Buying a macbook on finance, advice.

[The Boosh!]

Firstly apologies if this is in the wrong section, it kinda crosses over two.
I have a couple of questions before i go ahead with this

im looking at buying a macbook from apple, eg this one:
http://store.apple.com/uk/configure/MB467B/A?mco=MTkzOTI5Mg

With the uprated RAM and hard drive 350gb.

Will i notice the difference between a reg mac book and a mac book pro? It will only be used for uni work, music, browsing and the odd game.

why is the 128gb solid state drive nearly 400 pounds but the 360gb is only extra 70 quid extra?
Is the build quality on macs good? My current laptop is showing serious signs of wearing plastic and feels generally old after only 1 and half years use. i need this one to last long.

Now im onto the finance bit. Firstly let me just let you know im not financed up to the eyeballs in anything, the only thing i take out on finance is phone contrcts and computers.
Obviously this is quiet a big investment (1300) so id pay a bulk towards this, ie 500 and take the rest out on finance. It says they charge 15.6% AER. whats this mean? is that a shite rate?

sorry for the quiet long post.thanks, luke

 

[Track'd]

With the uses you've listed i'd go for the normal MacBook with few upgrades and save £500ish. If you were to use it for designing/video work or more than the odd game, then the PRO.

Finance is always going to be tough, and is probably average for an electronic item. Like anything though take care of it and it will outlast a PC laptop.

 

[The Boosh!]

^^ thanks mate. tbh i have no idea what im doing lol.

anyone else help?

 

[beatjunkie]

Im on my second macbook in 3 weeks bought the first one and the screen went within 2 weeks and this was the new aluminium one too!apart from that they are amazing!!!!buy one!

Its so fast didnt go for the upgrades

for what youve listed the £949 one will do im running loads of programs at once and its soo sooo soooo fast!

 

[Track'd]

Well don't rush into then, knowing apple they'll release another new model out the blue. I've had the old G4 Powerbook, iBook and still have the old dome shape Imac, it's worthless in todays market, but is still quick for a 5 year old Mac, and does a decent job for me.

 

[renclio]

tbh with you mate, the sort of use you are going to be using it for i wouldnt go for a Macbook, i personally feel that the macbook is very gimicky and is all about the brand not really about the actual spec. it has. Why spend stupid amounts when you can buy a samsung from currys with 4gb ram and 320gb hard-drive with 2.25 ghz processer for £600 why spend like £1000 on a gimick. Hope that helps?

 

[wozzaa]

Firstly apologies if this is in the wrong section, it kinda crosses over two.
I have a couple of questions before i go ahead with this

im looking at buying a macbook from apple, eg this one:
http://store.apple.com/uk/configure/MB467B/A?mco=MTkzOTI5Mg

With the uprated RAM and hard drive 350gb.

Will i notice the difference between a reg mac book and a mac book pro? It will only be used for uni work, music, browsing and the odd game.

why is the 128gb solid state drive nearly 400 pounds but the 360gb is only extra 70 quid extra?
Is the build quality on macs good? My current laptop is showing serious signs of wearing plastic and feels generally old after only 1 and half years use. i need this one to last long.

Now im onto the finance bit. Firstly let me just let you know im not financed up to the eyeballs in anything, the only thing i take out on finance is phone contrcts and computers.
Obviously this is quiet a big investment (1300) so id pay a bulk towards this, ie 500 and take the rest out on finance. It says they charge 15.6% AER. whats this mean? is that a s**te rate?

sorry for the quiet long post.thanks, luke

350gb hard drive is old style spinning disc. the 128gb solid state is like an incredibly high speed flash card. So more expensive as it is newer technology. Hard drives are cheap. Fast flash memory isn't.

 

[Daz]

SSD is new technology. Very quick, no moving parts etc like a normal HDD. They are smaller in capacity at the moment, but much more expensive than standard drives.. if you can afford them, and you don't need massive amounts of space, they're worth it. If you can't afford it, or need lots of space, they aren't worth it. Up to you and your usage I guess. If you're considering getting finance, I'd probably avoid going SSD as it'll just add cost.

I'm kind of worried about you getting finance though - especially when you're asking what APR is and whether 15.6% is a s**t rate or not. You really do need to know about this stuff in detail, so you know exactly how long it's over, exactly how much you're going to be paying each month along with how much you will have spent once it's paid off.

