which sometimes hits 6200 rpm on the fan just using office or deleting the trash.

and to the poster above me: i cant scan your barcode for some reason... sad.