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Thinking of Buying a MacBook

KBV1

KBV1

macrumors regular
Original poster
Dec 22, 2007
125
0
Hey Guys

I'm at the stage of looking to my a new notebook. I have always been a windows user but recently i have been looking at apple products, they seem to be better built and have fewer problems as hardware and software is produced by apple. Anyways.... this will be my first Apple MacBook so i have a few questions if you could help me out :)

1) I have a blackberry phone and i do sync my contacts/calendar with outlook on my laptop, will i be able to do this on a MacBook?

2) I have a wireless HP printer, will the software be ok on a mac or is alot of software not supported my macs as yet?

3) Do Macbooks run well on just 2gb of ram as i know vista would struggle on that?

4) Is it best to buy a macbook now or wait as i know they release new models each year, btw when is that?

5) The Macbook comes with Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard, is that updated regulary or is it like Vista which is just patched and if a new release comes out you pay for the next one, eg Mac OS X v11 Leopard.

Hope you guys can help. Many thanks in advance.

:)
 
1.) Yes, though not through outlook, since that program doesn't exist for mac. You can however get entourage on the mac and sync it with your blackberry. Read here. http://na.blackberry.com/eng/services/desktop/mac.jsp

2.) I've never had problems with driver support with my mac... got an HP printer for our iMac and all worked fine.

3.) Macbooks run very well on 2gb / ram, though if you're a heavy video / audio editor you might want to consider upgrading to 4gb. (Though me personally I use photoshop and aperture a lot and 2gbs definitely does me, runs quick enough).

4.) Not sure on this one.
 
KBV1 said:
Hey Guys

I'm at the stage of looking to my a new notebook. I have always been a windows user but recently i have been looking at apple products, they seem to be better built and have fewer problems as hardware and software is produced by apple. Anyways.... this will be my first Apple MacBook so i have a few questions if you could help me out :)

1) I have a blackberry phone and i do sync my contacts/calendar with outlook on my laptop, will i be able to do this on a MacBook?

2) I have a wireless HP printer, will the software be ok on a mac or is alot of software not supported my macs as yet?

3) Do Macbooks run well on just 2gb of ram as i know vista would struggle on that?

4) Is it best to buy a macbook now or wait as i know they release new models each year, btw when is that?

5) The Macbook comes with Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard, is that updated regulary or is it like Vista which is just patched and if a new release comes out you pay for the next one, eg Mac OS X v11 Leopard.

Hope you guys can help. Many thanks in advance.

:)
Click to expand...

Hello, lets see if we can make this painless haha

1) I'm pretty sure you can as I've heard other people do. I used to sync my old Sony Ericsson but, nothing a little searching around the forums cant fix ;)

2) Yep, will work fine but check with HP's website to be on the safe side.

3) My Macbook runs OS X well with 2Gb, so yup. But, if you're going to use more ram intensive apps, 4Gb is a fairly cheap option if you get it and fit yourself

4) I'd say buy one now. Mid-cycle at the moment. They were last updated in October but they could see a speed bump after WWDC so you could wait for that. No major changes till next year I don't think

5) a point release comes out every couple of months or so upto the next version of OS X. 10.6 will be out sometime later this year, so unless you want to spend the £89 to upgrade, you can wait too.

As a side note, Leopard just relates to a version of OS X. 10.0 (Cheetah), 10.1 (Puma), 10.2 (Jaguar), 10.3 (Panther), 10.4 (Tiger), 10.5 (Leopard), 10.6 (Snow Leopard)

Hope that helps a little
 
thanks for the replied guys :)

With regards to the OS updated, like you said 10.6 (Snow Leopard), you pay £89 for that... is there much difference i nthe update or not? Does do you have to pay for updates of your currect OS X like security or bug fixes (updates like windows update)

With regards to sync-ing my contacts and calendar with outlook on windows, does outlook not come with Office Mac08?

Thanks again :)
 
KBV1 said:
thanks for the replied guys :)

With regards to the OS updated, like you said 10.6 (Snow Leopard), you pay £89 for that... is there much difference i nthe update or not? Does do you have to pay for updates of your currect OS X like security or bug fixes (updates like windows update)

With regards to sync-ing my contacts and calendar with outlook on windows, does outlook not come with Office Mac08?

Thanks again :)
Click to expand...

My two cents:
- you don't have to pay for upgrades to your current OS (namely, if you buy today your MB with OS 10.5.7 installed, you won't pay to upgrade it to any Leopard update Apple will ship, say 10.5.8 etc). You'll pay if you'll upgrade from Leopard to Snw Leopard (10.6).
- Office Mac 08 is a piece of crap. I have it and never used. The excel macros are not implemented and/or supported, for instance.
I use Neooffice, which is free, and iwork09 for keynote only.
 
Iv'e been looking on the Uk store and refurbs. Are the refurbs reliable and do they come "like brand new" Whats is there any difference between refurbs and brand new products? Is it worth getting a refurb?

Thanks again :D
 
KBV1 said:
Iv'e been looking on the Uk store and refurbs. Are the refurbs reliable and do they come "like brand new" Whats is there any difference between refurbs and brand new products? Is it worth getting a refurb?

Thanks again :D
Click to expand...

First, Office:Mac 08 has an email program called Entourage BUT, 10.6 is including exchange support if that's of any help for syncing?

In response to the above, Refurbs are a great deal. They can be absolutely perfect or may have a slight blemish on them. Most people I hear who get them seem to get great ones. Also, you only get a brown box with everything inside, not the retail packaging.
 
KBV1 said:
Iv'e been looking on the Uk store and refurbs. Are the refurbs reliable and do they come "like brand new" Whats is there any difference between refurbs and brand new products? Is it worth getting a refurb?

Thanks again :D
Click to expand...

See my post here regarding refurbs. I would absolutely recommend Apple's refurbs!

I also have and use Office:mac 2008 daily, and it works great. Yeah, the macros don't work in Excel but that seems to be the only draw back I have come across.
 
I may look at buying a refurb instead then, save a bit of money and get a better product that u was looking at lol. Just one questions, ones which come with marks can you tell before you buy it, are they big marks and if you receive the product but your not happy with it are you still able to return it?

Thanks :)
 
KBV1 said:
I may look at buying a refurb instead then, save a bit of money and get a better product that u was looking at lol. Just one questions, ones which come with marks can you tell before you buy it, are they big marks and if you receive the product but your not happy with it are you still able to return it?

Thanks :)
Click to expand...

Nope, there's no pictures. Just luck of the draw but as I've said, not many are marked. Nearly all the refurbs would have been products which are DOA or had bad screens, been repaired and sold on
 
If you decide to buy new, wait a few weeks. They are due for an update, despite the buyer's guide saying they are mid product cycle. It will probably only be a speed bump and more storage, but it's worth waiting a few weeks to find out.
 
For the record, about #1: syncing a BB (in my experience) is a hassle and generally not worth it. The free syncing program that BB offers is beyond awful and there is another one that you have to pay for out on the internet, which I don't know much about. I think that it's ridiculous that you'd have to pay extra to be able to sync properly.
 
Been to my local Pc world today to check out the macbook and wow i want one now LOL!! I have seen this "apple care" around. Do you think it is a must have and what does it actually cover? Ive also seen on here you can buy it from ebay for alot cheaper (US seller) Can i buy that being in the UK or do i have to buy a UK apple care?

Thanks :)
 
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