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White MacBook or Aluminium MacBook - HELP ME DECIDE!!!

T

Turbunator92

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 20, 2008
39
0
London, UK
Hiya

I live in the UK and work for Comet, the electrical store, and have been offered a 10% discount on any one product. I am now having trouble to choose between buying the White MacBook (w/ SuperDrive) for the discounted price of £633 or the new Aluminium MacBook for £200 more at £836.

I intend for this MacBook to last me well into University which i begin in around 21 months time so i'm wondering which would be the most effective option.

Will the White MacBook last that long (condition-wise) if i use it nearly everday since then or should i go for the more expensive Aluminium MacBook (which should last until that time with no probs)???

Thanks in advance for any help

Turbunator92
 
Different people will tell you different things. Do a search and check people's opinions. I personally think the Alu will be more DURABLE, as it's a more solid build. Especially if you're gonna keep it for such a long time I would get the more updated version...

MOST IMPORTANTLY, you have to play with both of them, check them out and see what you're most comfortable with.
 
Well either one will last you for a while. Apple computers are notoriously long lasting. It really comes down to what you need your computer to do. I have a white macbook (early 2008) and after i put a 250 HDD and 4GB ram in it, it does everything that i could ever ask of it. Of course my needs are quite modest but if you plan on gaming a lot then you need the new macbook but if not, or if you need firewire then you need to go with the white one.
 
They will both last, so as the poster above said it comes down to if you can live without firewire. If you can, go for the Alu for better screen (LED), bigger hd, & more ram.
 
For me, the difference primarily boils down to 3 issues:

1) Graphics performance (if you want to do any half-decent gaming, get the Alu)
2) Firewire (if you want/need firewire, you need the white)
3) trackpad - This may strike others as fairly minor, but the trackpad on my Alu MB has made it much more enjoyable and productive than laptops I've used in the past.

Of course, there's also the issue of price - I personally think the Alu MB is overpriced relative to what the white ones have been going for, but the graphics, trackpad, and overall nicer feel of the Alu was enough to make me spend the extra money.
 
I agree with what most have already said. I think durability is something you should carefully consider since this laptop will probably see a lot of travels. Also, there was an excellent point about the trackpad. I think it's a major improvement over previous models that is often overlooked.

That said, don't buy the Alu MB just because its more expensive and thus perceived to be 'better'. If you buy the Alu MB, make sure you buy it for the right reasons. Remember, the 'best' computer is the one that sufficiently meets all your needs for the lowest cost.

If design is important to you, I expect that the 'whitebook' will be phased out in the very near future. That said, it's what's on the inside that counts - kind of ;)
 
I've just got a refurbished White MacBook as the new Aluminium ones were a bit too steep for me. I am more than happy with my choice, its a great little machine but it rarely ventures anywhere further than my lap on the sofa in the lounge. If I had to cart it about everyday, I am not sure how it would stand up to that. I would suggest you go with the Aluminium just on that basis. The other things that held me back from that model were the glossy/glass combination and the trackpad as a button. I am presuming that you can try these out in person for yourself and see if you can live with them.

Presuming you have some free time after your studies, the Aluminium model will also serve you pretty well as a gaming rig as well =]

Lucky you!
 
Alu MB all the way, it will last longer in they way of power etc. You won't want to upgrade for a while with the Alu. Also the white MB has problems with cracking which frankly Apple known about but will only change with another polycarbonate which will crack.
 
agree that the alum is better. hvr, i have never had any durability problems with the white plastic. they are both solid laptops.
 
ask a friend at uni to get you one with the higher education discount, that will be about 13% off i think and would save you more than the 10%
 
One thing nobody has mentioned is sturdiness/ fragility. I have a g4 ibook that has survived several big falls & drops- - one down a flight of stairs (in my hands but it took a hard hit at the bottom). I now have an AL macbook, which I think is fantastic but I doubt if it could survive a fall without some serious denting, which would (I think) be fatal. If you are going to carry the thing around a lot you may want to consider the plastic one.
 
uni doesnt start for 21 months and you want to use it after that for at least 3+plus years,id say go for the alum,only cause youll need it to last around 4 years right? at least if you get bored you can play some games and more newr software might use the power of the gpu aswell. but depends on how long you will use it. if its for 4 years then get the alum,but if its for a few years and then get a new book then get the whitebook.
 
rosalindavenue said:
One thing nobody has mentioned is sturdiness/ fragility. I have a g4 ibook that has survived several big falls & drops- - one down a flight of stairs (in my hands but it took a hard hit at the bottom). I now have an AL macbook, which I think is fantastic but I doubt if it could survive a fall without some serious denting, which would (I think) be fatal. If you are going to carry the thing around a lot you may want to consider the plastic one.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I've had the same experiences with my old iBook G4 and my BlackBook. Aluminum is why I never bought a MBP. If you're a student, and you're going to be running around with it a lot, I say do the white.
 
I have an early 2004 12" white plastic iBook.
I carry it back-and-forth to work every day, where I use it actively for ~4 hours. Then a good couple hours or more at home. I use it for a lot of multi-track audio editing, so it gets a good workout It's dropped 2-3 feet a couple times.

It's held up great and it's still my main computer.
*The outside has a lot of minor scratches, but there's not a crack to be seen anywhere. It really still looks pretty decent and new.
*The center bottom screw fell out about 6 months ago because I never bothered to tighten it when I noticed it was getting loose.
*The powerbrick died. It was one of the faulty sparky ones, but it didn't fail until I used it for about 3 years, so I they wouldn't give me a replacement.
*I got a battery recall/replacement a few months into the computers life. I still use that battery, but it's down to only a couple hours of life per charge.
 
Even though I owe one of the Al-MB and am very happy with it. I think as a student, you should be $ conscious and get the cheaper plastic MB. £200 is a lot of money. The two MBs perform very similarly that you are not going to notice a significant difference. In 2 years, both the Al-MB and white-MB will be more or less equally outdated (performance-wise), so there's no real gain in going for the more expense Al-MB.

As to durability, neither one is going to fall apart in 3-4 years, providing that you don't drop it. (I know a few said they've dropped theirs a few times. Take it that they're lucky, I wouldn't count on it)
 
What are you going to be doing at uni? If you have need for fw to use the video lab's fw camcorders or need to transfer files to fw-only drives then definitely you will need the white macbook. The alu is simply not an option in that case. Otherwise the choice is largely what appeals to you most.
 
It depends whether you always want the latest and greatest, or whether you want something which is more than adequate for almost everything you could wish.
Personally I just love getting things second hand that I can get good use of so I have a second hand whitebook. I always take my cars to well over 100K miles as well.
I make a fair bit so money isn't too much of an issue.
 
if you choose the Alu, that is a good deal. if you are getting white, there are better deals at the Apple refurb store (prev gen 2.4GHz is under £650 now, faster and would have a bigger HD than the one you are looking at, both have Superdrive).
 
Thats a bigggg price difference. I'd go with the white book and personally upgrade ram and maybe the hdd. Plus, with the money you save you can buy accessories and apple care to guarantee you longevity.
 
Get the applecare from eBay. Managed to get mine for £63 :)

There's an ebay seller (memorymate i think) thats selling it for £90. Still £109 cheaper than apple

+1 for the refurb idea by the way.. Then use your 10% for something else from where you work.
 
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