Unable to test drive a Mac.

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I live 4-5 hours from my nearest Apple Store. Would like to try the OS before purchase. Any ideas? I don't know any one who has a Mac.
 
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chas_m

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You don't give your location, or I'd point you to the nearest Macintosh Users Group.

There are also many stores beyond just Apple Stores that sell Macs, albeit I definitely suggest the Apple Store for the best experience just kicking the tires and asking questions. You might see if there is an independent Apple dealer closer to you, or a Best Buy (many of them sell Macs, call ahead so you can be there when the "Apple Guy" is there -- DON'T talk to the "normal" salespeople!!).
 
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That is true about Bestbuy. I bought my Mac in BB. I found the sales guy to be very patronizing and ignorant to people. He was somebody who tried to act as if they were computer / Apple experts. I got so annoyed at him that I dropped this comment. " I know what it does as I am currently pursuing my Computer Science major and minor in Physics " and had spent a year as a certified IT Developer for my previous job. He was quick to change his attitude.

I would say it is best to go to the Apple store. The staff there are great and do not act all knowing to people. They are great.
 
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I decided to go with plan B. I drove to my nearest Apple dealer outlet American tv and appliance in Marquette,MI. The salesman was to busy ring up another customer so I decided to play. It's really sweet! I honestly didn't care for the Pro version. It's a bit to big for me. Plus I really love the white casing. When I attempted to pick up the Macbook the security cable must have popped loose and caused the alarm to go off! That same salesman eventually shut the alarm off. Nobody asked if I had any questions. Still, better than nothing. While I agree, an actual expert or Mac user would be the better option.

Oh yeah- My wife freaked when she saw the price. Any of you guys/gals have your loved one complain?
 
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Oh yeah- My wife freaked when she saw the price. Any of you guys/gals have your loved one complain?


my parents think it is a huge waste of money.:Angry-Tongue:
but i dont really care, i saved up for it and i want it.
so boo on them :)
just waiting a few more weeks incase updates do happen..:|
 
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You don't give your location, or I'd point you to the nearest Macintosh Users Group.

There are also many stores beyond just Apple Stores that sell Macs, albeit I definitely suggest the Apple Store for the best experience just kicking the tires and asking questions. You might see if there is an independent Apple dealer closer to you, or a Best Buy (many of them sell Macs, call ahead so you can be there when the "Apple Guy" is there -- DON'T talk to the "normal" salespeople!!).

:D Haha, I'm the token "Apple Guy" at my Best Buy. Actually, 3 of the geek squad agents are mac guys, and 2 of the other 3 major computer salespeople are mac guys, as are a lot of my superiors, and coworkers in cameras and mobile haha. But I'm like, the "techy" Apple guy. Even though I don't know nearly as much as I want to to be classified as techy.
 

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Oh yeah- My wife freaked when she saw the price. Any of you guys/gals have your loved one complain?

After 25-30 years or so, she won't necessarily be happy, but she'll get use to the price of your toys. ;D
 
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I decided to go with plan B. I drove to my nearest Apple dealer outlet American tv and ap I honestly didn't care for the Pro version. It's a bit to big for me. Plus I really love the white casing.

I'm looking to buy a Macbook, and I was interested in seeing the spec and price when compared to a Macbook pro.

Yes, they Pro is sexy and all one piece aluminium, but the white, non pro, has the same processor, the same RAM and a bigger hard drive (250Gb opposed to 160GB), all for about 100 UK pounds less than the base spec pro.

If you are not going to throw the thing around then, in my opinion, the non Pro version is by far the better buy.
 
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Oh yeah- My wife freaked when she saw the price. Any of you guys/gals have your loved one complain?

If either of you are a student or an educator or school administrator, ask about the modest Apple Education Discount.
 
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When I purchased my Macbook pro last August and came home with it my wife wasn't too happy about it. She still doesn't know how much I had spent that day at the Apple store. But she is happy that I am happy with it. Even though now it cuts down on our time together in the evening hours. Let sleeping dogs lie.
 
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Oh yeah- My wife freaked when she saw the price. Any of you guys/gals have your loved one complain?

Currently, I live alone, my finances are my own, however in the past, a quick tally of the shoe closet shut me up. People who own 4 pairs of black pumps can't complain about the price of a sand wedge!
 
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SpinningCompass

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Any of you guys/gals have your loved one complain?
That's where creative accounting comes in. If you cancel your wireless Internet ($60/month), adjust your cell phone plan ($20/month), and thus save (20+60)*36=$2880, then you can afford to buy a 13" MBP w/ 4GB RAM, iWorks, MacSpeech Dictate, a BlueTooth mic w/ USB adapter, and a 256GB SSD. For an additional $200 ($5.56/mo), you can buy a three-year warranty. Thus, in return for a cost-cutting measure that saves $80/month, you can guarantee trouble-free computing until 2013. Just don't sit on the thing.
 
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After dealing with low priced PCs and laptops for decades, I consider the higher prices for Apple products to be an advantage. Despite what Walmart and others of their ilk would have you think, you still get what you pay for.

A spouse will be a lot more unhappy a lot longer with a $500 plastic junker than with the one time price tag on a Mac.
 
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Do what I did.. I picked up a lightly used G5 from a friend for $200.. Ebay is your friend, then you can try out without the big commitment.
 
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When people ask me about Macs at Best Buy, I ask them to compare total cost of ownership... Let's take a base line MBP at 1199. Since most people can't be bothered to install their own extra RAM, lets say we up it to 4GB bringing it to 1299.

