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Thinkpad or another Macbook Pro?

B

bdugan

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 14, 2006
104
0
Obviously I am going to get some biased answers, but heres my situation.

Last Monday, I installed 2 gigs of ram into my first generation Macbook Pro. I also installed leopard that same day. Saturday, at 76% power, my computer shutdowns. I thought it was a random battery problem, but then I kept on getting a message that I need to restart my computer.

I called Apple Support and nothing fixed it. I took it into a store and they said that the logicboard is busted. They took out the new Crucial RAM and put back a stick of Mac ram and the same problem happened, i guess its a Kernal Error. My computer is out of warranty and to fix it it costs over 1000.

I really like the Apple computer and am pissed about my macbookpro getting busted. The only reason I am looking to lenovo is because in order to take the bar exam, you have to take it on windows xp or vista. You can use a mac and use bootcamp, but that just seems a bit sketchy to me and I dont want to risk my computer getting busted halfway through the test.

Am I just too worried about that, or does bootcamp work fine?

Also, any thoughts on the Thinkpad T61 or W500?
 
It seems silly to base a purchase largely on a one-day need. I'll let others chime in about the reliability of BootCamp, but have to ask if you couldn't just borrow a laptop for that one day. Or rent one?

By the way, I'm sorry to hear about the MBP going belly up. My secondary machine, which still gets daily use, is a 6-year-old Titanium PowerBook that still chugs along like a champ.
 
Bootcamp is perfectly reliable. All Bootcamp does is allow Windows to run on your computer as if it was a PC so there is no difference. If you like Macs and your previous MBP I wouldn't switch to a Thinkpad just because of the Bar exam. Just get a new MBP (but I would wait for the new ones if you can).

Oh and this time get Applecare ;)
 
11800506 said:
Bootcamp is perfectly reliable. All Bootcamp does is allow Windows to run on your computer as if it was a PC so there is no difference. If you like Macs and your previous MBP I wouldn't switch to a Thinkpad just because of the Bar exam. Just get a new MBP (but I would wait for the new ones if you can).

Oh and this time get Applecare ;)
Click to expand...

Agree completely. Additionally, if funds are an issue, wait for the updates and get a refurb, which will give you peace of mind as it comes with an Apple warranty, a rigorous testing and a generous discount. Meanwhile, borrow or rent for the bar exam if the updates have not come out by then.
Cheers
 
There's no need to fear Boot Camp. I have used it without fail the last three semesters to take my law school exams with ExamSoft. It boots into XP/Vista just like any other PC and works extremely well.

If you're really sketchy about testing it out for the bar exam (who wouldn't be if it's their first experience with Boot Camp) then try borrowing/renting a normal Windows machine for exam day. I would think it'd be better to go a few days with a temp machine then to have to completely give up on your choice computing platform.

ETA: Of course, I'm echoing the crowd here but I thought you would like to hear from your fellow law student. I will be taking the Bar next July so your hesitation to try something new is completely understood.
 
law students/bar takers have also bought a cheap laptop just for test use. maybe it's an option instead of unloading on another big expensive machine
 
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