07-14-2007, 04:51 PM

Hi guys,

Since this will be my first Mac purchase I've wondered if maybe I should just get a Refurb unit to "test the waters."

I'm actually tempted to wait till October to see if a new 13.3" MBP is released, since that's what I'd really like ... but we'll see.

Anyway, I have a few questions about the Refurbished MacBook 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo laptop I've seen on the Refurb page. It comes with 1GB memory, 80GB hard drive, and 6x SuperDrive (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW).

1. I know the RAM can be user-upgraded on Macbooks, but can the hard drive be user-upgraded too?

2. SuperDrive - other than the obvious speed difference of 6x vs. today's 8x Drives, any other differences between them?

3. Would this laptop be able to run Parallels (or VMWare)? I'll need to run XP for a few things like MS Office, Photoshop, etc.

4. Any reason NOT to get this particular refurb? Is another refurb a better choice?


Thanks in advance...

07-14-2007, 05:08 PM

1. Yes, easily.
2. Not that I know of
3. yes
4. I'd go with the black with 120gb. I believe it is only 50 dollars more. Just my preference.

07-14-2007, 05:11 PM

Originally Posted by Shannonb

1. Yes, easily.
2. Not that I know of
3. yes
4. I'd go with the black with 120gb. I believe it is only 50 dollars.

Only $50?

I'll take 6.



EDIT: Hey, I just looked -- I don't see the Black in anything but 160GB. Am I missing something?

07-14-2007, 05:12 PM

Originally Posted by SoundsGood

Hi guys,
1. I know the RAM can be user-upgraded on Macbooks, but can the hard drive be user-upgraded too?

Yes. You can simply replace it with a new.

Originally Posted by SoundsGood

2. SuperDrive - other than the obvious speed difference of 6x vs. today's 8x Drives, any other differences between them?

It is only the speed

Originally Posted by SoundsGood

3. Would this laptop be able to run Parallels (or VMWare)? I'll need to run XP for a few things like MS Office, Photoshop, etc.

Parallel should work fine but the virtualization can get slow

Originally Posted by SoundsGood

4. Any reason NOT to get this particular refurb? Is another refurb a better choice?

Depends on what you want to do with it. Due to built in graphic card you are restricted to limited usage(Not ideal for gaming, video editing, etc.).

07-14-2007, 05:16 PM

Originally Posted by novicew

Parallel should work fine but the virtualization can get slow

What about with 2GB of RAM. Still slow?

Originally Posted by novicew

Depends on what you want to do with it. Due to built in graphic card you are restricted to limited usage(Not ideal for gaming, video editing, etc.).

I won't be playing games, but I might wanna dabble in video editing. Nothing hard-core, just family stuff. Is that okay?

07-14-2007, 05:31 PM

Originally Posted by SoundsGood

What about with 2GB of RAM. Still slow?

Yes. Unfortunately it could still be slow. As I said you can use Parallels to avoid that. Best solution is to find OS X alternatives for your XP apps and avoid XP completely.

Originally Posted by SoundsGood

I won't be playing games, but I might wanna dabble in video editing. Nothing hard-core, just family stuff. Is that okay?

With extra memory, yes, you should be fine.

07-14-2007, 06:39 PM

Originally Posted by SoundsGood

Only $50?

I'll take 6.



EDIT: Hey, I just looked -- I don't see the Black in anything but 160GB. Am I missing something?

You have to wait around for them. They go really fast after being posted. I bought mine before they had the updated versions on there.

My specs at purchase:
Black
2.0 Core 2 Duo
120gb
1gb ram
6X Superdrive

For 1050.

07-14-2007, 06:47 PM

Originally Posted by Shannonb

For 1050.

Nice!

Hey, with only a 6X superdrive, what speed DVDs do you record on? I was about to order a bunch of 8x DVD "-R" disks, but ???

07-16-2007, 04:55 PM

Originally Posted by Shannonb

You have to wait around for them. They go really fast after being posted. I bought mine before they had the updated versions on there.

My specs at purchase:
Black
2.0 Core 2 Duo
120gb
1gb ram
6X Superdrive

For 1050.

You jumped on the same deal I did.. Awesome price, huh?


Sounds good:

Go ahead and buy whatever speed discs you want. I'm using, mostly, TDK and SOny 16x dvd-r, with good success rates.

That said, the 6x drive will burn a full disc, on average, at 4x... You can search for the thread I started asking why if you want details.

07-16-2007, 05:15 PM

Originally Posted by Shannonb

Black
2.0 Core 2 Duo
120gb
1gb ram
6X Superdrive

For 1050.

I would jump on this deal too, but haven't seen it come up on the refurb page.

Any chance it will again in the future? or is this a done deal?

Originally Posted by JustinHorne

That said, the 6x drive will burn a full disc, on average, at 4x... You can search for the thread I started asking why if you want details.

Thanks, I'll look for it!

07-16-2007, 05:56 PM

Originally Posted by SoundsGood

I would jump on this deal too, but haven't seen it come up on the refurb page.

Any chance it will again in the future? or is this a done deal?



Thanks, I'll look for it!

It will come up in the future but the problem apple doest just post the new ones at midnight or some other designated time so you just have to keep lookin around for them. I ended up getting mine at 9 a.m. because my dad was awake and called me.

07-16-2007, 06:00 PM

Originally Posted by Shannonb

It will come up in the future...

Come to think of it, why would an older model (that is no longer sold as new) show up on the refurb page?

07-16-2007, 11:35 PM

apple posts refurb deals in early morning say about 6am pst, they have every model from 1.8 cd to new 2.16 c2d at least twice weekly on weekdays and sometimes on Sat., they sell out usually within 2 or 3 hours.

07-17-2007, 12:16 AM

Originally Posted by SoundsGood

Come to think of it, why would an older model (that is no longer sold as new) show up on the refurb page?

They will eventually not but there is a lot out there tha are still sometimes returned. They have older model white come up all the time. Trust me, they will.

07-17-2007, 12:50 AM

I don't agree .. I have parallels running on a 1.83 Ghz Core 2 Duo Macbook and it runs fine, in fact Windows XP runs faster than on my Thinkpad 1.6 Ghz Pentium M machine ... Parallels is fine, minus 3D Gaming, you will be very happy ... I have 2 Gigs of Ram in my Macbook ... By the way, I benchmarked my 1.83 Ghz Core 2 Duo Macbook vs 2.0 Ghz Core Duo iMac , and processor wise it achieved virtually the same performance (floating point performance was better on the slower Ghz Macbook) ...