Macbook or Macbook Pro

I am thinking about purchasing a refurbished apple notebook but i need help deciding which one. The choices are:

Macbook Aluminum:
2.4 Ghz Intel core 2 duo
250 GB HDD
4GB RAM
NVIDIA 9700
5 hour removable battery

Macbook Pro 13":
2.26 Ghz Intel core 2 duo
160 GB HDD
2 GB RAM
NVIDIA 9700
7 hour built in battery
SD card slot

It seems that the Aluminum Macbook has a faster processor and has a bigger hard drive then the macbook pro. These machines both cost the same so its just a matter of choosing the better one. If you could tell me what better and why i would really appreciate it. Tell me which one you would buy and why. I will not be doing much photo or video editing. I would mostly surf the web and do word processing. One thing i have heard about the aluminum macbooks is that their battery cover becomes loose and wiggles, is this true?

I was thinking about purchasing the 2.4 Ghz aluminum macbook and i was wondering if the battery latch problem i keep hearing about is very common. If you have one of the aluminum macbooks do you have a problem with the battery latch coming loose?

I need help deciding which laptop to get. I am not a big gamer but i was thinking about playing world of warcraft on my new laptop.

I am a college student and dont do photo editing or video editing. Just basic school work and web browsing. Like I said i was thinking about playing world of warcraft but am not sure yet. Both of these computers cost the same so which is the better buy? I dont really use the SD card slot so that does not matter to me. Both of these computers cost $999 refurbished at the apple store.

I was thinking about buying a 13" Macbook Pro but I was wondering if i should wait until after Black Friday to see if the Apple Store will have a sale on the Macbook Pros. Does anyone know if the Apple Store had a sale last year or if they will have one this year during the holiday shopping season?
Or do they do something like the free ipod with a macbook back to school special during the holidays??

You're really not giving a lot of info... it never hurts to give too much of that.

Are they both the base models?
RAM, screensize, GPU??

yes they both are the 13.3 inch screen and they both have the 2 gigs of ram and the same graphics card. Basically the only difference is that the processor speed and hard drive space. I dont really care about the sd card slot or the firewire port

Then by all means, go with the MacBook Alu, that's what I would do.
It has it's advantages on all fronts, faster CPU, bigger HDD, and removable battery.

morales said:

I am thinking about purchasing a refurbished apple notebook but i need help deciding which one. The choices are:
the Aluminum Macbook which has the removable battery and has a 2.4Ghz processor and 250 GB HDD;
or the Macbook pro which has the built in battery and comes with a 2.26 GHz processor and a 160 GB HDD.

It seems that the Aluminum Macbook has a faster processor and has a bigger hard drive then the macbook pro. These machines both cost the same so its just a matter of choosing the better one. If you could tell me what better and why i would really appreciate it. Tell me which one you would buy and why. I will not be doing much photo or video editing. I would mostly surf the web and do word processing. One thing i have heard about the aluminum macbooks is that their battery cover becomes loose and wiggles, is this true?

Click to expand...

If you don't need firewire 800, then get the refurbed alBook. I'm on a 2GHz one, refurbished, and it is godly. The battery cover does not come lose. Even if this were true, then the pros would have the same issue, as the body is the same architecture.

Having absolutely no problems with my latch whatsoever.

To date it is the best lap top I have owned and I highly recommend it.

As I said in your other thread (I think it was yours). There is no battery latch problem.

Go for the Macbook Alu obviously...

Prices on both would be helpful though;D

I would go with the regular Macbook, I think the Pro would be overkill for what your wanting to do with it. Plus you'll get more RAM and HD space. It should play World of Warcraft flawlessly.

The extra battery life is nice but I think for your needs you would be better purchasing the Aluminum because of the extra hardrive space and the 4GB of RAM.

i believe apples dont really go on sale.... esp not blackfriday...

Yeah, but could there be a chance that Apple products sold in Best Buy stores may be subject to Black Friday discounts?
This will be the first year they have their products sold in a major retailer (not counting Apple stores) like B.B.

yeah, not sure where you could find a great deal.. i got mine on eBay *shelters self from thrown rocks and tomatoes* I know it was really risky and probably stupid, but it turned out great. Nothing was damaged, got it for about 300 less than retail, and it has lasted me for 2 years and still going!

MYmacROX said:

Yeah, but could there be a chance that Apple products sold in Best Buy stores may be subject to Black Friday discounts?
This will be the first year they have their products sold in a major retailer (not counting Apple stores) like B.B.

Click to expand...

I was in this same position about 3 years ago when I was looking for a new computer. azndragon684 is right; apple products very rarely go on sale. In fact I cannot think of a time when you could get a computer on sale.

