OT: I need advice on buying a Mac

[tykurez]

You can currently get the newer models refurbished directly from Apple. You'll save upwards of $250 and they've got a 1-year warranty.

Here's a link to the 13" MacBook Pro refurbish list.

 

[CL82]

You can currently get the newer models refurbished directly from Apple. You'll save upwards of $250 and they've got a 1-year warranty.

Here's a link to the 13" MacBook Pro refurbish list.

I thought about this, but for the difference in money it didn't seem worth it.

 

[tykurez]

I thought about this, but for the difference in money it didn't seem worth it.

Yea - totally up to you. You're talking about a savings of ~15% and still getting a good warranty. I've always myself just gone the "new" route though because it has a higher resale value (I tend to swap machines pretty frequently.)

Good luck and congrats to your daughter!

 

[CL82]

Yea - totally up to you. You're talking about a savings of ~15% and still getting a good warranty. I've always myself just gone the "new" route though because it has a higher resale value (I tend to swap machines pretty frequently.)

Good luck and congrats to your daughter!

My thought process is that I'd just as soon limit any increment risk of hassle to my daughter for the price differential. I do see the value in it though.

 

[August_West]

My thought process is that I'd just as soon limit any increment risk of hassle to my daughter for the price differential. I do see the value in it though.

Buy her a new one, she deserves it. and as someone else mentioned, whats a 150 bucks in the scheme of the beatdown you are about to take!

 

[8893]

I was trying to figure out which options and specs she'd need yesterday, and then Mrs. 8893 reminded me that we have an Apple Store in New Haven and suggested that I take her there to check them out in person and discuss with the people there. I think that's what I'm going to do next week.

If your daughter is studying something like engineering or graphic design that may have special requirements, you might want to ask about that at orientation this week.

 

[4UConn]

Do yourself a favor and max out on the RAM.

 

[FDNY99]

My thought process is that I'd just as soon limit any increment risk of hassle to my daughter for the price differential. I do see the value in it though.

I was trying to figure out which options and specs she'd need yesterday, and then Mrs. 8893 reminded me that we have an Apple Store in New Haven and suggested that I take her there to check them out in person and discuss with the people there. I think that's what I'm going to do next week.

If your daughter is studying something like engineering or graphic design that may have special requirements, you might want to ask about that at orientation this week.

Guys the best bet is taking them to a Apple store and having them talk to a sales person. I did that when I bought my Mac and the computer they put me into fits what I use it for like a glove (actually saved me about $750 from what I was going to buy). I will never go back to a PC again. The best part about my Mac or any of my Apple branded devices...when I have a issue with them I go to the Genius bar if it can't be fixed through a chat with a Apple Tech and it's a face to face interaction.

 

[Excalibur]

Yeah, I can understand that. I could even get paying a little more for that inconvenience, but 3x is a hard sell in terms of value.

Shelf life on my prior PCs was generally around 3 years before they started to really struggle with newer software. I'm in year 4 with my current Mac, and having no signs of a problem yet.

You're paying for better build quality, better customer service, and fewer bugs in the OS. User interface is a personal preference, but I think that Mac's is superior once you get used to it.

 

[the Q]

Shelf life on my prior PCs was generally around 3 years before they started to really struggle with newer software. I'm in year 4 with my current Mac, and having no signs of a problem yet.

You're paying for better build quality, better customer service, and fewer bugs in the OS. User interface is a personal preference, but I think that Mac's is superior once you get used to it.

by customer service you mean driving to the mac store, right?

 

[Excalibur]

by customer service you mean driving to the mac store, right?

And walking away with an actual solution.

 

[Fishy]

by customer service you mean driving to the mac store, right?

It is an option - you're not going to drive to the HP or Lenovo store any time soon, so it's nice to have the option.

But their customer service, no matter how you reach them, is just in a different league than the others.

That's before you consider Apple Care.

If you have something covered by Apple Care and you break it for some reason, Fed Ex shows up the next day to give you a new one and take the broken one away.

 

[jojipoji]

just wanted to weigh in. If you are a serious gamer etc, a PC is obviously up your alley but for us common folk, a mac is perfect. I am on a 2011 macbook pro (6 years old!!!) that I upgraded the HD and some RAM. Its faster and more stable than the new desktop we got at work. I havent had any issues the last 6 years. I wont buy non mac computer unless something drastically changes...

 

[August_West]

Shelf life on my prior PCs was generally around 3 years before they started to really struggle with newer software. I'm in year 4 with my current Mac, and having no signs of a problem yet.

You're paying for better build quality, better customer service, and fewer bugs in the OS. User interface is a personal preference, but I think that Mac's is superior once you get used to it.

lets not get crazy here with "fewer bugs" in the OS and all that jazz. Macs are fine. Especially for kids and students and adults who dont want to know how to actually compute and do simple stuff like browsing the web and online shopping and App and photo usage. I choose to use an IPhone over Samsung for the same reasons. I dont want to be bothered. But Microsoft Office for Mac is a disaster waiting to happen, and Macs have their own set of absolute un-user friendly BS to combat that I could list for hours. I will list one from just yesterday to illustrate:

My shared printer IP's were changed to a new Network subnet. On my PC's? No problem, Go to printer properties on the printer driver, type in the new IP address, and boom , done.

on my Macs?
Lets see, I went to the installed drivers and thought I could do there. Like a PC. Nope.
I had to go through an antiquated crappy clunky web browser cups interface that makes no sense and no intuitive at all. But could I even do that easily? NO! It was disabled!
So I had to open the terminal window, figure out the command to type to enable it (>cupsctl WebInterface=yes).
And only then could I figure and reach that crappy interface via browser (http://localhost:631)

Even then, try to make sense of the proper tabs to navigate under cups even after all the hoops you jumped through to get there.