Just my opinion - but I'd get researching a lot more (other than asking on here, too ), otherwise, you may find things to be a lot more expensive than you thought. I wouldn't want to see you posting in here in 6 months about how s**t finance is, and why no one made you aware of certain things

In terms of the Macbook, it's probably the best laptop you could buy really (If you don't want to do extensive gaming etc and do want to use OSX).. So whatever you choose, good luck!

 

[The Boosh!]

tbh with you mate, the sort of use you are going to be using it for i wouldnt go for a Macbook, i personally feel that the macbook is very gimicky and is all about the brand not really about the actual spec. it has. Why spend stupid amounts when you can buy a samsung from currys with 4gb ram and 320gb hard-drive with 2.25 ghz processer for £600 why spend like £1000 on a gimick. Hope that helps?

I want a mac though lol. There has been this argument before (Waits for daz) but anyway it works out that the same speck on a windows is different on a mac or something.

im more interested on the finance side of things though. whats this AER business?

would it maybe be worth buying a second handone

 

[Daz]

would it maybe be worth buying a second handone

Very very few around at the moment.
The new Macbook is that good, people just don't get rid straight away..

You'll need to wait a few months more, before you start seeing them appear on eBay IMO.. the ones I've seen have been very new, very unused, and going for very similar prices to new from Apple..

 

[The Boosh!]

Ah thankyou Daz...

I am going to get more information before i sign anything. by paying a sum up front i am hoping i minimize my monthly payments, plus i have quiet a lot of disposable income each month anyway (living at home FTW)...

will venture into the apple store and enquire about finance

 

[Daz]

Ah thankyou Daz...

I am going to get more information before i sign anything. by paying a sum up front i am hoping i minimize my monthly payments, plus i have quiet a lot of disposable income each month anyway (living at home FTW)...

will venture into the apple store and enquire about finance

If you have disposable, my advice would be to save a few more months, and pay for it outright.. especially as you're looking to put £500 down anyway.

Obviously I dunno how much you have spare each month, but this is the better option IMO. (other people may disagree, but... Heh!)

 

[timmmah]

I got myself a Macbook on finance today as it happens through the Apple Store for Business as it's for my business.

 

[The Boosh!]

^^ what are the monthly payments like timmmah? because i am a student i also get 15 percent off of list price aswelll hehe!
are they any catches to it and how long is the agreement over?

 

[The Boosh!]

.

 

[beatjunkie]

Are you sure you get 15% off as i logged onto the student store a while back (around a month ago) and was only giving me 50 quid off a 950 pound mac, id check and make sure first! bearing in mind this is when the new ones had JUST come out

 

[The Boosh!]

Are you sure you get 15% off as i logged onto the student store a while back (around a month ago) and was only giving me 50 quid off a 950 pound mac, id check and make sure first! bearing in mind this is when the new ones had JUST come out

Yep:

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Apple Store for Higher Education[/FONT] University students get up to 16% off all Macs in the Apple Store for Higher Education. Call Apple on 0800 0391010 or click below for more details.

 

[Feirny]

Are you sure you get 15% off as i logged onto the student store a while back (around a month ago) and was only giving me 50 quid off a 950 pound mac, id check and make sure first! bearing in mind this is when the new ones had JUST come out

I got 15% off my MBP in June.

 

[Daz]

The new Macbook's don't have the massive discounts any more.. they give you £50 off and that's it I've heard.

 

[cava83]

If you down the finance root, I would suggest you read up a lot more.

Listen to Daz, he makes perfect sense with his comments above.

I am still on my first mac, which was the first intel one they released, still going strong.

Go for it, you won't regret it, if you do get an upgrade on the HD go for the 7200rpm one, does make a difference

Solid state is still too expensive for your requirements.

All the best,

Gabi.

 

[funklenut]

Buy yourself a regular laptop and use iDeneb or Kalyway. I have a Dell D830 dual booting between OSX and Windows. I bought my laptop last year and its identical spec to my mates Macbook Pro apart from it looks like it cost half the price (it did!)

 

[Daz]

Buy yourself a regular laptop and use iDeneb or Kalyway. I have a Dell D830 dual booting between OSX and Windows. I bought my laptop last year and its identical spec to my mates Macbook Pro apart from it looks like it cost half the price (it did!)

But it's not a Mac...

 

[sneeks]

Buy yourself a regular laptop and use iDeneb or Kalyway. I have a Dell D830 dual booting between OSX and Windows. I bought my laptop last year and its identical spec to my mates Macbook Pro apart from it looks like it cost half the price (it did!)