I eventually bought my computer @ Microcenter, a best buy type store here in Columbus. The guy prety much told me that apple tells microcenter what they are going to sell the computers at. Microcenter has no control or influence on these prices. I would assume Best Buy is the same way. The only "sales" that I have ever seen were floor models (roughly $100 - $200 off) and the refurbed models from apple.com.

Unfortunately the screen on my MacPro has a bad connection, and I would have to replace the screen to fix it. Even more unfortunate is the AppleCare has expired so it's going to cost be almost 800 to fix it ;(. I have been looking for a replacement. I have been scouring over craigslist.com for almost a month now to no avail. I am not sure where you live but Macs aren't nearly as popular here as say California or NY, so depending on where you live you may have better luck with that.

I personally would never ever ever ever buy an electronic device from ebay. I might if they seller was willing to let me look at it.

I think what we are going to do is buy a refurbished one from apple.com. They are roughly 25% less then retail, you get a student discount, and you can sign up for a credit card via apple.com offering 12 months same as cash.

I just heard from a friend there are rumors about new notebooks coming in December or something like that. I can neither confirm or deny this statement, but that is what he told me. Since you are willing to wait until after black Friday you might want to wait until Christmas, or after the new year to see if anything new comes out. Maybe someone can chime in and confirm or deny the rumor.

Good luck

Chris

Aluminum Macbook vs Macbook Pro

I have narrowed it down to just two machines: the aluminum macbook or the 13 macbook pro. Both of these are refurbished models from the apple store and they both cost 1000. I need help deciding which one is the best out of the two. Your thoughts?

Aluminum Macbook:
2.4 ghz intel core two duo
250 GB HD
2 gb ram
Nvidia 9400
5 hour removable battery

13 Macbook Pro:
2.26 ghz intel core two duo
160 GB HD
2 gb ram
Nvidia 9400
SD card slot
7 hour built in battery

The aluminum macbook has a faster processor and bigger hard drive then the macbook pro but would i notice the difference in the processor speed. Also i heard that the screen is better on a macbook pro. Is this true? I am a student in college and maily surf the web, type papers and maybe play a few games. which one should i choose??

You won't see much CPU difference for your specified tasks. You also get the illuminated keyboard and Firewire 800 on the Pro model.

Who owns a 13 Macbook Pro?

I am going to buy a refurbished 13 macbook pro and i wanted to get the opinions of people who own one. If you have a macbook pro tell me what you think about it and the pros and cons of it. Thank You

I have a MBP and the screen with the glossy finish. It looks very nice. I'm not sure how the MB screens look though. The illuminated keyboard was definitely a plus for me because I use my computer a lot at night and the lights can be off while I type easily in the dark. As for the battery, I have the 17" MBP with the 8 hour battery and can get that easily on power saver mode but in performance mode I can get 4-5 hours which is what you will get in power save mode on the MacBook. Whatever choice you make, you will be very happy. I've had my MBP for over 2 months and am still amazed by it everyday.

I don't have a 13" but I do have a MBP. I love it and wouldn't trade it for anything. Pros: does what I want when I want, does it smoothly, fast, quiet, long battery and I like how it looks. Cons: it can't brush my teeth. Good luck.

I own one.

The pros for me are:
1.The backlit keyboard
2. The trackpad
3. The screen
4. The SD card slot (although I wish it was bigger)
I also love the speed my laptop has, along with the GPU which is great.

The cons for me are:
1. The heat
The notebook gets very hot while watching videos or playing games.
It is not a huge issue, but with a CPU and GPU in this 13 inch model, i'm surprised the metal isn't melting.
The part that gets hottest is near the escape button (top left corner of the MBP).

This MBP is the best purchase I have ever made and I do not regret it at all.

I got a 13" Macbook pro after having the 13" White, and I'd have to say that between the portability, slimness, sexiness, brilliant trackpad, brilliant screen, backlit keyboard it's a fantastic computer.

Though I will say that this Dell XPS (Product (RED)) that my new job issued me does have this spiffy fingerprint reader even if it is running Vista. It has all the do-dads my Macbook has and a few more, like HDMI output and the aforementioned fingerprint reader. But compared to my macbook it is a tad thick and plastic-y so my Macbook wins overall hands down.

Also, of all those who were hired along with me who got the same Dell issued to them, I have been the only one who got the fingerprint reader to work. Everyone else gave up in frustration, but i use mine to take it out of screen saver and log in. Also, while I am finding that Vista isn't really THAT bad, it's still Windows. For example it's been updating and restarting EVERY FREAKIN' DAY since I got it. Kinda annoying if you want to leave something to start on in the morning for work and find you have to start over. In that way, it is unacceptably unstable. My macbook doesn't do that.