benlehman | New Computer thoughts

New Computer thoughts

So my computer is old and beginning to die. Since a small Apple laptop did well last time, I'm thinking about getting a similar machine. There's no more 12" lappies (sadly), so I'm thinking about getting the 13" MacBook w/ 2.4 GHz processor and extra RAM. But I'm flexible. Does anyone else have any suggestions / concerns / things I should know about? I'd be very obliged if you'd share.

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Depending on your actual needs, getting the $1000 base white MacBook +RAM might save you a few hundred dollars over the aluminum body. Now that even the white plastic MacBooks have real graphics cards inside (the only thing I wish my [nearly 2-year old] white plastic Macbook did better), if money is any sort of object, saving a bit and getting the plastic might be worthwhile.

I have two thoughts. Perhaps you could clear them up?

1) I drop my computers ... more than i ought to. My experience has been that the metal-shell computers handle this (denting) better than the plastic shells. But do you have experience to the contrary?

2) I use high-end layout software (InDesign and Illustrator, often both at once.) So processor power can be a serious issue. How does that sort of thing work out for you?

yrs--
--Ben

1) No, but I don't particularly have experience corroborating, either.
2) A 2.0 Ghz dual-core Core Duo 2 chip is a pretty decent chip. I haven't done large layout, but for pushing around 10 megapixel images, it's not a constraint, even with the smaller graphics card.

I don't know what your monetary situation is. For me, the extra few hundred dollars is not all that significant, and I would probably just get the top-end MacBook. But if money is any sort of object, I think the plastic white macbook is at least as good value for money. (that is, not necessarily as much bang, but just as much bang for your buck. You're paying 60% more for 40% more clock speed on the processor, 50% faster RAM, a bigger hard drive, and the aluminum body)

(this is also me convincing myself that I don't need to get a new computer for at least another 6-8 months. Which is true.)

That said, the current aluminum bodies are really sexy.

Preface- I'm in the minority. However, I have the 13 inch Macbook (white plastic but extra goodies). It has, in general, been a gigantic pain in the ass. It doesn't play nicely with half the wireless routers I encounter, crashed catastrophically and lost all of my data about 6 months in, freezes when I ask it to do things like save edited quicktime movies, and so on. I know everyone raves about Macs. I know most people love their Mac. I wish I had stayed with a PC.

Yikes. That sucks.

I am definitely getting the warranty, though.

I have a white plastic 13" 2.0Ghz and have had almost exactly the opposite experience--I've had it for over two years in multiple countries, it's served me faithfully every day as my main work machine, and it's never killed a hard drive or required any repairs. Granted, I put a bigger HD and my own RAM in it as soon as I got it, and I've upgraded both since, but on the other hand, I actually bought this one Apple-refurbished. The fan does run all the time now, but I probably just need to clean it out. I have few problems running Photoshop, Firefox, Thunderbird and OpenOffice writer simultaneously.

The issue with the warranty is that it's pretty much invalid if you ever drop it at all- they've refused me service in the past because they knew it had dents on it, and thus any internal damage was my fault.

I'm not buying another Apple laptop- I've used two, and I love the OS, but the extra cost is not worth it for me when I can just use Linux these days.

I have the new all-in-one MacBook and it's more than a cut above the white plastic one. The body of the white plastic one has a tendency to break off over time, I've seen it on a number of laptops, more so if you drop it.

I switched to the MacBook at the end of October as I got the new version of Creative Suite and it only runs on G5s or Intel Macs.

My previous Mac was a PowerBook G4 and it still runs well but is light years behind my new MacBook in terms of power and speed. I went for the MacBook rather than the MacBook Pro, as the new MacBook is effectively a MacBook Pro without a FireWire port -- I didn't feel that paying for the extra "Pro" gave me much more for the money (unlike when I got my PowerBook over the iBook). Its specs match up pretty well for anyone (like you or I) wanting to do layout stuff. Its 13" screen is 1280 x 800, compared with the 1280 x 854 of my 15.4" PowerBook. I have found myself able to happily live with the missing 54 pixels in return for a much smaller, quicker and lighter laptop.