Macs ARE NOT better than PC's. PC's are not better than Mac's. They both have their absolute mind numbing BS you'll be faced with at times. It just depends what your usages are.

 

[RayIsTheGOAT]

A MacBook Air is 100% worth it.
There's a reason Macs are pricey, they last forever. The 2 laptops I had before my Mac didn't last a year.
I've had my MacBook for 4 years, battery and all is still going very strong. And I use my MacBook several hours every day.

Would you rather a $500 computer every 2 years, or a $1000 computer every 6+ years?

Just my experience, but everyone I know that has a MacBook has had very minimal issues and has had it forever.

 

[August_West]

There's a reason Macs are pricey, they last forever. The 2 laptops I had before my Mac didn't last a year.

Just Curious.
How much did you pay for the 2 laptops that didnt last a year before your MacBook?

Thats what I find hysterical about these comments. You spend 1700 on a top of the line PC laptop, I promise you it is every bit as durable in design and hardware as a Mac.

But you all compare 400 dollar laptops to 1700 dollar ones. Its amazing.

 

[RayIsTheGOAT]

Just Curious.
How much did you pay for the 2 laptops that didnt last a year before your MacBook?

Thats what I find hysterical about these comments. You spend 1700 on a top of the line PC laptop, I promise you it is every bit as durable in design and hardware as a Mac.

But you all compare 400 dollar laptops to 1700 dollar ones. Its amazing.

1 PC was about $500+ had to buy a new battery, and other things. The other was about $800 and the motherboard crapped the bed.

If you shell out a grand for a PC, it will probably be very durable. Just in my experience, spent a couple hundred more on a Mac and it is 10x more durable. Plus I prefer the Mac interface.

Never said I spent $1700, my brand new Macbook air was about $1100 after some sort of deal that was being offered at the time.

Plus, even after loads of virus software, I still had issues on my PCs. On my Mac, I have downloaded from questionable websites and have not had one issue.

 

[August_West]

Spec'd EXACTLY the same.




13-inch MacBook Pro - Space Gray

 

[intlzncster]

Just Curious.
How much did you pay for the 2 laptops that didnt last a year before your MacBook?

Thats what I find hysterical about these comments. You spend 1700 on a top of the line PC laptop, I promise you it is every bit as durable in design and hardware as a Mac.

But you all compare 400 dollar laptops to 1700 dollar ones. Its amazing.

Hahaha I've still got a windows desktop from 2008 still going strong. Like no problems.

The shortest I've had a windows machine last was 3 years...and that was a friggin netbook. It cost $125.

 

[Northbound]

We have 10k customers and issues with PCs well out number Macs, except for how Apple mobile handles video - that really sucks. That's an entirely different conversation and a senior Apple engineer got shitcanned a couple of years ago after saying they bungled mobile video.

I actually think PCs have caught up to Macs in core canilities and in some areas surpassed them. The ability to go to a physical location to address an issie with a Mac and actually get it fixed without an IT department is helpful and the service is just better. Also going from PC to Mac is easy, from Mac to PC isn't quite as easy in my mind.

I think I have 6 Macs I use for testing and just let our development guys test on PCs because it it seems (perception) more complicated.

I know all the stats about SOM with Mac/PC and the various mobile options, but if I had a blank slate I'd chose Macs all the time and it actually pains me to say it because I sit whet damm iPhone, but once you're in the ecosystem your in the ecosystem. I'd take my droid global everyday over the iPhone.

I've only had three Macs age out on me, but they were old and they just couldn't take the OS evolution - I was losses at the time because I didn't want to spend $5k on a computer, but t is what it is.

Long way to say - get her what she wants.

 

[the Q]

We have 10k customers and issues with PCs well out number Macs, except for how Apple mobile handles video - that really sucks. That's an entirely different conversation and a senior Apple engineer got shitcanned a couple of years ago after saying they bungled mobile video.

I actually think PCs have caught up to Macs in core canilities and in some areas surpassed them. The ability to go to a physical location to address an issie with a Mac and actually get it fixed without an IT department is helpful and the service is just better. Also going from PC to Mac is easy, from Mac to PC isn't quite as easy in my mind.

I think I have 6 Macs I use for testing and just let our development guys test on PCs because it it seems (perception) more complicated.

I know all the stats about SOM with Mac/PC and the various mobile options, but if I had a blank slate I'd chose Macs all the time and it actually pains me to say it because I sit whet damm iPhone, but once you're in the ecosystem your in the ecosystem. I'd take my droid global everyday over the iPhone.

I've only had three Macs age out on me, but they were old and they just couldn't take the OS evolution - I was losses at the time because I didn't want to spend $5k on a computer, but t is what it is.

Long way to say - get her what she wants.

I disagree on the transition for a few reasons, but I have heard others say it your way too. I found way harder to switch to mac for a few reasons.

1) awful keyboard layout. I needed to get an external one cause it's so bad. Also the quick key button is terrible (for cut, paste etc).

2) windows explorer is way more user friendly than finder. It's just easier to find stuff. Period.

3) their mac office applications are embarrassing. Just get ms office and this one can be solved though.

4) no right click. Seriously, whoever at apple thought this was a good idea needs to be shot.

5) mouse scrolling piece goes in the wrong direction. Up is down and vice versa.

I have never understood how people say Macs are intuitive. They aren't.