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My lappy just sh*t itself

Damo

Damo

Short One Marshmallow
Sep 7, 2006
4,603
27
French Alps
I am typing this on the GF's Dell desktop which is slow as hell. Damn frustrating.

My laptop has just died. It is fixable (and I will), but it's time for a new laptop.

I have decided to become a Mac user, with the intention of ordering a MacBook Pro in the next week or so.

Here's the basic stats:

15 inch MacBook Pro (the new one)
2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo - I don't want to spend an extra 500 bucks for an extra .13Ghz
4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x2GB
250GB Serial ATA @ 7200

Now this is something I can't really afford (but can, if you know what I mean), but I'm sick of PC's problems.

So: For all you Mac users, is there anything you would have ordered differently if you could again?
Anything I should know before I slap a great wad of cash down on a computer?
 
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Arkayne

Arkayne

I come bearing GIFs
May 10, 2005
3,738
15
SoCal
Get Applecare if you are going to own a laptop. Otherwise, they are all sweet systems.
 
Damo

Damo

Short One Marshmallow
Sep 7, 2006
4,603
27
French Alps
A friend was showing me around his MBP (which was enough to persuade me) and was showing me that it can also be a PC. When he swapped it over to Window to show me, it took an age to boot up, then promptly crashed on him. He spent the next 10 minutes trying to get it back to OSX. That was the clincher.

I'm over PCs.
 
IH8Rice

IH8Rice

I'm Mr. Negative! I Fail!
Aug 2, 2008
24,524
494
Im over here now
Damo said:
A friend was showing me around his MBP (which was enough to persuade me) and was showing me that it can also be a PC. When he swapped it over to Window to show me, it took an age to boot up, then promptly crashed on him. He spent the next 10 minutes trying to get it back to OSX. That was the clincher.

I'm over PCs.
Click to expand...
well people buying mac's dont buy it usually to port windows on it.


their new LED screens are purty :drool:
but $2200 for a laptop is bokoo money
 
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Toshi

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,361
7,760
Damo said:
A friend was showing me around his MBP (which was enough to persuade me) and was showing me that it can also be a PC. When he swapped it over to Window to show me, it took an age to boot up, then promptly crashed on him. He spent the next 10 minutes trying to get it back to OSX. That was the clincher.

I'm over PCs.
Click to expand...
you can always just run Windows via Parallels or VMware. your specs look great btw. let us know if you need any help once it arrives. (i'm a mac user since the days of the Macintosh LC.)

and the word you're looking for, ih8rice, is beaucoup.
 
syadasti

syadasti

i heart mac
Apr 15, 2002
12,690
290
VT
Damo, might want to hold off on the Pro. Looks like you'll be paying a premium for pre-sh*tted equipment (often the case for the first revision or two of Apple products):

Apparently, loading 4GB of RAM (either from Apple or a third party) has caused at least a few MacBooks and MacBook Pros to freeze up randomly which, for the time being at least, can only be remedied by dialing things back to 2GB or 3GB of RAM (something tested by jkOnTheRun).
...
In related MacBook news, The Inquirer is now reporting that the new MacBook Pro's NVIDIA 9600M GPU suffers from the same so-called "bad bump" problem that has plagued previous generation MacBook Pros (and provided plenty of fodder for The Inq) which can, in some cases, lead to blank screens and other video errors. It's not clear, however, if the problem affects all MacBook Pros or just a bad batch, although there does appear to be a somewhat sizable number of complaints cropping up.

Read - jkOnTheRun, "MacBook fussy memory situation- maybe 4 GBs is too much"
Read - the Inquirer, "Inquirer confirms Apple Macbook Pros have Nvidia bad bump material"
Click to expand...
 
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Damo

Damo

Short One Marshmallow
Sep 7, 2006
4,603
27
French Alps
I'm struggling a bit justifying the two grand price tag.

A job I'm doing at the moment is going to be paying me pretty much what a new MBP is worth, but damn! It's a lot of cash eh?

Someone convince me it's worth buying over a second-hand MBP...
 
Damo

Damo

Short One Marshmallow
Sep 7, 2006
4,603
27
French Alps
Apple Support says:

In July 2008, NVIDIA publicly acknowledged a higher than normal failure rate for some of their graphics processors due to a packaging defect. At that same time, NVIDIA assured Apple that Mac computers with these graphics processors were not affected. However, after an Apple-led investigation, Apple has determined that some MacBook Pro computers with the NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics processor may be affected. If the NVIDIA graphics processor in your MacBook Pro has failed, or fails within two years of the original date of purchase, a repair will be done free of charge, even if your MacBook Pro is out of warranty.

What to look for:

Distorted or scrambled video on the computer screen
No video on the computer screen (or external display) even though the computer is on.

Specific products affected:

MacBook Pro 15-inch and 17-inch models with NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics processors
MacBook Pro (17-Inch, 2.4GHz)
MacBook Pro (15-Inch, 2.4/2.2GHz)
MacBook Pro (Early 2008)
These computers were manufactured between approximately May 2007 and September 2008
Click to expand...
 
syadasti

syadasti

i heart mac
Apr 15, 2002
12,690
290
VT
That's bull****, it wasn't Apple led, there were numerous manufacturers that recalled their notebooks way before Apple. Apple was one of the last manufacturers to recall their notebooks with the GPU recall.
 
Damo

Damo

Short One Marshmallow
Sep 7, 2006
4,603
27
French Alps
So anyway against all your advice, I ordered the laptop.

I had it delivered to someone in the UK who is coming out Boxing Day and can bring it with him (I saved 400 yoyos by buying it through apple.uk, but they only delivered within GB).

I checked the delivery status every day until today - it finally said 'delivered'.

Sa-weet. 4 more days till I'm a Mac user!
 
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