Hi, I'm a Mac neewbie and I've decided to take advantage of the education discount and get a new Macbook, Ipod Touch and printer. I just a bit confused on what version to get. What's the difference between the combo and superdrive? Can you burn DVDs on both? Also if I want 2GB Ram should I buy it from Apple or have my tech savvy dad add a 1GB himself? If the most complex programs I'm using on the computer are Photoshop and maybe Final Cut Express do I need the 2.4GHz version? I'll mostly be using the computer for photo editing, typing documents and browsing the web. I really just want a decent configuration for a good price. Any advice?
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Which configuration should I get?
- Thread starter ukitali
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a) always buy RAM from a 3rd party
b) the 2.4 white mb is the best value, it upgrades the optical drive, processor, ram, and HDD for only $200 more
c) the optical drive on the 2.1 mb can't burn DVDs.
Also, if it matters to you, a new version is being rumored to come out in Sept... but if you wan't to get the BTS deal, go for it.
b) the 2.4 white mb is the best value, it upgrades the optical drive, processor, ram, and HDD for only $200 more
c) the optical drive on the 2.1 mb can't burn DVDs.
Also, if it matters to you, a new version is being rumored to come out in Sept... but if you wan't to get the BTS deal, go for it.
Combo Drive = Read/Write CDs, Read DVDs
Super Drive = Read/Write CDs, Read/Write DVDs
So, if you want a DVD burner you'll need the Super Drive.
DO NOT get the extra RAM from Apple, as they overcharge. Get it from some reputable third party (my personal favorite is OWC macsales.com). It is easy to install RAM yourself.
Personally, I would say get the highest processor speed that you can afford, as that cannot be upgraded later.
Super Drive = Read/Write CDs, Read/Write DVDs
So, if you want a DVD burner you'll need the Super Drive.
DO NOT get the extra RAM from Apple, as they overcharge. Get it from some reputable third party (my personal favorite is OWC macsales.com). It is easy to install RAM yourself.
Personally, I would say get the highest processor speed that you can afford, as that cannot be upgraded later.
yes....
I assume you could buy one somewhere and install it yourself, but that is nowhere near as easy as installing the ram, and it would probably void your warranty
If you want the most features, like burning dvds and such, go with the 2.4ghz configuration, the price is $1299 i believe. the superdrive means you can burn both dvds (including dual-layered ones) and cds alike. superdrive = read/wrtie dvds and cds. the super drive is slot loading, its just a slot on the right side of the macbook, you just pop in a disc (dvd or cd) and it will read, to eject, just drag the cd or dvd icon to the trash, which will change to say eject, the disc will then pop out.
never buy apple ram unless you want convenience or just too lazy to do it yourself, but, 2GB ram is good enough for most people. 2GB is stock with the macbook configuration you're purchasing. always use parallel ram, the macbook has two slots, so make each slot's ram the same size, preferably from the same manufacturer. my macbook (my signature below) has 2 X 2GB ram sticks. so thats two individual sticks of 2GB each stick. thats very important about dual core processors (which the macbook features), each core runs better if they have the same amount of ram, and each has their own slot. thats optimal.
Advice is correct but the reason is 100% wrong. Yes it is best to use matched RAM sticks but this has nothing to do with the dual core processor. The cores share a single memory controller and a unitfied cache. This in turn connects to the RAM. The controller, when it notices matched RAM sticks switches to a mode where it read and write to both of them in parallel and you get more total memory bandwidth.