06-19-2005, 10:32 PM

Hello,
I've been looking into buying a laptop from Mac for a little while now and have finally decided that I am definatly going to go for the power book rather than a pc laptop..
I am a student and was wondering if I should take advantage of the student discount right away or maybe wait a little bit longer to see if they have any new or cheaper student discounts? Summer school student discounts or are there any rumours about any new discounts or the cancellation of the old ones. At the least I don't want to miss the current deal.

Secondly...I was going to buy the powerbook 80GB with superdrive 12" mainly so that it is portable for my travel photography. It will be used with photoshop cs. I have heard that it would be best to get the most ram I can buy...but that's an extra few hundred dollars when you buy with the whole package. Should I just get the min memory and then look to upgrade after buying? Are there cheaper mac memory sources and where should I look? I used mac's a long time ago, then have been on pc's for the past 5 years and now that I am switching back, I feel way behind.

And finally, the 12" will be great on the road, but when at home I don't want to edit on such a small screen and I can't afford the extra 1,000 for a mac monitor....I heard that the mac laptops now can be connected to pc screens through adaptors or something? Is this true? How well does it work? This would save me heaps of money.

Thanks for all of your help in these issues.
Cheers,
Micah!!

06-19-2005, 11:27 PM

The Mac Student discounts never really change, they are usually around 5%-10%. It would be much more beneficial too upgrade the ram after you purchase the machine. Its not very difficult, and as you stated, youll save a lot of money. You can mirror image the PowerBook on another monitor no problem. Your mac will come with a cable that allows you to do this. You can connect your PowerBook to a 17" PC monitor no problem. Purchase the PowerBook as soon as you can, its a great machine.

06-20-2005, 12:00 AM

Apple stores offer regular student discounts but currently Apple is offering a $100 mail-in-rebate on most of their systems, PB included, for student only (http://education.apple.com/students/go/save/). This only lasts for another couple days so hurry up.

For memory just buy it with the base configuration and then upgrade it yourself, you will save money. Don't do this if you don't feel comfortable upgrading it yourself, but it will save you money that way. Memory is cheap(as long as you don't get it from Apple), so get a 1gb stick for a 12in or a 512mb stick for a 15in PB.

You can use any PC monitor for your Powerbook, it would have a DVI output which is what Apple monitors use and some PC monitors use. With a $20 adapter from Apple, you could get that DVI output to a VGA output which would pretty much mean you could use almost ANY PC monitor(Search for DVI VGA at store.apple.com and it'll be one of the first results).

06-20-2005, 12:55 AM

YES!!! I get $100 back on my powerbook! Wow this just made my day!!!

06-20-2005, 01:08 AM

I am waiting till the last day of the sale, then I will probably go impulse buy something. I am waiting to see if by chance an updated mini or ibook comes out. I would really like 64mb video in them, and DVI out from an iBook, I don't know how likely that is.

06-20-2005, 02:25 PM

We use a 17 inch Dell Monitor on our PowerMac. No problem at all and it was a cheap solution ($222). Just bought the Dell 24 inch monitor that has DVI and just about every other kind of input known to man. Super
monitor but it's currently being used by my Windows
laptops. Another one of these would be nice and the
price is much better than Apple. Currently on special
for about $959.

06-20-2005, 08:43 PM

http://www.crucial.com/store/listpar...ay%29&tabid=AM

Crucial Ram I generally find very reliable, I have a 512mb stick in my Ibook right now...I love it...the 1gb stick is pricy though...but the 512 stick is a great deal

06-20-2005, 10:24 PM

I would suspect that there may be some deal near school time. Yes the discount is always the same, BUT they offer interesting deals from time to time. One example is the rebate, which ends soon. The rebate ending this early however, has me suspicious that they may be updating the ibook/powerbook before school starts.

Also for example, my school was offering a deal on the 15" 1.67ghz powerbook, an extra $100 off the educational discount price... all semester. That deal has switched to the following: 1GB ram in the 15" 1.67ghz powerbook model, for $30 less than the 512mb ram version at educational discount... so 512mb ram free, and $30 off educational discount.

I would suggest a stop in at your campus computer store, or at least a phone call and checking their website.

06-24-2005, 11:11 AM

As for the ram question, whatever you do, don't buy the upgraded ram from apple. they absolutely rape you on the pricing. If you go here: http://shop1.outpost.com/product/4389075 You can get a 1gig stick of ram for you powerbook for $124.

06-24-2005, 12:32 PM

if you're just using photoshop you sloudn't need too much more than 756... or possibly even 512. I have 512 on my iMac 800... and it runs photoshop apps as well as FCP just fine.

06-28-2005, 10:41 AM

You can now get a free iPod mini with your apple computer purchase...

06-28-2005, 05:24 PM

Originally Posted by Aptmunich

You can now get a free iPod mini with your apple computer purchase...

How, i wana know please may just decide to buy that mini!

BTW i know a place where U can find a DVI to VGA adaptor for only $4.95!!

(at a computer show)

06-28-2005, 05:33 PM

find my post in the anything goes forum...

and then you can just go to the apple store for education...you cant get in without lookin at the ad for the free mini
-chris