Hi guys. I’ve been waiting for the new iBook replacements, but I’ve practically convinced myself at this point to spring for a refurbished Macbook Pro 15" instead. I need a great portable work machine, but it also occurred to me that I’m likely to be moving to a new country in the next six months, and I may as well invest in something that can handle anything I really want to do over the next year. So $1699 is starting to look like a good investment. Goven the fact that I don’t even know if the new iBooks will be available by the time I’m in the states, I may very well get the Pro.
I was wondering if people, specifically guys who’ve only recently switched to a Mac for the first time, can share their experiences on how they like it and whether or not they are happy with the investment. Thumbs up or down from Macbook Pro owners.
I also had some other questions:
To save a few hundred bucks, I’m looking to get the refurb. Are refurbs from Apple dependable?
I’ve heard some stuff about heating and buzzing issues on the pros. Anyone able to tell me if this is something to be concerned about?
Related to the above, can anyone tell me if there’s more likely to be heating or buzzing issues on a refurb than a new one, or if correcting these problems would be part of the treatment.
How’s Windows XP run? I wouldn’t be buying a Macbook Pro without the option to put it on there… I’d like to have OSx and Windows XP on the same computer.
They already have refurbed MacBook Pros? That was fast.
I’ve heard that people have had zero issues with Mac refurbs; you can buy AppleCare on them as well, and I can only say that my experience with those people has been nothing short of phenomenal. (I have a 17" PowerBook G4.)
There is some kind of issue with a “buzzing” noise on the Pros. I’ve not heard it, but I have heard about it.
Refurbs won’t have any more issues than new ones with Apple. They’re very reliable, and some people swear by only buying refubs from them as a rule.
Everyone I know who’s installed Win XP on a MacBook says that the process for getting it on there is not the most user-friendly thing they’ve ever done, but it’s largely automatic and does a great job of getting it on there and running. Everything then works as you would expect, except for a very few small hardware things (iSight, trackpad enhancements, couple others).
Keep in mind that Boot Camp is beta software and is “unsupported” by Apple, even though it will be bundled with Leopard, which I expect to release around the turn of the year.
Honestly, as long as you were stream-of-consciously squirting non sequiturs out the hair-lip doofus hole God drilled through your face, you might have put some more effort into actually making it a joke… you know, as opposed to just a huh?
Here’s one I thought up: “Why are you considering a new laptop? Did your precious Shepherd iBook die?” Yes, it’s still a little bit weak, but then again, so is Firefly!
The effect of the poorly thought out would-be Dungsroman tirade is somewhat handicapped by the misspelling. “Hair-lip” is funnier that whatever the hell you were trying to accomplish, Crypt.
Refurbs from apple are quite good, although you could probably get a new one for the same price buying from the education store. They don’t check.
Everybody talks about how great applecare is, but make sure you read the fine print. Applecare is not insurance, it’s just a warranty extension. Apple offers great service under warranty, but they are not obligated to fix your laptop if you spill coffee on it or (obviously) if it’s stolen. If you want insurance get it through homeowners or renters just like an expensive piece of jewelry.
Some early models have buzzing batteries; apple is replacing them for free. Heat is also a (minor) issue due to improperly applied heatsink gunk. All things that will be fixed in version 2.
I hate to break it to you, Mike, but a superfluous hyphen does not a spelling mistake make. And if that’s the best you can do as a riposte, maybe you better go back to dry humping the glory hole you bored through the pelvis on that Jewel Staite pin-up.
As for Dungsroman, we come from a common internet asshole pedigree, for better or worse. Your burn would probably have seared a bit deeper if I hadn’t been here longer than Dungsroman and he hadn’t been called a wanna-be Crypt a few times when he was first getting his QT3 legs. I doubt either Dungsroman or myself is going to lose sleep over it.
Gallavanting away with a jaunty swagger from the sort of Internet cry babies who irrelevantly bring up 9 month old grudges apropos to nothing besides their shut-in geek petulance… thanks for responding, stusser.
I won’t be getting Applecare initially, since I’ll be buying this in the States and I assume extending my warranty would be best hammered out abroad.
As for Version 2… I pretty much have to buy this next week. I’ll be saving a few hundred euros by buying it in the States. So is the heat issue really ubiquitous? I mean, does anyone know how prevalent it really is?
Well, an extra hyphen may or may not make up a spelling mistake, but spelling “harelip” (yes, that’s how it’s supposed to be spelled) as “hair-lip” is pretty blatant.
But we’re really not here to remake Akeela and the Bee, we’re here to talk about you and your needs. Particuarly your need to be an asshole. And your need for a new Mac. But more of the former than the latter.
Actually, fuck. You totally caught me. And I didn’t realize I’d misspelled that. So points to you. Of course, I’m still pleased as punch that I “ruined” Serenity for you, and since you’re the guy who’s still hyperventilating about it nine months later and I’m the guy who gets a warm and halcyon glow in my nethers (something like my testicles being replaced by a couple of 100W bulbs) everytime I think about that magical time I wrote “My favorite part was when Wash and Book died” … I think I probably win no matter how many spelling mistakes I make.
I got a jay-oh-bee job, Kalle. Simple as that. Honestly, although I know you guys twitch to think you drove me away, I’ve been through a lot rougher than that on this very board. I simply don’t have time anymore to dedicate the hours per day I used to composing clever or cuntish retorts to random Internet strangers because their opinions were misaligned with mine. Honestly, I wish I did, but real-life priorities have gotten in the way. Today? It’s a slow Sunday for a change.
The whine from the MacBooks might be fixed on a refurb, especially if the customer returned it due to that complaint, but I would just count on having to send it in for that to be fxed (which I think involves replacing a voltage regulator), since even brand new ones still do that – it bothers some people more than others and I suspect most of them do it to some degree.
Mine has that problem when running on battery, where it just has a bit of a whine when it’s sitting idle. I’ll probably take it in for a fix at some point.
In general I’d say if it saves a few hundred bucks and is exactly what you wanted, go for it – you won’t be able to tell the difference in most cases, and the warranty / support are the same, and they can’t have been subject to much use yet.
I’ve actually had good luck with refurb stuff – my girlfriend’s Dell laptop was a refurb, as was my parent’s Dell. The laptop had a few problems, but was fixed under warranty with a motherboard replacement, just like a normal one.
Thanks for the advice, guys. The educational one is about $100 bucks more than the refurbed… I’m not really sure if the chance of one without as much cooling paste on the processors is worth even that. I may take my chances. May take them tomorrow!
By the way, the most interesting thing to come out of this conversation? It had never actually occured to me that a harelip was called that because it gave a bifurcation of flesh to the upper lip, like a rabbit. I’d always assumed that it was like a hairline fracture. Which just goes that even Joss Whedon cunts have their edificational purpose outside of being brainless and gelatinous filler in the dork biomass.
It’s not really the extra hundred bucks that bothers me. It’s an extra hundred bucks on top of a $1700 laptop (+$100 for an extra gig of ram) that bothers me.
