Looking at used Macbook's, what to look out for?

p1tse

p1tse

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Budget is zero at the moment LOL
but doing some research first

from apple website:
Macbook:
2.13GHz
Intel Core 2 Duo
2GB DDR2 Memory
160GB hard drive1
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics
Standard keyboard
White polycarbonate shell
Ships: Within 24hrs
Free Shipping
£749.00

Macbook pro:
13-inch: 2.26GHz
Intel Core 2 Duo
2GB Memory
160GB hard drive1
SD card slot
Built-in 7-hour battery2
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics
Ships: Within 24hrs
Free Shipping
£899.00


I keep reading the macbook pro is better and worth it.
I'm no techie, but looking at the spec, PC laptops of similar spec seems alot lot cheaper.

I wanted something for general web browsing, office and teach myself and abilities to do post processing photos.
 
PC Laptops will be cheaper than mac's. Everytime (same spec). But you get what you pay for (well, most of the time), apple does design/make some lovely lovely stuff. Even if you have to use windows- mac's can run that as well. You cant (legally) run mac os on a pc laptop.

My personal preference- would be a pc laptop, since I get more for my money :)
 
Make sure that any Macbook that you look at is has a Core2 Duo processor from 2007 onwards - those models will also have Wireless N wifi as standard if running 10.5. The RAM and HDs are *very* easily upgradeable. To upgrade the HD get an external USB2 case, put the original HD in it, pop the new HD in the macbook, boot holding down the alt key, choose the external drive to boot from, when booted run 'diskutility' and clone the external drive to the new internal HD. Done. 13.3" MacBooks run Photoshop, Gimp, Lightroom very well indeed - Aperture 2 causes a very slight struggle due to the internal display card not being rocket powered... but being as I'm not over keen on Aperture...

iPhoto is a surprisingly capable photo manipulation and cataloguing tool supplied with all MacBooks from new.

The MacBook PRO *I* am not so keen on as a travelling companion - bigger, with poorer wifi performance due to metal shell.

With my current 'BlackBook' I'm getting 4+ hours work from the battery.

Things to watch? not much on the polycarb shelled models, some had dicky keyboards which wold miss the first letter that you type - easily spotted on a brief test, other than that? Dunno really....

-Rob
 
I have a MBP having moved from PC laptops and would never go back. As mentioned iPhoto is a capable piece of software which is part of the iLife suite that comes bundled. If looking at secondhand go for a dual core model and don't be put off by the idea of Mac OS, I found it so intuative that the learning curve wasn't as steep as expected, after the nightmare that is Windows your only regret is not makin the move sooner.
Also MacBooks hold their value far far better than PC based laptops.
 
p1tse said:
Budget is zero at the moment LOL
but doing some research first

from apple website:
Macbook:
2.13GHz
Intel Core 2 Duo
2GB DDR2 Memory
160GB hard drive1
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics
Standard keyboard
White polycarbonate shell
Ships: Within 24hrs
Free Shipping
£749.00

Macbook pro:
13-inch: 2.26GHz
Intel Core 2 Duo
2GB Memory
160GB hard drive1
SD card slot
Built-in 7-hour battery2
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics
Ships: Within 24hrs
Free Shipping
£899.00


I keep reading the macbook pro is better and worth it.
I'm no techie, but looking at the spec, PC laptops of similar spec seems alot lot cheaper.

I wanted something for general web browsing, office and teach myself and abilities to do post processing photos.
Click to expand...

I run both PC and Macs in a Pro environment. For Web Browsing & Office, file compatibility get a PC, both will run Photoshop fine. yes the Mac will be better but will cost double even more when you add in the cost of Photoshop. You can get a fast Used PC Laptop such as a Dell XPS for around £300, then spend the savings on Photoshop and learn that. You should be able to pick up a used Mac Book for around £600 if your lucky it may have Photoshop already loaded on it, most used macs these days have some sort of decent software left on it.
 
Every PC I ever owned has needed replacing within a couple of years, whereas every Mac I've ever owned, I still have and they all work fine. I hate windows with a passion, will never buy another Windows based product, but that's just me. With Windows products you can lose a hell of a lot of speed and memory just by putting certain Antivirus software on it.

