Help me lose my Mac cherry

[GTI]

I'm looking to pick up a 2nd hand Macbook off Ebay for no more than 300 - 400 squid, then if I find my self joining the ranks of the converted, I may buy something a little more respectable.

Can anyone tell me what I should be looking for? For me fancy graphics aren't as important as speed and battery life, so an older OS could definitely be on the cards.

Cheers

[blaggard]

Don't feck around, buy a new Macbook and done with, you'll be grinning from ear to ear within a couple of days and wondering why you wasted so much of your life with Windows!

[GTI]

Don't feck around, buy a new Macbook and done with, you'll be grinning from ear to ear within a couple of days and wondering why you wasted so much of your life with Windows!

Caution is my middle name Blaggard, plus if I don't take to it (like I should) I can easily cover my losses by selling it on again.

[CzarJunkie]

Splash out on a Macbook Air. Mine gets more beautiful everytime I look at it. Great for those lazy sunday mornings in the sack and for sitting out in the afternoon sun.

[crashtestmac]

If you do not like it you can just install Windoze on it and use it as a PC...!!!

They provide all of the drivers to do that.

I work in a windows team supporting windows servers and used to be a Microsoft trainer and i now have a Mac on my desk at work and at home and one in my bag plus and iPhone in my pocket so i can get a fix where ever i am.

Try the outlet store as they sometimes have the older ones in going for a decent price....

By the way one of the fastest ways to run Vistoid is on a Mac Book Pro...!

[Goldberg]

I'll be looking forward to the 'How do I get this {windows} app working on my Mac lol

The missus is convinced she is getting a Macbook this year... This is after she just forked out £300 on a Samsung NC10 (White of course....)....

We shall see.

[crashtestmac]

If you know anyone in education they have the last of the white ones for £618 and if you get one that way the apple care for a full 3 year hardware and software warrantee is only another £46.

[blaggard]

I'll be looking forward to the 'How do I get this {windows} app working on my Mac lol

The missus is convinced she is getting a Macbook this year... This is after she just forked out £300 on a Samsung NC10 (White of course....)....

We shall see.

The only windows app I would ever ned to run on my Macbook is a music app. There really is no need to worry about your old Windows apps just accept the new OS. Vista was a poor (very fucking) attempt at Tiger.

[eblaster101]

yes definitely get a student to buy it for you, will save you a fair bit.

[Scottio200]

I'm looking to pick up a 2nd hand Macbook off Ebay for no more than 300 - 400 squid, then if I find my self joining the ranks of the converted, I may buy something a little more respectable.

Can anyone tell me what I should be looking for? For me fancy graphics aren't as important as speed and battery life, so an older OS could definitely be on the cards.

Cheers

First thing to look at is the CPU as this cannot be upgraded. The macbooks range from 1.6ghz to 2.4ghz. If you can go for a Core2Duo at least. However any Macbook will be able to run the Leopard OS and some of the newer ones will even run Snow Leopard when it is released.

The best thing with the Macbooks is that the HDD and Ram can be upgraded, so they are not really important at first. The base model macbooks usually come with 1gb ram and a 60 or 80 gb HDD. If your running Leopard id at least recommend getting 2gb, or 4gb depending on the release version you get. The HDD is a standard 2.5" SATA one, ive got a 320gb in mine, was only £50 a few months back.

Also depending on the age of it, it will probably not have any apple care on it. If you can get one with it, will help you a lot when getting started with the os if you need to call for tech support.

The only other thing you might want to bear in mind is the optical drive, not every macbook came with a super drive (DVD±RW) Some came with a Combo Drive (DVD-Rom CD-RW) so depending on what your needs are you might want to look out for this.

As for getting used to the OS there are some good guides on the Apple Support Website, here are some links to get you started.

http://www.apple.com/uk/support/osfamily/
http://www.apple.com/support/mac101/
http://www.apple.com/support/switch101/
http://www.apple.com/uk/support/macbook/

Hope this helps
Scottio

[blaggard]

Always worth reading the thread chaps, some very good advice but GTI just wants an old G4/G5 machine to play with.

[TIN CAN]

I first got an iMac and then a macbook. Coming from years of windoze the age old saying 'why didn't i change earlier' was the first thing i thought when playing with the iMac but it really made me feel like that.

You will love it mate, says me sitting on my shiny macbook lol

[Brydo666]

Been using an iMac for just over three weeks now, love it.

[blaggard]

@GTI did you get sorted?

[GTI]

@GTI did you get sorted?

Not yet mate, but I got close in New York. They had a $899 (+ Tax) special on the Macbook White, which I was verging towards but the salesguy hinted that it wouldn't be his choice (scratches and cracks easily, no LED backlight etc..). So I'm now thinking along the lines of a 13" unibody, but I'm not liking the prices much

[blaggard]

Mine still looks gorgeous, no backlight??

[GTI]

I've finally decided I'm getting a 13" Macbook Pro 2.26 GHz.
I'm glad I dilly dallied because the 13"Pro was only released last month and its cheaper and better than the equivelent Macbook Unibody. The RRP is £899, and if I buy from the Apple Store in London I should get a tax free form to reclaim the VAT at the airport

[blaggard]

Result!!

[Over Carl]

Just wondering - if you are looking to see what it's all about at this stage, why not run the mac os on an x86 pc for now before comitting?

[GTI]

Just wondering - if you are looking to see what it's all about at this stage, why not run the mac os on an x86 pc for now before comitting?

Call me odd, but I want to experience the whole Apple package, software and hardware.

In any case they do say that the fastest Windows notebook is made by Apple so I see it as a win-win situation. If I like Apple OS then all is good, if not my MBP will make an excellent Windows 7 PC.