I'd recommend this route too. I bought a Dell Inspiron 1525 3 weeks ago and it runs every bit as fast as a MacBook but for only £390 delivered.

MacBook's are very nice but way overpriced for all you actually get.

My Dell

 

[cava83]

Look at the size of it though, looks like a 2 year old laptop :rasp:

agreed though, if price is a concern, then this is a good route.

I'd recommend this route too. I bought a Dell Inspiron 1525 3 weeks ago and it runs every bit as fast as a MacBook but for only £390 delivered.

MacBook's are very nice but way overpriced for all you actually get.

My Dell

 

[sneeks]

It's far smaller than that photo would suggest and runs faster than my similar spec iMac. A MacBook is a rip off.

 

[Daz]

It's far smaller than that photo would suggest and runs faster than my similar spec iMac. A MacBook is a rip off.

It's not a rip off....

 

[sneeks]

Look at the size of it though, looks like a 2 year old laptop :rasp:

Size wise it's on par with the MacBook Pro which is correct for a 15" screen, the MacBook will always be smaller due to the display.

MacBook Pro
Height: 2.41 cm (0.95 inch)
Width: 36.4 cm (14.35 inches)
Depth: 24.9 cm (9.82 inches)
Weight: 2.49 kg (5.5 pounds)

Dell
Height: 1.00" (2.5cm) front - 1.48" (3.7cm) back
Width: 14.05" (35.7cm)
Depth: 10.08" (25.6cm)
Weight: Starting at 5.90 lbs (2.70 kg)

 

[cava83]

Sneeks, I was only messing around

I do love the macbook pro casing, but they are quite expensive, I do admit that.

If they were cheaper, it would product a much larger amount of sales.

 

[sneeks]

I had intended on buying a MacBook but I could not justify the price they were asking. The price hike for the UK in comparison to the $100 discount they offered in America also pissed me off. Now I have the best of both worlds at a far better price.

 

[BenWall]

I like the idea of OSX on the Dell etc but for me I love the features on my macbook, like the large track pad, 2 finger scrolling and two finger double clicking. When I go on my girlfriends Toshiba it feels lame compared with my macbook.

 

[sneeks]

The lack of trackpad features is the only negative thing I have with the Dell but that's easy to live with considering all the cash I saved A bluetooth mouse solves that problem easily enough.

 

[Mike_182]

but anyway it works out that the same speck on a windows is different on a mac or something.

Absolute BS. Macs now use the same hardware. Clock for clock, they are identical.

 

[sneeks]

Absolute BS. Macs now use the same hardware. Clock for clock, they are identical.

Exactly, that's why the Dell I bought is able to support Leopard so well. Several parts are identical to those found in the MacBook Air. The system profiler identifies my Dell as a MacBook Pro

 

[shuffle]

Iv had a mac book pro for over a year now after having numerous other laptops, some cheap and some expensive. I can can easily say that my Mac is by far the best laptop i have owned. It never gives me any problems, does everything quick, can handle multiple operations at once and is very reliable (touch wood!).
From MY experience windows has been the problem, the leopard operating system on the mac is fantastic as was previous operating systems.
Macs are expensive but you get what you pay for!!

 

[sneeks]

OS X is what makes the experience so good, you don't need to pay Apple prices to get that. Having said that I'm still glad I bought my 20" iMac and not a horrible box of a pc.

 

[Daz]

It's all OK with these Dell's running OSX.. but everyone is missing the point: It's not a Mac.

If you're happy with a Dell, Buy one. If you want a Macbook, Buy one.

Done.

 

[BenWall]

It's all OK with these Dell's running OSX.. but everyone is missing the point: It's not a Mac.

If you're happy with a Dell, Buy one. If you want a Macbook, Buy one.

Done.

This one is wise.

 

[cava83]

He's a homo

Always says "Done."

:rasp:

This one is wise.

 

[sneeks]

It's all OK with these Dell's running OSX.. but everyone is missing the point: It's not a Mac.

If you're happy with a Dell, Buy one. If you want a Macbook, Buy one.

Done.

Certainly not a Mac as far as the look and body of the computer but in every other way it's the same. The OS for me is what makes something a Mac, the design of the hardware is simply a bonus. Running Windows within Bootcamp doesn't make it good just because it's running on a Mac, the hardware adds no value to that experience. Mac is primarily about the software. All IMO.

 

[BenWall]

The new track pads 4 finger swipe is something quite special though.