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Advice on purchasing a Macbook/MBP for girlfriend?

steamed.hams

steamed.hams

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 15, 2008
334
0
Miami, FL
Hey everybody,

My girlfriend and I are used to spending a fair amount on each other for special occasions. For our anniversary, I'm getting her a laptop. She's not particular about mac models, but she really enjoys the backlit keyboard option. In fact, she said she'd love to adopt my Early '08 MBP, which would mean a tasty new laptop for me!

So, here are my options:

A. Give her my last gen Macbook Pro and buy a refurb unibody Macbook pro for myself. The one I'm giving away is 15", 2.5 Ghz, 250 GB hdd, 4 GB ram, about 4 months old. Est. cost of new one for myself = $1800

B. Buy her a refurb 2.4 unibody MacBook and keep my last gen MBP. Est. cost of a new one for her = $1500


Any help is appreciated, and no, I'm not posting pictures ;)
 
Tough choice you got there. A refurbished Macbook Air can be had for around $1000 if your looking to go that route. Unless your girlfriend does a lot of media work, a Air should be pretty good. Save a few hundred bux

If not just get yourself the unibody macbook pro:D
 
Celedral has a point, the refurb MBA for $1000 is a cool little laptop that a girl may enjoy it's form factor and it's weight. Not implying she can't deal with more power but if her needs are web, email etc.. a MBP is obviously overkill, and the MBA might get you some points for the "cool" factor as not that many people have one ;)

On the other hand, if your in the market for a new machine or wanting to change/upgrade something it's the perfect reason to do that as well. I guess it comes down to what she uses it for and what you think she would be happy with. The MBA is a sweet laptop for basic use with backlit keyboard and a decent screen, if however she likes to watch alot of online video avoid the refurb Rev A MBA's and go for the MBP opeion.

Either way she will be happy imo, not to many girlfriends get new computers dropped in their lap :)
 
Celedral said:
Tough choice you got there. A refurbished Macbook Air can be had for around $1000 if your looking to go that route. Unless your girlfriend does a lot of media work, a Air should be pretty good. Save a few hundred bux

If not just get yourself the unibody macbook pro:D
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Thanks for the reply, celedral. However, the MBA may not be good fit b/c a superdrive is pretty necessary for her! :eek:
 
Wow, what a gift! May I ask how old you guys are and how long you have been dating?

Anyway, I would give her the one you have now and go get a unibody for yourself. I think you'll just kick yourself if you see her playing on a unibody that isn't yours.
 
She'll be happy with any option. if you go the route of getting the Unibody PRO, you'll both have pretty good laptops already.

sorry i just can't say No to a Pro
 
macDonalds said:
Wow, what a gift! May I ask how old you guys are and how long you have been dating?
Click to expand...

We're in our mid/early 20's, this'll be our first anniversary.


macDonalds said:
I think you'll just kick yourself if you see her playing on a unibody that isn't yours.
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Haha that's exactly why I started this thread! I think I'm too big of a nerd to not get a little jealous of her new comp. But I'm trying to be logical in this decision, if that's even possible....!
 
hey man i think the best choice is the simplest one. she loves you current computer so i think you should give her that one. now i know that maybe a little lame but she is you gf. how would she react to getting a hand-me-down (kind of a harsh way of putting it i know)? do you think she will then mind you going out and getting a new one for yourself?
 
ViciousShadow21 said:
oh cool but was it that secret girl language thing where you KNOW that they are just saying it but they really want a new one? or do you honestly think it was legit? im not insinuating that it wasent haha..
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lol I know exactly what you mean. She's the kinda gal that's brutally honest and has no inhibitions when voicing her opinions....

She's used all the recent kinds of MB/P....the whitebook, the late '08 mbp and the unibody series. She definitely likes the feel and look of the late '08 mbp the best (I can't blame her!)

If the 15" 2.5 GHz models were still available from the apple refurb store for ~$1400US, I'd buy one for her...since they are not at the moment, I'm stuck with this choice.
 
steamed.hams said:
lol I know exactly what you mean. She's the kinda gal that's brutally honest and has no inhibitions when voicing her opinions....

She's used all the recent kinds of MB/P....the whitebook, the late '08 mbp and the unibody series. She definitely likes the feel and look of the late '08 mbp the best (I can't blame her!)

If the 15" 2.5 GHz models were still available from the apple refurb store for ~$1400US, I'd buy one for her...since they are not at the moment, I'm stuck with this choice.
Click to expand...

yea then i would say give her your old one and get the new one for your self. you could snazz it up by maybe putting some upgrades in it for her , get professionly cleaned, format the HD, ect ect

good luck man
 
I would just get her the new Macbook Unibody, order it online and customize it with a better CPU and hard drive, as well as a case cover. (Nothing ruins the enjoyment of an Apple product better than a nice, lovely dent in it.)
 
ViciousShadow21 said:
yea then i would say give her your old one and get the new one for your self. you could snazz it up by maybe putting some upgrades in it for her , get professionly cleaned, format the HD, ect ect

good luck man
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Thanks, vicious. That's exactly what I was thinking about doing, but I'm still a little unsure!
 
I don't think the lady would be happy inheriting yours, just seems like an easy excuse for you to upgrade.

However, it was her idea, so roll with it.

But if she's not going to need the power of a MBP, then a refurb 13 incher (MB or MBA) might be the best pick.
 
Giving her a hand-me-down as an anniversary gift is extremely lame even if it was her idea. I think a macbook would be perfect for her. I bought my girlfriend a new unibody 2.4 macbook when they came out in october and she absolutely loves it. It does everything she needs, its a nice size for her (the pro would have been to big for her to lug around or use on her lap at home)

Not to turn this into a gender debate but i think most girls outside the technology, photography, video field would be perfect with a Macbook. A Macbook pro is more for guys who are into computer specs and things like that.
 
STSNorthstar said:
I don't think the lady would be happy inheriting yours, just seems like an easy excuse for you to upgrade.

However, it was her idea, so roll with it.
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bigjnyc said:
Giving her a hand-me-down as an anniversary gift is extremely lame even if it was her idea.
Click to expand...


Seeing that I agree with both of these, I think I just have to be a man and make a decision...:apple:
 
So what is she giving you? I think you should hold off on giving away $1500 on your first year anniversary, especially if it is just a girlfriend. You should save your money and buy her some flowers and a 200 dollar necklace or something.
 
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