New Mac very soon Advice needed first

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charlie24

12 posts

Geek

#34375 22-May-2009 19:25

Hi,
I have the bug like you fellow Mac users now that I've had a play and would love someone to help before I purchase one.
Am looking to buy the Mac Book 13" White model through Apple Mac with the student discount. It will primarily be used for the usual web browing, heaps of photos, bebo, utube, videos, and the daughter's sims games. As this comes with 2gb Ram and 120 HD I thought i best upgrade the hard drive to 160 to accomodate her game playing. Is there anyhting else I need to consider upgrading before I purchase. I also plan to buy iworks"09, carry bag and get the three year apple care plan at the same time. Thanks.

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Hawkes Bay
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#217063 22-May-2009 21:46

Great machines... I have the slightly earlier white Penryn 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo with 120GB / 2GB and I love it to bits. I hammer my machine with everything except games, and the RAM is plenty. 2GB on a Mac feels like 4GB on Vista.

charlie24

12 posts

Geek

#217075 22-May-2009 22:27

Cheers for replying Tony. Is it a wise move for me do you think to upgrade to 160 instead of the 120 for her sims games or leave well alone? Also by upgrading the hard drive is it usually common practise to get more memory then?? Yikes $$$$$

Fossie

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#217082 22-May-2009 23:07

I have a MBP which originally had a 120. I upgraded it to a 320 7200 myself 7 months later. 120 really ends up being much too small. Even with a 500gig external. Music + Photos + etc etc.

charlie24

12 posts

Geek

#217083 22-May-2009 23:12

Thanks for the input Fossie. So with the info I have provided what ram and HD will I upgrade to??? Many thanks.

Fossie

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#217084 22-May-2009 23:33

4 gigs of ram is fast becoming the norm, but if they aren't going to be doing too much then 2 should be fine. If you do end up going with a ram upgrade, do it yourself. The upgrades from apple are way over inflated. (Well they were a few months ago when I last checked). A ram upgrade is really simple, just 2 screws.

If you're more daring you can do the hard drive yourself. I'm not too sure how difficult it is with the macbooks, but it shouldn't be anything too daunting. I would say 160-320 gigs for the hard drive.

The ram at will be fine and snappy for just the general stuff. You say that there'll be photos, videos and no doubt heaps of music. So go for the bigger drive over the ram if you need to choose.

vel

23 posts

Geek

#217085 22-May-2009 23:37

Depends on how much the upgrade is. Sometimes upgrading from Apple costs a lot and you might be able to pick up a decent sized external hard drive just for the price of upgrade.

charlie24

12 posts

Geek

#217087 22-May-2009 23:46

Buying new off apple the 160 Hard Drive is only NZ$60 extra. Been quoted NZ$2,305.00 all up. This includes 160 upgrade, iworks'09 and 3 year apple care plan. (Student discount price here.) otherwise it would've been $2,545.00 full rate.

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Spadoinkles

5 posts

Wannabe Geek

#218108 26-May-2009 19:11

I've got an early 07 white macbook,
what I find with games and movies & moving objects is after an extended period of time the processor wears out.
Just a word of warning not to let the young ones have it too much! Now I suffer pentium4-speeds because my core2duo is slowly fading out :( Eagerly waiting HOPEFULLY for a quad core macbook pro :)

openmedia

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#218113 26-May-2009 19:21

Spadoinkles: I've got an early 07 white macbook,

what I find with games and movies & moving objects is after an extended period of time the processor wears out.

Just a word of warning not to let the young ones have it too much! Now I suffer pentium4-speeds because my core2duo is slowly fading out :( Eagerly waiting HOPEFULLY for a quad core macbook pro :)

Err.. Processor wearing out...

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

Spadoinkles

5 posts

Wannabe Geek

#218115 26-May-2009 19:27

mueh that's what I've been told everywhere I go...
some apple techie I spoke to at Harvey Norman says that's what processors go through on their way to burning out completely :(