Did I make the right call? (recs needed)

My beloved and trusted Asus laptop screen cracked on me a couple weeks ago. Brought it into best buy. It was under their warranty so I brought it in and they gave me a new laptop. I sprung an extra couple hundred for a Lenovo with excellent specs. I grew really fond of windows 8 and the computer was amazing. Except the battery life was awful and that just wasn't something I can handle.

Anyway, I returned it for a macbook pro. I5 processor, 4gb memory, 500 gig hard drive.

I have to buy from best buy so the only other mac possibility is the i7 with 8 gigs of memory and a 750 gb hard drive.

I'm using it for college. Mostly school work, music and video streaming. I also plan on using it for photoshop however. I tend to shoot in RAW so I'm worried about this computer handling it. Is it worth the extra $300? I might also need to do a bit of minor video editing, not too much though.

Between these two options what do you guys think?

Part of me just wants to go back to my old PC.

just out of the box and not thrilled

I'm a long time pc user who just got home from purchasing a macbook pro.

I took it out of the box, opened up safari and within five minutes it had crashed or "closed un expectantly". Not a good start to a relationship and I'm already eyeing my receipt. '

Is it up hill from here?

Mine didn't work properly from new, and it was some time before I thought of reformatting the hard disk and re-installing the OS. That totally solved the problems - clearly the OS hadn't been installed properly during manufacture (which rather surprised me) - but then I found the Applications DVD wouldn't install. Via a pirated older version of the Applications on a flash drive I eventually got the DVD recognised and then the machine was up and running, and boy was it worth it! I had problems later on which turned out to be overheating affecting the HD, but with another new HD (one with a SSD module) and with forced external ventilation to cool it I now have the machine I wanted from the start. I use it in preference to my Windows machine almost all of the time. The biggest practical problem I have with it now that it's working properly is too few USB ports - with one permanently devoted to running my cooling base and the other connected most of the time to my Logitech speaker bar (a vast improvement on the internal speakers) I have no spare ports. I tried using a port expansion box but for some reason that doesn't work, and devices plugged into it often aren't recognised.

Overall I'm very pleased I bought it, though sad that I had never heard of Applecare so didn't buy it, and repairs after the one year original warranty was up have been rather costly. Here in Belize these machines are very prone to overheating, as (surprisingly) is the MBA, so the extended warranty is a "must have".

They didn't set it up for you at the store? As a Mac virgin, they should have. For me, it's been downhill.

I bought it at bestbuy not mac store because it was a replacement for a broken laptop (pc) insured by them. This thing is getting a week and then if I feel about it the same way I do now it's going back.

Mine came from the Apple store...

Application DVD? What are model you talking about Peter and what operating system? Been no DVD for several years now. Take it into an Apple store or Genius Bar aside.

Two years actually. I bought my MBP 13" in mid 2011 and it came with a DVD of iLife 11. As I said, this DVD was defective, or rather the logic around its installation was defective, but I was able to get around it. What apps are supplied with a new MBP now?

Oh, the OS supplied was 10.6.6 which I've since updated to 10.6.8. Don't see any reason to move to a later OS for at least the time being.

aside said:

I'm a long time pc user who just got home from purchasing a macbook pro.

I took it out of the box, opened up safari and within five minutes it had crashed or "closed un expectantly". Not a good start to a relationship and I'm already eyeing my receipt. '

Is it up hill from here?

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Did you run software update because just like a PC if updates are available after the unit was boxed and sent out then obviously it will not have the latest which tends to fix bugs.

Threads merged - please keep all of your discussion about the same topic in one post..

It is unfortunate that you've had a rough start, but as recommended do see if there are any updates available for Mountain Lion that came installed on the MBP and see if it behaves properly.

Apple gives you a 14 day return window from date of purchase, not sure if that applies for a Mac that is purchased at Best Buy as well. But, you do have AppleCare for one year to if you happen to have an Apple Store near by, you can stop by and have them take a look at it and or re-install OS X for you to see if that resolves the issue..

Apple gives you a 14 day return window from date of purchase, not sure if that applies for a Mac that is purchased at Best Buy as well.

Click to expand...

Best Buy Return Policy:

Return & Exchange Period

15 days for all eligible products

60 days for eligible products for Reward Zone® program Premier Silver members

Best Buy reserves the right to deny any return or exchange.

Nonreturnable Items
Labor, delivery and/or completed Geek Squad® installation services
Some prepaid cards, digital subscriptions or services
Consumable items such as food, drinks and batteries
Ink/Toner cartridges that have had their factory sealed packaging opened
Items that are damaged or abused
Items that are missing accessories such as remote controls, cords and cables
Etched or otherwise personalized items
Opened computer software, movies, music and video games can be exchanged for the identical item but cannot be returned for a refund
Downloadable digital content (such as games and movies)
Microphones, harmonicas and similar products
Marketplace items
Non-defective special orders.