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Going to buy a MacBook Pro. Need advice

J

jiE

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 1, 2007
105
0
Hi folks.

I'm going to buy a macbook pro. I just have a little trouble choosing the right one.

I live in Denmark and the prices are really high. 14800 DKK for the cheapest which is about 1345 UK pounds. Without the educational rebate, which i can apply for.

On ebay.co.uk i found a seller selling the 2,4 Ghz SR 17" for 1400 UK pounds.
Would it be possible to find the 15" 2,2 ghz for about 1000 UK pounds on ebay? Im not really able to find one, but im still kind of new to ebay.

I'm going to use for school every day and i use my bicycle. Will the 17" be too heavy or too big? I have a regular The north face borealis backpack and i dont want anything bigger to fit my laptop.

And will I have problems with a UK keyboard? I am able to chance keyboard layout in mac os x to danish so i can type the æøå?

Also, i use my computer as a media center at home. I heard somewhere about a limitation about 1024x768 on output from the DVI port? I need at least 1280x720.

Also. If running in Windows XP/Vista, how come the heat and temp goes up?? Bad drivers still? Will it be any better when leopard arrives???
 
What do you mean getting a bad mac? It's in fact brand new.. The auction says so and with 1200+ feedback . it cannot be a scam i think.
 
jiE said:
Also. If running in Windows XP/Vista, how come the heat and temp goes up?? Bad drivers still? Will it be any better when leopard arrives???
Click to expand...

Vista/XP do not come with the proper power/thermal management utilities that regulates the temperature of the MBP. When leopard comes out, only the MacOS will be better, not the Windows.




jiE said:
What do you mean getting a bad mac? It's in fact brand new.. The auction says so and with 1200+ feedback . it cannot be a scam i think.
Click to expand...

Its still EBAY...

There are just way too many people out there trying to pass off used machines as new, but I am not saying that this is certainly the case with you.
 
I agree, you might be getting a great deal, but you never know I love ebay but draw the line at 500 bucks, last time i bought a G4 15: Imac for 269.00 and it was perfect but did not have a superdrive, had a combo....ohhhh well give it a shot all you have to lose is money!
 
The DVI port on the Macbook Pro can output up to 2560 by 1600. If you Mirror the screen, however, you will get a resolution as low as the lowest resolution display in your setup (lets say,a projector with a 1024x768 resolution, your MBP's resolution will change to that. If you use Dual Screen mode or however is called, you should get the highest resolution possible 2560x1600 on a 30" display).

Now, weight, the 17" is not TOO heavy to carry, But I wouldnt advise it as your roaming laptop, less so if youre moving around on a bicycle. IMO the 15" is just perfect for everything I do (a bit higher resolution could be awesome though).

eBay? I would not advise it. Yeah, the apple store might bit much more expensive, but eBay can be dangerous, but as everything, it's your choice, not mine.
 
Adc

If you can apply for the educational discount you might be able to get ADC student membership.

I just bought the 15.4" 2.4Ghz 256MB 8600 MBP for 15.200dkr. (Included is the ADC membership costs)
But this is a once in a lifetime rebate, so if you plan on buying later when still under education you might want to wait...

I found that æøå is VERY nice to have on my keyboard,(Have a US keyboard connected to my desktop computer and even though you get used to it, it still feels awkward, and sometimes I can't remember the how to type special characters, since I use many different keyboards every day(all danish except my desktop keyboard)...

I went with the 15.4" screen because the 17" was just a little too big for everyday school use, and I love the new LED displays. Went with glossy and it really doesn't matter whether you have glossy or matte,(my friend has matte and his screen is more true in the colors whilst mine is perfect for movie watching and has more color)

Just some of the things I considered when i bought my new MBP.
Hope this helped.

BTW
What school do you attend?
 
Hi,
If you buy it on ebay, just be careful. I took the risk of buying a brand new MBP 17" 2.4 GHz on ebay from someone with 3000+ positive feedback.

Got it last evening and everything is cool. No dead/stuck pixel and absolutely beautiful.

Good luck.

Anthony
 
Cybergypsy said:
All sales are FINAL.
Click to expand...

Yes i know, but:
Ebay said:
*Item will be shipped out the same or next business day after payment is received and verified. Most of the time, there's no import tax; if customs/tax is charged, we will refund half of it as store credit for your next order(s).*
Click to expand...

And they agreed to refund all of it, if i get charged. And it will be no problem for me to purchase and iphone from them and sell it here in denmark again.
 
I have mixed feeling about buying on eBay.
Sorry, I saw this thread and had to jump in with my two cents. I have always watched this forums and never posted.
I purchased a iBook G4 on eBay and the guy screwed me. Said he sold it for a friend and that it appeared to be in working order. Well, I got it. It worked for about 5 minutes and froze. The logic board delima. And I got stuck with a nice paper weight. Stupid me, I turn around and buy ANOTHER one on eBay. To my surprise, it was a great computer. I found 2 MINOR discrepancies between the computer and the description and the guy offered to refund me some of my money. So, it just goes to show you REALLY have to watch who you buy from! Oh, by the way. The guy I bought the first one from, used to work for Apple in their tech support department.
My advise, do lots of research on the person BEFORE you buy!:D
 
The fans keep on working when i was playing Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory in XP.But in daily use like music editing(I sometimes use Cool Edit 2) or surfing the internet,everything is OK. Also I experienced some breakdown during the game too, it's only a problem of the game I think.I didn't test Vista
 
majordude said:
Well, that explains why it crashed and burned after 5 minutes! :p
Click to expand...

If I only knew that before the guy sold it to me. He knew exactly what he was doing. The really sad part is, he basically scammed a 10 year old kid.
I mentioned that I would look into seeing what a used laptop would cost so I could end the constant fight over the computer. The next thing I know is my daughter is searching eBay for a laptop. She found it with only a few minutes left, I looked at the listing and I THOUGHT it was ok. I guess I was wrong!:eek:
My daughter was really upset about the whole ordeal! In the end, I (stupid me, what was I thinking) bought another one with much better luck than the first time around, and now we are all happy!:D
 
jiE said:
What do you mean getting a bad mac? It's in fact brand new.. The auction says so and with 1200+ feedback . it cannot be a scam i think.
Click to expand...
I have bought hundreds of items on eBay including a G4 iBook (a few years ago) and a viewsonic monitor both new and in sealed boxes ... 100% happy .. :)
 
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