New Macbook - Too costly?

[IamJAX]

Hi,

I am planning to buy a new laptop and decided to get a macbook.

I am from India. I decided to go for the new 2.0 GHz macbook. The price for macbook is Rs. 72,910 (about $1458) which comes to Rs 76,900($1518) with Tax. I decided that 2GB is not enough and I better be upgrading it to 4GB. Since the price in Apple store for configuring macbook with 4GB is just $15 extra, i expect it to be a max of Rs10,000($200) here.

So, I was planning to spent around Rs87000($1718) to get a macbook and went to the apple retailer in my city. Here I found out that Macbook costs Rs. 76900($1518) as I expected. But RAM upgrade from 2GB to 4GB costs Rs 28,000 ($560). So the total for the base model new macbook with 4GB costs $2078.

I have use OS X on a friend's macbook and really liked it. I am mainly getting Macbook for OS X. If I buy a dell with similar config, it will cost no more than half the price of macbook. but it wont be running OS X. So, is there any better option?

 

[dbdynsty25]

The other option is to get it w/ 2gb of ram and upgrade the ram yourself at a later date.

 

[acfusion29]

Mac OS X utilizes the ram way better than Windows, so it's not really necessary to upgrade to 4GB just yet.

What are you going to be doing on the computer?

 

[dubhe]

Buy the MacBook stock, then buy your memory upgrade elsewhere online, it will be much cheaper. Also, as you MacBook will be 'standard' you can easily return it if you don't like it and will get it quicker.

 

[IamJAX]

Will be mainly using it for webdesign using photoshop, php/mysql web development etc.

Is the normal laptop RAM compatible with Mac? I was told that mac uses a newer ram which is not used in other laptop and that is why it is costly.

 

[acfusion29]

will be mainly using it for webdesign using photoshop, php/mysql web development etc

You shouldn't have any problems.

I currently use my 2.0 Aluminum in Photoshop and have no problems. I also run Final Cut and dreamweaver, and sometimes have all 3 apps open at one time cause I'm doing a couple of tasks (ex. creating a video for a website and need to do some artwork in photoshop)

 

[dubhe]

Is the normal laptop RAM compatible with Mac? I was told that mac uses a newer ram which is not used in other laptop and that is why it is costly.

It is DDR3 but nothing unique to apple

 

[IamJAX]

Another option I am thinking is getting it through some friends from US. But warrenty could be an issue

 

[IamJAX]

You shouldn't have any problems.

I currently use my 2.0 Aluminum in Photoshop and have no problems. I also run Final Cut and dreamweaver, and sometimes have all 3 apps open at one time cause I'm doing a couple of tasks (ex. creating a video for a website and need to do some artwork in photoshop)

How much RAM do u have?

 

[therealdt]

Order a refurb MB online from Apple.....

 

[acfusion29]

How much RAM do u have?

2GB

 

[IamJAX]

Order a refurb MB online from Apple.....

refurb is not available here...not even ordering online or order by phone. The only way to get it is to get new at an apple retailer.

 

[dubhe]

You could also try the UK we might have cheaper shipping to India, check out cancomuk.com

 

[IamJAX]

You could also try the UK we might have cheaper shipping to India, check out cancomuk.com

I am thinkig about trying to get from US through friends...should be lot cheaper...this model with 4GB costs 1450 + tax...should be around 1550...this is over $500 less than what they want here.

 

[iKennett]

Another option I am thinking is getting it through some friends from US. But warrenty could be an issue

Take out AppleCare (extra cost) and you can have it repaired world wide, including India?