The only thing I would suggest is that you steer clear of the white Macbooks, both my wife and I had them and the casing cracked four times on mine and three times on hers where our palms would rest. We had them both replaced in the end by Apple, she went for the unibody Macbook and I took the MBP.
 
look out for glitches in the display, such as flickering etc.

we have had 5 or so MBP's sent back to Apple to deal with a known issue regarding the graphics card and/or screen.
 
Dman said:
Every PC I ever owned has needed replacing within a couple of years, whereas every Mac I've ever owned, I still have and they all work fine.
Click to expand...

Yep.. I'm a web developer so I get a LOT of usage out of my computers. Before now I've been on a "less than 2 year cycle" where every laptop I've had before, including Dell and Sony have failed to live past 2 years. My macbook is now 2.8 years *touch wood!* and going strong.

Saying that its now struggling a bit with RAW processing and id rather spend my spare cash on lenses than computers, so a hackintosh is in order soon I think :) Desktops are a much more stable option in my experience, at least if you build yourself, and you can build something to rival a £3000 mac pro for £1000~
 
matthew_rk said:
Yep.. I'm a web developer so I get a LOT of usage out of my computers. Before now I've been on a "less than 2 year cycle" where every laptop I've had before, including Dell and Sony have failed to live past 2 years. My macbook is now 2.8 years *touch wood!* and going strong.
Click to expand...

blimey what do you do to them? lol :p

seriously there shouldnt be any reason why you cant get a laptop to last beyond 2 years, weve got dell latitudes in circulation at work that are 3-4 years old and still going strong :) but then thats subjective i guess and it depends what youre using them for.
 
i'm no techie, but know my way round windows with stat button, open to programme or settings. with settings then control panel etc.

i assume mac's will be similar and can live and learn easily.

what are the operating systems called on mac's? I hear of leopard or something.

bit conflicting above with white macbook and macbook pro.

will definately look out for intel duo core 2 thing.

interesting to hear about iphoto. can it convert raw to jpegs with post processing?

at the moment i shoot in jpeg becuase my comp can't handle pics and can't teach myself or learn about post processing, so want it to last for that. nothing hard core, but something where i can learn about raw - post processing - to jpeg.

but as above dell xps sounds interesting.

i've seen acouple of white ones on ebay will post them later for comments on spec
 
The Mac OS is currently Snow Leopard (one before that was Leopard).

iPhoto can process raw images, you can adjust exposure, highlights and shadows, tone, brightness, sharpness etc. There's several other tweak tools, if you find that limiting you can always update to Aperture which is the professional version.
 
Brief translation of the Mac OS X variants:

10.4 = Tiger
10.5 = Leopard
10.6 = Snow Leopard

Moving on, I use 10.6 and 10.5 and can switch back and forth to XP and Windows 7 without issues, so you shouldn't have too many problems :)

-Rob
 
someone else pointed me to the refurb site

do you get 1 or 2 year warranty?
and is it 1 or 2 years from apple when new?

if only my budget would stretch i will consider
 
i see students get a discount, i could get my cousin to get one for me ;-)

also just missed the rebate on £145 for an ipod

so could have got a macbook with discount and then sell say a £145 ipod touch at £100 and make the purchase even more cheaper ;-(
 
I love my 15" MacBook Pro.

Ok, now we've got that over and done with, if you can hang fire a few weeks. Rumour has it the plastic MacBook is about to be refreshed and a possible price cut (Same goes for the iMac). This should be before the end of Oct. This could mean (obviously) a cheaper MacBook or an even cheaper refurb.
 
I've had a few Apple laptops over the years, currently on a macbook pro (early 2008). I love it but would agree that they are pricey. I used to use a white macbook with the lid closed connected to a 24" monitor and it was a great setup but in the end wanted more speed and bought a pro.

My white macbook (3-4 yrs old) had the most problems-cd drive died after 500 ish burns replaced with external, hard drive recently died swapped out myself and the wireless becomes temperamental every few months, have to reset the wireless profile. Oh and the power adaptor blew up at my feet at about month 18, sparks and everything, got a new one under warranty! As for the macbook pro, the battery became useless after a year, giving 90-120 mins life but that was also swapped out under warranty. I do give my kit hell though
*Not my camera stuff if anyone is buying* jejeje

Even with all those problems I highly recommend one, not so keen on the iphone, I use a blackberry.
 
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