05-21-2006, 05:03 PM

Ok, I'm buying the MacBook sometime this week. I have some last minute questions....

1) Should I get that USB Modem? I'm assuming it's for a situation where you wouldn't have wireless, but is it only for dial-up? We have ethernet ports all over campus, so would I need an ethernet cord, or this modem?

2) I'm upgrading the hard drive to 80GB, but I'm told that upgrading the RAM with apple is overpriced. Would I be saving THAT much money if I bought RAM myself? Who would install it?

3) I want to do light video editing.... I have had a Canon ZR 200 for awhile, and I have never had the oppurtunity to get it online or on a disc, because I don't have a firewire port. Now I will.... but can the 2.0 Ghz white MacBook cope with video editing?

4) Which brings me to the SuperDrive.... I'm showing my ignorance here, but I've never had a DVDRW. Can I burn copies of DVDs with it...? How is that possible if there's only one disc drive? I'm hoping I can upload and edit my video footage, and then burn it onto a playable DVD.... is this how a DVDRW works?

Is there anything else I need to buy? I bought a laptop tote today. I can't think of anything else.

Thanks!

05-21-2006, 05:45 PM

I can answer some of your questions.

1. The USB modem is just for dial up internet, the macbook has a seperate ethernet port. So unless you use dial up, you don't need to buy it. All you need is a cheap ethernet cord. Also it has built in airport extreme for wireless internet (you can use it if your campus has wireless hot spots or at a Borders, B&N etc)

2. It might be more expensive, but if you have no experience installing RAM, then buy it from Apple and let them put it in. At least it saves you some hassle.

3. I've never done video editing on any mac before, so I have no idea.

4. If its a DVDRW drive you can both read dvds (R) and write them (W). "Write" is another term for burn.

As far as buying anything else...you might want a nice wireless mouse if you're not used to trackpads (personally I hate trackpads lol)
Hope this helps.... :headphone

05-21-2006, 06:13 PM

1.tinyteddy's right

2. much much much much much much much less expensive to buy it from some place like newegg.com. from what i've heard doing it urself is pretty straightforward, even if its ur first time. more info here http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303721

3.the macbook will be fine for light video editing. I've done it on my ibook, just make sure to feed it lots of RAM

4.tinyteddy's right

05-21-2006, 08:01 PM

If you have at least a gig of ram, your macbook will handle video fine (like iMovie).

I have an iMac G5 with 512 RAM and it's quite OK, just slow when loading at the beginning.
You have a better processor and hopefully more ram.