My first Macbook

[SiJ125]

Hey guys, so i bought my first macbook off ebay because the credit crunch is pretty nasty it arrive today, very nice machine, but the person i bought it from has windows 7 ultimate as the os that it boots up to, i get no choice, i switch it on and windows 7 loads up, now i'm aware mac's can dual boot, and his item description did say it came with leopard (i have osx tiger install disc incase) so how do i change what the macbook boots to? atm, i need to figure out the pass he put on windows 7 lol the hint says "no pass" but i've sent the guy a message on ebay. thanks

 

[6string]

Hold down option when you hear the chime as you boot. Select Leopard partition.
Once you are in there, you can select the startup disk by going to Apple at top left of screen>system preferences>startup disk, and select which you want to boot from.
Make sure he sends you the leopard install discs, and maybe the windows 7 too.

 

[SiJ125]

Oh wow, thanks very much dude, i'm not sure if i want to keep windows 7 partition as i had a windows 7 laptop, which i sold because i didn't like it and wanted to switch to mac lol. how do i remove the windows 7 partition? plus i'm left with 30gb of the 60gb hdd, luckily i have a 60gb ext hdd lol. He only sent it with tiger disc. the macbook pretty much came with what it would've been sold with and as it was when bought brand new, the guy must've paid to upgrade through downloading to snow leopard.

 

[6string]

Some people have success, and some don't with this simple task
remove partition SO, BACK UP BEFORE YOU DO!!!

Also, keep in mind that Snow Leopard will only set you back US$29
The box set with Snow Leopard, iLife and iWork 09 will be US$169

For HD and Ram upgrades go to Performance Upgrades; FireWire USB SATA Storage; Memory, more at OWC and go to my mac tab, and put in the info and it will give you the choices for your mac.
$200 will cover both when you can afford it Post back with your results

 

[SiJ125]

I have my ways of getting all the good software so i'm not worried about that or upgrading, the ext hdd will do me fine, i don't plan on using the macbook for primary useage, still a windows person at the end of the day and i'll stick to using my pc for home useage and macbook for college lol. do i really need to back up? cause i don't know how to on a macbook, infact i've never backed anything up in my life :S lol. is it possible i could risk doing exactly what the guy does in the video and have a safe outcome?

 

[6string]

There is always possibility of something going wrong.
Back up is easy with time machine, but that link to CCC makes a bootable backup.
Anyone who thinks they don't need a backup is walking a thin line.
When the hard drive dies (and it will one day), without a backup you've lost it all!
Just because you've been lucky so far, doesn't mean the inevitable won't ever happen.
To back up with time machine, plug in the external HD, go to applications, and open time machine and you're set from there (back up now).
time machine

 

[6string]

Adding to that, me, I'd just delete the partition, but I have a bootable clone with CCC, and time machine backups
I take all sorts of risks messing with my system files and apps, knowing that I can always restore it to the state it was before I started tinkering time machine tutorial

 

[SiJ125]

lmao awesome, yea i've just started backing up to my ext hdd, after that i'll use that video's guide and then should i back up once again so that my old backup no longer has windows?

 

[6string]

Time machine won't backup the windows partition, but I would still backup again after you have deleted the partition.
Have a look inside the external at how it looks after the backup.

Time machine's good, but you can't beat a clone, as if the hard drive does die, you can boot of the external and use your machine until you have time or money to replace the HD.

 

[SiJ125]

yea i noticed that it wasn't backing windows up cause its only backing 13gb up, which the mac came with nothing but snow leopard and its pre installed software and i just installed adobe cs4 creative suite before backing up, so that should be the 13gb. almost finished backing up. the guy said on the ebay description that it does need a new battery, everything else is perfect. thanks dude.

 

[6string]

No worries.
The batteries at that site I gave you (OWC) are cheaper and higher capacity than the original apple batteries.
Macbook Batteries

 

[SiJ125]

Success, removed the partition, partition was called "BOOTCAMP" i'm hoping that this caused nothing serious, everything looks fine and works fine, except i **** bricks when i restarted and it said there was no boot device, switched off and then pressed option button on the chime and it came up with the macdrive on its own, clicked it and that was me. how do i change that so i don't have to do that everytime i switch on?

 

[6string]

Once you select the startup disk in system preferences, and select Macintosh HD this will be the default startup volume.

 

[SiJ125]

ah thanks very much, that's that sorted lol.