I have the 2.4 GHz model. On reflection, I probably could have gotten away with just buying the 2.0 GHz model, but I'm a sucker for paying for more speed -- though I'm not sure the extra hundreds was really, really worth it. As always third party RAM (I recommend Crucial.com since, well, Apple use them and I've always found them ace) rather than buying from Apple.

So, I heartily endorse the new MacBook. I'll be happy using this for the next 4 years or so, like I have with my PowerBook.

Thanks!

Thumbs up on the MacBook. That said, while you want as much RAM as you can manage, Apple overcharges pretty hard for pre-installing it (though they're better than they used to be) and if you're comfortable just slapping it in yourself (http://homeoffice.consumerelectronicsnet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=44404), I'd grab it from crucial.com (http://www.crucial.com/) or some other place you trust. I used crucial for my mac, and more recently for my netbook, so they're definitely a company I'd recommend.

Also, glad you're gettign the warranty. So worth it.

Good to know! Saved me serious money.

Does installing RAM yourself violate the warranty in any way?

yrs--
--Ben

No.

When I got my PowerBook from Apple I opened up the back to take out the Apple RAM and replace it with my Crucial.com RAM. Turns out the two RAM chips that Apple had put in that I then took out were Crucial chips too.

RAM direct from Crucial.com has been a solid and pleasant experience for me over my iBook, Cube, PowerBook and MacBook, as well as various PCs.

Oh, to install RAM follow these instructions:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1651

For best performance make sure the chips are of equal size.

No (Specifically, it's illegal in many places to even try that shit), and another thumbs-up for Crucial RAM.

Oh, funny story related to the RAM-violates-warranty thing.

We had a big IBM box. I think it was an H90 or something. Anyway, we wanted more RAM, and Big Blue quoted some tremendous amount of money for it. We quoted Crucial and they gave us the big hoo-ha about how that RAM had not been tested, how it'd cause the machine to catch fire and kill all our children, even the unborn ones, and how it would also void the warranty.

We told them to go suck a fruit and bought Crucial RAM. Cracked the server to install it, and what did we find?

Crucial RAM.

( specifically, both the sticks we ordered, and the sticks in the server, were Micron ECC RAM. Crucial is the direct-mail / consumer branch of Micron).

I have one of the 15 in macbook pros, which might be more than you're looking for, but is amazing. It's body is also done a little differently in that it's one machined piece of metal, and it feels much more solid than the previous macbook I owned. Highly recommended, especially if you drop yours.

The Macbook I'm looking out is the same (single aluminum body), just smaller.

I wish I could afford a larger one (I do a ton of design work which calls for larger screens, faster processors, etc) but there's a trade-off in cost (mainly cost, really, since ... grad student) and portability (I take my computer basically everywhere I go, so ounces matter.)

Ah, well, next time around, when I'm rich.

yrs--
--Ben

Oh, the cool thing about the MacBooks are that they so very easily can be used with other monitors for extra real estate. So, you end up with the palettes on the MacBook screen and the page layout on a large second monitor.

My plan is to eventually spring for the 24-in Cinema LED monitor at some point... (when I win the lottery).

If you're going to be doing a lot of design stuff, just pick up a second LCD monitor and connect it to your laptop. You can get them for dirt cheap these days off newegg. I just picked up a 20" widescreen for $120...

If you are contemplating a PC, I love, adore and admire my 14.1" Lenovo. It has stood up to repeated dropping, cats knocking it off the table, and daily transportation to and from school. I can run multiple high-end programs on it simultaneously and don't even notice a hiccup (though I did spring for extra RAM to get it that way). If you want a smaller computer they also have a 12.1" version which is truly a thing of beauty; I just didn't like the smaller screen and lack of built-in optical drive.

Of course, you may want to stay with Mac, in which case, enjoy. :)

Lenovo's are built like bricks. Super durable bricks.

Were I not pretty hard-core into macs, I would buy a lenovo. They look fantastic.

yrs--
--Ben

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