Questions about Macbooks

ciproxr

Senior member
Mar 26, 2005
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I have an inspiron 1501, which has served me great for a year but ive had my eye on OS X for a while, im not too crazy about apples hardware but i love the operating system.

I use my computer mostly for pictures, watching dvd's. surfing the net, email, light word processing and the occasional video and picture editing.


I do like that the macbook use mostly intel hardware so if i want to run ubutntu in the future i can without any probs, also i can run windows xp which is great

The only thing i dont like about the macbook is its 13" screen and how it has a very thick border around it. my inspiron has 15.1 screen so its gonna feel like a downgrade.

So heres some questions i have before i buy anything.

1)I heard macbook's have heat issues, is this true?

2)I also heard airport has trouble connecting sometimes and isnt that reliable again is this true?

3)Do apple hardware last long?

4) how well does leopard do with 512 ram

5) Does it matter if its refurbished ?

6) is now a bad time to buy mac since leopard was just released and still has problems that are being worked on

7)Will apple release new macbooks soon ? should i wait ?
 

secretanchitman

Diamond Member
Apr 11, 2001
9,352
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91
1: i never had any heat issues with my own macbook pro and my dads macbook. yes it does get hot if you run an intensive app but its nothing to run home about.

2: not for me.

3: yes. applecare is great and i'd highly recommend buying it to get 3 years of your warranty.

4: not very well...i'd recommend at least 1GB.

5: not usually...just make sure you buy it from somewhere reputable, and if its a private seller, check out the macbook first to see if it runs fine, any scratches/dings, etc.

6: no, 10.5.2 is rumored to come out next month, so you're fine.

7: now is a great time to because the macbooks recently got upgraded (integrated gma 950 to integrated x3100, among other things) so there wont be a refresh for a while. rumors are circling about a high end slim-line/tablet macbook pro and of course new mac pros (high end desktop line), but other then that, no worries to not buy one. go right ahead!

thestu......where are you? haha...
 

TheStu

Moderator<br>Mobile Devices & Gadgets
Moderator
Sep 15, 2004
12,089
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Originally posted by: secretanchitman
1: i never had any heat issues with my own macbook pro and my dads macbook. yes it does get hot if you run an intensive app but its nothing to run home about.

2: not for me.

3: yes. applecare is great and i'd highly recommend buying it to get 3 years of your warranty.

4: not very well...i'd recommend at least 1GB.

5: not usually...just make sure you buy it from somewhere reputable, and if its a private seller, check out the macbook first to see if it runs fine, any scratches/dings, etc.

6: no, 10.5.2 is rumored to come out next month, so you're fine.

7: now is a great time to because the macbooks recently got upgraded (integrated gma 950 to integrated x3100, among other things) so there wont be a refresh for a while. rumors are circling about a high end slim-line/tablet macbook pro and of course new mac pros (high end desktop line), but other then that, no worries to not buy one. go right ahead!

thestu......where are you? haha...

LOL...

Secretanchitman is right.

Any new MacBook that you get will have 1GB RAM, so you will be fine there, and if you do need more, DDR2-667 is dirt cheap.

I have no wireless issues, or heat issues with my MacBook, it is usually the MacBook Pros that feel hotter due to the aluminum shell acting as a heatsink.

If you are planning on running Ubuntu or XP, you should look into Parallels or VMWare Fusion. Rebooting to run that one little app can get quite annoying.
 

Parasitic

Diamond Member
Aug 17, 2002
4,000
2
0
It's only a downgrade from 15" to a 13" if your 15" has a higher resolution than 1280x800.

1. The fans seem to be on more often in Windows XP than OSX, but it might be just me.
2. The wireless card configuration is fine...no issues for me.
3. Aside from the white plastics and touchpad getting dirty over a prolonged period of use, not a problem. AppleCare can be bought and applied on a new system within the first year of purchase to extend warranty coverage. I had a flaky MagSafe adapter but replaced it under warranty.
4. Moot point because if you bought new all Macbooks came with 1GB of memory.
5. If you bought a refurbed Macbook directly from Apple it looks brand new aside from packaging. Same warranty too.
6. There are rumors floating around about an update in Jan...but if you want one now, just buy it. Technology is always improving and things are always going obsolete at an obscene pace.
7. See #6.