02-19-2009, 03:14 AM

Hi everyone,

This is my first post!

I am currently almost halfway through my last semester of high school, and I will be starting university in September. This means I am going to be getting a laptop. My PC has been terrible lately, and I am really tired of my antivirus getting wiped out by trojans and the like. I have pretty much decided on getting a MacBook. I have to admit, I have been obsessing lately, I spent 2 hours in a store (allowed to say the name?) a few days ago playing around with their macs.

So basically, come graduation time (June) my parents will probably contribute around $400 towards a laptop, and the rest of the money will come from money I have already saved (~$1500 or so, plus whatever I save between now and June). I have been a PC user all my life.

I'll be using the laptop for school (research, typing assignments etc.) as well as watching movies, listening to music, instant messaging and maybe a few games. I don't want to spend much more than $1500 dollars on it. I might use BootCamp if there is some program I need to use that is Windows only, but I am going to avoid it if I can.

I just have a few questions:
1) How much of a difference does RAM make, speed-wise? I would rather have speed over storage capacity.
2) BootCamp - after you partition, can you still go back? Like uninstall Windows and have a Mac-exclusive system?
3) AppleCare - worth it? What's your experience?
4) Has anyone had any issues with compatability at school?
5) Difference between the White MacBook and the Aluminum MacBook, other than the chassis?

Sorry this first post is so long. Thanks in advance for your advice!

(Oh, by the way, my user name has nothing to do with Apple, I couldn't think of a good name and I had an apple core sitting on my desk, so... yeah)

02-19-2009, 03:32 AM

Hello! always nice seeing more people coming over
1) You can always get the basic RAM they ship with the computer and upgrade later, if you them buy from a 3rd party seller other than Apple it will even be cheaper and you won't void your warranty either, but from what you said you were going to be doing (web, music, im ..) you probably won't need to upgrade anyway ... it does make a significant difference say if you were to get a 1Gb MacBook and upgrade it to full 4gigs, but then you might never use it, so it's best to really wait and see if you need it or not, from my experience the Mac's are very fast even as basic

2) Yes, with Boot Camp it's just a click and poof, the partition is gone and you will never see it again

3) I never got it, don't have the money, but there are people here who have and they will help you out

4) None what's so ever, but that really depends on what you will be using/needing ... for word processing either if you use iWork or OpenOffice (free) then you won't have any significant problems ... and setting up a secured school connection to WiFi was actually much easier from my Mac than Windows

5) The aluminium is generaly faster, faster CPU, faster GPU, DDR3 RAM ... just check out the tech specs ... also the lcd is a little different, LED backlight and the surface is just slightly different

02-19-2009, 04:39 AM

Originally Posted by Apple Core

My PC has been terrible lately, and I am really tired of my antivirus getting wiped out by trojans and the like.

This is why I run GNU/Linux

Originally Posted by Apple Core

How much of a difference does RAM make, speed-wise? I would rather have speed over storage capacity.

If you don't have enough RAM, your system will be slow. If you have enough, you won't notice any speed difference adding more. Mac OS X v10.5 "Leopard" will run pretty good on 1 GB, but 2 GB are recommended.

Originally Posted by Apple Core

BootCamp - after you partition, can you still go back? Like uninstall Windows and have a Mac-exclusive system?

Just erase the Windows partition, then expand your Mac partition.

02-20-2009, 08:26 PM

Thanks for the replies

I was looking at the refurb store, and there are some pretty good deals. I've read most people's refurbed MacBooks are in really good shape. It would be nice to save the money, but I also don't want one that is all scratched up. Have you guys had much experience with getting bad refurbs?

Thanks again I can't wait until June/July!

02-21-2009, 03:15 PM

I purchased a refurb iPod nano from Apple last year. The refurbishing program at Apple is fantastic! For computers they do full diagnostics, replace all damaged parts, give it a clean install of Leopard, and give it the same 1-year factory warranty as new Macs. The only differences between new and refurb is: you will not be able to have it custom-configured or have software pre-installed on it. The specs listed are what you get. You can't tell them to add a larger HD, etc. Also, it doesn't come in the same box as the new ones. That's not a problem unless you're a box collector.

Best Wishes, and Welcome Aboard!

02-21-2009, 06:20 PM

Thanks for the replies! I'm glad to hear they replace damaged parts, I don't want lots of scratches and stuff it's definitely nice to save the money.