Soon to be new Apple user -- Need some advice

[BackDraft5]

I have been reading many posts on the forums since April or so when I was doing my research on my iPhone 3G before purchasing, but have yet to make any posts. I think, now that I am about to drop 2 grand, I need a small piece of advice.

I have been a Windows user for about 15 years, but lately, I have been getting more and more fed up with it, and I think the anoying things I have been having with outlook is the straw that broke the back.

Here's what I need advice on:

I have already decided that I am going to purchase a 13" Macbook, but I can't decide when. Should I purchase pre or post MacWorld 2009? Do you think there there will be any reason to wait until after MacWorld 2009? As in, OS X 10.6 probalby will not be released will it?

The delima is that I am in Veterinary school, and I start back on January 5. Since I am new to OS X, I wanted a week or so to really get the hang of it, as I will not have time to mess around with it much when school is in session -- having 26 hours a semester makes that difficult.

Also, does anyone have any particular "How To" articles concerning Mac OS X that they find particularly useful? I have a few, but I didn't know if there were better ones out there. I currently have:
- Mac Switchers Guide from NotebookReview.com
- Leopard Tips and Hints from MacRumors.com

Also, can anyone justify dropping $600 on the SSD drive? Is it really worth it? I know eventually, they will drop to a few hundred, but I don't want to wait until mid 2009 to purchase. For a while, I was planning on getting the SSD, but recently, I could not justify the price.

The configuration I plan on purchasing:

13" Macbook
- 2.4 GHz Processor
- 4 GB ram
- 250 GB HDD
- HP C4580 Wireless Printer

Any other suggestions? Thanks guys.

 

[99MustangGTman]

I too have been a Windows users for years. Just recently got my new Macbook 2.4GHz last week. The transition is really easy.

I suggest watching all the videos on the apple website, they really help a lot. I also post a question whenever I have a problem with my Macbook on here and people answer very quickly and are very helpful.

I have heard by others to possibly wait until January until any quality control issues are solved.

So far I love my Macbook and haven't had any problems I couldn't fix by asking questions on here.

Best of luck to you.

 

[silverblack]

I definitely think you should take this holiday to familiarize yourself with a new OS. When you are in a new working environment (school), you want to focus on school/work, and not worrying about how to do this/that on your computer.

As to worrying about missing an update... Well, there are always more updates and upgrades. You buy when you need it, and to me, it sounds like this is the time.

 

[dubhe]

Or of course you could buy a 'last season' MacBook (BlackBook) for a reduced price, and buy the next Rev MacBook (Alu) when it comes out (mid/late-09) and sell the BlackBook for not much less.

Migration, like everything else, is easy on a Mac

 

[249482]

I have been reading many posts on the forums since April or so when I was doing my research on my iPhone 3G before purchasing, but have yet to make any posts. I think, now that I am about to drop 2 grand, I need a small piece of advice.

I have been a Windows user for about 15 years, but lately, I have been getting more and more fed up with it, and I think the anoying things I have been having with outlook is the straw that broke the back.

Here's what I need advice on:

I have already decided that I am going to purchase a 13" Macbook, but I can't decide when. Should I purchase pre or post MacWorld 2009? Do you think there there will be any reason to wait until after MacWorld 2009? As in, OS X 10.6 probalby will not be released will it?

The delima is that I am in Veterinary school, and I start back on January 5. Since I am new to OS X, I wanted a week or so to really get the hang of it, as I will not have time to mess around with it much when school is in session -- having 26 hours a semester makes that difficult.

Also, does anyone have any particular "How To" articles concerning Mac OS X that they find particularly useful? I have a few, but I didn't know if there were better ones out there. I currently have:
- Mac Switchers Guide from NotebookReview.com
- Leopard Tips and Hints from MacRumors.com

Also, can anyone justify dropping $600 on the SSD drive? Is it really worth it? I know eventually, they will drop to a few hundred, but I don't want to wait until mid 2009 to purchase. For a while, I was planning on getting the SSD, but recently, I could not justify the price.

The configuration I plan on purchasing:

13" Macbook
- 2.4 GHz Processor
- 4 GB ram
- 250 GB HDD
- HP C4580 Wireless Printer

Any other suggestions? Thanks guys.

I just wanted to say that I was in the same situation as you. I wanted to buy a new Al. Macbook with the 2.4, 4gb and ssd drive. I ended up buying a blackbook with the 2.4 and 2gb and 250gb hard drive. (I bought the blackbook because of a excellent price versus the new aluminum macbook. I also decided from a financial situation that it would be best to add my own memory and get a nice intel ssd drive at a cheaper price in the next few months. I've been watching intel ssd drive prices on amazon and a month ago they were well over 620 for i THINK a 80gb hard drive and now they've dropped to about 539 shipped. If prices are dropping this badly, I would wait a few months in hopes it will drop into the low 400s or high 300s (due to more competition and economies of scale). Like others have said in this thread i would wait for after macworld just so apple would hopefully knock out some of the kinks out of the new macbooks and i believe you will be able to get snow leopard. I'll also add during this time study up the videos online. I did before I got the macbook and the day I got it it took me about 2-3 hours and got used to it immediately. With all that said, I love the blackbook and the OS. In my opinion on the SSD, I WILL get one in the future I just can't afford it at the moment. Why get one? mainly for me I like the concept of no moving parts (reliability) and the fact that it runs cold and doesn't really get hot. The 250gb hard drive is more than good enough for me for now, but i also want the ssd for the quickness. Check out the SSD macbook videos vs. the regular videos. It's a night and day difference.

I hope this helps.

 

[rd261]

quick question about ssd

You should buy now. Otherwise go with a refurbished plastic macbook and wait until rev B.