So... I'm thinking of buying a Mac laptop

[kunswwfmark]

I'm getting ready to graduate from college with a degree in Mass Communications in May and was looking into taking out a few thousand dollars extra in student loans to purchase a 17" MacBook Pro laptop computer.

This would run me about $3000 but I wouldn't technically have to pay it off for 10 years. My thinking is that while I have the chance to take out student loans and get a small student discount from Apple.com, I should take advantage.

What does everyone think? Dumb move, or too good to pass up?

[dorf]

Is that the new model??

I say its a good deal, if you know how to use a Mac and its a good/great application into your work career.

Laptops are obsolete within three or four years at most, but some last to ten years...but if you're going to buy the most expensive, I'd put a warranty replacement thingy just to be safe there.

[kunswwfmark]

Good thinking with the warranty.

I really want to get it so I can do some freelance shooting and editing work for a little extra cash, plus it'll be less of a hassle to edit projects and stuff for school.

Any other feedback or help or suggestions on this would be appreciated.

[Scott]

I'm on one right now. Best investment I've made in a long time. The warranty is always a plus and if you have an Apple Store near you, the service is fantastic. I've had Macs for a few years, let me know if you need any other advice.

[Baixo Astral]

I have many good friends... but my mac laptop is my BEST friend. Unlike the others, it's never let me down.

[Mr. Zombie]

As a frequent frequent user of both up to date Macs and PCs......stay away from the Mac for a while. Right now, with the switch over to Intel, there have been a ton of problems with Macs. Actually, overall, my experience with Mac's PCs hasn't been very good. The school I go to.....everyone has a laptop. I find that a lot of the people I know who have Mac laptops have a lot of problems with them right now. I know one kid who has returned his 4 times.

As for their service...... if anything goes wrong with your mac, you can't fix it yourself. In the new media lab at school, in the end of the semester, we had 4 of them go down. Instead of sending a techie to fix it, you have to ship them out, get them fixed by a mac professional, and ship it back. The same thing for their laptops. I will never go solo with a Mac for this reason. A PC.....you can go out, buy any bad parts you need, and swap them out yourself and have it up and running again in a few hours. You can also add RAM and whatever else, which adds years to your PC.

I've also found that their service sucks at the the store. I had to schedule an appointment over a day in advance to get my girlfriends laptop fixed. I couldn't just walk in. They also snub you if you don't sign up for some sort of special customer plan.

Macs......if anything goes wrong, you have to go to the mac store, let their guy look at it.....I don't know, I just find it frustrating that I either have to go to a mac store to get it fixed, even if anything slight goes wrong, such as a glitch in a software update, or I have to send it out. I've just known so many people who have had problems with Macs and then can't get it fixed in a crunch and end up having to either return it or get it shipped out to get fixed 3-4 times. My gf's mac laptop died for no reason at the end of the semester. Her friends mac laptop scratches CDs and overheats and makes a really loud fan noise. My sister's runs at about half the speed it should. My gfs new Mac crashed and wouldn't turn back on after a simple software update and we had to wait 2 days to get it fixed.

If you're looking for a quality bargain laptop, Dell actually makes the best out there. I do very very heavy duty stuff on my laptop, and I've had it for 6 years. I used it to render out 3D animation as of today. I will swear by it up and down.....no problems whatsoever, as long I maintain it and update it. I also used it to render out AfterEffects work with 3d cameras. My father also does really heavy duty work with his Dell (maintains building controls).....no problems at all.

My credentials; Web Designer, motion graphics 3d Animator Flash Developer who works on both platforms 6-12 hours a day, also just finished out at RIT which is a very mac heavy program.

However, their desktops are very very very nice machines.....the G5s blow me away. The laptops though have a ton of problems. They don't make a great laptop right now.

[Matt Rogers]

I'll be getting one in a month when my 18th rolls around, first bit of my nan's trust fund. From what I've heard from people, they're well worth it.

[Byakugan]

Can someone help me also?

SOmeone stole my laptop and I am in need of a new one.

All I really do is use it for school and DVD burning. Do I need to make sure that it says anything besides DVD burner? Any suggestions?

Do Macs have Dvd burners?

I'm thinking of this one

configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&cs=04&kc=6W300&l=en&oc=bndwg4h&s=bsd

[hbk619 - QUACK!]

I know one kid who has returned his 4 times.


I've done that with my windows Advent laptop... keeps cutting out for a few seconds. they don't seem to be able to fix it but won't exchange it (despite being months old)

i'd say go sony. but they are more expensive, but you get what you pay for

[Scott]

I owned a Powerbook from 2002 until earlier this year and only replaced it to make the jump to the Macbook Pro. I'm sure there are horror stories, but I haven't even had one of these freeze since I've owned it, and I put them through the ringer. I record music as a hobby and even use images put on the computer when I perform surgery.

Every one of my friends who have laptops have Dells, and every single one of them has been cheaply made and caused a ton of problems, usually within months of purchase.