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May be a convert to MAC

C

Caddy

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 13, 2003
63
0
Chicago
I apologize if I am in the wrong place. After 12 years as a PC user, mostly Dell's, I want to break into the mac world. I now have a Dell Inspiron 2650 but I am looking at ibooks. I would like something with a big screen 14" or so but would like to stay in the 1200.00 price range.

I find many refurbs are in this price range but my husband is telling me not to buy one. He has a Titanium Mac, brand new. He has never bought a refurb. The refurb would have a one year warranty, can anyone steer me in the right direction?
 
I haven't gotten one, but i hear refurbs are very good for the money. You can also buy the Applecare protection plan 3 year warranty to be extra safe. Its also nice if you are near an Apple authorized repair center should anything come up (all 6 of our macs never had any serious problems requiring service)

Apple sells refurbs directly, which is about as good as you can get, and many other refurbs are refurbed by apple. Go ahead, you will like it!
 
Personally, I buy refurbs with no hesitation. Usually, they are thoroughly checked by the manufacturer (Apple) before being released. Just make sure you buy from a reputable seller and I'm sure you will be able to purchase an extended warranty before the year is out.

I never considered refurbs in the past, but, I have a friend that works for Denon and refurbs their products. His opinion is a refurb product done by the manufacter is as good or better than the original. One thing is that if there is a defective part or chip it will be replaced by possibly a newer version of that part or chip.

I have 6 grand worth of Home Theater equipment that I paid around 3,500 for. (all refurb and of course all Denon). No problems whatsover. 1 1/2 years of solid use.

Good Luck.
 
be aware that the 14 inch screen won't be able to display more things, it'll just provide a bigger image.

to some people, that's not worth sacraficing the extra portability of a 12 inch...

otherwise, go for it :)

pnw
 
Re: May be a convert to MAC

Originally posted by Caddy
I apologize if I am in the wrong place. After 12 years as a PC user, mostly Dell's, I want to break into the mac world. I now have a Dell Inspiron 2650 but I am looking at ibooks. I would like something with a big screen 14" or so but would like to stay in the 1200.00 price range.

I find many refurbs are in this price range but my husband is telling me not to buy one. He has a Titanium Mac, brand new. He has never bought a refurb. The refurb would have a one year warranty, can anyone steer me in the right direction?
Click to expand...

i bought a refurb Cube the day after they were discontinued and i got it for a song. it was the most reliable computer i've ever owned. infact in a lot of cases a refurb will be even more reliable and up-to-snuff than a brand new model, they go through extensive QC and testing and the parts are checked inside and out before they can be sold. it think a refurb is a great buy. with the warranty you could end up with a better-than-new machine. go for it.
 
Do you find the 12 small

Hi i AM using a 14 inch dell now (or maybe its 15), since I use this for word processing, do you think I will notice a big difference?
thanks
 
sorry im not familiar with the screen resolution specs for the dell....heres the apple resolutions.....

Display


Choice of built-in 12.1-inch or 14.1-inch
(diagonal) TFT XGA active-matrix display

Support for millions of colors at
1024-by-768-pixel resolution

Support for resolution scaling to
800-by-600-pixel and 640-by-480-pixel
resolution with millions of colors.



i would THINK (im not sure cause ive only played with a floor model ibook) that you would have to REALLY need to manage windows with a screen this size. i know that with my 15" tibook screen i find myself becoming obsessed with window management. here is a nice application that makes having lots of windows open at once, easy. think of it as the ultimate window manager.

its called virtual desktop and allows you to have different desktop spaces. i use one for the web and communications and have three other working spaces. its really just a glorified HIDE feature since switching desktops is actually just like hiding an application...BUT its much more intuitive and faster then using the HIDE feature in an application.

sooooo anyway...this is a link to version tracker were you can dowload and test it out.

CodeTek Virtual Desktop


OH YEA :D I FORGOT TO TELL YOU. YOUR GONNA LOVE YOUR MAC :D

if you appreciate quality, then your gonna really like the mac user experience. so much is taken into consideration. im looking at the corners of the windows on my screen right now...they seem to have the same radius as the monitors frame on the casing :D i would say this was a concious decision by apple...point being....they look at everything, EVERYTHING as a whole. its very integrated and harmonizing.
 
Re: Do you find the 12 small

Originally posted by Caddy
Hi i AM using a 14 inch dell now (or maybe its 15), since I use this for word processing, do you think I will notice a big difference?
thanks
Click to expand...

i would stay away from the 14" iBook. they increased the screen size but not the resolution, it really looks crap. plus the beauty of the iBook is it's small size and portability. i think the 12" is great. my sister has one and loves it. she uses it for web, writing papers, watching movies on the train, etc. i used to own the 15" PowerBook and I hated it's size. it was too much to lug around. i say go for the 12".
 
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