- Joined
- Oct 19, 2008
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- Your Mac's Specs
- aluminum MacBook: 2.4GHZ Core 2 Duo, 3GB DDR3 RAM, NVIDEA GeForce 9400M, 250 GB HDD (32GB for Vista)
I'm currently a PC user. I've had an Apple once in the household that belonged to me, a refurbished iMac G3 with Tiger, 40GB HD, 256 MB RAM, 400 MHZ, and a DVD drive. I had it for a little over a year then I switched back to a PC last December ($100 BIN from an eBay seller!). It's a Dell OptiPlex from 2002 I believe that has a 2.0GHZ Pentium 4 processor, XP Pro, 256 MB RAM, 40 GB HD, a floppy drive, and a combo drive. I like it a lot, and it's my workhorse computer. I'm a blues musician and my initial intention was to use copies of Sony Acid and Sony SoundForge I owned to record and I did that for a little while, but I didn't like it as much as my old G3 with GarageBand 2 (from iLife '05). The speed of both of these machines are/were fine, but I'd really like something faster. I'm on my computers nonstop for schoolwork and personal use. I have my tools I used on my iMac for video (when I used iMovie HD from iLife '05) that I can't use them because of my Dell's RAM, no 2.0 USB (1.1), the lack of software I currently don't have, and it has no FireWire port. I've been highly considering the switch to a MacBook Pro because I'm in high school and want something that's portable, reliable, and does what I want it to. None of the MacBooks suit my needs, but the new $2k MBP ($1900 with student discount) does. I went to the Apple store last Friday and it blew me away. I'm a little while away from this computer and don't know if I should go spend the money or not by the time I make a choice and have the money to spend. I'd need to also go buy iWork, VMWare Fusion, and a copy of Windows XP for what I plan to do. However, I could just upgrade my Dell with a new 250GB HD, 1 GB RAM (maxed out), a new display, a FW/USB card, a DVD+RW drive, and some software and do that for less than $400. I'd like the Apple for the feel, use of programs, reliability, and portability, but do I want to spend that much money when I could use money I have to upgrade my PC? My old iMac was having consistant internet/WiFi and DVD drive issues within 6-9 months of the purchase/refurbish, and the only problem I've had with my Dell is a currupt downloaded version of Internet Explorer 7 that decreased the speed of my computer. That was a $50 2-day fix that was simple and a problem with a Mac (no way can I afford Apple Care on top of everything else) would result in bringing it into the Apple store, sending it to Apple, have them cause cosmetic damage, and expecting to pay a few hundred dollars and a long wait. Any ideas? Thanks in advance!