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Switching from a Dell to a Macbook

B

bms259

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 20, 2008
55
1
I'm considering getting a macbook. I've always been a PC person. Always liked the idea of a mac, but never really thought they were for me (esp considering the price).

I'm a freshman in college, and my parents got me a new Dell Inpsiron 1520 for gradution and I've been using it all school year. Its 2.0 GHz, with 2GB RAM, 120 GB hard drive, and vista home premium. Works well, except for a few hiccups w/vista early in the year. And its not even a year old.
A friend of mine has a macbook that I love, and when he told me the price he paid for it, and it was almost half of what we paid for mine, I began to realize that we probably made the wrong decision.

So I am planning on buying a new black Macbook, with nothing added except the apple care plan. Then I'm planning on getting a 4GB upgrade from ebay or some other third party source, and putting it in myself (it seems easy enough to do).

I'm hoping that this will be an investment that will last me for years to come. I'm hoping that it will last a lot longer than what this Dell will. I know that as far as the power and speed of it goes, the mac will suit my needs for quite a while (I don't do anything fancy at all).

I am a little worried about the durability of it. I dont want to dish out the cash for it, only to have it break on me. That's the only thing that is keeping me from making the decision to buy one.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated, as I'm almost completly new to the apple world, save some research over the past week or two. Thanks.
 
I made the switch this past year from Dell to Mac and I've never once regretted it. They're durable and worth the money.
 
As long as you take care of it, durability won't be an issue. Get a nice sleeve for it for when you take it in a bag. I think you're making the right choice.
 
I wonder how you got a 1520 to be more then a MacBook. I'm a fan of the MacAlly Bookshell since it's not going to scratch your case like the Speck Clear Cases.
 
dont get ram from ebay. get it from newegg or owc and make sure you get a lifetime warranty. it is very easy to put in yourself. owc has a very good video on how to do it in the tech support section of their website www.macsales.com

good luck with the switch
 
Thanks for all the help.

Eidorian--When my dad had it built, he put just about everything in it he could, I guess. Otherwise I don't see how it would cost as much as it did. I think a big part of the price was the warranty on it. But $1500 for a macbook is a pretty good price, IMO.

jemeinc--thanks for the heads up. I the won't get the ram from ebay--most likely owc, as their prices look a little cheaper.

I'll look into the sleeve. Any good places to buy them?
But I'm still a little worried about the durability. I've read some horror stories about stuff breaking on macs (although I could probably read about them for other computers too if I wanted to), and the only experience I've had with apple was an ipod that broke on me...
 
Nowadays, there really is no reason NOT to get a Mac because of it's ability to run Windows.

I agree with the others about RAM, get it from a reputable dealer with lifetime warranty.
 
And also don't forget to backup!! this is super easy on a mac. Hard drive failures are very common on all laptops!
 
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