I'm entering college this fall, parents want to know why I want to spend $1200 on a MBP when there are laptops going for $500-$800. I told them 7 hour battery, no viruses, the iPhoto/iLife software, and most importantly, it's reliable. But I just said reliable because I've read that many times. What really makes it reliable? I mentioned to them that practically every PC we've had eventually slows down tremendously in the long run, with my current laptop having gone through 2 crashes. Oddly enough, they think I should keep this 3 year old laptop which gets less than 2 hour battery and is highly unstable for my first year, but how else do you convince someone (who doesn't necessarily have a good background in technology) that a MBP is worth the extra $500?
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What else makes the MBP worth buying?
- Thread starter SephirothXR
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No viruses are a big selling poing, longevity is a key selling point as well. By the way iLife isn't included. I would recommend taking your parents into the Apple store and have one of the people in the black shirts convince your parental units, they are pretty good at doing it.
You've pretty much got it all down. It's also a great time to buy. Student discount + iPod rebate. You can even sell the iPod towards the MacBook. That's over $300 in savings right there. 
For what it's worth, iLife '09 came pre-installed with the purchase of my MBP.
For what it's worth, iLife '09 came pre-installed with the purchase of my MBP.
- 7 hours of battery life
- Unibody (Much more durable)
- iLife
- Beautiful looking display
- Snow Leopard (More technology advancements coming for cheap)
- Backlit Keyboard
- Multi-Touch trackpad
- It looks stunning
That's about it, but don't forget the reliability of Mac's over PC's, genius bar support and a few other things.
May I ask which model you're looking at?
Indeed. iWork is additional.
Buy the Macbook Pro is you want Mac OS X and you have the budget for it. It is rather easy to stay virus free on a Windows PC. I am not convinced Apple hardware is any more reliable than other quality machines; they are all using the same parts.
Depending on your eventual major at university, there is a likelihood you may have to purchase a Windows license eventually and use Bootcamp on your Mac. It depends. So factor that cost into the equation on the Macbook as well.
Coming from someone who works for a very well known computer repair entity. (Which will not be named :-D) I have seen many and I mean many PC computers come in for all sorts of various things. From hard drive and motherboard failures to plenty of viruses. And I have rarely seen an Apple computer come in for any type of work. Well atleast the newer ones. I've seen a couple powerbooks and such but none of the newer models out there. Also from personal experience I've never had a problem with my macs. In short pick one up!! You won't regret it.
While some disagree with this statement, in general iThink it's true. But my six month old MacBook Pro is still taking a six hundred dollar hit.
I'm looking at the 13" lower end model, 4 GB RAM, 250 HD. I also want to look a little more into Windows 7. Just how much better does it make PCs? Man this is tough, I thought I was buying this for sure but I really need to consider my needs and price. Nearest Apple Store is 90 minutes away, but there is a BestBuy nearby. That reliability is the hardest part to convey to my parents, they won't hear $1200 for 7 hour battery and the outside unibody, but if I tell them that the software keeps it going for years, they might like it better. I'll let you guys know what I go with, I'll probably take them to BestBuy and see what they think.
Do the ram upgrade yourself. XP is still probably best for anything Windows. Of course with a PC you are going to get better specs for the price point, but you have pointed out that that is slightly misleading.
What is the spec of this 3 year old notebook? Usually a reinstall of windows refreshes the system. I tend to keep my clean from the outset as to prolong the inevitable (touches wood).
I've also decided to buy a Macbook pro (well it's a gift). I guess for the same £900 (here in the UK, not sure on US prices), you could buy a pretty well spec'ed Dell Studio XP 1340 (13.3") with a discrete Nvidia 9500M graphics card or off Dell's outlet website. I would prefer the latter to be honest purely for the graphics card.
I've also decided to buy a Macbook pro (well it's a gift). I guess for the same £900 (here in the UK, not sure on US prices), you could buy a pretty well spec'ed Dell Studio XP 1340 (13.3") with a discrete Nvidia 9500M graphics card or off Dell's outlet website. I would prefer the latter to be honest purely for the graphics card.
Don't go to BestBuy, you'll be better off getting expert advice at the Apple Store, trust me, it's worth the drive.
Simon, I fixed your sentence. You added some unnecessary words after the above.
(based on personal experience, YMMV)Core 2 Duo 1.5 Ghz, 2 GB RAM, HD-DVD, HDMI output, 160 GB HD, Nvidia 8600M GT.
It was pretty solid when I first bought it, I mean now it serves its purpose, gives me 2 hour battery life and I sync my iPhone 3GS with it, sometimes the Windows toolbar freezes, but all it needs is a software revision, like Windows 7. Honestly though if the MBP had just 2 hours battery life, I might not even look at it really. I don't want to say I'm spending this much money for a good battery, but this battery would be nice to have.
I mean most threads come down to the discussion of the OS. While the MacBook (Pro) is physically a better built machine then most PC's, the tipping point for a lot of users is the not freezing, no viruses and the "just works" factor, despite the seven million posts on this forum complaining about something or another.
I would put Windows 7 on it if you were using bootcamp but for parallels or any virtual machine I agree with you.
Probably one of the things holding me back is Windows 7. I'm not going to buy a brand new Windows 7 disc, too expensive, but I really want Windows 7 since it's so stable and has a better interface. If I could sell the brand new 8GB iPod Touch (after the rebate) for $199 on Ebay or Craigslist, I'd basically be buying it for $1000 instead of $1200. Well Apple's customer's satisfaction doesn't lie, it is reliable, I'll probably end up going with it, I probably need to work with them a bit more. If I head up to Charlotte again, I"ll be sure to show them the Apple Store MacBooks again since this will be quite an investment.
Some people(well, actually a lot of people) seem to be having issues with a click+beep followed by a freeze on their MBP's with the 7200 RPM 500GB drive...that said mine seems to work flawlessly(for now , at least)
The majority of people get viruses because they download too much crap; they don't know what it is, so they click on it. They think it's a video, so they install it.
All I know is, I've never gotten a virus, my Thinkpad still works and my Mac has been repaired a crap load of times.
All I know is, I've never gotten a virus, my Thinkpad still works and my Mac has been repaired a crap load of times.
Pretty much agree with that. As a switcher, I'd add, Apple has no viruses ( one of the reasons I switched) and the fact that Apple honour their warranties without attempting to seek refuge in contractual small-print (another reason I switched as I had first hand experience of this when two iPods died under warranty and were immediately replaced without a murmur). It also holds its value better should you need to sell it in the future.
Fwiw, I'd suggest you bring your parents to the Apple store rather than BestBuy.
Cheers and good luck
I use Windows XP every day at work. My computer has never gotten a virus, and has frozen at least as many times as my Mac has gotten hung up on whatever. Granted keeping it virus-free took a little work, but if you can think logically it's really not that big of a deal.
OP- I bought my last MBP in 2006 (2 GHz Core Duo, 2 GB RAM, 80 GB hard drive). I was not planning on replacing it for at least another 2 years until it got stolen. Macs last a long time compared to their PC counterparts.