For a similar speced PC, we're talking probably something like a Sony Vaio 14 inch (these days probably with the i3, even though Apple hasn't put them in the MBPs yet, I wait for the core i5, but we won't speculate). So, let's just be generous and say it compares nicely to the VPCW 14 inch, even though the MBP doesn't have bluray, because the MBP has some other features that the Vaio doesn't. We'll say you're looking at 800-850 for a similarly speced PC laptop.

Average life of Mactop = 5 years, average life of Wintop = 3 years.

1300/5 years = 260 a year. 800/3 years = 266.66 a year.

Add on anti-virus software at an average cost of 40 bucks for a year's subscription, and you're looking at 306.66 a year, not to mention having to pay for half decent software when you get your machine, plus having a bunch of trial software you don't want, no restore CDs (most brands don't come with restore discs anymore), and the otherwise known hassles of Windows, and it's a bit easier to get over the difference in initial price tag. Heck, at that price, you could add Apple Care to your MBP for 3 years and still feel good about your decision to switch (it'd be 320 a year with a 300 dollar apple care plan), because you'd be ditching the headaches for a pretty low premium.

Oh, and when you factor in that OS X uses RAM so much more efficiently than a Windows system does so that most people don't even need 4GB, well, then it just looks like a better idea. :)

Some people aren't ready to switch. This is what I tell the people who are or who are on the fence.
 
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Not that I'm arguing, but what is the basis for saying the Mac has a five year lifespan and the PC has a three year? Is that based on some kind of accounting depreciation calculation? Or average time to failure? Or average time to obsolete?
 
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chas_m

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Oh yeah- My wife freaked when she saw the price. Any of you guys/gals have your loved one complain?

It's been my experience -- as an evangelist and seller of Apples for about 20 years now -- that there is often a bit of "sticker shock" in the spouse (husband or wife) at the beginning, but that it dissipates very quickly and (8 times out of 10) the couple are back before long to get a 2nd one for the formerly-protesting spouse.

A related story comes to mind. At our local Mac User Group one night, a pink iPod was won by a fellow who really didn't like Macs/Apple, but was there with his wife who did. Big burly lumberjack kind of guy, so naturally there was some humour around his winning the pink iPod. He said he'll give it to his daughter.

A couple months later he came back holding the pink iPod. He explained to all of us that he had intended to pass it on, but first gave it a try and had completely fallen in love with it, so much so that he REFUSED to part with it. He admitted he had started to "see the light" about why we're all so fond of Apple technology and said he had started to look at maybe buying his own computer (a first). He eventually had to buy his daughter her own iPod, because he really didn't want to give his up -- even though it was pink! :)
 
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chas_m

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Not that I'm arguing, but what is the basis for saying the Mac has a five year lifespan and the PC has a three year? Is that based on some kind of accounting depreciation calculation? Or average time to failure? Or average time to obsolete?

The basis is statistical analysis done mostly by businesses and schools over the years, supported by dealer and sales information collected by Apple.

There are a variety of reasons for this, but the main one is that because Macs are both software-and-hardware designed by the same manufacturer, they meet the needs of those who buy them (and don't tend to upgrade them) for a much longer period of time.

This forum itself is FILLED with posts about G5s (around five years old), G4s (even older) and occasionally G3s and PPCs, and people still running Tiger, Panther and even older.

In the PC world, it's much more of a "sin" to fall behind the technology curve. For example, PCs tend to be much better than Macs for hard-core gaming, but that comes with a heavy ($$) price: your top-of-the-line video card today will be utter junk incapable of playing Super Ultra Destructo Waste of Time IV in a couple of years, forcing you to upgrade. Since most PC owners -- like most Mac owners -- tend to be non-nerds, they don't want to or know how to upgrade, so they tend to just buy a new computer.

Another factor is Microsoft itself. Every major iteration of Windows over the last decade (and the pace of Windows revision has picked up speed of late) has pretty much REQUIRED the latest or very nearly the latest hardware in order to operate "properly," again prompting a new round of hardware sales. Indeed, hardware manufacturers actually put PRESSURE on MS to speed up the releases of Windows, knowing it will help their business. Apple simply doesn't have that factor to contend with at all.

By comparison, Mac users with basic needs see very little reason to upgrade outside of a few free software updates. If all you want out of a computer is to be able to surf the net, check your mail, watch videos and listen to music (and that level of use etc), then your old Emac 1.25GHz running Panther that you bought six years ago can still do all that and more.

Bleeding-edge Mac users tend to run closer to the "three years" end of the spectrum, but we aren't really representative of "typical" Mac customers. For every one of us, there are hundreds of people still using AppleWorks on their "space bubble" iMac and perfectly happy till the day comes that they get ambitious enough to want to do something that machine can't do.
 
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...not to mention the superior support available.
 
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Sticker shock....

I had it for a few years and thats what kept me from pulling the trigger......Until a few months ago my 5th PC Failtop junker died in less than a year. I had had it. I have always loved macs and wanted to switch , this was just the end of the road for Windows and me. I did some shopping and compared prices (new vs used) and found the best way to go is a new MBP. These things hold their value better than a Honda Civic. If you dont like it after a few months you will be more than able to sell it on here or craigs for 90% of its original value.

Owning a Mac is kinda like a club ...you feel a little special about owning one. It's hard to explain but you'll see what I mean in a few weeks time.

As for the wife ....she was livid about spending 1300 bucks.
She now owns a new MBP also...only took a week of using mine.LOL
 

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