Considering buying a MacBook

Hello everyone, this is my first post so don't mind me sounding like a total noob.

Anyway, I've always been a Windows user ever since I've used a computer and I've been thinking that now it's time for me to make the switch. The computer I'd most likely to get is the bottom of the line MacBook, simply because of its price. I am going into my last year of high school and then university four years after that so I have to save as much money as I can. Its features are not bad, i.e. a 120GB hard drive is enough for me and of course comes with the latest OS X. One of the main features that triggered my decision to my next notebook being a Mac is Boot Camp. One thing that does concern me however is of problems I've heard regarding Apple computers, e.g. I have heard multiple times of hard drive failures and about the computer not waking up after sleep. So I have a few questions:

1: If I install XP with Boot Camp, will it run exactly as if it were XP or are there any sort of limitations on using Windows operating systems on an Apple machine?

2: The problems I have heard of, are they common or easily fixed?

3: Do you for any reason not recommend me the base model MacBook?

4: I've never seen anywhere stating approximately how many hours the battery lasts, so how is the battery life?

Any other info I should know about making the switch would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance.

1. if you install XP with bootcamp, it won't be "exactly like as if it were XP" it will actually be a pc running XP, it is the exact same as taking a dell laptop and putting XP on it. Bootcamp just helps bridge the hardware/software gap

2. i haven't heard about these before, but remember, that when people post something about there computer, it's because something is wrong, nobody goes to a forum just to say "my computer is working great" for every 1 guy with a harddrive failure, theres at least a hundred that work great.

3. if you are going to be doing any video editing, or intend to play videogames on it, i would advise going with a macbook pro, the macbook has an embedded video card. if you are just going to be browsing the web, microsoft word, most basic things, nothing particularly demanding, then the macbook should be fine.

4. that all depends on what your doing, and how old it is. when i first got my macbook (2nd from the base model at the time) i could get almost 7 hours with my screen dimmed and just typing or browsing the internet. now, about a year and a half later, i can still get about 5 and a half.

you should definitely order it with as little ram as you can, than upgrade it from a third party. upgrade your ram<- it's well worth it. but apple ram is very expensive, i suggest crucial http://www.crucial.com/

Ok thanks for all your help, but really the main problem for me is the cost. I was actually just on the Apple Canada website and noticed that I can buy refurbished MacBooks directly from there. I'd save about $150 by doing that, I don't mind that it has been used a little. But anyways thanks again for all the info, chances are I will buy the base model as I'm not necessarily into gaming or video editing (photo editing however yes). That being said, and not wanting to sound like a noob, but if I were to buy a MacBook does it come with Photoshop pre-installed?

I'm not sure about Apple Canada, but I know Apple in the states offers a discount on new Macs for students (I got $100 off my Macbook last summer and got a free all-in-one printer and 4GB iPod Nano)

1. I'm not using boot camp but my brother is on his. He's a law student and is required to have Windows at his University. He's yet to have a single problem.

2. I've never had a problem either. Hard drive failure has nothing to do with the Mac itself, but the individual hard drive. If you take care of your Macbook and don't toss it around, you shouldn't have a problem. Worst case scenario, back up and back up often. Time Machine is one of the greatest features of Leopard.

3. I'm using a base model MacBook. 2.0 gHz DuoCore processor with 1 GB RAM and an 80 gig hard drive. More than enough for me, but I recently doubled the RAM for $60 from Crucial. All of my friends are using base model MacBooks as well and have had no problems. My one friend who does graphic design is the only person I know with a Pro. The MacBook is fine for just about everything else. I do photography and some basic graphic work.

4. After thirteen months of hard use, I can still get a hair over six hours on the battery with AirPort off and the screen dimmed and the sound muted running nothing but Word.

tplyons said:

I'm not sure about Apple Canada, but I know Apple in the states offers a discount on new Macs for students (I got $100 off my Macbook last summer and got a free all-in-one printer and 4GB iPod Nano)

Click to expand...

Apple Canada has the same sort of deal on new Macs (except this year you can get a different iPod).

Check out the student discount and compare with the refurbished machines. I sorted out a refurn for a colleague and she has had no problems with it, its like a new machine for less basically

As for photoshop, how intense are your needs?

Photoshop doesn't come for free but there are plenty of great alternatives like Seashore and GIMP

In fact you will probably be pleasantly surprised by the sheer quality of Apple freeware and shareware apps, there may be less apps for the Mac, but there are loads of quality programs, I think Mac users are just intolerant of bad software.